We get to see a lot of marketing in the world, both good and bad.

When on the receiving end, we can detect bad marketing quickly — we all have built-in BS detectors — but as marketers there are some fundamentals that you can check for yourself very easily.

It’s almost like predicting the future, without all the crazy talk.

Get the following three crucial elements right or wrong and you can give your marketing a pass or fail, before it’s even started.

Take a look at these three key fundamentals and fix your marketing now.

Get to know your audience

The first pass or fail element is where your focus is placed.

Yes, profit and revenue are important. But if you focus your attention too much on income, you’ll lose the very people you need to get that income coming into your business.

Your job is to serve a market. The market is not there to funnel cash into your bank account.

Chasing dollars just makes you look desperate and out of touch. It forces you to use heavy-handed techniques that burn out your goodwill, and it ruins any authority you might have had.

Instead, you need to get to know your most-wanted customers in detail. Talk to them, understand their challenges, frustrations, needs, and goals. Get into your customer’s and prospect’s heads so you can describe their problems in your copy, maybe even better than they can articulate themselves.

Take a look at my offer page on Authority Blogger and you will see problem bullets, fascinations and benefits.

What’s probably not immediately obvious is that most of those phrases came directly from coaching calls and answering questions in forums.

People will tell you what is keeping them awake at night — and you can use those insights in your messages.

Customers will also tell you what is working and what is not. A surprise for me was when customers told me one of my best case studies was actually putting people off from buying. The person mentioned was seen as “too successful, too fast.” It seemed unachievable for “normal people.”

Find out what proof your prospects need, and then give it to them in the way they want to consume it.

Overwhelm is a real problem with your potential buyer. You have to work to remove the overwhelm where you can.

And at the same time, your customers are not stupid. You need to craft your copy without making it seem you are promising a “Push Button Magic Silver Bullet Foolproof System.”

I chose the case studies and testimonials on my offer page based on customer and prospect feedback. The people mentioned now are doing well, but not so well that it sets the bar too high and puts people off from buying!

Your audience wants compelling results, but they also want to imagine realistically achieving those results. A delicate balance.

This brings us to the next point …

It’s not about what you do, it’s about what they get

How often do you see messages like these?

• “I’m a coach. Hire me.”
• “I’m a speaker. Book me.”
• “Buy my book, it’s a best-seller!”

People don’t want your thing, they want what it will do for them! Communicate what your product or service does for people.

1. What is your true purpose?
2. What is the result, outcome or transformation that you deliver?
3. How does that connect to what your audience is looking for?

It’s not about features. It’s not even about benefits.

The details are there to support the buying decision, but they are not the whole point.

Sonia and I like to use the example inspired by our flights to Australia for the Melbourne Problogger Workshop.

Very few people want to buy fifteen hours in a metal tube, eating lousy food, and spending many hours waiting in line ups or hanging around in painfully uncomfortable plastic chairs in airports.

What are people really buying when they book a flight? They want the outcome, and that is to be at their chosen destination at a certain time because they have a good reason to be there. Despite having to go through the airline experience.

If we could teleport ourselves everywhere in Star Trek style, we would, no matter which features your airline seat entertainment system provides.

How will your customer’s life or business be different after they take the action you are suggesting?

Get that right and you are well ahead of the pack. The rest of your messages need to support that concept in a way that gets the prospect imagining being happily arrived at their destination.

Design campaigns that drive to your desired result

The final element I have seen over and over is people “doing marketing,” rather than planning and rolling out true campaigns.

What’s the difference?

Your marketing needs to be consistent, congruent, and joined up.

This means choosing a goal, having a strategy that drives towards that goal, choosing the appropriate tactics that fit that strategy, and rolling out your marketing according to your plan while measuring your progress to make sure you are achieving your stated goals.

Next time you are about to “do some marketing,” stop and think. At the most simple level, you need to ask yourself why you are doing the activity? What do you hope to get out of it? How will you know if you have?

The art of listening

A lot of the broken marketing we see is based on serving internal desires, being self-referential, or missing what the market really wants. If you open your ears you will be able to discover where you are missing the mark quite quickly.

If you are not getting many shares, comments, subscribers and sales, you know that you have some listening and fixing to do.

Don’t just do things because that is what you see other people doing, or because you heard a popular speaker say you should. You might be “busy” marketing, but it could be at worst you are working against your goals or at best wasting your time. A lot of what we see in social media is narcissism masquerading as branding and promotion.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments …

About the Author: Chris Garrett is VP of Educational Content for Copyblogger Media, a professional blogger, and the founder of Authority Blogger, a course that teaches you how to become the most trusted advisor in your market by turning your blog into the go-to resource. He also blogs at chrisg.com.

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If you want to grab more useful links (than the seven we highlight here) every week, follow @copyblogger on Twitter.

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Stop Waiting to Be Picked

Expanding on Seth Godin’s “pick yourself” advice, Mr. Goins makes a compelling case for today’s writers to stop waiting and start building their own content platform. In this age, if you’re waiting to be picked, you’re playing a game that will, very shortly, no longer exist.

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Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Marketing Weapon

Here’s the deal — the power of storytelling is nearly limitless when it comes to influencing the human mind and soul. It’s how we were built. Facts and figures (excepting a few very specific industries and products) do not sell. Of course, the catch is, how do you tell a great story? You read Mr. Clark’s article here earlier today, didn’t you? That’s a good place to start …

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Neil Patel’s Method for Finding Great Blog Content

Is your company serious about publishing relevant, useful, and high-quality content? If you’ve been around here long enough, you know by now that it should be. But, like anything worthwhile, doing that is a lot harder than saying it. Allow Mr. Patel to help you find the resources you’ll need — if you don’t have the time, money, or energy to do it yourself.

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Three Reasons Why Every Smart Startup is a Digital Media Company

And, if you needed just a little more proof that producing your own media is not only good, but necessary for business online, Mr. Clark lays out three compelling reasons for you in this article for Forbes. Did you really think you’d win the entrepreneurial lottery? Now, you don’t have to …

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9 Books to Help You Read and Write Better

There’s only one title here I haven’t read, How to Write a Sentence by Stanley Fish. Which is odd, considering my obssession with one-liners. Anyway, the others are all worth your time, particularly How to Read a Book by American philosopher Mortimer J. Adler. You’ll never read the same way again …

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Many independent writers seem to have an aversion toward viewing entrepreneurship as a core responsibility of their work. Like it or not, it’s the way things are. But, is giving Amazon or iTunes agency over your future any better than trying to win the big publishing lottery? This brings us right back to the crucial importance of developing your own content platform. Or, as Ms. Trunk expresses it, the [email] list matters more than the advance.

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The Easiest Way to Boost Your Productivity

What’s your professional time worth? How do you feel when you’re not being paid for that time, when you’re just logging hours that will ultimately benefit someone else? The answer to that question — and the useful 2-step process Mr. Dooley provides — will likely make you more productive. Like, right now.

Did you miss anything on Copyblogger this week?

• A Ridiculously Simple Way to Get More Revenue and Build Your Audience
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About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s Copywriter and Resident Recluse.

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I love movies. In fact, movies are what led me into copywriting and eventually to building a successful software company.

Better explain that one, huh?

Back in 1997 when I bolted from the big law firm and moved down to Austin, my plan was to become a screenwriter. Feast or famine, damn the consequences, starving artist type stuff.

Well, instead of writing screenplays, I got caught up in the Web 1.0 boom, and read a lot of books about the film industry in my downtime.

Turns out, being a screenwriter in Hollywood ranks somewhere below “best boy” and “key grip” when it comes to actual influence. Not exactly inspiring.

The only way to have true influence in the film world as a writer is if you are also the director and/or producer. That fact made me realize that I am really an entrepreneur, not a pure writer.

And being an entrepreneur is so much like being a Hollywood writer / director / producer, except you operate in the real world. But often the writing part gets neglected, and that ultimately hurts the business.

I’m not only talking about writing in the content marketing sense. Anyone starting a business is primarily responsible for both the big story and the day-to-day tales, in one way or another. Online, that responsibility is amplified by the benefits that great storytellers enjoy in the social media environment.

Odds are you’re the writer / director / producer of your own business. So here are a few concepts and tips on how to the nail the story — while you’re also directing and producing a profitable business.

I’ve based this loosely on Alex Epstein’s Crafty Screenwriting, and I offer links to a few screenwriting classics down below.

1. Hook

This is the element of a movie and a business that makes it unique. Your USP, your elevator pitch, your remarkable benefit. Without this, the odds for success go way down. Your audience must have a compelling reason to do business with you.

2. Plot

Plot is where the meat of the story takes place. In business, this is where you live your big story. Without a cohesive plot, the movie is a mess, and that’s true for any business as well, online or off.

3. Characters

In these days of the micro-business, you’re definitely the bankable star that needs to carry the flick, but the people you employ and contract with are also characters in your business story. Cast them well.

4. Action

In film, action is what characters do, while dialogue is what they say. In business (especially online), actions speak louder than words when it comes to how you treat your customers and clients. But action in business is more than that — you’ve got to actually implement those big ideas of yours, rather than waiting for someday to come along.

5. Dialogue

While action is key, the dialogue can make or break a film or a business. Thanks to social media, we can now speak and listen to our customers and prospects. Start a real dialogue, listen and respond well, and these “outsiders” become star characters in your story, too.

6. Genre

In film, genre refers to the general audience classification a particular movie falls into. In business this is comparable to your niche. If a film speaks to the wrong genre, it can fail spectacularly. It’s the same in business if you have a great product but you’re speaking to the wrong audience.

7. Rewrite

The magic in any script (and therefore any movie) is not in the first draft, but in the editing. While in business it can be bad to constantly change directions, it’s often the case that your initial story will need tweaking, based both on feedback and changing circumstances. And sometimes, you’ll need to do a total rewrite to stay competitive. The key to that challenging task is to stay ahead of the curve, and proactively modify your story rather than reactively trying to change course to save the ship.

Creating a winning business and writing a winning screenplay are oddly similar tasks. And if you want to learn how to tell better stories and write better copy, you could benefit from learning the craft of screenwriting and applying it to your business and marketing efforts.

If you’re interested in telling great stories, check out these classic screenwriting books:

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee.

Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field.

So here’s to you and your winning business story …

Editor’s Note: This is a Copyblogger Classic post, originally published in September, 2006. We’ll be republishing classic content from the archives from time to time, updated — as this post has been — to be sure the advice is as relevant as ever.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger, CEO of Copyblogger Media, and Editor-in-Chief of Entreproducer. Get more from Brian on Google+.

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Advertising legend David Ogilvy hated the word “creative” in the context of the work his firm did for clients. In fact, he forbade the word be used in the office.

The job of advertising, Ogilvy rightly maintained, was to sell the product or service. If it didn’t do that, the advertisement was a failure, no matter how “creative” any of its other attributes.

Madison Avenue has continually failed to heed Ogilvy’s advice. Will you?

Embed this Copyblogger Shareable on your own site, just copy and paste the code below into your blog post or web page …

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About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger, CEO of Copyblogger Media, and Editor-in-Chief of Entreproducer. Get more from Brian on Google+.

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Warning: If you’re addicted to spending ungodly amounts of money in an effort to interrupt enough people into becoming “aware” of your product, service, or idea … skip this. You ain’t gonna like it.

Mad Men. The Walking Dead. The Killing. AMC has created some of the best television of the last two decades. So, when I saw the trailer for their latest — The Pitch — I was pre-sold.

Two nights ago, I took the dog for a walk, grabbed a drink, and then settled in on my beloved blue couch to see if AMC could do it to me again.

The Pitch is a weekly docu-drama following two advertising agencies as they compete to win major business.

It’s a great show.

It’s also, in my opinion, a record of the death of traditional advertising.

May our dear cousin rest in peace.

The myth of creativity in selling

The pilot episode of The Pitch starts with a meeting wherein the potential client (Subway) briefs both agencies on what they’re looking for. It’s cool to see behind the curtain of this process, but the cool factor degrades rapidly as both agencies fly back to their offices to build their campaigns.

In between scenes of the “creatives” throwing “creative” ideas across their respective tables, we’re treated to insights from the advertisers such as …

We pride ourselves on creativity, not playing it safe, doing things that no one has ever seen before.

Huh? Speaking to an audience, and selling to them, is largely an exercise in having the wisdom to enter a conversation that’s already happening in the prospect’s mind. It’s using the language the audience is already using.

Creating things that “nobody has seen before” — aside from the hyperbole of that statement — could work well as ride in an amusement park, or a fireworks display, but it’s the kiss of death in the art of selling.

Here’s another gem from the “creatives” …

We ask clients to take risks, because we’ve taken risks.

Huh. I’m fairly certain that a client wants to sell their product, not “take risks.” And who cares if you’ve taken a risk? Really, who cares?

Copywriters are paid to communicate the benefits of owning a product, using a service, or exploring an idea. We are not paid to take risks, whatever that may mean.

I’m all in for creativity, and for art. I’ve given much of my life to the serious pursuit of it, but when it comes to selling, creativity as it’s being tossed around by these agency types is more a hindrance than a help.

Back when we were all watching three channels on the television, a Clio award-winning spectacle stuffed in between scenes of The Dukes of Hazzard might have captured our attention, but only because that’s all that was on.

And even then, in the words of the man:

If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative. ~ David Ogilvy

The game has not changed, it’s been obliterated

Speaking recently about the end of the television/industrial complex, Seth Godin uttered:

… the model [was] very simple. You run $100 in tv ads, you made $110 in profit. And this was true for 35 years. Mad Men was not about good ads, it turns out if you just ran a lot of ads — of any kind — they made more money than they cost. And just in the last few years, it all fell apart … the underpinning of our entire economy went away.

If you’re throwing brand advertising at the masses and hoping something will stick, you’re playing a game that’s already over. Consumers have taken their ball and gone home.

Sure, multinational companies are still swinging for fences that are no longer there, but they have the millions to blow on creative ad campaigns, for now. And spending millions feels good. Seeing your billboard downtown, or your commercial on television seems like a strategic win. At least you’re doing something, right?

Our concern is the message this sends to small and medium sized businesses. Maybe you’re looking at these tactics, and sensing that money thrown at media is the only way to reach your prospects.

It’s not.

The irony of Jared

Through my frustration of watching this episode of The Pitch, I couldn’t help but think about Jared Fogle.

Yes, good old Jared, the guy who told us — over and over — a compelling story of how he lost so much weight, simply by eating at Subway.

Now that was a story that sold.

During the duration of the Jared campaign, Subway sales more than doubled to $8.2 billion. Following Jared’s brief departure as Subway spokesman in 2005, sales immediately dropped 10 percent, prompting Subway to quickly bring him back.

As much as is possible in the 30 second format, it embodied many of the basic elements of good content marketing. It was useful. It was inspiring. It was educational. It was about benefits, not advertising awards.

Ironic that the company that spotted Jared’s killer story and ran with it for a decade now wants to play a game with “creatives” who figured being a starving artist didn’t sound so great.

Three steps to a successful approach

The equation used to be: money x media = business.

The new equation is: time x media = business.

In other words, every company is a media company.

What does this look like in the real world? Here are three steps to creating a “campaign” that will last:

1. Build a minimum viable audience with useful, educational, and entertaining content.
2. Listen carefully to their frustrations, fears, problems, and desires.
3. Create or adapt products and services that better serve them.

This is a very simple strategy that can be very difficult to execute. But it’s absolutely worth it.

If you had enough money, the good old days of brand advertising were truly good, like shooting fish in a barrel. Those days (and that world) are long gone, but the opportunities of the world we now live in dwarf the past.

One more time from Mr. Godin …

When I was coming up, the thought that I could have a million (or more) people hearing what I had to say was insane. But now, anyone who wants to — and is willing to put in the years, and get some lucky breaks — can do so.

The beauty, of course, is that most companies have no of need a million-person audience. Depending on your business, a mere fraction of that number will keep you busy for as many years as you’d like. The only real question is, what will you do now?

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s Copywriter and Resident Recluse.

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