October 25th, 2007 by Kelly

My 11-year-old, Bailey, is going to the Hannah Montana concert in Denver tonight. For those of you that don’t have an 11 year old girl in your life, Hannah Montana is the newest Disney phenomenon and the MUST SEE concert when it comes to town, with tickets selling out in minutes and scalping for $2500 a pair.

A relatively new 30 minute show on the Disney channel, Hannah Montana has grown into not only the highest rated show on basic cable television right now, but a huge brand that tweens (loosely ages 9-13) love to love. My kids have informed me that Hannah Montana (who is a regular teen that has a secret life as a rock star) will be the hottest Halloween costume this year at school with the kids. One of the local radio stations is having a contest to give away two tickets where the dads have to sing and dress up like Hannah Montana.

Don’t we all wish we could get this much publicity for our businesses? Disney is known for its marketing genius and is leveraging Hannah Montana’s popularity to the max with her cosmetic line, purses, gift-wrap, DVD’s, bedroom decorations and t-shirts. The Hannah Montana program and the brand targets 6-to-11 year-olds (my 7-year-old LOVES it too). I can go on with facts and statistics about Hannah Montana and the brands popularity, but I’d rather take a look at some lessons we can learn from Disney on what they are doing right…

• Disney builds brand loyalty. From a very young age (starting with preschool and playhouse Disney), both kids and parents are brought into the Disney brand and nurtured through adulthood with movies, bands and amusement parks.
• Disney has a vertical price offerings
• Disney does a good job of selling both the parents on a positive, safe environment for kids as well as selling the kids on fun and creative entertainment.

Questions to ask yourself…

• How does your organization build loyalty? Do you have a series of products/services that grow with your patient? For example, does your chiropractic practice offer adjustments, and as your patients heal have offerings for health maintenance as well as ongoing care (supplements, seminars, etc)
• Do you offer services at different price points? An example could be a facial at a day spa. There are basic facials ($80), European facials ($110), and then upsells on peels, etc.
• In your sales, are you addressing the objections/needs of both the patient and their spouse or child if appropriate?

October 13th, 2007 by Kelly

Copywriting schools and programs often the benefits of living the life of a writer. They talk about ideal life/balance situations where you create your own environment. This such as having a flexible schedule, working from the comfort of your home, setting your own hours and working with clients YOU choose to name a few things.

And while many aspiring copywriters jump into the field because they do want to create this “ideal” life for themselves, they are also surprised and disappointed when their dreams do not become a reality.

Their dreams never come to fruitition because they treat their “writing career” like a hobby rather than as a business.

Here are just a few of the many reasons I see copywriters unsuccessful at making money as a writer:

• They are not disciplined about their writing.
• They don’t actively and consistently market themselves
• They don’t network
• They don’t have systems in place for customer service, time management, cash management.
• They don’t take the time to portray a professional image
• They don’t show permanence and/or prominence in their field
• They don’t believe they provide a service that’s of value

If you treat writing copy like a hobby you won’t care if you make money or not. People who write copy as a business need to make money to be succesful and treat every action they take as such. 

Happy Copywriting!

Kelly Robbins
The Copywriting Institute