WARNING: Do Not Forsake The One Thing That Makes Your Brand !!

LESS NEVER FORGET THE PEPPER BAR !!

I never knew what a pepper bar was before I saw this commercial. I never knew I needed one. But I was sure glad to have encountered one once I found it. This makes all the difference between a great sub and a mediocre one. I took this advice from a couple of singing dust balls and this introduced me to Quiznos. Apparently, it introduced a lot of people to this amazing food chain. I saw this on Comedy Central and I was intrigued.... and I started to go.

This was actually before the Great Recession and I was paying full price for these sandwhiches. Quiznos did not have the discount menu that offer today. And the pepper bar was actually spectacular. It was chock full of pepper rings, creamy horseradish sauce, honey mustard, pepperoncini, and jalepenos. The best though was this thing called, Batch Sauce... it set the entire toasted sandwhich over the edge. I haven't stepped foot into a Subway in years since I experienced this toasty goodness.

QUIZNOS HITS BIG -- THE PEOPLE TOOK NOTICE
I was stunned to hear that my East Coast friends had never heard of this sub giant. With so many local sub shops in the E.C. it would be hard for a chain like this to make much of an impact.

Meanwhile back in the Midwest the population is filled with these Quiznos sub shops. Its like an infestation. I'm not saying that in a bad way but it was really amazing how quickly it grew. As the popularity grew the chain yanked the dust mite commercial and got a little more serious with the brand. I took notice of this too and was somewhat taken aback.

Then something odd happened. Little by little Quiznos franchisees started to fizzle out of certain neighborhoods. And the ones that did survive did not always comply to the franchises wishes. The free X-Box games were suddenly dismantled. The free internet screens were turned off. And worse.... the one thing that made them famous in the first place... the holy of holies... the famed PEPPER BAR .... WAS STRIPPED CLEAN, WIPED DOWN, AND EMPTIED. The glorious stand with its green countertop and multi-holed service station is vacant, abandoned and unloved.

You have to go up to the sandwhich artists and plead for them to give you one little bucket of Batch sauce or peppers. They charge you extra for it of course but they missed the point. This was the star attraction. And now it is completely left out of the Quiznos sandwhich equation.

They forgot the thing that made their brand unique in the first place. Without all the little extras its just not the same stellar experience. Its not Subways of course. But it is NOT the same experience.

This is something that we must remember as we build our brands. That is to NOT kill the uniqueness that made us so incredible in the first place. We have to remember to not destroy the one thing that is going to set us apart from all the others out there.

Ted Cantu coaches companies on how to brand themselves on the web with SEO, viral marketing, and sales copy. Cantu lives in Metro Detroit.

SEO Sales Copy Software - Just Add Words

IS THERE REALLY A GREAT - DO IT FOR YOU - SEO SALES COPY SOFTWARE OUT THERE?

I used to believe that there was a, "Do It For Your" over the counter software you could buy for sales copy. I held onto that myth for quite some time. I used to really want to believe that. But as the years grew by and I grew with my marketing and business these tools seemed small to me. After awhile I stopped paying close attention to what they could do.

There was a few that made me stop and turn my head like, Do It For You Sales Letters by Yanik Silver. That was where I first started to poke around. I ordered it and was somewhat fascinated with the idea of getting my solutions figured out for me. I printed out some of these letters and started to sell with them initially. But I did not hit that magic "spark reaction" that I got as when I started to use my own sales copy years later.

Then there was a sales copy software from Brett McFall called Burpies which really got my attention. I actually used that one and liked it. I was creating solid 7 step sales letters off of it and these letters were pre-formated for the web and even gave me an HTML template that I could modify. I thought this was pretty impressive.

The Quest Continued For An Amazing 5 Years....

Along the way I found a program from the Internet Marketing Center that allowed you to put in your keywords and phrases into it and voila... you would get a sales letter! The program turned out to be somewhat low in demand. The only way you could get it was to order some of their larger Internet marketing packages then they would throw it in.... So to get to this puny $299 software I would have to invest somewhere in the 8 grand range.... Hmmm..... sorry guys.....

I decided to learn how to do it myself.....

But where could I start? This seemed to be a daunting task. The idea of getting into the field of copywriting was overwhelming and dark and there was no torch to lead the way. I had absolutely no idea of what I was getting myself into.

Where would I start? How could something going? And who would help me when I get stuck?

I started buying anything I could get my hands on about copywriting from Ebay of all places. There was some gems there to an extent and it was certainly cheap. I hauled in a lot of junk too but you have to start somewhere. Many of these courses I still have today.

INTERESTING NOTE: The Dan Kennedy Copywriting material I bought here was very interesting because I now think that it was bootlegged material. After going through this trauma I realize now that who ever created these recordings used a tape player because I picked up a lot of air conditioning sounds, lighting sounds and other high pitched frequencies that blurs out the voices at times. All in all I was able to pull some things out of these recordings and it led to other discoveries.

The Kings Bookstore in Detroit, Michigan
This place is a hidden gem when it comes to old books. Although it is hardley hidden. You will drive smack into it if you are coming off of M10. Its the big blue warehouse with a big brick exterior. It has the words KINGS BOOK STORE written right on it so you cannot miss it. You will need to either crawl up the stairs, (there is no air in the stairway) or travel up the creepy freight elevator to get to the advertising section. Once you get to the third floor you will find out of print advertising books that contain samples of some of the best copywriting ever done in the last 100 years.

I purchsed a lot of books from this place and I can say that was the basis of my education. I spent a good $200 here and got a lot more meat from here than from other places. Then, you have to hear this, I picked up this one book for $2 bucks and it was a simple guidebook to write effective sales copy. It was handed out to U.S. troops during WWII should they ever want to pursue a career in the field. I was astounded with this book. There was a time when sales copy was alive and well respected as a field of earning a living in this country.

The other thing I found was peculiar was that this was a well written book. In fact, it is much better than the many books I had purchased in my quest of learning direct response marketing. It was a bit more technical but it clearly laid out the foundations on how to write effective copy. I have not seen many of these out there so I assume these are hard to find.

As far as ads go. I liked the ones I found in old Popular Mechanics issues from the 50's. These are incredible ads and are worth studying. They will cost you $5 bucks an issue but you need to pick up a couple of these and just start studying the ad copy and the mechanics of what it takes to get solid communication across.

** To sum things up I never did find the Golden Goose - a sales copy software that did everything for me -- I ended up doing a lot of this hard work myself. This has been adventatgeous for me becaus I have been able to test what I do and get in front of the right people. Here is the important thing. My sales copy has been tested and I now have sales letters that work and continue to get response from my clients. As a result of learning how to write my own sales copy I have a solid control on what is going to work for my business. Some of my control pieces have an 87% response rate on them.... that is to say I can close with them 87% of the time.

This is a skill worth having.

Ted Cantu writes sales copy for seo campaigns, internet marketing campaigns and runs a video studio out of Farmington Hills, Michigan

What To Do At Your Next Networking Event....

HERE IS MY ADVICE.....

Don't go. I used to get calls to go to the next BIG networking event and it would always be full of people who couldn't sell. They would shove their business card in your hand and ask you to buy their product. There would be a lunch and a pep talk about staying positive and then you would get the boot.

Terrible. That is terrible advice. And the experience isn't so hot either. Warm meal aside you need a better tactic than that!

"WHY WOULD HE SAY SUCH A BAD THING ABOUT NETWORKING...?"

I grew up in the media circles my whole life. If I wasn't in an art room of some sort I was in media studio. In my 20's this continued with the first five waves of multimedia, then it was called Interactive... and now... in this post dot com world its simply called marketing, (which can be a very vague term). Along with this hoopla came showgirls, (yes, I am serious) and midgets for some reason, however, they prefer to be called dwarfs. We would have media parties and this is what would show up... it was like a circus.

Sometimes in Chicago, we would throw these networking events on top of a microbrewery of all things. Imagine, media people with bad weatherman haircuts, hot babes in sequin body suits and dwarfs, rock star wannabees and me. All hanging out getting loose on top notch swill pulling out our business cards to eachother. There was one guy in particular who went by the name of "Baby Man". That was his gig. He would do baby voices for radio commercials in Chicago. He was picked by a lot of banks and did a lot of voiceover work.

By about 10 PM the real party started. Because usually by then half the guests would be bombed out of their gourds. Its a miracle people didnt fall off the side of the rooftop onto the street below. Business cards would get passed and that was the experience. I actually prefer the circus atmosphere to a typical networking event. They are similar in a lot of ways. But one is definately better than the other.

With a cast like that it would be hard to get the same people to show up everytime. It would get dull. I would go to a lot of these and would rarely see the same people.

The Fish Bowl Gets Crowded

The same people tend to go to these events and share one dangerous personal flaw. They are afraid of confrontation. They are there to feed off of who you know and work and quite often, (either on purpose or by accident) sabotage your opportunities. That is why I am not always known as passive cooperative. You see, I rarely allow people to gain access to my clients. Once in a while I am generous if it makes sense but usually as a rule this is something that I avoid doing.

This is people spam. One minute my list is being used to sell Amazon vitamins, the next its being asked to purchase some time shares or some pre paid legal gibberish. Next thing you know I destroy the trust in my list and the people on it. I get to start all over again by building up my credibility. I don't like doing that.

And why does this happen? The concept of selling to a "warm list" is something that is being hawked around by the big sales guys... Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziglar etc. And its a good concept of all parties are respected. But quite often, they're not. The warm list is there for one good reason and that is to take the fear out of selling. But I say you need to leave the fear in. You want honest participants. I want people to buy my stuff from the gut I want them to feel it and not obligated because I am a friend of a friend. People who buy out of that type of obligation often get buyers remorse which leads to refunds or worse.

Thats not good enough for me.

That pool, although crowded, gets polluted quick. Everyone is in it, squirming around, selling the same thing in most cases and this loses momentum and credibility. Anytime I am invited to one of these things I see it for what it is. An incestuous group with greedy motives.

THE FUNS GONE OUT

Its interesting to see one of these pools bust out. I mean completely BUST OUT. I have seen companies implode and move out of entire buildings because of this type of behavior. It is like a virus and runs rampant. There isn't a whole lot you can say to an empty vacant building with a for sale sign out in front of it but I implore you to try. Its the least you can do.

I say you need to protect your people asset. Especially now with so many crappy marketers around.

The next time you are invited to go to a networking event do what Nancy Reagan suggest, "Just Say No!"

Ted Cantu says no a lot. He rarely shares his people list. And he has two books out on Amazon.com and a thriving SEO practice out of Chicago, New York City and Detroit.

CONTROL, CONFRONTATION and REJECTION

THE BEST THING YOU GOT IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW, IS REJECTION

"To some people there is nothing scarier than getting rejected -- from relationships, business, friends and life itself. But rejection is where its at baby!"

Ted Cantu, WCCC, June 2010

I am amazed at people who wince at rejection. Seriously, you want to be rejected in just about every area of your life. Its where it is at! Only then can you cut out the crap in your life that is not working and move ahead. This is what I talked about recently at a college in Metro Detroit -- WCCC to be exact.

Facing up to your own failure is going to save you a fortune in lost profits. It is also going to paint you a realistic picture of what to expect from your public. Face it, you want people to like you and to buy your stuff. But that is not going to happen if you are living in a false bubble.

ELVIS, 1987, AND SAGGING SALES
In the 80's a small record shop opened up in Ypsilanti Michigan where I went to college. This woman only sold what she liked - Elvis 45's. The store was lacking in modern music. It was all stuff she liked and to some extent that is respectable. But lets throw respect out the window and talk about the consumer. It is the consumer that is going to be paying your bills. My suggestion is to switch tracks - literally - and start cashing in on your customer!

She didn't last long.

Meanwhile another record store down the street, Manchester, got it. They sold hip, underground club sounds from the UK. Keep in mind that back in 87' it was almost impossible to get bands like The Smiths, The Charlatans and Buzzcocks on the radio. MTV did a pretty good job but the radios weren't up to speed yet. Still, kids in the clubs were grooving out to this stuff and this indy shop was cashing in on UK pop band t shirts and other collectibles. He made money.

Who knows if he liked the bands he was promoting. My guess is that he probobly did not. It was all about making a sale. And thats the important thing here.

Facing your own rejection is important. So is confrontation. Its my other best friend. Without it you are stuck in a rut and susceptible to the worlds worst offerings. You need to confront the thing you want and face the possiblity of getting rejected.

REJECTION LEADS TO PROFITS

Face it, there are some things in this life you will never do again. Because you know it either sucks, won't work, or its just not worth it. Thats money in your pocket if you plant your strategy right. I like to know what I am up against especially when it comes to marketing my product.

If your sales copy is bombing you will want to know about it. If people are
not reading past the headline you will want to be notified. Google Analytics is
good for that sort of thing because it allows you to see how long people are
sticking around. You need to know this stuff especially if you are selling something.

FORGET THE LAVISH LIFESTYLE
I hear a lot about - lifestyle - from guys who cant afford to put gas in their tank.
Don't tell me about your lifestyle if you are taking public transportation. I don't
need to follow your examples of success. Same thing goes for guys who cannot pay
their web site hosting bills.

If I am going to follow you for advice you had better keep your website up. If you
are giving me financial advice you better have a decent automobile and a
wonderful house that you live in. I dont want to hear about your lifestyle if you
living with a roomate in a dilapidated apartment.

A lot of guys do this sort of thing... and hide out with their "business"
on the Internet. I don't need advice from you.

I want to hear about your confrontation. Because you can grow from that and
get closer to your goal. I talk a lot about rejection, confrontation and control because its important. There is too much marketing pollution on the web, in print, on the radio and in your mailbox. But there is very little conversion going on and this has become a very dear subject to me because like millions of Americans I am working outside the corporate arena.

I have to know what I am doing....

Here is a sample of what we talked about.....


Cantu sells http://www.powersedge.com, http://www.powersyamahaparts.com, http://www.powerskawasakiparts.com

Dan Kennedy - Please Stop Writing

JEERS TO THE NEW PUBLISHED EFFORTS !!!

Usually, I like dear old DK, I've been with him for years. Even belonged to several of his groups and went to the big conventions from time to time. But this latest writing effort from the business gurus is .... just terrible.

I say that with great emphasis because who ever compiled this book, be it a ghost writer, intern or whatever has completely rehashed the previously released material and has simply thrown a new cover on it. The newest book in this series, "Wealth Attraction" is nothing more than a scrambled up version of the other New Economy books in this series.... and even those releases shed very little light on what to do in these troubled times.

I have heard all of Kennedys examples that he illustrates in this recent release and can recite most of them by heart. I am well versed in the tales of - Steak and Ale - (you can find it in his other writings)and other examples he gives. There is also some interesting verbal about what money is and what money isn't.... The only difference I can make out in this recent edition is that the cover seems to have gone purple and there is an unusually nice thing written about Paul Newman, (even though he is one of those -- dispicable Democrats - that Kennedy typically spews on and on about). Just because a guy is famous shouldn't make one bit of difference to persuade Dan Kennedys political views. If I hate someones political stance, I am verbal about it no matter how much clout or money the guy I am attacking has. Thats integrity -- I would appreciate it if DK would stick to his rock solid hatred stance AGAINST Democrats in this particular example but thats beside the point.

I feel ripped off -- I haven't been this upset since the $90 dollar "Phenomenon DVD" that I schecked out money for a few years back. Its pure bunk and drivel AND very little substance. Now I hear there is another book in this series for a seemingly low price of $16.95 but I suspect its simply the same book under a new packaging.

Low Points
* SUCCESS MAGAZINE -- He yammers on and on about his days with this speaking tour. Anybody even remember or care about Success Magazine? It was a lot like Entrepreneur Magazine but with less content. It came out in the late 80's. Don't bother looking for it at the newstand because its now defunct.

Kennedy was talking about how he took the stage with Colin Powell. There were many famous people who took part of this tour,(I believe and Christopher Reeve was on that tour.)

You may remember about 4 years ago there was this - "You Can DO IT" rah rah tour that some famous people had put together. You know the drill, they throw in an astronaut, Suzanne Sommers, Bruce Jenner, some hip hop guy, and Ed MacMahon or someone like him... and go on an epic 30 city tour trying to boost up the nations morale. I do not need to keep on hearing about this thing.... it happened, the countrys over it, Im over it, its time to move on. And its in previous editions of his many other written books if I ever need to refence it.

* Spiritual Metaphysical Money Manifestation - This seems to be a real stickler with DK these days. There is some truth to it all. People can imagine themselves being rich. I get that. Its annoying to Kennedy so he whines about it... just about in every single book he has released. But here Kennedy rambles on and on about it like a broken record. I know what he thinks about tithing and spiritually attracting money. I don't need negative reinforcement on this issue once again.

However, the concept of manifestation is very interesting -- there are many books on it. In fact, there are some interesting writings on this subject from one Robert Collier - the Secret of the Ages -- look it up. Collier was no doubt an inspiration to DK as a copywriter, (not a spiritual coach). Collier was active in the 1920's and had a very eclectic life. I may have been better off re-reading that one now that I think of it. There are some very powerful concepts in that book.

Look, if you got a Sunday afternoon off, (as I did) I would skip this book entirely. This guy wrecked my Holilday weekend. I ended up getting into an argument with my family over Dan Kennedy and this book ... was a serious waste of money and my time.

I wished this guy had writen something fresh about the new economy. By the way....

WHAT IS THE NEW ECONOMY?
DK was quick to point out that the state of the nation is not the fault of greedy Americans. It had nothing to do with inflated self worth or pumping up the value of real estate. It had nothing to do with pulling out the jobs in this country and then handing them off overseas. In fact, according to Kennedy nothing we have done as a country was responsible for the recent recession. I find this very odd.....

He complains about how Starbucks sells breakfast items, and how McDonalds sells gourmet coffee. He offers a few more illustrations along this vein. He claims that this is the REAL reason why things in America have fallen apart.

Because I totally 1000% disagree with this guy.

The main reason that things are in such a mess according to Kennedy is because we have too many buying choices in this country -- or something to that effect, which I find absurd. Then he quickly jumps into his days as a young sales guy and talks about the same stuff he always does -- himself and the growing affluent people he reads about in magazines like the Robb Report. After this grand salute to the rich he just drifts off into a dreamlike state --- and then there is some rambling about his horses....

THE NEW ECONOMY
The NEW economy is this.... nobody works. Jobs are finito. Nobody gives a hoohah about their neighbor because everyone is trying to survive. Nobody is saving for a future because from the looks of things there isn't going to be much of one! Thats the NEW ECONOMY.

Your clients are sleeping with one eye open and are dreaming about taking away the food from your table and hiring a bunch of guys from India who will work gladly for 12 cents an hour. This guy has never hung out in Detroit obviously. Ever.

The NEW economy means you will buy your house. AND... AND you will PAY FOR IT.... in the Millions. Because for some reason, which I cant quite figure out -- A million dollars has become the basic increment of self worth in this economy. Its the new standard. This crap really started around 911 and I don't see many guys hitting this mark. But I hear about it incessantly in business clubs, meetings and yacking with the local yokels in coffee houses.

A million dollars, (who knows where this idea germenated from) is the new level of prestige that determines what you are worth. This is despite the fact that there are no jobs in Michigan, or elsewhere from what I've read..... (See Seth Godin)....

The NEW economy to me means that our media choices are limited... collapse of major newspapers, magazines and more emphasis on the web. Something DK has avoided in his writings because he detests it. To me. THE NEW ECONOMY means that basically everything you know about your parents and the world they came from is obsolete.

Then the book takes pot shots of Walmart, (and Cosco respectively) because of the price thing which I find humorous. Im glad for places like Walmart. Without them we would have a lot of hungry families in Michigan. And the fact that Kennedy hates Walmart makes me want to shop there all the more.

Even though I disagree with his recent writings I actually respect DK, and his sarcasm and I respect his stories. But when I see a new release out on the shelves by Kennedy I expect to read SOMETHING NEW. Yes I know he hates Michael Moore, (and his ilk).... I get that, but we need to move on now and get to some fresh soil.

This is the reason why I dropped out of his Inner Circle and countless other things I was tangled up in.

We need to get over ourselves here and move on with life.

As for the book I give it two thumbs down and a D-. I find the book terrible and boring to read. I find it depressing that I bought basically the same book I picked up 4 months ago. I invite Kennedy to rewrite this book with ALL NEW content. But that won't happen. Its already too late because its on the shelves.

Ted Cantu lives in Michigan - and writes, he has yet to regurgitate his thoughts into multiple books. As of this writing, every book he has released has been 100% new content. Cantu promotes art, music and culture on the web along with SEO. You can find him at http://www.tedcantu.com

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THE NEXT WAVE - PR MAXIMUM

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Posted by Ted Cantu on May 12, 2010 at 12:31 AM