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E-ssential
Message # 062:
Why I write...
Virtually all sales and marketing experts agree that some form of frequent, outgoing communication with your target audience is an essential element of your brand building strategy. But that's not the only reason to write a newsletter, ezine, blog or a series of articles. There's another reason, and it's huge:
Writing about your area of expertise on a regular basis helps
you make your Essential Message even more compelling, powerful and effective in all your sales and marketing initiatives!
Now that I have more than four years' worth of newsletters in the E-ssential Message archive, I have identified at least four specific ways that writing has helped me develop more compelling Essential Messages and a stronger brand:
1. Writing forces me to take on the reader's perspective and lay the arguments out in the best possible way that gets my message across. That's why writing my newsletters and articles helps me deepen my thinking and clarify the true value that we offer our clients and Bull Pen members.
2. Writing my newsletters and articles helps me broaden my thinking. I used to think that I'd run out of ideas after a few issues, but in reality, the opposite happened. With each piece, I came up with new and sometimes better concepts and strategies. (Some of these have turned into revenue-generating eLearning products!)
3. Writing my newsletters and articles allows me explore the most compelling ways to communicate my message and get immediate feedback on what resonates best with my audience -- simply by measuring response rates.
4. Writing allows me to mentally rehearse my verbal conversations. I often find myself having conversations with people at events or answering questions after a speech, and -- because I had already thought these issues through and 'rehearsed' them in a newsletter -- I am better prepared, confident and effective.
Writing is such an important part of everything we do, our team of copywriters also maintain their own blog, Essential Blog. (It's really excellent -- Subscribe to it here.)
I have come to view writing like I view my training in the martial arts. It's a discipline with many advantages beyond the obvious. Also like my training, sometimes writing is hard, other times it happens effortlessly. Sometimes, I feel great progress and flashes of insight; other times I only see how much I have improved in hindsight -- after 100 issues (and counting).
That's why I write -- and that's why you might want to write too. It doesn't have to be a newsletter... it can be a collection of sales letters you keep in a binder, articles you submit to trade publications, or even a personal journal.
Just write. It really works.
Who is Michel Neray and What's The Essential Message?
The Essential Message is about discovering your true differentiation and then learning how to communicate it in the most compelling way. But higher sales, greater alignment of sales and marketing and a stronger brand position aren't the only reasons why so many independent professionals, entrepreneurs and emerging companies rave about The Essential Message.
Clients also say that one of the biggest advantages of the Essential Message approach is how it helps them gain the confidence, momentum and resilience that can only come from being absolutely clear about their strengths and unique difference – as companies and as individuals.
The Essential Message was created by Michel Neray based on 25 years as an award-winning copywriter, an entrepreneur, a tradeshow pitchman and a senior sales and marketing executive. (He also rides motorcycles, does whitewater canoeing, and has his 2nd degree black belt in karate.)
For information about our corporate facilitation, copywriting and consulting services, or booking Michel to speak at your conference, please call 416 534-4766 or link to www.EssentialMessage.com.
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Concentric Strategies Inc. 416.534.4766
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