This may come as a surprise to many but I’m a Gen Y (don’t hold it against me) and the last thing you would expect to hear from a Gen Y person is criticism of Social Media. But I’m not your typical Gen Y person

Social Media has made us lazy… It’s removed the confidence of many people… It’s changed how we live our lives every day… It’s caused many problems in peoples lives, but also brought many closer together.

Like anything, it has it’s pro’s and con’s…

I know there are some Social Media Fanatics who when reading this will take offense and want to defend it. But let me say, I’m not taking a shot at you… I’m revealing a problem that faces us today (especially in business)

We can’t eat, go shopping or sleep without letting someone else know. Facebook has turned many into attention seeking madmen who can’t make a decision without getting validation from the 3000+ friends they have (of which they probably only speak to 30)

With more than 200 commonly used Social Networking sites available today it’s quite obvious that Social Media & Networking sites are here to stay. That’s OK, but what damage is it causing…

From a business perspective… I see many who use Facebook for their business. Some go about it the right way and some are way off track in their marketing message.

Business owners have become lazy… What do I see?

• Plugging your product on Facebook every day to your whole list (assuming they want to know about it)
• Tagging yourself in other peoples posts and giving yourself a plug at the same time (some call this strategic marketing) but when done poorly is just rude!
• Losing touch with your prospects or clients emotions

My point is this!

The heart has gone out of business. It’s not about how many friends you have, how many likes you have, how many people follow you on twitter or other sites…

There was once a time when you could honestly say ‘I have good friends, best friends etc

But the true value and meaning of friendships has been lost. No longer are clients and prospects treated with honour, respect and compassion. Instead we dream up a product and then ‘do the hard sell’ to our thousands of people on our mailing list or fan page.

The quality and true nature of relationships is going. The heart of business is weakening…

People make decisions based on emotion.

Are your marketing efforts truly addressing the emotions of each individual prospect or client… Or are you doing the ’1 size fits all’ approach just to make money!

Josh

We are bombarded every day with thousands of marketing messages. All you have to do is open your eyes and you’ll soon see advertisements for the latest ‘Fat Loss‘ product, ‘Internet Business‘ or ‘Fast Food‘!

But how many of the marketing messages that you see do you remember? 1,2,5 or 0!

The main reason we don’t remember is because the ads don’t ‘Bond‘ with us. They don’t connect to our emotional state so therefore they don’t get our attention. Do you want to know why most ads today don’t produce great results?

Empathy!

Whoever created the ad didn’t do enough of the right research into his/her market. The Ad didn’t target the real emotion that lies deep within all of us. If you research your market and gain a full understanding of the problems they face and the emotion attached to those problems, your ability to craft a powerful marketing message becomes a lot easier.

Take ‘Fat Loss‘ for example. What are some emotional states of people who are overweight?

• Anger
• Frustration
• Depression
• Sadness

And the problems an overweight person experiences… Poor sleep, No sex life, No energy, Low confidence & self esteem and the list goes on. Imagine yourself in this person shoes…

‘Once you can truly understand the emotional state of your market, only then should you attempt at creating some marketing material‘.

Here’s another example… I recently had Glandular Fever (i’m still recovering from it). Now before I contracted this virus, I always thought it was similar to the Flu. But how wrong was I… If someone asked me to write some marketing material for a ‘Glandular Fever‘ product a month ago, my copy would have been average compared to if I wrote it now!

In the past when someone I knew had Glandular Fever, I wouldn’t think to much of it. But now… How my eyes were opened!

I went from a very active lifestyle filled with energy and doing what I want when I want, to feeling like an overweight person who’s just been hit by a freight train.

• No Energy
• Visiting the doctor 6 times in 2 weeks (Normally it’s twice a year for me)
• Fever/High Temperature for 10 days straight
• No Sleep
• Eating felt like I was swallowing razor blades
• I couldn’t exercise, just had to rest (This was the biggest challenge for me)
• And people needed to take care of me (not something I’m used to)

If someone created a cure for Glandular Fever, I would be the best man to write the marketing material for it!

Now I’m not saying that you need to experience first hand what your market experiences so that you can create Profit Producing Marketing Material. I’m just saying that you need to ‘dig deeper’ and uncover the true emotional feelings and problems your market goes through

• What’s their day like? Boring, Lonely, Quiet, Long!
• How do they feel physically and mentally? I felt drained.. I struggled climbing stairs I usually run up!
• What do they want more than anything else? I just wanted to go surfing, but I couldn’t!

When you truly understand your market, you can empathise with them. Only when you have Empathy should you create marketing & sales material.

Empathy is the Key to Your Marketing Success and Ultimately the Profitability of your business!

Josh Zampech

You’d think that after the countless conversations I’ve had with clients, the endless amount of information and free advice handed out to people I’ve met at various functions or events and all the posts here on my site… Surely people are smart enough to realise One is Never Enough!

I better explain what I’m talking about otherwise you’ll think I’ve just decided to write something after getting home from an ‘all night drinking binge’ in surfers paradise!

Recently someone contacted me as they wanted some copy done for their business. Now firstly, what a very intelligent person because they realised that if you want to make money, you have to spend money. Secondly they realised that having an effective marketing campaign is a surefire way to guarantee success! Thirdly they contacted me (very smart person indeed)

But… My opinion of their intelligence soon plummeted as quick as a barrel over Niagara Falls…

Why? He wanted a copy written for a landing/home page for his website. It was his belief that a landing page is all that’s needed to get business and make some good money. Instead of emailing back and forth between each other I decided it would be quicker and easier if I just rang him.

I explained the process to Robert that it’s not just a landing page you need, but so much more. What about having your prospects join your list via an opt in box? But for them to Opt In you would need to give them something of high perceived valued, maybe a Free Report. After they receive the Free Report you’ll want to send them some Emails over the following weeks which entice them to use your services as well as providing good value help and information. And no doubt, you’ll need a Compelling Offer that is as irresistible as a cold beer on a hot Queensland day!

To say Robert was a bit rattled would be an understatement. The information dump he just received gave him a big lesson in marketing 101. He thought he knew it all, that One Item of Marketing or Copy was Enough. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but…

It’s Never Just One

Robert went from thinking he needed just a landing page to now knowing a great way to market his service, build a list and monetize it. What’s required now is Landing Page, Opt In Box, Free Report, 3-5 Emails and the Compelling Offer. And that’s just Stage 1!

That’s right, stage 1… You see it’s never just one. People think that one marketing campaign, 1 Ad or 1 Letterbox drop is enough. 1 IS NEVER ENOUGH

Moral of the Story- One is the most dangerous number, unless it’s the number pinned to your chest because you just won a competition (but even then you’re in danger because your enemies will do anything to knock you off).

One email to your list is not enough to encourage them to buy your product. One post on Facebook or Twitter will be lost amongst the other millions of posts done every day. One style of Ad offline or online is never enough… What ever happened to testing and measuring??

You’d be surprised at what one simple change in your marketing can do to your bank account…

Right, I’m off to develop stage 2 of a marketing campaign for one of my clients. Hopefully you’re going to do the same for your business!

To your health in life and business,

Josh Zampech

Well are you?

Mark Twain once said ‘Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain”.. My question to you is, ‘What are you afraid to do in your life and by not doing it, are you being held back? When it comes to your personal life are you afraid to,

• Express your emotions to the person you love
• Go skydiving
• Take a trip overseas
• Get out of bed in the morning

By overcoming our fears the possibilities in life are increased dramatically.

What about your fears in business? Are you afraid,

• Of your competitors
• To try a different style of marketing
• To invest in the business
• To pay someone else to do something you would normally do

These are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself. You must find out what you’re afraid to do in business. Once you do, if you can then overcome that fear you will see results never seen before. Napoleon Hill (the guy who wrote ‘How to think and grow rich’) said ‘Fears are nothing more than a state of mind’!

And you know what, he’s right!

So I ask again, What are you afraid to do in your business?

In business it’s those who are prepared to take risk and be a little different that have the greatest success! People like Steve Jobs, Ray Kroc, Donald Trump. These guys had dreams and realised that to achieve them they would have to overcome any fear of failure and take some risk. A lot of risk.. At one stage in Donald Trumps career he was over $9 billion dollars in debt and had just lost 3 of his top executives in a helicopter crash.

Did he fear the future? Most likely yes. But what he did next is what separates the average business owners from the hugely successful. You see he got back up and decided that his dream was still worth fighting for, he took some risks (borrowing money, signing over ownership of part of his empire etc) to bounce back and today he has a personal net worth of around $2.9 Billion dollars!

So what’s your excuse?

Have you tried a marketing piece once and then given up because you didn’t get a decent result? Have you delayed getting your business on Social Media because it costs a bit of money and your afraid you wont make it back? Are you afraid to invest in the services of a professional to help you with your business?

What are you afraid of?

If you’ve seen the movie ‘Star Wars’ then you would know who Yoda is and that he is considered to be the wisest of all. Yoda says, ‘Fear is the path to the dark side, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering’…

Which stage are you at; anger, hate or suffering? The dark side for you is business failure!

You must take action, don’t try. Just do!

Josh Zampech

I’m continually amazed by the actions of business owners today. It doesn’t matter whether it’s their fellow staff members, clients or prospects but the focus tends to be on the money and not on the quality and value of the relationship.

Imagine going into the local bank and asking the teller for $1000. Oh I forgot, you don’t have an account with them. The teller kindly replies, ‘sorry sir but if you want to withdraw money from here, you first need to open an account. You stomp your feet and get angry like a five year old who’s just had his candy stolen by another kid. You want some money but you were just told you couldn’t have it.

What the teller is really trying to say is, ‘First you need to establish a relationship with the bank and show that you’re a person worth investing in’.

The same applies to you as a business owner regardless of what business you have. Ask yourself the following question…

Are you trying to get money from your prospects or clients without first establishing a good quality relationship?

You can’t take before you give and your prospects certainly won’t give you money until you’ve built some trust with them. And how do you build trust?

Give your prospects something that they want. It must be relevant and have a high perceived value. Maybe it’s a free report or maybe a voucher. Either way you must first build the relationship with your prospects before trying to sell your product or service to them.

But once you’ve got them as a client, how do you treat them? Do you constantly harass them with emails and phone calls? Do you send them ‘special offers’ every week? Are you coming across as being too salesy?

How much value do you really add to their life?

Are you a friend or a pest?

Relationships are the key to your success. Build them, maintain them and never abuse them…

To your business success,

Josh Zampech

It’s all happening!

The first week of January is nearly finished and so much has happened… I’ve got two businesses of my own that will be launched within the next 2-3 weeks. Not only that but I’ve already had meetings which has resulted in two new clients. So my year has started off literally with a bang and for what is planned it will certainly be ‘The Year to Remember’. But it’s not just me…

Many people I’ve spoken with are filled with more energy than a 13 year old who’s just drank 4 red bulls! To say that some business owners out there have big plans is an understatement so it’s sure to be an amazing year.

What about you? Do you have any big plans for your business in 2012? Will it be a year to remember for you or will it be the same as the previous years. You’ll get by week to week, make enough to pay the bills and at the end of the week you’ll take home the same amount you did the previous week. You won’t take holidays due to financial constraints and lack of competent staff. And you’ll slowly feel the pinch and business will decline because your competitor is smarter than you…

Sounds depressing doesn’t it? But sadly this is what most business owners do every day. Reluctance to change in business will ultimately lead to your doom. Failure to adapt to the ever changing market place is not a wise decision.

How you can not be a statistic this year and avoid financial peril?

You must have realistic goals! You must have a plan to reach those goals! You must employ the right people to help you in achieving those goals! You must seek the right advice from those who know! You must learn from the mistakes of previous years and vow not to repeat them! You must always stay ahead of your competition! You must always be open to change and new ideas!

At the end of the day the success of your business will be determined by the decisions YOU make! Don’t blame the market, the global economic crisis or online retail etc You’re in control and the buck stops with you!

No More Excuses!

Golden tip – Focus on doing what you’re good at and outsource the rest.

If you’re not good at copywriting or marketing, either learn how or pay someone to do it for you. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Pay Once, Cry Once’. Well if you invest in the services of a marketing or copywriting professional you’re guaranteed to get a return the gives you a permanent smile…

Don’t ever think it’s all too much because there are people out there who’ve got it harder than you. If you need help, just ask. To seek help and advice is what smart business owners and entrepreneurs do. The business owners that no longer have a business are the one’s who kept there mouth shut, who didn’t seek advice and thought they could do it all themselves and that everything will be alright.

Learn from there mistakes…

I wish you all the best for this year. May your successes be frequent and financially rewarding.

Josh Zampech