Hi Terry,
It was great talking with you this week. Here’s some stuff for you to review:
Book
In October of 2012, it was the #1 Business book on Amazon. We’re finishing the second book, The First Order of Business, now.
Essays
Here are additional thoughts on the various aspects of marketing:
- Goals & Values
- Strategic Planning
- Customer Experience
- Messaging
- Media
- We tie it all together in something we call The First Order Of Business.
Video
You mentioned your familiarity with Wizard Academy in Austin even though you haven’t attended yet in person. Here’s a video of me teaching copywriting there. You can watch a little or watch a lot. It’ll give you a glimpse into some of the principles in which I believe. Roy introduces me, and I start at around the 2:30 mark.
References
Donald Bailey – President/CEO, Epic Dental – donald@epicdental.com – Donald and I have worked together since 2007 marketing his online oral healthcare products company. We, too, are getting ready to launch a large email campaign to different segments of our audience.
Lisa Wise – VP Marketing, Swimco – lwise@swimco.com – Swimco is western Canada’s largest swimwear retailer, and they’re very upscale. We’ve been working together for a couple years, and I’ve helped them uncover the soul, the values, and the “why” of their brand as well as helping write their ad copy for them.
Bryan Eisenberg – bryan@bryaneisenberg.com – and Jeffrey Eisenberg – jeffrey@bryaneisenberg.com – When it comes to online conversion, Bryan and Jeffrey are THE world-renowned experts. They consult companies like Google, Universal Studios, and Volvo International. International speakers and bestselling authors, Bryan and Jeffrey taught me a lot of what I know about what makes people do the things they do when they’re online. I’ve known, learned from, and worked with them for ten years.
All three are very responsive via email; however, I can provide you with phone numbers if you prefer, and there are plenty more where this came from, Terry, but I thought these three were fairly appropriate for the scope of the work you laid out during our phone call. I’m proud to say that, measuring quarterly, we’ve receive a perfect Net Promoter Score of 100 for the last year from our clients across the US and Canada. That’s the same system used by Apple, Southwest Airlines, Zappos, Trader Joe’s and basically every company that values delighting their customers. I hope we’ll consider using it as well for Ben Hogan Golf.
Compensation
What we WON’T do… ever… is take a percentage of the ad buy. I don’t want to be compensated based upon how much you spend in advertising. I know you’re a startup (an unusual startup, sure, but still a startup), and I believe in your story and your model. I want to bet on the come and be compensated based on how much we grow.
I suggest an upfront fee that covers our initial work, concepting, persona creation, and plan development (plus travel for two and expenses in Ft. Worth), then we’ll take a small, flat monthly fee that covers our copywriting and additional help in executing the plan we put together after our two days in Ft. Worth. We can adjust that fee annually based on growth and what we both think is fair. We’ll never take money we didn’t earn. That’s not how we were raised.
A Little Bit About You
Finally, a little bit about what we need from you… do you share the characteristics of our most successful clients?
- You are looking for a long-term growth solution … not a band-aid approach or a quick fix.
- You are very good at what you do.
- You are open to innovation.
- You are willing to invest resources into the growth of your business.
- You are passionate about your business, its goals, products, and history.
- You are committed to your business goals.
- You accept responsibility for your successes and failures.
If you can answer ‘yes’ to all those questions, and it seems like you can, we’re ready to get to work if you are!
Homework For You
I’d like you to write two letters… one to Mr. Hogan and one to someone else from your past for whom you hold the utmost respect. It could be a grandparent, minister, or teacher. I want you to tell each of them why you’re keen on resurrecting this brand, and why you think you’ll be successful, and why you think you can help make this world – at least the golf world – a better place.
Thanks, Terry!
Tim
