Yesterday I went to see a new client who sells something highly technical I barely understand.
I was there to comment on their marketing, which doesn’t do anything like justice to their product – which has 85% of a multi-billion dollar market.
Finding out about new things is one of my remaining pleasures, whereas explaining what I do (which the client also requested) is a pain. That’s because it is so multifarious I feel exhausted just thinking about it.
As chance would have it, I also got five nice messages, also a pleasure, which related to some but not all the things I do. So talking about them helps explain.
One was from an alarmingly clever and very funny Russian lady in Paris. She organises the largest event of its kind in the world, which is to do with investment and told me in the morning that the last mailing I wrote for her had got complaints.
Her messages always make me laugh. In the evening I got another: By the way, that letter that got complaints was a good one. The bookings are going up on it.
Well done Drayton for being brilliant.
You should explain to people that you are brilliant, and then business will be up!”
Well, that sounds like good advice, Katia, so …
Besides writing copy, I do training for her firm which I believe is the biggest of its kind in the world. The last session I did was a nightmare. My visual presentation had been stopped by their server, so I had to talk about how to write better without any visual aids for three – or was it four? – hours. They said they loved it – or were too polite to tell the truth.
I got another message yesterday from someone who I think gets my helpful ideas.
It read, “I am currently studying a copywriting course and am seriously loving your emails. The pieces of advice are definitely little gems. l am also gaining so much from seeing how you write and employ these techniques. I reckon you have saved me masses of time. Thanks, I no longer have to learn these tricks through trial and error but can immediately put them into practice. Brilliant!”
Then I got a third from a client who does the marketing for a big fashion retailer in South Africa. I wrote a report for her on her copy. She saw me at a one-day seminar I did in Johannesburg last year. She said, “Thank you for the critique. I’m very happy that you were frank – it’s exactly what I was looking for!
The communicating the Fashion is Fun resonated particularly with all of us and we’ve already started implementing some of the other suggestions to test in our next mail run.”
The fourth was from a client who operates in Singapore and Thailand. He helps people market property all over the world, and I’ve been helping him and his marketing partner with their messages. Actually he sent me two kind messages yesterday, one about a suggestion I made about their copy, “The definition is priceless if kept in mind whilst writing.” He keeps inviting me to stay at his villa on the beach at Phuket – but I’ve been too busy. Bad priorities on my part? Yes.
The fifth, from a client in Birmingham who sells financial services was so flattering I cannot reprint it with a straight face. I advise them on just about everything they do.
All that’s a long winded way of saying that I advise, write for, train and help people all over the world on just about anything that will give them better results.
Which reminds me. I sent out an email three days ago that flopped. I thought that was because it was too clever. I was wrong. It was because it had the word sex in it, so the spam catchers did for it. The follow-up did twice as well in two hours
I almost forgot that I speak at and sometimes organise events. And we now have our first bookings for the branding event – one from the managing director of a publication that I consider the best of its kind in Britain. It is certainly the best marketed, by far.
You meet a better class of person when you know me.
P. S. And if you really want to get to know me, I have not forgotten about mentoring. I’ll get round to it – but right now I’m getting ready to go to New York and see some of my family – my son Phil, my grandson Rowan and my daughter Chantal.
Whoopee!
Best,
Drayton
www.eadim.com
www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com
The branding event looks fantastic. I'm surprised you haven't put the link on your blog.
So, for anyone who's interested, I'll do it for you. I hope that's okay. Here's the link: http://www.draytonbird.net/branding/