Effective Copywriting

Whether you’re a small-business owner, a medium-size business owner, an eBay seller, or simply trying to break into the copywriting industry, understanding the fundamentals of writing sales-oriented copy and put you on a path to success.

At its core, copywriting is another device in a business’ marketing toolbox. Well-written copy can make or break an ad or marketing piece. With that in mind, copywriting can equate to either well-spent advertising investments or a waste of advertising dollars.

Many people misinterpret the uniqueness of effective copywriting. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard freelance writers say they want to shift from article writing to copywriting as if it’s simply an extension of their existing abilities.

Copywriting does come naturally to some people, but for most, it’s a foreign landscape they do not know how to navigate. Copywriting is about more than writing the hard sell sales letter that many short copywriting courses offer. In fact, I cringe when I see those over-the-top sales letters, which do little more than provide an ugly representation of copywriting, sales and marketing.

Well-crafted copywriting doesn’t need to beat a person over the head. It doesn’t have to drown in bold typeface and capitalization. The message should stand on its own without an overabundance of heavy-handed sales language and design embellishments. I associate many sales letters that are guilty of this technique with a writer who doesn’t truly understand the basic purpose of copywriting. However, successful copywriting can be achieved in 10 easy steps.

1. Exploit your product’s benefits.

The first step of the copywriting outline is the foundation for your advertising campaigns. A benefit is the value of your product to a customer. In other words, a benefit is what the product can do for a customer or how the product can help a customer.

You need to put into words the reasons your product is the best available and better than your competitors’ products based on the added value it provides to your customers. The key to success is for you to fully understand all the benefits of your product. Only then can you ensure that the audience knows them and can relate to them.

2. Exploit your competition’s weaknesses.

To write compelling copy, it is essential that you know what differentiates your product from the competition. Once you know your competitors’ weaknesses, you must make sure your audience knows them and understands why buying your competitors’ products would be a terrible mistake.

Get started by thoroughly researching your competition and understanding what they offer in terms of products and services. Next, list the elements of their offerings that are inferior to your own. Feel free to tear the competition apart but be realistic in your comparisons. You want to be able to support your claims if you are challenged.

3. Know your audience.

Every person in the world is not going to see every ad in the world. Each ad has a specific audience that will see it, and it’s the marketer’s job to find the best placement to ensure the target audience will see it. For example, an ad for skateboards placed in a local senior citizen housing association newsletter is not likely to generate a lot of sales.

In fact, it would be a waste of advertising dollars. The target audience for skateboards is teenagers or young adults. The vast majority of senior citizens do not use skateboards, and it is not a product category in which they typically purchase gifts. Before you buy ad space, make sure you’re spending your money in the right place to get the biggest bang for your buck in terms of exposure and building awareness of your product or service.

First, take the time to research your customers thoroughly. In most businesses, 20 percent of customers are responsible for 80 percent of sales (this is called the 80/20 rule in case you’re curious about the official marketing terminology for this phenomenon). That 20 percent represents your best customer, and your job is to determine who that 20 percent is. Evaluate your customers and put together a demographic profile of your most valuable customer, so you can advertise in the best places to find similar people who are likely prospects.

If you’re a small business owner, you probably don’t have a budget set aside to conduct a thorough research study and analysis of your customer base, so you’ll have to improvise by using your own communication skills and visual investigation. Remember, you’re trying to develop a basic profile of your target customer, not a CIA profile of each individual who buys your product. Do your best with the information you have.

There are many attributes you can use to develop a demographic profile of your customers. Following is a list of examples of traits to help you start your own demographic profiling initiative:

* Gender
* Age
* Ethnicity
* Family Status
* Income
* Occupation
* Interests

4. Communicate W.I.I.F.M. (What’s In It For Me?)

There are a variety of reasons to create an advertisement or marketing piece. Before you write copy for your promotional piece, you need to understand your goals for that piece. What do you want to get in return? The copy you use in each ad or marketing piece will vary based on your goals for that promotion. While this book does not focus on the development of marketing plans and strategies, I will offer some examples of different objectives for ads or marketing pieces that, in turn, will affect the copy you use:

* Communicate a special offer
* Share information and raise awareness
* Generate leads

Your customers need to understand how your product or service is going to help them by making their lives easier, making them feel better, helping them save money, helping them save time, etc. In this step of the copywriting outline, you’ll build on the work you’ve done so far by taking your product’s features, benefits, and differentiators and specifically describing how they directly affect your target audience members’ lives in positive ways. Remember the first tenet of copywriting–your product or service is far less important than its ability to fulfill your customers’ needs.

Answer your target audience’s question “What’s in it for me?” Remember, you’re paying for your ad space and possibly graphic design too. Don’t waste your money by placing an ad with ineffective copy that does not clearly tell your customers what they’ll get by buying your product or service.

Large companies with big advertising and marketing budgets can test snappy, cliché headlines and copy in an attempt to find the best way to catch their target audience’s attention, but small and medium-size business owners typically have limited budgets.

For smaller businesses that only have one chance to communicate their message, copy must be written so the message, including benefits and differentiators, is heard and understood by the target audience. There is no room in a small business owner’s advertising budget to risk not getting that specific message across to the right people every time.

5. Focus on “you,” not “we.”

It is essential that you are aware of how you’re addressing your customers in your copy. To do this, you need to understand pronoun usage. Think back to your school days. Remember your English teacher explaining first person, second person, and third person?

As a refresher, first person (I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours) is the person speaking and second person (you, your, yours) is the person to whom one is speaking. It’s essential that you write copy that speaks to your target audience and not at them–and not about you.

Therefore, the majority of your copy in any ad or marketing piece should be written in the second person. For example, do you prefer copy that says, “Through our first-rate sales department, we can deliver cars within 24 hours” or “You can drive your new car tomorrow”? While the first copy example focuses on the business, the second example focuses on customers and speaks directly to them. It’s more personal, and thus, more effective.

Remember, writing in the second person helps your audience quickly connect the points in your copy to their own lives and allows them to personalize the advertisement or marketing piece. This is how the ad is connected to an individual customer’s own life. By writing your copy so it focuses on the customer rather than yourself, the customer can personalize the ad and product you’re selling and act accordingly.

6. Understand your medium.

As you write your copy, be aware that each different medium where an ad is placed requires a different tone or style. Depending on where you’re placing your ad, the copy you use changes based on the audience who will see the ad. Are you placing your ad in a local newspaper or on a billboard? Are you placing your ad in a woman’s magazine or in a news magazine?

Different media require different copy to most effectively persuade a particular audience to act. Furthermore, different types of marketing pieces require different types of copy. Remember, there are many ways to use copy to promote your business other than traditional advertisements. Use every possible and appropriate opportunity to communicate your marketing messages to your customers.

7. Avoid T.M.I. (Too Much Information)

Never risk losing the attention of your audience by providing too much detail in your copy. Effective copywriting tells your audience what they need to know to act and make a purchase or how to contact you for more information. Extraneous details clutter the minds of your audience, which increases the possibility of them forgetting the most important aspects of your advertisement or marketing program.

Unless you’re advertising a prescription drug, highly technical equipment, or an exceedingly regulated or complicated product, the best rule to follow is K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid). You’re spending a substantial amount of your advertising budget on placing each ad. With each ad, you only receive a small amount of space to get your message across to your audience. Wisely use that pricey real estate to ensure you get the highest return on your investment.

8. Include a call to action.

The goal of any ad or marketing piece is to elicit some kind of response from the audience who sees it. A call to action is the element of copy that tells an audience how you want them to respond to your advertisement or marketing piece. Typically, the call to action creates a sense of urgency around a message and provides instructions on what to do next. For example, a call to action might tell the audience to call the advertiser or visit their store or website.

Including a call to action is by far the most important aspect of effective copywriting. It is essential that you make it easy for your audience to act on your ad or marketing message. You already persuaded them to want your product by following Step 1 through Step 7 of the copywriting outline and by writing influential copy. Now you must make sure your audience can respond easily to your ad and buy your product by compelling them to act.

To start, make sure the sentence structure of your copywriting is in an active rather than passive voice. The reason for this is simple. Copy that you write in the active voice is by definition action-oriented, while copy that you write in the passive voice talks about the action in a remote manner.

To further explain, when you write a sentence in the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb in the sentence. On the other hand, if you write a sentence in the passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action from the verb of the sentence.

The second step in creating an effective call to action in your copy is developing a sense of urgency. Your goal in advertising is to create awareness of your product or service and, ultimately, boost sales. When do you want to do that? Do you want your customers to act tomorrow, next month, or next year?

If you’re spending money on advertising now, you most likely want your customers to act now. If that’s the case, your copy needs to tell them to get off the couch and get into your store now. There are many words and phrases you can add to your copy to create a sense of urgency.

9. C.Y.A. (Cover Your Ass)

While large companies have legal departments that review copy to ensure it does not expose the company to potential problems, smaller companies don’t usually have the budget to seek the opinion of an attorney for each ad they run or marketing piece they print. However, that doesn’t mean small business owners have any less responsibility for producing ads and marketing pieces that are honest and not considered deceptive.

Most small business owners are sole proprietors meaning if they lose a lawsuit, not only can their business assets be used to satisfy a plaintiff’s claim, but their personal assets can be targeted as well. When you’re writing copy, consider if claims that you can’t prove in your copy (or can’t provide appropriate disclaimers for) are worth it once you weigh the risk vs. the potential reward.

Aside from opening yourself up to possible litigation, exaggerating or falsifying claims about your product or your competition is unethical and a bad business practice. If you’re caught in a lie (no matter how small), word will spread quickly, and your reputation could be irreparably damaged. Again, weigh the risk vs. the potential reward before you advertise using claims you can’t prove.

Be careful of using words superlatives such as the examples in the following list:

* Free
* Guaranteed
* Best, lowest, fastest, etc.
* Or your money back
* Risk-free
* No risk
* No purchase necessary
* No cost
* No obligation
* No investment
* 100 percent
* Promise
* No questions asked

10. Proofread.

It is critical that you accurately proofread your copy. One of the quickest ways to lose credibility in advertising is to allow grammatical or spelling errors to appear in your advertisement or marketing pieces. Customers translate carelessness in ads into carelessness in products and service.

They ask themselves, “If this company doesn’t care enough to produce an ad without errors, how likely are they to care about taking care of me?” Professional businesses produce professional quality ads and ad copy, and that means their copy has been proofread again and again and is error free.

It Really Is That Simple
Copywriting is truly easy. If you do your research and prep work, your copy will shine. Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks and learn from your mistakes, but don’t waste your limited advertising budget. By doing the legwork first and thoroughly completing your copywriting outline, you’ll have a working document you can use as a tool to produce all your copywriting projects now and in the future. Spend some time up-front to develop a first rate copywriting outline, and you’ll reap the rewards later with a boost in sales and profits and a higher return in your advertising investments. Now kick some ass.

This article has been excerpted from Kick-Ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps by Susan Gunelius, available from Entrepreneur Press.

Selling Cost vs. Price

I recently finished a keynote presentation for an industry that’s getting hit hard by competitive pricing. Customers want the best price they can get, especially in a difficult economy. So what can you do to keep your price at a number that covers your cost and maintains your profit margin, without discounting?

I have two options for you: Walk away from the customers who don’t see the added value you provide, or figure out a way to communicate your key differentiators that warrant the additional investment.

Believe me, I’ve seen my share of customers who have wasted the salesperson’s time and energy - the salesperson would have been much better off moving on to more qualified prospects. But there are customers worth working with, whom you can help understand the difference between price and cost.

Price is what they pay for the product or service; cost is what the investment is over the lifetime of doing business. Can you help your customers grow their business in a way they never thought possible? Have you ever solved a critical problem for a customer where the end result was a lot of time and money saved?

On the other hand, if I’m spending money on promotional materials, and they’re delivered late for a conference date or don’t communicate the message that helps me achieve my goals, how much am I really losing? My time, my customers’ time, lost opportunities–you get the point.

I asked the group during my presentation, “How many of you have had customers leave because of price but come back because the level of service they received from others was not what they got from you?” Eighty percent raised their hands.

So I told the 80 percent who raised their hands to ask those clients why they left for a better price and why they came back for better service. You can use this feedback when confronted with price objections. Also, find out what else they gained from spending a little more money with you–what are the long-term effects of doing business with you, and how does that offset the initial investment?

If price is one of your advantages, that’s great. But remember, you need something that keeps the competition away and secures your relationships for the future. I remember seeing this statement above a local printer’s office:

1. Price
2. Service
3. Quality

(Please pick two)
If you choose to lower your price, something else may suffer. No matter how tough the market gets, you’ll have to stick to your principles to sell the value that differentiates you from your competition.

Barry Farber is rated as one of the top speakers of the year by Successful Meetings Magazine and is the bestselling author of 11 books on sales, management and personal achievement. He is also a black-belt weapons expert and a regular on QVC as the marketer and co-inventor of innovative products.

Kerja susah vs kerja mudah

Mengapa hanya terdapat 2% sahaja mereka yang berpendapatan tertinggi sahaja dalam industri masing-masing?

Jawapan: Kerana mereka yang top 2% ini sanggup melakukan perkara-perkara yang susah manakala selebihnya 98% hanya suka melakukan perkara-perkara yang mudah sahaja.

Sebagai contoh, usahawan-usahawan top 2% yang berjaya sanggup melakukan perkara-perkara yang dikira susah seperti melakukan promosi setiap hari, sering mencari contacts dan membuat network yang penting setiap minggu, dan melakukan perancangan dan strategi yang produktif perniagaan baru setiap bulan.

Manakala mereka yang bottom 98% pula hanya suka melakukan perkara-perkara mudah seperti tidak melakukan promosi, tidak menghadiri majlis-majlis network kerana tiada masa, dan hanya menjalankan strategi yang sama dalam perniagaan seperti 2-3 tahun yang lepas (tidak ubah).

Bagi mereka yang top 2%, kerja-kerja tersebut memang susah. Tetapi mereka lakukan juga.

Bagi mereka yang bottom 98%, mereka tak sanggup melakukannya.

Apa kata lepas ni, kita senaraikan perkara-perkara yang susah yang sebelum ini kita sering abaikan. Dan, kemudian… lakukannya juga!

Irfan Khairi

It must be based on technical and tactical implementations

GRANTED, these are trying times. The global financial crisis, by any other name, would sound as bleak. Chin up, for there is still hope. In this period of economic despair, how would you like to improve your profits?

Against the tide of popular opinion, this is indeed possible. First, begin by training your focus on critical aspects such as quality and speed of delivery, and customer service.

Then, ensure profitable products are sold to profitable customers and recognise the need to identify and implement value creation in all processes.

Simple enough? Hardly. Did you know, 20%-35% of your organisation’s total costs are represented by work for which the customer derives little or no benefit?

The key imperatives to improve profits are: improve work efficiency and not merely reducing payroll; sell profitable products and services and find and retain profitable customers.

At the first sign of problems, you would most likely seek swift, corrective action which will help cut certain costs in the short term (“quick fix”).

But beware, lean and mean is not necessarily effective in the long term, because it attempts to reduce costs by reducing payroll, but it does not reduce the work that needs to be done to make and sell products.

While cutting payroll, but not work, is a popular approach to traditional cost reduction, it causes an immediate decrease in costs that is usually followed by an increase thereafter because the work still needs to be done (more costly in the long-term).

However, there are short-term quick fixes which can be effective. These may include setting much tougher budgets and “stretched” targets, demand higher returns on all assets and negotiating with suppliers by tightening competitive quotation procedures.

Let’s turn our attention to restructuring. Restructuring reduces the scale of operations to realign costs with lower (more realistic) levels of sales and margins:

• Cutting unprofitable markets, product lines and business units;
• Cutting management layers and driving managers harder by offering large bonuses based on the achievement of more aggressive targets;
• Stripping the business back to its core activities and selling off or outsourcing the rest; and
• Combining forces with other companies (for example: acquisitions, mergers and strategic partnerships) and looking for substantial cost savings.

However, in spite of all these measures, restructuring programmes do not address long-term strategies.

Generally, accounting systems are not designed to consider added value and this places managers in a quandary – they don’t know which costs to control.

You must re-analyse budgets to factor in the costs of work done. This would show the costs of activities which add value for the customer and costs of unnecessary work.

You must trim unnecessary cost components which are not adding value to the organisation. A large sales volume does not necessarily mean a large profit, as one retailer, Wal Mart, discovered from past experience.

Wal Mart’s pride was stocking extensive lines of merchandise. Each year, sales volume increased. This increase was attributed to good merchandise which Wal Mart felt took care of the steady rise in expenses.

But Wal Mart began to have doubts when it found it necessary to get bank financing more often than had been the practice. When the problem was discussed with its banker, Wal Mart was advised to check expenses.

As the banker said, “A large and increasing sales volume often creates the appearance of prosperity while indirect expenses are eroding the profit.”

As organisations review their competitive strategies, they are increasingly looking to consolidate core competencies and place non-core activities in the hands of external suppliers and service providers.

This in turn leads to the employment of large numbers of subcontractors who are extremely costly to manage and internal departments which are less efficient.

Cost savings are not always what they appear to be. The implication of such “hidden traps” is that you must make sure the outsourcing contract covers the whole process and does not simply replace the department’s budgetary costs.

In short, an effective management control system is a system that links market-based strategies with operations. The components are as follows:

• Externally focused with market-driven targets;
• Strategy deployment driving direction and improvement;
• Focus on the outputs and effectiveness of processes and activities;
• Resource planning based on rational cost:value relationships of activities;
• A relevant set of performance measures;
• Simplified, flexible and responsive structures;
• Communications, teamwork and involvement; and
• Motivation based.

Improving profits must be based on the approach of an organised programme consisting of technical and tactical implementations.

The former has been broadly outlined and discussed in terms of value adding and operational efficiency. The latter involves up skilling, training and most importantly the development of the “human assets” in line with the new direction of managing business.

Stephen Seah - The Star

Penampilan dan keyakinan

Bila menjalankan perniagaan perkhidmatan, perhubungan pertama (first contact) adalah penting. Dan waktu paling penting sekali adalah minit pertama pertemuan dengan bakal pelanggan. Bak kata Mat Salleh…

First impression lasts forever

Di sini lah penampilan & keyakinan kita memainkan peranan penting.

Penampilan:

Bagi mereka yang “kureng” sikit bab-bab dressing (macam saya, nasihat saya, dapatkan majalah-majalah lifestyle yang berada di pasaran. Bagi lelaki, majalah MASKULIN is good dan bagi wanita, majalah NUR is good too. Keduanya mempunyai sisipan grooming & fashion. So, ini yang anda perlukan untuk memperbaiki penampilan diri anda.

Bakal pelanggan akan lebih yakin dengan penampilan yang lebih menarik oleh kerana first impression lasts forever!

Keyakinan:

Di sini, malu-malu kucing takkan menjadi. So, kena buang perasaan malu tu dan ctunjukkan keyakinan diri. Sekiranya anda “kureng” bab keyakinan berdepan dengan pelanggan, nasihat saya adalah untuk anda rajin practice.

Practice di hadapan cermin apa yang anda hendak katakan pada pertemuan pertama. Sediakan beberapa “skrip” yang berkaitan dengan keadaan. Practice bercakap… practice senyum di cermin. Kalau anda malu practice bersendirian dihadapan diri anda… apatah lagi hendak berdepan dengan orang bukan?

Dengan penampilan & keyakinan yang tinggi, pastinya kita akan memberi good first impression kepada prospek kita. Dan lebih dekat prospek itu akan menjadi pelanggan.

Irfan Khairi

Tip menulis iklan yang berkesan

Bila kita buat bisnes, pengiklanan merupakan satu kemestian. Iklan memperkenalkan bisnes kita, produk kita atau perkhidmatan kita kepada orang ramai supaya mereka membelinya.

Biasanya penulis iklan atau copywriter menggunakan formula A-I-D-A dalam mencipta sesuatu iklan yang berjaya. Berikut adalah apa yang dimaksudkan dengan A-I-D-A.

• A - Attention: Menarik Perhatian
  Mula-mula iklan anda perlulah menarik perhatian. Jika iklan berbentuk poster, biasanya gambar yang hebat sudah pasti lebih mudah menarik perhatian. Bagaimanapun jika ianya teks, maka tajuk iklan anda adalah kuncinya. Tajuk anda perlulah tepat kepada point. Nyatakan apa produk atau perkhidmatan yang anda tawarkan. Jika anda mahu memberi sedikit gambaran tentangnya di dalam tajuk, pastikan ia ringkas dan padat.
• I - Interest: Menarik Minat
  Selepas iklan anda menarik perhatian orang, ia mestilah menarik minat mereka kepada produk atau perkhidmatan anda. Harga merupakan satu perkara penting dalam hal ini. Orang perlu tahu berapa mereka harus bayar untuk produk atau perkhidmatan yang anda tawarkan. Selain itu anda boleh juga jelaskan ciri-ciri, kelebihan atau kebaikan produk atau perkhidmatan anda dan mengapa ia diperlukan.
• D - Desire: Menimbulkan Keinginan
  Penjelasan yang baik tentang produk atau perkhidmatan anda akan menimbulkan keinginan orang untuk mendapatkannya dari anda. Meletakkan gambar juga merupakan satu cara berkesan dalam menggalakkan keinginan mereka. Jadi, letaklah gambar di dalam iklan anda.
• A - Action: Memimpin Tindakan
  Selepas anda menarik perhatian orang, menarik minat mereka dan menimbulkan keinginan di hati mereka,  anda perlulah memimpin mereka ke arah tindakan seterusnya iaitu, membeli. Anda perlu  memberitahu mereka bagaimana caranya. Ajak atau beri insentif kepada mereka untuk membuat keputusan pada masa itu juga.

– Admin KakiBisnesDotCom

10 tip internet marketing

Banyak sifoo-sifoo dan mentor internet marketing beri tips, so saya listkan sebahagiannya mengikut pemahaman dan idea saya untuk manfaat bersama. Antaranya ialah 10 tips/petua untuk marketing online yang boleh dipraktikkan dengan efisien:-

1.   Optimumkan kandungan laman web anda
Yang paling utama ialah optimumkan web anda supaya ia mesra SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Ini memudahkan search engine bot membaca isi kandungan laman web seterusnya mengindekskannya dalam halaman SERP. Tiada apa yang lebih menguntungkan segmen marketing internet melainkan web anda di ranking pertama search engine dan menjadi ‘juara mutlak’ berbanding pesaing-pesaing web lain..

2.   Melabur dalam Kempen Paid Search (Pay-Per-Click)
Bagi mereka yang inginkan hasil yang pantas boleh gunakan servis PPC seperti Google Adwords dalam mempromosikan web atau produk di internet.

3.   Hebahkan laman web anda melalui Pemasaran Artikel
Artikel boleh meningkatkan kredibiliti dan reputasi anda. Oleh itu buatlah apa-apa artikel yang bermanfaat dan sebarkan dalam pelbagai laman web yang turut serta dalam tu link dan credit ke laman web anda sebagai rujukan. Ia dapat mewujudkan backlinks yang baik.

4.   Bangunkan Strategi Pemasaran Melalui Media Sosial
Media sosial seperti Myspace, Friendster, Facebook malah social bookmarking seperti Digg, Reddit, Technorati dan sebagainya antara elemen ‘viral marketing’ yang boleh meningkatkan kehadiran online bisnes anda di internet.

5.   Bangunkan blog perniagaan
Ia membolehkan anda “keep-in-touch” dengan peminat, pelanggan malah bakal prospek dengan lebih baik. Blog syarikat untuk mewar-warkan pelbagai agenda dan peristiwa menarik kepada umum seterusnya meningkatkan imej syarikat.

6.   Cubalah pemasaran melalui Video
Contoh seperti youtube traffic juga menjadi pilihan orang ramai hari ini memandangkan semua sudah ada rangkaian internet yang lebih pantas. Oleh itu video marketing membolehkan anda menyampaikan mesej dengan lebih tepat dan pantas serta tampak lebih menarik berbanding website yang mempunyai teks panjang berjela..

7.   Permudahkan pengunjung melalui Widget di laman web anda
Contohnya macam Flickr photo yang boleh diletakkan di tepi sidebar blog, atau kod waktu solat untuk kawasan semenanjung malah turut boleh meletakkan rss feed web lain ke dalam web anda sebagai menambah ‘penyeri’ dan menjadikan web anda berinformasi. Ada banyak widget boleh dapat sehinggalah pemain MP3 seperti yang ada di www.widgetslab.com

8.   Teroka manfaat pemasaran media mudah-alih
Gabungkan servis sms phone melalui web anda. Contohnya orang mahu membuat tempahan segera tanpa perlu guna email boleh guna kod sms seperti yang sedia ada di TV, radio, akademi fantasia dan semuanya. Saya tertarik dengan idea Irwan dahnil yang popular di http://akademisms.com. Ia membolehkan kita ‘expand’ bisnes strategi melalui handphone memandangkan semua orang kini sudah memiliki handphone berbanding internet.

9.   Cipta strategi pemasaran melalui email yang berkesan
Pergunakan kemudahan premium autoresponder yang berkualiti seperti Aweber, Getresponse dan sebagainya penting untuk jangka masa panjang berbanding buat guna script autoresponder di server hosting domain anda. Ini adalah kerana premium autoresponder lebih menyakinkan dari segi deliveribility dan tidak masuk ke dalam spambox email subscriber anda. Bayangkan anda ada 10 ribu subscriber tetapi hanya 20% yang masuk inbox itu sudah tentu mengecewakan anda. Sbb itu tahap premium autoresponder perlu difikirkan utk masa panjang kerana ia dapat monitor statistik berapa orang yang klik dan berapa banyak yang respon.. Ini kerana duit ada di dalam list email yang anda kumpul. Semua itu adalah aset yang paling penting.

10. Pemasaran Offline + Online
Teknik terakhir ini adalah fasa penting yang mana tidak harus diketepikan sama sekali.. Bagi saya gabungan kombinasi offline + online marketing akan menambah ‘attention’ orang ramai tentang kewujudan anda di samping meraih populariti yang lebih baik. Contoh paling mudah offline marketing adalah business card. Ia tampak kecil tapi hasilnya cukup berkesan. Saya selalu edarkan business card pada kengkawan masa masih belajar di universiti. Apabila mereka sudah bekerja, syarikat mereka menganugerahkan banyak projek website tanpa disangka-sangka. So hanya sekeping business card kecil akan meledakkan ribuan ringgit dalam akaun bank anda!

Rahsiaebiz

5 ciri utama yang patut ada pada sesebuah blog perniagaan/bisnes

Pada kali ini saya cuba untuk berkongsi dengan anda 5 ciri utama yang patut ada pada sesebuah blog perniagaan/bisnes anda.

Secara asasnya, jika blog bisnes anda tidak mempunyai ciri-ciri seperti yang akan saya sebutkan nanti, maka itu bermakna blog bisnes anda masih lagi belum cukup sempurna dan berkemungkinan akan gagal untuk menyokong objektif atau tujuan perniagaan anda.

1. Informasi Asas Perniagaan Anda

Ini adalah yang terpenting untuk sesebuah blog bisnes. Kebanyakan blog yang saya lihat adalah tidak dapat atau gagal untuk menyampaikan kepada pembaca/prospek mengenai perkara paling asas apakah tujuan/objektif bisnes mereka.

-Apakah bisnes tersebut
-Apakah yg dilakukan oleh bisnes anda
-Siapa yg menjalankannya & Untuk apa
-Di mana bisnes anda beroperasi (untuk perniagaan fizikal)

Bayangkan prospek anda adalah seseorang yang tidak tahu langsung mengenai anda, perniagaan anda, tujuan perniagaan anda- mereka betul-betul tiada idea. Tulislah sepertimana anda berada di pihak pembaca/prospek anda.

2. Halaman ‘Contact Page’ Yang Jelas & Berfungsi

Adakah anda mahu blog bisnes anda sebetulnya dapat menarik sebanyak mungkin prospek? Jika begitu, anda perlulah membantu prospek anda supaya mereka mudah untuk hubungi anda. Bagaimana?

Begini saja, jika anda menggunakan Wordpress: dapatkan Cforms plugin untuk Wordpress anda. Dengan pilihan layout & design yg profesional, sudah pasti ini akan meningkatkan lagi tahap kualiti blog bisnes anda. Jika anda sendiri sukar untuk dihubungi, bagaimana pelanggan anda mahu ‘menyerahkan’ wang mereka pada anda?

3. Halaman Produk & Servis Yang Jelas

Beritahu apa yang anda tawarkan atau jual. Jangan biarkan prospek anda meneka apa yang anda tawarkan. Jika anda biarkan mereka berfikir sendiri, maka mereka akan pergi begitu sahaja.

Tetapi anda perlu ingat, halaman produk/servis anda inilah yang amat penting sekali antara bahagian-bahagian lain dalam blog bisnes anda. Anda memerlukan halaman produk yang dapat menjana jualan bukan? Maka jika anda tidak dapat menghasilkan sendiri ’sales letter’ anda, upahlah sesiapa saja yang dapat membantu anda kerana ini amat penting untuk anda memiliki ’sales page’ yang dapat menjana kepada jualan.

4. Satu Halaman ‘Mengenai Kami’ Yang Hebat

Halaman ini boleh diibaratkan sebagai senjata rahsia anda. Tahu kenapa? Kebanyakan orang ramai akan menganggap inilah bahagian yang biasanya mempunyai informasi  ‘direct’ kepada pembacanya. Dapatkan keyakinan prospek/pembaca anda melalui halaman ini!

5. Bahagian RSS & ‘Email Subscription’ yang jelas

Ingin mendapat prospek/pembaca yg setia? Sudah semestinya tidak pada permulaan perjalanan blog bisnes anda bukan? Tapi apa yg dapat anda usahakan adalah, bahagian RSS & ‘Email Subscription’ yang jelas. Supaya prospek pembaca anda dapat ’subscribe’, melawat semula blog anda, mendapat update melalui email dan sebagainya. Sekali mereka tertarik dengan teknik dan cara komunikasi anda, maka tidak mustahil untuk mereka menekan ‘BUY NOW’ button di halaman produk jualan anda.

Tetapi perkara-perkara tersebut tidak akan berlaku sehinggalah mereka rasa mereka boleh mempercayai anda. Menarik pembaca/prospek anda membaca blog bisnes anda adalah bukan semata-mata membaca. Akan tetapi ia juga melibatkan kepercayaan. Jadi, apa yang anda nantikan lagi, berikan kemudahan kpd pembaca anda untuk terus menerus mempercayai anda dengan menggunakan fungsi ‘RSS Email Subscription’.

Sekarang anda sudah tidak mempunyai sebarang alasan lagi untuk tidak mempunyai sebuah blog perniagaan yang hebat. Hanya ikuti 5 langkah mudah yang telah dijelaskan ini kerana ianya tidaklah begitu sukar untuk dilakukan. Lakukannya hari ini untuk masa depan bisnes anda.

Ingat: Bisnes anda adalah untuk keuntungan, bukannya untuk mendapat kerugian! Tetapi, untuk itu: usaha amatlah diperlukan!

Apa pandangan anda?

Jomkongsi

Daftar perniagaan secara online, segalanya hanya di hujung jari…

Tips kali ini yang ingin saya kongsikan adalah Pendaftaran Perniagaan Internet atau Offline anda yang dapat dilakukan secara online. Ianya begitu mudah dan hanya perlu anda lakukan dengan komputer peribadi anda atau laptop anda! Tidak perlu lagi bersusah payah menunggu nombor giliran anda di panggil atau mengeluarkan sedikit belanja untuk mengupah agen lain.

Ini telah saya perakui benar kerana hari ini saya sendiri telah berjaya mendaftarkan nama perniagaan saya untuk kali kedua. Pertama, perniagaan saya telah didaftarkan pada kira-kira 5 tahun dulu iaitu semasa saya menjalankan perniagaan secara offline. Kini, perniagaan kedua saya telah saya daftarkan secara online sahaja! Amat mudah!

Segalanya bermula kerana semasa saya pulang bercuti tempohari saya tidak sempat untuk mendaftarkan perniagaan saya kerana kesuntukan masa. Lantas saya terus bertanya adakah mereka menerima pendaftaran secara online? Jawapan positif saya terima dan terus saya beredar dan mendapatkan kertas panduan yang ada.

Berikut saya kongsikan maklumat dari kertas panduan tersebut yang telah saya oleh sedikit isi kandungannya tanpa mengubah panduan penting :

LANGKAH-LANGKAH MENGGUNAKAN E-LODGEMENT PENDAFTARAN PERNIAGAAN :

1. Anda di kehendaki mempunyai alamat e-mel. Mudah bukan? Semua orang ada alamat e-mel.

2. Anda di kehendaki mendaftar sebagai ahli di portal mygovernment : www.gov.my Terus terang saya nyatakan jika anda mendaftar di waktu hari bekerja amat mudah kerana dalam beberapa minit saja nama anda telah didaftarkan.

3. Seterusnya mendaftar sebagai ‘SSM Subscriber Registration’ sekiranya hendak mengerahkan borang pendaftaran: www.gov.my . Di sana anda akan di tunjukkan link ke website www.ssm.com.my untuk tujuan pendaftaran sebagai ‘SSM Subscriber’. Sila pilih icon e-lodgement atau klik di sini http://www.ssm.com.my/perkhidmatan_eLodgement.php

4. Bayaran boleh di buat secara kad kredit, debit langsung dan pre paid. Bagi bayaran secara debit langsung anda hendaklah mempunyai akaun di salah satu bank berikut : MAYBANK / BANK ISLAM / HONG LEONG / PUBLIC BANK DAN CIMB. Tiada bayaran tambahan bagi urusniaga yang dibuat.

Jika melibatkan bayaran secara prabayar (prepaid) sila daftar di Kaunter SSM Tingkat 2 atau Tingkat 13. (Langkah 1 dan 2 di atas mesti di patuhi terlebih dahulu)

Bayaran minima permulaan ialah RM 70.00 (untuk urusan yang berkaitan dengan pendaftaran perniagaan).

5. Sila ikuti arahan yang tertera di skrin mengikut transaksi yang di kehendaki bagi Pendaftaran Perniagaan secara online iaitu:

* Carian Nama (Borang PNA 42)
* Pendaftaran Baru (Borang A)
* Pendaftaran Perubahan (Borang B1, B2, B3 dan B4)
* Pembaharuan Perniagaan (Broang A1)
* Penamatan Perniagaan (Borang C)

6. Notis memaklumkan pendaftaran perniagaan akan dimaklumkan menerusi e-mel. Memang benar setelah urusan pencarian nama selesai dalam tempoh tidak sampai 12 jam (sebab saya daftar diwaktu malam) keesokan harinya perncarian nama saya telah berjaya dan diluluskan. Seterusnya dalam tempoh 1 jam urusan Pendaftaran Perniagaan secara online saya telah selesai dan berjaya! Semuanya hanya berhubung melalui e-mel! Transaksi secara online dari Jepun!

7. Seterusnya perkhidmatan bagi mendapatkan cetakan maklumat perniagaan boleh anda perolehi menerusi e-Info dengan melayari semula laman web www.ssm.com.my atau terus ke Kaunter No 3 dan 4 di Tingkat 13, Suruhanya Syarikat malaysia, The Mall. Ketika ini saya hanya perlu membuat cetak Pendaftaran Perniagaan saya di atas kertas A4. Kelak apabila saya kembali ke tanahair, insyaallah salinan asal akan saya perolehi dan bolehlah dipaparkan di dinding di depan komputer peribadi saya! Insyaallah.

Jadi, anda bagaimana pula? Sudah mengambil keputusan untuk mendaftarkan perniagaan internet anda? Nah semuanya hanya di hujung jari….

Wanitaniaga

Menjadi perniagaan pertama atau pioneer tidak menjanjikan kejayaan

Pastinya anda pernah dengar mengenai PERNIAGAAN PERTAMA di pasaran akan mendapat perhatian orang ramai dan mendapat pelanggan yang lebih ramai.

• Seperti Coca-cola menjadi perhatian kerana merupakan air karbonat pertama
• Seperti Colgate menjadi pilihan kerana merupakan ubat gigi pertama
• Seperti IK mendapat perhatian kerana merupakan pakar perniagaan Internet pertama
• Seperti Dato Dr Fadzilah kamsah menjadi pilihan kerana seroang motivator pertama

Tetapi, sejauh manakah ini betul? Betul ke kalau kita merupakan perniagaan pertama sekali, pastinya ramai yang akan memberi perhatian? Sejauh manakah point di atas ni betul? Kerana…

• Coca-cola bukanlah soft drink pertama!
• Colgate bukanlah ubat gigi pertama di pasaran!
• IK semestinya bukan Internet Marketer mula-mula sekali di Malaysia!
• Sama juga my sifu Dato Dr Fadzilah Kamsah pun bukan motivator yang pertama!

Sebenarnya, perniagaan pertama, atau lebih dikenali sebagai “Pioneer” TIDAK menjanjikan perniagaan kita akan jadi top, dan menjadi pilihan.

Apa yang patut di ambil kira adalah perniagaan yang PERTAMA MENDOMINASI FIKIRAN ORANG RAMAI.

Jadi, tak semestinya sekiranya anda THE FIRST business. Ataupun PIONEER. Ataupun the FIRST COMER. Ia tidak menjanjikan sebarang keuntungan perniagaan.

Strategi yang sebenar adalah untuk menjadi pertama mendominasikan fikiran orang ramai dengan mesej perniagaan anda. Menjadi perniagaan pertama di pasaran akan memberi peluang yang lebih luas untuk melakukan ini. Tetapi, sekiranya tidak dilakukan dengan baik… nanti pesaing kedua… ketiga… keempat… atau kelima pula yang akan dominasikan fikiran pengguna.

Irfan Khairi