Content marketing

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A bridge for your prospects

In this post I get to interview Value Proposition and Marketing Message Development Expert, Peter Sandeen.

That’s quite the title! But as you get to know Peter, the way he describes his work makes more and more sense.

And while I’ve known some of the people I interview here for 20 plus years, I have known Peter for about 20 days and counting.

Why the interview? Because after spending a little while on his website, and talking with him on the phone, I felt we shared a lot of common ground when it comes to our views on marketing.

That was enough to make me want to do this interview.

Let’s get started.

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Ann Handley in conversation

In this post I get to interview best-selling author and Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, Ann Handley.

I’ve known Ann for over 20 years, ever since she first invited me to write for ClickZ, a website she co-founded with Andy Bourland back in 1997.

Through working with her and reading her books, I know we agree on most things when it comes to writing for the web.

That’s all very nice, but could also be a problem. Mutual appreciation interviews can get really boring, really fast.

So… I thought a little harder and came up with a slightly non-obvious line of questioning.

I don’t know what Ann’s answers will be. But I’m really looking forward to finding out.

Let’s get started.

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Recently I published a survey with some open-ended questions about Conversational Copywriting.

In particular, I wanted to know how I was doing.

Was I doing a decent job of explaining what Conversational Copywriting is all about?

These were open-ended questions, inviting people to say whatever they wanted.

Even so, one request came in as a strong number one…

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Does it make a difference whether companies are liked or disliked, loved or loathed?

Intuitively, I think we all know the answer to that.

Yes, we are more likely to buy from a business if we like it. And less likely if we don’t.

If you’re a copywriter you already know that people’s buying decisions are heavily influenced by their emotions. People buy with their hearts, not with their brains.

There is also plenty of objective data to support the claim that emotions do the heavy lifting when driving sales.

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Differentiate yourself as a conversational copywriter

Hundreds of copywriters have now completed the conversational copywriting course.

And now I’m seeing how some of these writers are repositioning themselves as conversational copywriters.

Smart move.

This is a powerful way to set yourself apart from the crowd.

There are tens of thousands of competing freelance copywriters out there, all of them looking for work, all making much the same claims.

When you stand up, raise a hand and explicitly tell the world you’re a conversational copywriter, that sets you apart and shines a spotlight on your message.

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Closed and open headlines

Earlier this week I was doing a livestream Q&A session with students of the Conversational Copywriting course.

I think I handled most of the questions reasonably well. A question would come in and I’d dive in with my answer.

And then someone asked me about how to write conversational headlines, and I started doing a lip-flapping fish imitation. And yes, it mattered, because I was on live video!

Anyway, I had no answer but said I’d think about it and report back.

Consider this my report.

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