Sometimes it makes me wonder.

Or rather it doesn't make me wonder.

It actually clears up a lot of stuff… as to why so many small businesses go bust.

Here's what I mean.

Today I got an email from a news service with a selection of stories about business, and among them was one about a conference on "branding", entitled, strangely enough, "Branding In A Modern Economy".

The gist of this conference was that in order to make money from your business you need to have a “brand”. Without a “brand” you will remain dirt poor and your business will fail spectacularly.

Sound bites included "Branding is the linchpin of business" and one from a certain branding expert who said small businesses didn’t give branding as much attention as larger organizations and so needed ‘a good spanking’.

Mmm…

I can see what these people mean. After all, you can’t deny that a famous brand—such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Shell and many others—is a powerful thing, and has high commercial value. In the realms of fashion—such as clothing, handbags, shoes—the brand itself can be enough to make people buy. The same can be said of a car brand—BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar…

Unfortunately there are three major flaws in the argument that branding is the linchpin of business—especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

Flaw #1. Most businesses have a complete lack of understanding of what “branding” actually is. It’s often seen as corporate image, a nice logo, a snazzy website… when branding goes much deeper and includes the story behind the company and its products, the company values… and how great the products really are.

Flaw #2. Since many companies think that “branding” just means a snazzy logo and website, the second flaw with branding—or the usual type of branding—is the complete and utter lack of money achieved by following this course.

Nobody buys a product because they see a nice logo. And if a logo or beautiful website is all you have, your bank account is likely to suffer extreme money-deposit withdrawal symptoms.

Flaw #3. Branding is a worthy long-term goal… but completely superfluous in order to make money. Many businesses have made bucket loads of cash simply by having a good old-fashioned sales promotion… and not a brand in sight. Remember the Gary Halbert “Coat of Arms” letter, with over 600 million copies mailed and responsible for bringing in millions of dollars… and no brand to speak of…

In fact, the problem is not that small businesses aren’t giving enough attention to branding… but that they’re giving it too much. And because of it many small businesses are already being spanked and where it hurts the most—right there in the bank account.

Anyone who thinks that “branding is the linchpin of business”—especially the corporate image type of branding—should spend time on business forums and listen to the stories of abject woe from small and medium-sized business owners who thought a “brand” was all they needed to be successful.

The story repeats itself with an almost nightmarish frequency. And it almost always goes something like this…

The business owner is having a bit of a hard time with cash flow, so he takes advice and goes to see a corporate design agency or bunch of “branding gurus” who tell him he needs a “brand” to get the money flowing. They relieve him of moolah to the tune of a few thousand—or maybe tens of thousands—and he gets a beautiful logo, a slogan, and a website that makes you cry with the power of its beauty.

Then he gets his “brand” out there and sits back and waits for the flood of customers to come running. A year later his order book is bare, cash is flooding out, and his business is going down the toilet.

So he ends up on a business forum, recounting his misadventures, only to be told by a web designer that he needs a different font, or there’s too much magenta in his logo, or the slogan needs to be deleted because it takes away from the power of the graphics….

And the circle repeats itself… until… the guy's business goes well-and-truly bust.

I’ve witnessed this first hand a few times… and it’s painful to behold.

It’s a tragedy when a business owner gets hoodwinked into thinking all he needs is an image or a “brand” to sell his products and put money in the bank account.

Branding is not the linchpin of business.

The linchpin of business is salesmanship.

Customers don’t want brands.

They want offers.

Good offers.

Irresistible offers.

Mouth-watering offers.

Offers they just can’t refuse…

And that’s why the website and marketing materials don’t first and foremost need a logo or even a sniff of a brand, but good old-fashioned sales copy written using solid direct response marketing principles—or salesmanship-in-print.

The sales copy needs to tell the customer why the product is the best… how the product solves her problem… why the product is like no other… and that the product is guaranteed and so she doesn’t need to worry if she finds it not to her liking because she can return it and get a refund… The sales copy needs to give her absolutely no reason not to buy the product… or at least give it a try…

And that’s the main reason that “branding” is not the linchpin of business. Business is about making money… and in order to do that you have to sell your products… and a corporate image doesn’t sell. That’s done by the words in the sales copy.

And to prove it is thus… have your salespeople carry out this little “branding test”.

Tell your salesmen and women that from now on they’re no longer allowed to use words during sales presentations. The pitch should consist only of a presentation of the company logo, of “The Brand”. Tell the salesman he should hand over his business card with the logo—“The Brand”—and silently leave the room.

And when you find your sales and revenue has gone well-and-truly to the dogs, find those branding gurus and demand to know why your “brand” isn’t bringing in any cash. And if they tell you it’s all to do with the color of your logo… get out your riding crop and give that spanking to those that deserve it…

Every now and again I go on a purge of my email box, and unsubscribe from any list that hasn't been useful to me. Usually I do this about once a month, and do a mass unsubscribe, but sometimes I just unsubscribe right there and then when I get an e-mail that is so downright obviously trying to trick me into buying a product.

This happened today, when I received an email from someone who tried to make me believe that the US economy will go through a period of rapid growth during the middle of this year. He even quoted news reports which purported to prove the truth of what he was saying.

It didn't take long to check. A quick "Google" showed me there was no such news report. And even if there had been, I wouldn't have believed it anyway. I'm not saying that the US economy won't go through a period of growth this year, though if it does it's more likely to be towards the end of the year, and probably the beginning of next. But to try to make me believe that the US economy was somehow going to storm ahead sometime around July simply wasn't credible.

This is a common trick used by those who use the internet as a marketing tool. They seem to think that the immediacy of it somehow makes the incredible more believable.

The marketer simply thinks of something that could be used to help sell the product, and then says it, and hopes that the prospect is too lazy to try to check the truth or otherwise of the statement.

But with the internet it's really simple to discover whether or not something is true. And once I discover someone is lying, my guess is that the person could easily lie about the product too, which means I'm not going to buy.

Of course, the guy who told me that piece of rosy economic news could actually believe that it's true. But if he believes it's true, to me that shows lack of judgment, which means he's probably lacking judgment about the product he's trying to promote… which means I don't trust his judgment… which means I'm not going to buy.

Not much of a prime result for a marketer…

And so I hit the unsubscribe button, which means not only did he not sell me a product, he lost the chance to contact me again.

You could say that all this thinking about the effect of a few words in an email makes marketing difficult. But it's actually easy.

Just don't tell obvious lies, or say things which show you as a mental lightweight. And definitely try not to do both at once.

In short, it never pays to treat your prospect like an idiot… unless you really are marketing to idiots, in which case you probably need to examine your conscience.

If you are in the marketing game, it's always a good idea to think of your prospect as having a least a few brain cells. Try to trick him (or her), and you'll pay for it in the long run.

Just a few days ago I saw something that really made me laugh… My young son loves electronic stuff, and recently his fave toy is the TV remote control. Every night I have to take it from him before he goes to bed, but a few nights ago he managed to get hold of it again, thinking I hadn't seen him.

In the bedroom I saw him messing about with the pillow, obviously stuffing the RC beneath it.

I knew what he was doing, and it was pretty obvious I would find it the next morning. And yet he thought he could hide it from me and that I wouldn't find it.

For a young boy, that's a normal way to think.

Simplistic.

But some people do business that way.

A little while ago I read about something that really made me think about the way a lot of people do business, and it made me think about my son believing he could hide the remote control from me. It also made me think of a quote by Warren Buffet, and it struck home because I see this so often with businesses that it's untrue.

Imagine this… a guy launches a product. The sales copy is so-so. But it's launched to a "starving crowd", and the product sells real well. The crowd couldn't wait to get their hands on it.

As part of the sale there's an upsell.

Nothing wrong with that. Upsells sell… and make money. The upsell is an add-on to the original product. And it sells well too. The crowd was evidently real starving that day.

All fine and dandy.

Now imagine that the upsell is so great that it makes the original product look second-rate.

On top of that, the orginal product is much more difficult to use without the upsell than with it. Kind of like selling a cutlery set, but only telling the customers after the sale that the set has no knives. And adding: "Of course you can still eat using only a fork, but it might take you a while to eat that steak dinner, having to cut the meat with your fork or spoon and all that…

"So it would be much better if you bought this nice set of knives to compliment your cutlery set, which only costs you just a bit more than the cutlery set did in the first place."

So those who bought the original product but not the upsell feel short-changed. And not a little "ripped-off".

This happens all the time, and it does more harm than good to the business.

So why not sell both products together, and give the buyer the whole kaboodle?

That's what should have been done.

But that would have meant a higher price… which would have meant writing much stronger sales copy to communicate the value of the product. Most people in marketing know that writing strong sales copy that justifies a high price is… not… so… easy.

So it's better to try a bit of sales sleight-of-hand.

It's easier than writing great sales copy.

But easy doesn't always mean right.

And tricking the customer has its downside.

The businesses reputation can take a beating.

And that's why it was something said by Warren Buffet that made me think about this…

Those who know Buffet's strategy will know he's a value investor. He invests in good companies when the share price is low enough to make them bargains. He understands the value of a reputation.

As he once said: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

Many companies don't think about their reputation enough. Even if they don't try to fool the customer, they allow it to be tarnished by bad customer service, or even no customer service.

Some companies, especially internet companies, never really build a reputation worth destroying, never take the time to write great sales copy which communicates the real value of what's on offer and build a reputation worth preserving.

But then that may be better than building a reputation and destroying it by doing something that your customers are sure to find out about… and resent… and maybe take their business elsewhere.

I've heard from a few sources over the past month or so that we are now in the "Age of Skepticism". The thinking goes that due to the economic downturn, consumers are now more skeptical than ever about sales letters and marketing in general. In short, the blighters won't buy as easily as they did.

I think this is true, though it could be said that the Age of Skepticism is nothing new. It's always been there. It's just that there's been so much easy money around for the past few years that the consumers would buy anything, great sales letter or no…

What we have now perhaps is more like a return to a more typical consumer mentality, though one that will be relatively tight-fisted for the next couple of years.

And this means that good sales letters need to go back to using all the old-fashioned techniques of persuasion.

Screaming "Buy This!" just doesn't work anymore, it seems.

Maybe copywriters will need to sharpen their act and learn how to seduce their prospects again. It's rare to read a sales letter that pulls you in with a great story, or a hook, and keeps you reading by pulling The Golden Thread taut at strategic points…

Overall it could mean a return to knowing how to communicate the real value of a product.

I think it's all a good thing.

The companies which thrive will be those companies that can provide value to their customers and clients. Those that have been making money by smoke and mirrors will probably find it increasingly difficult to survive.

I think "The Age of Skepticism" is a great phrase. But maybe a more honest but less catchy title would be "The Age of Non-Gullibility".

I have a confession to make. Until just a few short years ago I had absolutely no idea what a "mullet" was. And by that I mean the hairstyle, not the fish. I had a sheltered upbringing. It took one of my work colleagues at the time to enlighten me. He had to Google the term and show me a splendid array of mullet-wearers, most of whom, for some reason, also sported a mustache. Not sure what kinds of websites were brought up that day in the search results…

The thing you first notice about the mullet is that doesn't suit everyone. In fact it makes some people look pretty silly.

So why do people have a mullet cut when it doesn't suit 'em.

Simple.

They want to be like everyone else… or like their friends.

I thought about this the other day after reading some copy. Somehow I'd got on some guys list, and he decided to hit me with details of some internet marketing product (don't know why I stay on those guys' lists… I hardly ever buy their stuff) which tried to tell me I would make a whole load of money if I bought it.

So I begin to skim the copy (because it isn't really worth reading), and the more I skim the faster I'm skimming, until I'm brought up short by a piece of boxed copy, which tells me something like… the US employment rate will reach 30%… Pay-per-click marketing will implode and crash and burn… PPC marketers will starve… the internet will "die"…

I'm not kidding. Somebody did actually write that.

And expected people on the list to believe it.

I think this is was what could be called "Mullet Marketing"…

It don't matter if you look a jerk, Bob. Most about everyone got themselves one of them there mullet styles nowadays…

It seems the same with some sales letters you see nowadays.

It don't matter what your product is, Bob, just say anything to make them frightened, even if a brain-extracted Aardvark wouldn't believe it…

Copycat Copywriters

Just recently there's been a rash of products using fear in the sales pitch, because a lot of people are pretty frightened right now, even if it's much more frightened than they need be. So just like those people who have mullet hairstyles because their friends have them, every copycat copywriter is now using fear in their copy because they've seen it used in other copy, particularly those amazing money-making products…

There's nothing wrong with using fear in copy, as long as you believe it's ethical to frighten people. And as long as it is done properly - which means painting a vivid picture of why the fear is real, then giving the solution to the problem, and then showing that your product really does have the solution-it can be effective.

It's at its most effective when you can show that only your product has the solution.

The problem is that most of these fear-laden sales letters just don't paint a vivid picture. They just fall headlong into the hype pit, and what comes out is usually laughable rather than fear inducing.

This is a problem with a lot of copy. What happens is that a copywriter just grasps the main emotional thrusts of the copy, but then doesn't have the skill to really put those emotions into words. The letter might appeal to people who have an IQ of four or less (and for some markets that might actually be a higher than average IQ) but for most markets it just doesn't cut it.

The product being pitched at me probably was one that could have used fear effectively.

But it didn't use it effectively.

That the US employment rate will top 30% (higher than the rate at the height of the Great Depression) won't be believed by anyone who has enough intelligence to read the sentence.

Any small amount of credibility went out the window.

It was almost midnight when I came across that sales letter.

I was tired.

The US employment rate will reach 30%… Pay-per-click marketing will implode and crash and burn… PPC marketers will starve… the internet will "die"…

But I still laughed.

I didn't buy the product.

And I'm not having a mullet.

Fish or haircut.

Most people take it as read that when you go to the doctor it means you have a problem with your health, and you want answers as to what the problem is, and then a cure. So when you go to the doctor you expect the doctor to ask you questions about your symptoms, which, if you want to get well or know what the problem is, you answer fully, so the doctor can make a diagnosis and prescribe the right medicine. And if you went to the doctor but then refused to answer questions or give him (or her) any information about your symptoms, you wouldn't expect the doctor to be able to give you a proper diagnosis, let alone prescribing any medicine.

This is such common sense that most people would understand it immediately. If you expect to find the answer to your health problems, you answer the doctor's questions.

And yet why is it that so many business owners expect to be able to find the answer to their marketing problems, without answering the questions asked by a marketing consultant.

Because that's exactly what happens in some cases. A business owner has a problem ? almost always something to do with the fact that they aren't making any money, or as much money as they would like ? and so they contact a copywriter and marketing consultant such as myself, looking for an answer.

Solve The Marketing Problem

Most business owners who have a problem will talk freely about their business, and will answer questions fully, because they know that in order for me to get a full angle on the business they need to give me as much information as possible. But some business owners seem to find it very difficult to give information about the business, or will only go so far and then clam up.

They will answer usually answer the simple questions, ones that relate to the type of business they're running, and the marketing strategy, including the way they go about customer acquisition at the moment. They will especially talk about how successful the various ways of marketing their business have been. In short, most business owners are happy to talk about the successes, it is only when they start to get to the heart of the problem that they begin to dry up…

I'm not sure why this should be so, but I get the feeling that there's an element of pride in the matter. The business owner knows that there's a problem, but doesn't want to admit it.

It seems that simply admitting to a problem in the business could be seen as a sign of weakness. But actually getting help with your marketing is not a sign of weakness at all, but actually a sign of strength, because finding a good marketing strategy, and then backing it up with some powerful direct response copy, can be the best way to make your company stronger, and lead to some real success. It can certainly help put it above the competition, and you can't get a better result than that.

Copywriting Is Not Enough

Now, it's a fact that powerful copy alone will not help the business if the other marketing elements are not in place, and that's why I provide marketing consultancy as well as copywriting. In some cases clients only need a marketing consultation initially, and then will come back later to have the copy written, because the marketing consultation gives them enough to move forward. It shows them what they should be doing, or what has been missing from their marketing strategy until now.

I went through this scenario with a client recently. At first he was talkative, and proudly told me all about his business and its achievements. But as we went further into the consultation he began to lose the power of words… Eventually it was difficult to get him to talk at all, and it was only by a lot of discussion of peripheral matters that we managed to get to the root of the problem, which was such a commonplace problem that it was hardly worth worrying about.

It was a simple lack of response to a mailing he'd done to invite prospects to a presentation to showcase his product. It's a good product too… a B2B product. It's something which has real value, and will almost certainly sell well. The problem was that he seemed to think the lack of response was due to the quality of the product, or that it was his fault. Well, I suppose trying to write your own copy does fall under the heading of "Youthful Folly", but nothing to get embarrassed about. Business owners do it all the time… The results may be embarrassing ? as in little or no response ? but that's another thing…

In a few weeks time we'll have a new mailing done, and this time we can expect some interested people to turn up to his presentation… and get them on-board as decent prospects…

Marketing Solutions

Thankfully, very few business owners refuse to talk about their business properly. And even those who are reluctant to talk in the beginning eventually find it is a real relief to get their business and marketing problems in perspective. Most business owners will begin to talk freely and discus the problems. And once this happens I can get to the root of the problem ? as long as a case of marketing related and not something to do with the quality of the product ? and begin to look for a way out.

And then once they start to see that there is a solution they're glad they did talk to someone who can give some solid pointers as to how to actually solve marketing problems.

So if you're a business owner and you are finding there's a problem with your sales process, or you just know that things could be much better now, bear in mind that the worst thing you can do is ignore the problems. And the second worst thing you can do is take the positive step of talking to a marketing consultant and copywriter, but then be wary of giving him the full picture. Once you begin to analyze the problems of your business you may find that they are not as serious as you think, and by a few simple changes to the marketing strategy you can be on your way to turning your business around ? or putting it ahead of the pack.

When it comes to business, pride can be a real killer. Be proud of your business, but not so proud that you won't accept help that can make it even better than you've already made it.