In the news, articles you can use
I'm constantly publishing articles loaded with practical, hands-on advice you can apply immediately to your work. I've reprinted many of them -- from MarketingProfs, RainToday, Direct, and other publishers -- here. Feel free to read them, print them, share them with friends. (But if you'd like to reprint or republish them, contact me first, thanks!)
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Latest articles or webinars
Most businesses and organizations have a positioning statement -- but do they have one people will actually believe? Here's how to get real and craft positions that are credible: Assume the Position.
What would you like to learn?
Use the following jump links to take you to the issues and answers most relevant to your business:
- How can I learn more about the basics of business to business copywriting?
- How can I write collateral prospects and customers will want to read?
- How can I write web pages that draw qualified leads closer to me?
- How can I improve my direct marketing copywriting skills?
- How can I improve my account management skills?
- How do I write books that position me as an authority in my field?
B2B Copywriting
Most businesses and organizations have a positioning statement -- but do they have one people will actually believe? Here's how to get real and craft positions that are credible: Assume the Position.
Take your marketing copy to the next level: How to Sell the Experience When Features and Benefits Just Aren't Enough.
A fact-rich, emotionally-loaded story strengthens bonds with potential customers. Tell your story: Create Compelling Business Stories in Three Simple Steps.
Learn an easy way to hook more readers by writing more effective headlines:
Your Headline Needs Bulgarians: Tips For Creating Effective Titles
Good lead generation technique means selling one thing and one thing only (and it's not your business, product or brand). Discover the professional secret to superior leads: Sell the Next Step (and Nothing Else)!
If a tactic is worth doing once, it's worth doing again -- in fact, follow-through is critical for success. Read more: Power of Perserverance.
A blog can be a powerful marketing tool -- but it's not for everyone. See if it's right for your company: To Blog or Not to Blog? Who Should and Should Not be Blogging.
As David Ogilvy once said, you can't bore people into buying. So what do you do with numbingly technical products and services? Here are a few suggestions: Six Ways to Turn Techno-babble into Commanding Copy.
It's not enough to tell people who you are -- you have to get readers to believe it. Here's the deal: How to Create Real Credibility.
Discover important story-telling secrets fished from an unlikely source: Story Hooks for Largemouth Bass.
A Valentine's Day perspective on copywriting -- Not Just Sweet Nothings: Writing Words of Love to Your Customers.
What's the difference between empty boasting and building powerful customer connections? See, Make Every Word Count: Q&A with Jonathan Kranz.
Ready to write? Hold your horses -- it's the stuff you do before you write a single word that often makes all the difference between success and failure. Get the full story in Before You Write: Your 10-Point Checklist.
Want to communicate like a leader? Then tell a story. Learn how in my Harvard Management Communication Letter article, Aesop Inc.: Using Stories to Persuade. (Sorry, this one isn't free -- so speaketh Harvard. But if you contact me, perhaps we can work something out...)
When you're a recognized expert, prospects not only listen to you -- they often throw themselves at your feet. Learn more in Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk: Positioning Yourself as an Expert in Words and Deeds.
Tired of same old corporate BS? So are your customers. Consider your alternatives in Succeeding with Straight Talk, Five Ways to Slay the Bull.
Learn the basics of B2B communications. DM News has posted the B2B chapter from Writing Copy for Dummies, Writing to Sell to a Business, Not a Consumer.
Marketing B2B? See how your copy may be holding you back -- and what you can do to fix it -- in Five B2B Copy Myths.
When you and your competitors make similar claims, how can you really stand out from the pack? Learn how with Three Ways to Turn Vague Attributes into Compelling Copy.
Writing Collateral
Help your sales people move prospects along the pipeline: Six Ways to Prepare Better Collateral for Sales Teams.
Successful brochures make your product or service tantalizingly tangible. Learn how: So Real they Can Touch It: A Few Pointers for Writing Better Brochures.
Marketing research can do much more for you than gather opinions and gauge awareness -- it can become the substance of successful lead-gen and PR prgams. Get the full scoop: Give Away Your Research -- Win Valuable PR and Marketing Prizes.
Oh no, not another brochure! Not any more -- check out better ways to excite the interest of potential customers in 8 Killer Alternatives to Crummy Collateral.
Put an edge on your white paper marketing by applying a few simple, yet powerful secrets: How to Write More Compelling White Papers.
Case studies combine the narrative power of the article with the credibility of the testimonial in a brief, easy-to-read format. Create your own with the help of my article, Write Captivating Case Studies in Three Simple Steps.
After you've read the above article on case study basics, take another step forwared: Advanced Case Study Tips.
Once readers get to the end of your brochure, report, white paper -- then what? Motivate them to take action: Building Bridges to the Next Steps.
Writing Websites, Web Pages
You're sitting on a goldmine of expertise and experience that would make for terrific web copy -- if your people know how to leverage it: How to Get the Web Content You Want From the Employees You Have.
Is your web copy doing all it can for your business? Pull your site up to the next level of performance with Ten Key Questions for Your Web Copy.
You've built your website -- what's next? Getting more mileage from the content you already have. Read all about it in Five Advanced Web Writing Secrets.
What's the best way to attract and hold key prospects to your website? Make it an indispensable wellspring of valuable information. Learn how: Creating Content Streams for Web Watering Holes.
For B2B sites, key web pages can become powerful be lead generation devices. See how: Turning Web Pages into Lead Generation Tools.
Sure, blogs are great things to start -- but how do you keep them going when you run out of ideas? See Five Surefire Content Ideas (When Your Blog is Drawing Blanks).
OK, this isn't quite free, but if you're interested in creating websites that attract and hold customers, you may want to pony up a few dollars for the 90-minute seminar, B2B Web Power: How to Find, Create and Write the Content You Need, Fast.
Revamp you Web copy for greater readability and superior SEO, fast -- Five Ways to Improve Your Web Copy Immediately.
Direct Marketing Copywriting
If you don't know your audience, you can't know how to sell to them. Here's what you need: 10 Questions You Should Ask About Your Audience.
A successful integrated marketing campaign requires a comparably coordinated copywriting strategy. Here's how: Tuning Your Copy for Multiple Channels.
Getting responses isn't enough; you need genuinely qualified leads. Find out how to get them: Five Ways to Attract (and Hold!) More Qualified Leads.
Read what I had to say about new marketing techniques at the 2006 New England Direct Marketing Conference in the DIRECT article, Live From NEDMA: Technology Needs to Make Sense, Say Direct Mail Pros.
Prospects who feel safe, spend money. Build safety into every direct mail package with the help of my DIRECT magazine article, Warm, Cozy and Comfortable.
Death to "For more information..."! See how you can make magnetic calls to action, even when you don't have much to offer: Make Mountain Offers Out of Molehill Promises.
Is email part of your marketing mix? Don't send another email blast before you review my brief survey of basic tips: Crafting More Effective Emails.
A strong response device is the crucial final link in your direct mail package. Make them more effective: Boosting Response by Writing Better Response Devices.
Improving Account Management Skills
Even the best agencies aren't skilled in all aspects of marketing. A few thoughts on what I'd advise you to keep in-house: What Agencies Can't (and Shouldn't) Do for You.
In the mood for a sour, dour look at marketing? You just might enjoy my Top 10 Ways to Torpedo Your Marketing Efforts.
It's a good idea to stand up and speak for yourself. Here's how you can make your public appearances even better: Five Ways to Improve Your Speaking Gigs.
You can't afford to waste time with customers who waste your energy and resources as well. Learn how to avoid them -- Clients You Don't Want: Identifying the "PITA" Prospect.
Looking for a copywriter? Shop wisely with the suggestions in How to Identify the Right Copywriter for You.
It's one thing to produce great creative, it's another to sell it. Here's how you can turn account management into a powerful, positive force: Direct Mail: Saluting a Hero.
Writing Books
Before you write a successful business book, you have to write a successful book proposal. Master the basic elements: Writing Book Proposals that Win Publishing Contracts.
For $15, you can buy and read, Thought Leadership Through Publishing: Negotiating Your Best Publishing Deal, An Interview With Jonathan Kranz. Available through RainToday.com, it's 12 pages of hard-earned insight from the trenches of book publishing. If you're seriously thinking about publishing a business book, it's $15 well spent.
Here's something to think about if you're thinking of writing a book: 8 Things You Must Know About Publishing a Book to Promote Your Services.
Jonathan Kranz
Kranz Communications
Ph: (781) 620-1154
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