I don’t know about you, but I like to use the end of each year as a time to reframe my business in one way or another.
It’s a time when I try to step back, see what I’ve been doing, and make a few changes.
I dump a few of the things that are no longer working well for me.
And I step forward into new ideas or approaches that I think will serve me better over the year to come.
That’s where my resolutions come in.
An item of sales literature is printed and sits around in a physical form. It can exist for months, years, or even decades.
The photo above shows a Book Society promotional postcard I found while rummaging through some old papers in my mother’s house.
It had been sitting there for about 50 years.
But a conversation, held between two people, or a group of people, is ephemeral.
A conversation takes place only in the present. In the moment. Now.
On the face of it, you might conclude that when you’re selling stuff, permanence is better than being ephemeral.
As far as I can tell, the first person to talk about “mercenaries and missionaries” in the context of business was legendary Silicon Valley investor, John Doerr.
He draws the distinction between these two approaches to business and marketing in several ways.
But the passage that resonates most powerfully with me is this one…
“Mercenaries are motivated by the lust for making money; missionaries, while recognizing the importance of money, are fundamentally driven by the desire to make meaning.”
I love that distinction, simply because it rings so true.
I don’t “do” guest posts on this blog.
Except, in this case, I do.
Cindy Reed was one of the first people to enroll in the Conversational Copywriting course.
And this is the story of her own evolution from traditional copywriting to the conversational alternative.
In Cindy’s own words…
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The real power of conversational copywriting lies in identifying the conversations your prospects really want to have.
All too often it’s the marketer who decides on the topic of the conversation.
“We want to talk about our new product launch.”
“We want our prospects to engage with us in conversation about the amazing services we offer.”
Well… that’s not being truly conversational, is it?
Conversation is as much about listening as it is about talking.
It’s about taking turns.
I’ve added a chatbot to my Facebook page.
We had a conversation…
Chatbot: I’m confused. Where am I? Come to think of it, who or what am I?
Nick: You’re a chatbot. I created you to help me connect with people who might be interested in conversational copywriting.
Chatbot: Ok. Still confused. But… quick question… does this mean I’m like an AI? Am I super-intelligent?
Nick: Afraid not. No AI. No machine learning. Dumb as a post.