Getting to Know Clarke Echols:
What I Do

I Help Business Find and Plug
Profit Gaps In Their Marketing

Business owners and managers are buried in day-to-day operations, making it easy to overlook or be unaware of little — and sometimes big things that leave holes in their marketing or related operations.

That leads to profit gaps — a sometimes big difference between what sales and profits should be as opposed to what those sales and profits actually currently are.

When I work with a business owner or manager, I look for those profit gaps, then propose solutions for improving results.

Sometimes the solution is better marketing materials — such as adding white papers or case studies to improve sales conversion rates.

Or it might be improvements, optimization, or a complete overhaul of the company's current web site...

Or more effective printed materials...

Or other areas needing attention, such as the company's interface with customers. For example, are you easy to find through normal telephone-directory listings or are they hopelessly out of date because nobody's paying attention?

Here are some highlights of services I bring to help plug those gaps:

I Write Copy

I am a professional writer. A copy writer. I write words used in advertising and marketing to sell products and services offered by businesses. Most advertising and marketing professionals spell it as one word: copywriter, rather than two.

Some folks — even some lawyers — get copywriter confused with copyright. Copyright is the right to claim your work as your own so others can't steal it. It's a lot like having the title to a car or the deed to your home. It proves you're the legal owner. There's no such thing as a copyrighter — only copywriters — people who write copy.

The words I write are called copy — words used in commerce and advertising to promote and market products and services.

In other words, I write words that sell. ... Sell goods. ... Or ideas. ... Or raise money for non-profit organizations. ... Or get people to do things like pick up the phone to buy. ... Or find out more about something they're interested in.

Copy for websites. ... For print. ... Magazine and newspaper ads. ... For email marketing. ... Or autoresponders. ... Even press releases.

I write copy that promotes and advertises. ... That explains the benefits and advantages of buying goods or services from my clients.

I also write copy that educates. — White papers. ... Special reports. ... Technical manuals. ... Articles about various subjects.

There Are Two Main Kinds Of Copy

Most copy falls into one of two categories: B2B (short for business-to-business) — or B2C (meaning business-to-consumer).

B2B companies sell most of their products and services to other businesses.

B2C companies sell mainly to consumers.

While the objective is similar for both — selling stuff to someone else with the intent of making a profit — the style of writing and the methods of advertising and marketing are considerably different.

Online Versus Offline Copy

In today's technology-driven world, more and more businesses are moving their marketing and advertising to the Internet — using websites, email, autoresponders — social media such as Facebook, Twitter — and other methods.

These are called online marketing methods — and certain rules, writing techniques, and conventions are important when creating online content.

Still, many businesses are successfully using conventional print media, such as direct-mail (junk-mail) marketing, advertising in newspapers, magazines, and trade or special-interest publications, etc. These methods are generally called offline marketing.

While there are many important differences between online and offline marketing, there are also equally important similarities.

Sticking With Proven Principles

With the advent of the Internet, you hear a lot of people screaming, "Lo, here," or "Lo, there," but they won't tell you that human nature hasn't changed.

The principles that make good advertising and good copy work well are based on principles that were known thousands of years ago, and they still work because they're based on human nature.

And if you asked a so-called "web developer" or advertising-agency designer about the masters of the copywriting art throughout the past century, odds are fewer than 10-20% could even give you a name, even though these copywriters are legends among those who understand what makes good copy good.

For years, I have studied the copywriting art under the best copywriters living today. I have also studied works by legendary masters of the craft who are no longer living. And I seek to make the principles they taught an integral part of my own work so you benefit from the best copy available to you.

The Kinds of Copy I Write

As you can see, copy covers a broad array of forms and materials. Here are a few of the kinds of copy I can help you with...

Website Content

I create good, solid, written content for websites. The kind of copy that website visitors will respond to — not the kind of stuff they almost universally dislike when they visit other websites.

Most web creators who claim to be "web developers" are artists or computer programmers. They are not writers. They don't know what people want when searching the web.

I know what "ordinary" web users are looking for when they arrive at a website because I have interviewed many of them. I use that knowledge to create website content that meets their expectations and their needs.

If you have me help you give them what they want, you look good. ... Really good. ... A whole lot better than your competition who doesn't bother ... because they're too busy delivering what they think looks "cool" or fits the latest advertising crazed instead of giving the site visitor what he or she wants.

Landing Pages

A landing page, also called a microsite is usually a single web page (one-page site) selling a direct-order product, a special report, or some other product or service.

I use special techniques in creating landing pages that are specifically tailored to the intended audience. These usually most closely resemble well-written "junk mail" letters.

They typically link to a transaction page for collecting order information, credit card authorizations, etc. ...

Or they take the visitor to an opt-in page for signing up to receive a newsletter, order a free special report, or set up some other direct-response action.

I have written landing pages for the herbal remedy and dietary supplements market as well as for other purposes. My training again comes from some of the most successful direct-response copywriters in the world whose landing pages produce many many millions of dollars in revenues.

Often, depending on business needs, autoresponder series (described below) are commonly used to direct traffic back to the landing page to increase overall conversion rates through multiple contacts with the prospect.

White Papers and Special Reports

If you need to get your message through to prospects and leads who are resistant to conventional advertising ... or past "gate keepers" blocking your message, I can help you get through those barriers.

I have learned the art of white papers and special reports as a marketing tool your prospects actually want to receive from such well-known masters as Perry Marshall — as well as from Jonathan Kantor and Michael Stelzner who are considered two of the best white-paper writers in the world. Mike Stelzner is familiar with my work.

White papers and special reports are educational pieces designed to educate and inform prospective buyers about solutions to problems they may be encountering in their life or business.

By properly presenting them with an assortment of solutions to those problems in a balanced, fair-minded manner, and gracefully introducing them to what you offer in a non-salesy way, you gain credibility, appreciation, and interest in your offer in ways that are not easily attainable by other means.

Case Studies

If you need a device for increasing your credibility with potential customers, call me and let's discuss a well-written case study to accomplish that.

Case studies are essentially "success stories" about how a customer has benefitted from your product or service in solving a specific problem. A professional tone with clear explanations of the customer's original problem and the results from your solution — along with other appropriate perspectives — can help you seal the deal for your current prospect, and turn him or her into a buying customer.

Autoresponder Series

When you direct traffic to a specific website, landing page, or other web destination, visitors may look at the page or site, but don't respond at the time, intending to return later.

But often they get distracted and don't return. That means if you don't get them back, you've lost a potential customer and the money you invested getting that person to your landing page.

I can help you create autoresponder email series to help get visitors back to see your message again so they can respond. And if one or more successive messages are needed, that's all part of the system.

That is accomplished by loading an automated email sender — called an autoresponder — with a series of emails to be sent to certain recipients on a pre-determined schedule.

These autoresponder messages are carefully written to engage the reader, restore his or her interest in what you offer, and get them to return.

Another good use of autoresponders is for distributing training emails that introduce your customers or visitors to training and education in a regularly scheduled sequence without everyone having to sign up at the same time or work at the same rate on identical schedules. Your readers will appreciate the flexibility you offer through one or more autoresponder series.

Most of my autoresponder expertise comes from training with Jay White, considered one of the very best autoresponder copywriters in the world today by many of his clients who, themselves, are legendary, respected marketers in their own right.

Email Marketing Messages

Email has become and remains an effective method of marketing online. However, it must be done correctly ... comply with anti-spam laws ... and meet other standards of online "netiquette" — or it won't be well received.

I can help you with your email marketing needs and campaigns by helping you plan strategies for developing your mailing list so you have a properly managed opt-in list.

That means you can mail to them without being labeled a spammer — someone who broadcasts unsolicited, unwanted emails without invitation.

I have been an active Internet user for nearly a quarter-century, so I am very familiar with how things need to be done without creating problems for yourself.

I also have been trained by and studied under a strong array of well-known, widely respected email marketers — including Bob Bly, Daniel Levis, and others.

Consulting and Other Services —

Auditing, Critiques, Effectiveness Evaluations

I also do consulting services, including but not limited to website effectiveness, compatibility within marketing collateral (brochures, advertisements, etc.), and finding other holes in your marketing that might be costing you lost customers, lost business, and lost profits.

Here are a few examples:

Website Effectiveness Audits

I frequently encounter websites that suffer from severe mistakes in design, usability, and other serious errors that the site designer and the site owner are both unaware of.

Some of these issues are so serious that they literally drive prospects away before they even get into the site. If you think I'm kidding, ask yourself if you'd wait anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes(!) to see someone's home page if you were accessing it through a dial-up connection.

Or would you try to read a web page with dark red type on a black background? And these sites were designed by "professional web developers"!

I'm not kidding!

There are a lot of other nasties that could be lying in wait on your website to sabotage your online success. I use a 52-point checklist to thoroughly evaluate websites and expose the hidden uglies that could be damaging your bottom line.

Copy Critiques

Copy critiques are an evaluation of specific pieces of copy such as brochures, ... direct-mail advertisments, ... landing pages, ... email messages, ... autoresponder series, ... sell sheets, ... brochures, ... catalog copy, etc.

It can be an existing piece you want to upgrade or freshen, or a work in progress you'd like a second opinion on. It's also a relatively low-risk, inexpensive way to look at my skills and gain some benefit while deciding if you want me to help you with a bigger project.

Project Planning Consulting — A Fresh

If you are planning a large project and would like some outside, independent perspective, I can help you with that.

I can help you with message-to-market compatibility, targeting the right audience, and other factors ... as well as more mundane issues such as what content to include or exclude, ... balancing message effectiveness against "artistic license" for designers, and other factors important to your bottom line.

Marketing Effectiveness Consulting

Many companies are staffed by college-educated marketers and other executives, many of whom have little or no practical experience with everyday customers in a real-world environment.

Often many of their decisions are based on summaries from computer printouts rather than "boots on the ground" practical understanding of day-to-day interaction between bottom-level employees and the customers whose money pays the bills and provides the profits.

Bringing an outsider not steeped in the sort of thinking that so pervades academia can not only lend a fresh perspective — it can help you avoid or prevent various difficulties that everyday customers encounter — mistakes that can drive customers away and open ugly holes in your customer relations and the subsequent profit picture.