In 1897, a reporter was sent to investigate a rumor that Mark Twain had died. Upon hearing the reporter’s mission, Twain famously quipped, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Professional copywriters—even those who devote most of their time to online copywriting—should take heed.

Today, thank-you notes and other types of off-line marketing content are sometimes assumed to be dead. Don’t believe the rumors.

Here’s a guide to using off-line marketing copy to delight your clients and boost your sales.

• Send thank-you notes. This personal touch practically guarantees to set you apart in a client or prospective client’s mind. You may not be able to send the only marketing email they see all day, but you have a decent chance of writing the only personal letter they’ll receive.

• Pass out (interesting) business cards. Give people a card with a purpose. Put a URL to a website with a special offer on your card, and you’ll give people a reason to follow up online. Or put your company credentials on a matchbook or a pen, which people will see frequently as they use it.

• Sponsor something. Whether it’s a live event where you actively sell or a local softball team, sponsorship is a great marketing tactic that gets your name in front of people when they’re not sitting in front of computers. Sponsorships reinforce the “real” presence of your business beyond something people connect with through email newsletters or digital webinars, and will help cement you in prospects’ minds.

• Offer a free lecture. Instead of hosting a webinar, try offering a lecture at a local university or library. Gather email addresses from interested parties and spend time talking to people after the event. The investment of your time will help you build the know, like, trust factor with prospects.

• Promote yourself. Don’t be shy about being your own marketing engine. Include your business website on your personal emails, explain clearly what you do when you meet people, and actively seek speaking opportunities that put you in a position to connect with potential clients.

What are some of the cleverest off-line marketing strategies you’ve noticed in recent years?

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The importance of targeting your niche market in marketing content can’t be overstated. By understanding your audience’s wants, needs, and pain points, you can demonstrate exactly how you (and your products or services) will improve their lives.

A recent development in the movie industry provides a useful reminder that striking the right chord with the right audience leads to serious revenue and a significant return on investment.

The Niche Market Appeal of “October Baby”

Earlier this year, the movie “October Baby” came on the scene with a powerful anti-abortion message presented through a compelling narrative. The film quickly won endorsements from anti-abortion groups, as well as millions of viewers who shared the values of the film’s characters.

Director Jon Erwin attributes the movie’s success in part to the fact that it doesn’t present the typical Hollywood fare of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. Instead, the film appeals to a smaller segment of the U.S. population—a niche audience that isn’t being served by mainstream Hollywood films—and won a devoted following in that group.

“October Baby” isn’t a complete anomaly, either. Other Christian movies have enjoyed similar success—on a scale that small-business owners can appreciate. While these movies may only gross $20 million in box office and DVD sales, many of them, sources note, cost only $2 or $3 million to produce.

The return on investment is extraordinary.

Target Your Niche Market in Your Marketing Content

How can you bring the niche-market success of “October Baby” to your business? Spend time really getting to know your ideal customer. Send out surveys, conduct conversion research, and put yourself in your audience’s shoes.

Some content marketers even suggest creating an “avatar,” or made-up character intended to represent your ideal customer—and then design marketing materials that would appeal to him or her.

However you get better acquainted with your target market, put the information you gather to use refining your marketing materials, your message, your tone, and your calls to action. When you hit the right note, you’ll see the results—instantly.

What challenges do you face identifying with your niche market?

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Humor is one of a marketing copywriter’s most powerful tools. But like any powerful tool, it must be wielded with care—or you risk offending your readers, alienating your audience, and even destroying the business you’ve worked so hard to build.

Here are some strategies for using humor to strengthen your marketing content—and win over your prospective clients.

• Target yourself. A little self-deprecating humor helps break the ice in some situations. But poke fun at anyone else, and you’re on risky territory. In marketing content, try joshing at an earlier version of yourself to demonstrate both that you have come a long way since then and that you can relate with “newbies.” This establishes your expertise while putting your audience at ease.

• …But not your business. In all interactions with clients (marketing emails, web copy, delivering services, etc.), be sure to demonstrate that you take your work seriously and that you are especially serious about delivering top results. Your clients will feel much more comfortable hiring you when they see you do your job well, regardless of how funny you are.

• Know the value of entertainment. People pay money to see stand-up comedy shows, and when you can make them laugh—for free—in your online marketing materials, you’re giving them a high-value gift. Prospects are more likely to buy when they feel as if they’re reciprocating—that is, if you give them something of value, they’ll want to return the favor. Give the gift of humor, and you may just win a new client.

• Break the tension. When you’re marketing on a webinar, telecall, or live event, try using humor to break an otherwise overly tense or serious atmosphere. One salesman famously pitched a $6,000 service package and added that he’d “throw in a free pet frog.” He sold more packages with the frog line than without.

• When in doubt, leave it out. If you aren’t comfortable with your humor chops (in marketing content or elsewhere), play it safe and steer clear of comedy. While successful comedy is a powerful sales tool, failed comedy tends to have the opposite effect, turning your readers off.

What are your favorite humorous marketing campaigns or commercials?

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Since social media arrived on the online marketing menu, it has evolved and changed at a dizzying pace. The companies that have been most successful in the social media arena are those who see the ever-changing landscape as an opportunity to serve their clients’ needs in ever-improving ways.

American Express has been at the forefront of that movement. Its success in marketing on social media platforms demonstrates a commitment not to selling itself, but to improving the lives the people it serves. Ultimately, that yields more loyal customers.

Keys to Success in Social Media Marketing

Here’s a look at what your business can learn from American Express—even if you aren’t listed in the Fortune 100.

• Give your clients a reason to follow you. American Express has more than 18,000 followers on its @AmEx handle, and it didn’t garner so much popularity by accident. It uses Twitter as a venue for offering exclusive money-back offers to cardholders who tweet specific #hashtag codes and make specific purchases. Take a page from the AmEx playbook and offer deals, bonuses, and freebies exclusively to those who follow you on Twitter.

• Limit yourself to what you can do well. American Express maintains a robust presence on Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, and YouTube—and on all these platforms, the company shines. But AmEx boasts a net worth north of $14 billion and employs almost 70,000 people worldwide. If you company can’t feasibly produce top-quality videos that provide real value to your clients, it’s okay to market minimally—or not at all—on YouTube. Instead, focus on producing high-quality marketing content that will inspire your clients to take action (i.e. convert).

• Aim to engage with your audience. American Express uses Twitter to handle customer service issues as well as offer deals. On Facebook, its “Link, Like, Love” campaign allows users to get discounts and special offers on the products and services they’re most interested in. Keep your social media marketing content relevant by asking questions, responding to user comments, and providing your audience with content that shows them you value their time and want to make their lives better.

American Express has succeeded in social media because it doesn’t treat the platform as a place to “advertise for free.” Instead, AmEx recognizes that social media platforms allow businesses to engage with customers and potential customers in entirely new ways, and has begun experimenting with what those ways might be.

What social media marketing efforts have impressed you lately?

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We’ve all done it. Searched for info online, landed on a site, started reading, then gave up halfway into the third sentence, and moved on to another site.

Chances are, that web copy was all facts and no fun.

We’re not saying that you shouldn’t include facts in your web copy—features and benefits are necessary. But if you want to hook your prospects and keep his or her attention, facts about your product, service, industry, and company should be presented in the context of a story.

Think back a moment to your college days. Remember that one class that was torture to sit through— those long, boring, drawn-out lectures where the professor talked AT you?  I had a few of these and I’d just sit there, most of the time I’d tune out, doodle in the margins of my notebook, or watch the kid in front of me pick his nose when he thought no one was watching. None of us could focus long enough on the facts being spewed at us.

That’s how your reader feels when you provide them with long, dry web copy.

Boring Content: What’s a company to do?

The story you tell in your marketing content piques interest and keeps prospects reading.

It’s the story you tell that creates the connection between prospects and your company. It’s your copy that turns prospects into customers.

And it’s the story that keeps clients returning again and again.

Transform your web copy from a 500-person lecture to an intimate 15-person discussion. Make them feel seen, appreciated, and heard. Above all, make your content relatable.

Here are three key elements to help you do just that…

1)    The hook: Tap into their needs, wants, desires.

You must not only present a complication to prospects, but also tie it to their state of mind, situation, and desires. They’ve come to your website or blog, or they are reading your brochure or sales letter because they believe you have something that will fulfill a need they have.

It’s not enough to identify the complication as a lack of clients. If you polled 50 of the most successful business owners you know, they’d tell you they want more leads, more clients, and higher conversion.

You have to take it a step further and really mine for that sweet spot.

• What is it about not having clients that keeps your prospects up at night?

• What do your prospects really, really want? Yes, they might want clients, but why?

• Do they desire to live the lifestyle they want or to provide for their family because they want to retire before seventy?

Once you know this, you can take the basic complication and create a compelling story around it.

2)    Keep ‘em reading: Show them how you’ll solve their problems, meet their needs.

If you present a complication to your prospects and manage to tap into their desire for more, the resolution you provide is what will get them to act.

Stories without resolutions are not read, and, if they are, no one remembers them. In literature, we remember most books for their endings, a resolution to a complication. The same can be applied to your marketing materials—if you don’t offer a resolution, prospects will move on to your competition.

Continuing with the example above, if the complication is a lack of clients and the reason your prospects want more clients is so they can live the lifestyle they desire, your resolution is offering them a solution to solve their problem, whatever that may look like. Whatever you come up with, you must make sure your web copy shows prospects how you will solve their problems.

Also, if you want people to talk about your brand and your current clients to refer you, you must offer a resolution that solves their complication.

3)    Character: the emotional bond that ties and makes loyal followers.  

We remember movies, books, poems, and songs because of the story they tell. Specifically, because of the characters in the story. Character is the most important element in storytelling.

Your brand is the central character in your company story. Developing a brand story around complication and resolution allows prospects to feel a sense of belonging, as if they are part of it.

Allow your company personality to shine throughout all your content. Putting on your super serious business hat when writing content is the quickest way to turn away prospects. Do you blame them? Who wants to be bored to tears with industry jargon and overindulgence of accolades? (Think back to that professor that talked AT you. Don’t be that guy!)

When you share your company’s personality and celebrate your brand story in all you do, clients and prospects feel privileged to gain an insight into who you are and why you do what you do. And your brand story is what gets people talking about your brand and keeps clients coming back.

Your prospects and clients are as much of the story as your brand.

Without them, you wouldn’t exist. Try to avoid company-centric copy and focusing too much on the features of your product / service. Following the advice above on setting up complication and resolution instantly makes your prospect part of the story.

Sign up below for more marketing tips.

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As the Internet has matured, so have Internet marketing techniques. We all remember (perhaps not too fondly) the days of spammy, keyword-stuffed websites and email that practically screamed “buy! buy! buy!” in the new online forum.

Today, of course, email marketing has evolved, and most successful marketers have discovered that, if you’re only sending emails to sell things to your list, that list will quickly learn to mark your emails as spam.

Here’s a guide to nurturing your email list so you can market (and sell) like it’s 2012.

• Build trust. In order to sell via marketing emails, you have to establish yourself as a trustworthy figure in that forum. That means planning your marketing strategy such that you send emails only when you truly have something worth saying. In other words, don’t send emails to your list just to send emails. Demonstrate that you’ll communicate when it’s important, and your list will learn to listen.

• Tell a story. Humans are hardwired to love narrative. We used to gather around the cave fire and listen to the exploits of heroes, and now when we hunker behind our screens, we want the same thing. In email marketing content, include stories about yourself, your product, your clients—anything that gives your list a compelling reason to open your communications and take action.

• Create value. Send strong content, and your list will respond. Creating value goes hand in hand with building trust: when you show your list that your marketing content is actually valuable to them, they’ll respect and trust you. Consider creating value by reporting on studies, providing tips, distributing free content, or taking surveys that you’ll actually use.

• Get to know your list. Finally, give your list a chance to respond to your emails. Particularly if you have a bigger list, your communications may apply more to one segment than another. Ask your readers what most interests them, and then you can send them only marketing communications on those subjects. This allows you to demonstrate your trustworthiness, increase the value they get from you, and streamline your selling process.

Once your email marketing list is feeling nurtured, it will be primed to buy from you. Stay tuned to Copy Doodle for tips.

What makes you feel cared for online?

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We wouldn’t be where we are today–the Eve of our 3rd birthday–without our fabulous clients. We are beyond grateful for the people we work with on a daily basis, and are blessed and honored to play a role in seeing their BIG visions come to fruition.

Because it’s no fun to party alone, we invited some of our clients to share in the celebration with us.

Here’s what they have to say about their Sumer experience:

“As a professional copywriter myself, I can be a difficult client to please. But the Sumer team not only delivers compelling copy, but they have also utterly transformed my marketing success. The direct return on investment is incredible. You guys rock! Happy Birthday!” -Angelique Rewers, The Corporate Agent

“Happy Birthday Team Sumer! On behalf of our subscribers & clients — who’ve been so well taken care of with the fun, clear and thought-provoking communications written just for them, just when they need them — we wish you a fabulous & prosperous 4th year ahead! We couldn’t accomplish ALL that we do without your conscientious support. Your unwaivering attention to the experience we create for our subscribers is beyond compare.”  -David & Team Neagle

It's our birthday!

“We have worked with Sumer for three years and each year we have been completely satisfied with the results along with the working relationship. The team is always available to answer our questions and to initiate any additional services we may need. We would not be where we are today without the hard work and expertise of the Sumer team.”  -Dora Theiss & Vickie Morgan, Well Designed Journeys

“I am thrilled to have the Sumer team on my team and am thrilled with our Sumer experience so far. We’ve had a solid kickoff and are well underway on the implementation of our first campaign. The Sumer team combines great strategic insight with rock-solid implementation – a great combination that is rare and hard to find.” -Ron Wilder, Aligned Action

I’m so excited to create the program we are marketing that it will be hard to focus on other items I need to get complete before I leave! Thank you for this!! You make my life easy and fun!” -Tracey Fieber, Tracey Fieber Business Solutions

You know our office assistant, Mama Mia, had to be in on the birthday celebrations too!

“Being a New Zealand based company, I was first rather nervous at partnering with a US based content strategy and copy-writing firm. I knew though, that in order to break out of the mainstream and continually offer our clients value, expertise and ‘edge’, that we truly needed to align ourselves with the best there is, regardless of where they were to be found. We found all of this and so much more in Sumer.

Michelle, with her International client base and her experienced team, have an amazing ability to look inside the sole of your business and extract the true essence of why you exist and why your customers will buy from you. If mainstream is your thing, then Sumer is not for you. They will rock your world, for the better.” -Sean McDonald, Sales Systems

“From my very first conversation with Michelle and her team, I knew I was in the right place. They were not interested in providing me with something within a 24 hour period, but in fact, the exact opposite. They took the time to get to know me, my business and products and services and what the goals were for my business. Not only did Michelle and her team pull together to provide me with an extensive strategy to help me build my business, but they were more than willing to make revisions as needed and worked hand in hand with me and my team. I would highly recommend Sumer LLC for your next project!” -Susan Brady, Mastermind for Results

Michelle, with a mouth full of cake at our 3rd birthday party!

“After having a difficult experience with someone else, I hired Michelle and her team at Sumer. They immediately took away all of my stress of being behind in launching my Compassionate Caregiver Kit and did a STELLAR job! Michelle and her team really took the time to get to know my business in order to write about it. I appreciate the time and their wonderful team approach so much that I have hired them to help me with my next project!! I am so happy that I found them!”  -Lisa Huening, The Shifting Path

“Ever heard that line “If you love your job, you’ll never feel like you are working”. It’s clear, the folks at Sumer are tickled about what they do. I never knew you could have such fun doing a webinar. The ladies at Sumer’ guided us through it and with their expertise made our first attempt a real success!” -Gail Lanter, The Center for Natural Breast Reconstruction

“Sumer is 100% professional and helpful to my business, they have made my job so much easier, I enjoy very much working with them!” -Marita Lynn, Marita Lynn Catering

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Remember when you got measured on your birthday every year as a kid, to see how much you’d grown? Well this year, we’re turning the tables.

To celebrate our third birthday, we’re giving away business-boosting resources that will help you grow your business all year long. And we’ll leave it up to you whether or not to notch measurements on your kitchen wall.

So here’s the deal. For the next week, we’re opening up our archives of amazing audio recordings and making the best of the best available to you—for free! Jump-start your growth when you visit the interview recordings below!

David Neagle

Party Favor #1: David Neagle, Millionaire Success & Wealth Consciousness Mentor’s “The Most Critical Component in Creating the Know, Like, & Trust Factor with Your Tribe and How Your Unconsciously Undermining Your Own Impact and Influence!”

Discover how to get out of your own way so the money can start flowing in. David’s interview, which was recorded during the Billions without Borders Global Telesummit last November, serves up eye-opening pointers for any business owner who’s ready to start growing.

Access the exclusive interview here!

Tim Goodenough

Party Favor #2 (Back by Popular Demand): Tim Goodenough, Certified Meta-Coach, Author, and Director at Coaching Unity International presents, “What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Top Level Sport: How to Become Intentional and Supercharge Your Dream.”

Get tips on how to bring a new level of fierceness and focus to your business with this interview, also from the Billions without Borders Global Telesummit. We released this interview to some of our followers over the winter holidays last year, and the response was so overwhelmingly positive that we decided to release it again, for those of you who missed it the first time.

Listen to the interview here.

Stay tuned for more birthday celebrations this week! Up Friday: find out what our clients really think of us…

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A recent study of 270 companies that advertise through online marketing found that 22% of businesses saw zero return on investment (ROI) from all of their online marketing channels. In other words, nearly a quarter of those surveyed were pouring their precious marketing dollars down the drain.

Here’s how you can avoid that fate in your online marketing efforts.

Invest in Quality Marketing Copy

First and foremost, it’s important to remember that you can’t get something for nothing. While many forms of online marketing are “free,” they won’t boost your revenue or help build your online image if you use shoddy content.

To maximize the benefit of the marketing copy you publish, hire a copywriter with SEO experience or train yourself to do top-notch, SEO-friendly work. Skipping this step in the game of online marketing is like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it—you’ll do a lot of work without seeing much progress.

Review Your Online Marketing Results…Regularly

Most online marketing platforms (including blogs, social networks, and email marketing providers) allow users to analyze results in depth. To ensure that you aren’t wasting your marketing money, check these numbers on a regular basis. If and when you see a problem, you can analyze and correct it before you spend any more money.

Hint: if you can’t afford to hire a team member dedicated to analyzing and tracking your various marketing materials, set aside time each week to check in on your results. Otherwise, this crucial task might slip through the cracks.

Build a Better Marketing Strategy

If you’re consistently seeing a lower ROI than you’d like from your online marketing content, it’s time to overhaul your strategy. Start by determining what kind of results you’d like to see from your online marketing materials. Once you have specific goals in place, it’s easier to determine what actions you need to take to meet them.

Which of your online marketing materials produce the biggest ROI? The smallest?

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Our team (minus our fabulous editor) enjoying some quality team time during the first ever Sumerpalooza!

The last 12 months have been busy ones for the Sumer team. In addition to crafting marketing content for our clients, staying abreast of trends and developments in the world of copywriting and online marketing, and generally making the Internet a better place, we’ve also traveled, welcomed new team members, said goodbye to old ones, and plenty more.

In honor of our 3rd Birthday, we thought we’d share some highlights from the past year.

New Team Members

Sumer said goodbye to our longtime Project Manager Brittany Urbach in December, and Copywriter Melody Brooks in March.  But we welcomed three new team members around the same time. Copywriter Brenna Lemieux joined our forces in October, Account Manager Jess Smith came aboard in November, and Copywriter Callie Smith joined the team in March.

A meet and greet for the newest member of our duck squad, Sir Kiwi!

More recently, we received a 2 thank-you gifts from our new clients based in New Zealand. Turns out that Kiwi hospitality involves sending 15-pound gummy bears to your business partners—which is fine with the Sumer team. And Kiwi’s share a love of all things rubber duckies and sent us our newest addition to our collection. We call him Sir Kiwi!

Needless to say, the energy level is higher than ever at the Sumer headquarters, thanks to our awesome team and our fabulous clients. (And, of course, with the help of our office manager, Mama Mia, and her sidekick, Harleigh.)

Rocking Events around the USA (And the World!)

Jess and I having a ball at our swanky booth!

Michelle, our fearless leader, traveled the country for Sumer this year, sponsoring David Neagle’s Breaking Free Live Experience in Salt Lake City, attending Yanik Silver’s Underground 8 in DC, Infusioncon in Phoenix, and hosting a live and very successful event with colleague Blase Ciabaton in Naples.

In November, to honor Global Entrepreneurship Week, Michelle co-hosted a global telesummit through Billions without Borders with the lovely and talented Naomi Estment. With the support of Endeavor South Africa, the event attracted business gurus and thought leaders including Tim Goodenough, Tracey Webster, and Malik Fal, and provided inspiration and guidance to entrepreneurs around the world. (Stay tuned for BIG things to come during this years Global Entrepreneurship Week!)

Growing Up

I mean, who could resist a goofy team portrait?

At home in South Carolina, Sumer has done some serious growing and up-leveling. Michelle finally has her own office space and this past April, the team came together for the planning and strategy bonanza that became known as the first-ever Sumerapalooza. We spent the weekend planning, dining, bonding, and having way too much fun. (People keep asking about the fun we had. All we’re saying is that Brenna is a sucker for a good dance party and that Michelle can out-party the entire team.)

As of now, Sumer is in the process of revamping our brand and preparing to further expand on a global level. Watch out world, here we come!

We’re happy that you’ve been a part of the Sumer journey—please share your favorite Sumer memories from the past year with us below!

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