Customers. Clients. Friends. Any successful marketer knows these three mean the same thing.

Tuesday: Return Driven Strategy FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: “No one is 100 times smarter than everyone else.” I like how American business executive Jay Abraham said this. It reminds me that we all have our unique sets of strengths and capabilities to excel in our chosen careers, but what makes us stand out even more compared to others is the way we approach and deal with things. Do you know what Abraham calls this? The Strategy of Preeminence. Keep reading to know the importance of applying the Strategy of Preeminence in your brand’s marketing collateral. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

Customers. Clients. Friends. Any successful marketer knows these three mean the same thing. According to American business executive Jay Abraham: “No one is 100 times smarter than everyone else.” We all have our unique sets of talents, skills, and capabilities that will enable us to succeed in our careers. Think about it from a business perspective. Sometimes you might wonder… Company A and Company B are in the same industry. They offer ALMOST the same products to consumers. A lot of their internal business processes are similar to one another―technology, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, pricing, etc. Despite all that, Company A still managed to earn a higher profit and more customers than Company B. Why do you think this is so? In Jay Abraham’s book titled, “Getting Everything Out of All You’ve Got,” “super-achievers” have a better philosophical strategy. Even when these successful companies don’t have many advantages over their competitors, their ability to approach everyone they deal with in a different and more effective manner gives them the edge. Abraham calls this the Strategy of Preeminence. [Strategy of Preeminence: A strategic mindset wherein a particular company achieves preeminence by focusing on the “other side”―the side of its clients or customers. It boils down to, “I’m not trying to sell to you. I want to serve you.”] As a copywriter, how can you apply this strategy to your copywriting process? Treat your target readers as not just your customers, but also your clients. A customer is one that typically pays for goods or services offered, while clients are those who avail of more personalized goods and are usually repeat customers. This means with customers, you get quick business, but with clients, you get a long-lasting business relationship. When you apply this in writing copy, you want to think of your target market as clients whose pain points you address so you will be able to serve them in the best way possible. For example: You’re writing copy for a 5-in-1 printing machine. Of course, you should include the product’s features and benefits in your copy as these will help you appeal to readers who might need the product for personal use or other businesses. However, your copy shouldn’t end there. You must also find out how to satisfy your readers’ financial, emotional, and intellectual needs for the 5-in-1 printing machine and why they should choose your brand. This will help your clients feel that you value their satisfaction and well-being and not just your sales. Think of your clients as “valued friends.” This is one of the essential parts of the Strategy of Preeminence and is also a life blood of a lasting, rewarding, and profitable relationship between you and your clients. Think about the relationships you have with your friends. The same principles that serve as the bases for your personal friendships also apply to your business relationships. Listen to what your clients say. Understand what their pain points are. Then, using your resources, produce content that will serve as a solution to their problems or at least, make life easier for them. When your clients feel like you genuinely care about them and their wellbeing, the higher the chances they’ll stick with your brand in the long run. Make an offer your clients can’t refuse. Some prospects don’t want to take risks on a certain brand. They don’t want to make bad decisions or waste money, especially if there is no assurance that your brand or product will really solve their problems. How do you overcome this barrier to making a sale for your brand? Through the Risk Reversal Strategy! This strategy transfers some (or all) of the possible risks of a transaction from a buyer to a seller. Instead of making a buyer shoulder all the risk of a bad transaction, a seller agrees in advance to make things right should there be any problems in the transaction or if things don’t turn out as what a buyer expected. For example: Some brands would offer clients a 30-day 100% money-back guarantee if they didn’t like the product they bought. If a problem occurred within that time frame, a client could just return the product and the brand would give him or her a full refund. Other brands would also offer clients the “Buy Now, Pay Later” policy. As a copywriter, one of your goals is to eliminate as many, if not all, risks in your business transaction with your client. When you manage to take away these risks, you eliminate one of the primary obstacles of potential clients buying your product. Let your clients know if they are dissatisfied with your product, you’ll give them a full refund or redo the service without additional charges to let them know that you are committed to achieving their satisfaction. Apply the Risk Reversal Strategy in your next copies! According to Jay Abraham, it will serve you and your brand “100% of the time.” You’ll find that clients will often take advantage of this strategy and very seldom ask for reimbursement. Use your copies to form business relationships based on trust and respect! When you approach your clients with the mindset of treating them as “valued friends,” you’ll find yourself writing copies that aim to genuinely provide solutions to their problems. Use the Strategy of Preeminence and the Risk Reversal Strategy to your brand’s advantage! Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn.     Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s Return Driven Strategy! Christmas is just around the corner! Learn more about the best way to gain 10x conversions on next week’s Return Driven Strategy!