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THE ONLINE INVENTOR

http://www.marketlaunchers.com/customer-testimonials.html

Publisher: Paul Niemann

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PUBLISHER'S NOTES:

We're now starting our 5th year of publishing THE ONLINE INVENTOR!!!

For the past 4 years, I've sent the following 2 lists of valuable information to inventors who have purchased a web page on our web site's Invention Database.

* A copy of "Web Sites for Inventors"

AND

* A list of companies, most of whom are believed to be open-minded to looking at new products from outside inventors.

But, as of December 15th, I will no longer be giving away these valuable items to new customers anymore

EXCEPT

to those customers who order the Gold Package. Then after December 15th, these lists will be sent only to new customers who order the Gold Package, but they are available for sale even if you don't buy a web page on our site. The cost is $75 to receive both lists.

The info is very valuable to an inventor, and you can still get it at no extra charge until December 15th, OR by purchasing a Gold Package web page any time.

This announcement does not affect current customers because you received both lists when you bought your web page. If you plan on getting a web page, be sure to call me by December 15th to reserve these 2 lists for a limited time.

In other news, I’m not running the INVENTION MYSTERIES tm column here for a couple of months, but if you’d like to receive it your newspaper EACH WEEK, then call or e-mail your newspaper’s managing editor and request that they carry it. Details are on my other web site: www.InventionMysteries.com

If you contact your newspaper’s editor and request that he / she carry the INVENTION MYSTERIES tm column AND if your newspaper decides to carry it, you will receive for FREE a one-year subscription to Inventors' Digest PLUS the 2 lists mentioned above. Just let me know which newspaper editor you contacted and I’ll follow up.

My goal is to get 50 newspapers to carry the column by the end of 2003 -- no matter how large or small the newspaper is. THANKS for your help!

Enjoy this issue!

Best Regards,

Paul Niemann
http://www.marketlaunchers.com/customer-testimonials.html.html

P.S. Our site is visited by companies – companies who are looking for new products to license in. If you don’t have your invention listed on our web site yet, then now’s a good time to get it listed. It’s easier – and cheaper – than you think. Give me a call at (800) 337-5758 and I’ll give you the details.

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FAMOUS / INFAMOUS Quotes …

"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged," – Ronald Reagan, as seen at famousquotes.com

"You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there," – Yogi Berra, as seen at famousquotes.com

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Article # 1: "Stronger, Clearer Testimonial Letters Sell Better," by Marcia Yudkin

Article # 2: "ADVANTAGE: Inventors," by Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com

Article # 3: "The Creative Pyramid: A Short Guide for Writing Your Own Ads," by Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com

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Article # 1: "Stronger, Clearer Testimonial Letters Sell Better," by Marcia Yudkin

Misconceptions about testimonial quotes from clients and customers are rampant, weakening Web sites and printed brochures that fail to use the full power of these marketing tools. For instance, longer is not better, and unsigned testimonials add little credibility, even for a professional service where confidentiality is appropriate.

Here are two blurbs that I found posted on the Web, along with my analysis and revision.

1. BEFORE:

Rudy, Exelrod & Zieff LLP has been very pleased with results of its website developed through Lawinfo.com. Because our firm is easily locatable through the major search engines, we are finding that numerous people are contacting us who otherwise would not. Additionally, Lawinfo.com handles modifications of our website easily and otherwise provides good service.

Sincerely,

Alan Exelrod, Rudy, Exelrod & Zieff LLP, www.reztlaw.com

PROBLEMS:

"Numerous people" is vague. I would ask this attorney how many that would be -- three a month, thirty a day or what? "Handles modifications of our website easily" is unclear -- does it mean that Lawinfo.com makes changes soon after you e-mail them in, or that they have a procedure in place to enable site owners to do it themselves? While this question is undoubtedly answered elsewhere on the site, it can usefully be clarified within a testimonial like this as well. Next, what is meant by "provides good service"? I don't think the "Sincerely" is necessary. Finally, all testimonials should have quotation marks around them to make it explicit that these are the customer's exact words.

AFTER:

"Rudy, Exelrod & Zieff LLP has been very pleased with results of its website developed through Lawinfo.com. Because our firm is easily locatable through the major search engines, we now have more than thirty new clients a month that we would not otherwise have. Additionally, Lawinfo.com posts our e-mailed website modifications within a day, is always up and running and resolves billing issues promptly."

-- Alan Exelrod, Rudy, Exelrod & Zieff LLP, www.reztlaw.com

2. BEFORE:

"Kidspiration is fun! Students will think they are playing while they are engaged in language development, concept building, and acquiring a variety of learning skills such as classification and sight word knowledge."

-- Renee Schorr, Early Childhood Teacher, Winship Elementary School, Brighton, MA

PROBLEMS:

All nine quotes on this site use "will" or present tense, referring to predictions or guesses about results. Not one testimonial talks about real-life, classroom-tested results. Overall, this conveys a strong sense that the product has neither been released nor tested in actual classrooms. Poking around on the site, I learned that is absolutely untrue. The site thus needs to go back to its testimonial writers for real observations or get new quotes from those who have seen the product in action.

AFTER:

"Kidspiration is fun! Students in my classroom believe they are playing while they are engaged in language development, concept building, and acquiring a variety of learning skills such as classification and sight word knowledge."

-- Renee Schorr, Early Childhood Teacher, Winship Elementary School, Brighton, MA

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Marcia Yudkin -- Email: [email protected]
Copyright 2002
Web Address: http://www.yudkin.com/marketing.htm

The above is excerpted from Secrets of Mouthwatering Marketing Copy by Marcia Yudkin, available from http://www.yudkin.com/mouthwatering.htm. Marcia Yudkin <[email protected]> is the author of 11 books, including Persuading on Paper and Internet Marketing for Less than $500/Year.

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Article # 2: "ADVANTAGE: Inventors," by Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com

Here’s a quick little stat that you can use when trying to sell a company on licensing your invention:

The average cost for a company to create and launch a brand new product onto the market is more than $100,000. This includes development costs and marketing costs, and does not take into account the dollars spent on the products that FAIL. Don’t worry whether or not this figure appears to be accurate to him, because he will probably tell you that the actual figure is much higher. When I say a "brand new product," I mean one that’s different from anything that’s already out there, as opposed to a "new and improved" product.

After pointing out the problem to him, you’re now positioned to introduce yourself as having the perfect solution to his problem, with a product that fits in perfectly with his product line – at a fraction of what it currently costs him to add another new product to his product line.

If this doesn’t make him stop and think, then explain how you’ve already got one or two other companies in his industry (to put it another way: his competitors) interested in your invention. Don’t actually use the word "competitor," though, because it may sound like you’re trying to use that against him.

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Paul Niemann is president of MarketLaunchers.com, specializing in building web pages for inventors, where they can be seen on his web site's Invention Database (www.MarketLaunchers.com). Their Invention Database is seen by companies looking for new products to license in. He also build complete web sites for inventors and small businesses. To get your own web page or a complete web site, visit www.MarketLaunchers.com or call Paul Niemann at (800) 337-5758.

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Article # 3: "The Creative Pyramid – A Short Guide for Writing Your Own Ads," by Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com

One of the topics that I teach in the advertising class at Quincy (IL) University is referred to as the "Creative Pyramid." The Creative Pyramid illustrates the process that advertisers go through when they create an ad, and it also shows what people go through when they read an ad. You can use the Creative Pyramid as a guideline when you create your own ads, sales letters or web site.

There are 5 steps in the Creative Pyramid, listed from bottom (largest audience) to top (smallest audience = best prospects). They correspond to the basic parts of an ad: The HEADLINE and VISUAL, the SUBHEADING, the BODY COPY (or WORDS), the SLOGAN (if you have one) and your CONTACT INFORMATION.

The first thing that a person sees in an ad is the headline or visual. The headline should accomplish each of the following:

* Attract attention to the ad

* Present the complete selling idea

* Lead the reader directly into the body copy.

The headline attracts attention to the ad, and since some people will only read as far as the headline, the AWARENESS step represents your largest audience of those who see your ad. It represents the largest portion of your readers.

Gaining your readers’ AWARENESS is accomplished with a good headline and, in most cases, a good visual.

Even though a good headline will attract a large number of readers, some of these readers are not good prospects for your product. As a result, the next box in the Pyramid, the INTEREST box, is smaller that the AWARENESS box because the number of people who are INTERESTED in your product is smaller than the number of people who become AWARE of your product. Capturing your readers’ INTEREST is accomplished by the words that you write in your ad, sales letter or web page (called the copy).

The CREDIBILITY step of the Pyramid will be seen by even a smaller portion of your readers than the AWARENESS and INTEREST boxes do; the people who are still reading your ad at this point are better prospects for your product as well.

Gaining your readers’ CREDIBILITY is also accomplished by the copy in your ad, sales letter or web page. One step just flows logically into the next step.

After establishing CREDIBILITY, the next step in an ad is the DESIRE step. This step usually begins in the copy. It is followed by the final step, the ACTION step.

The ACTION step tells you to call the 800 number to place your order, stop by the store, visit the web site or write for more information. Sometimes the ACTION step can be something as simple as a Nike ad telling you to "Just do it."

As you can see in the Creative Pyramid below, the 5 steps, going from bottom to top (the largest number of readers to the smallest), are: Awareness, Interest, Credibility, Desire and Action.

_

ACTION
_________

DESIRE
__________________

CONVICTION
_____________________________

INTEREST
_______________________________________

AWARENESS
________________________________________________

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To get your own web page on the MarketLaunchers Invention Database, where your invention will be seen by companies looking for new products to license in, visit www.MarketLaunchers.com or call Paul Niemann at (800) 337-5758.

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Until next month, Successful Inventing To You!

Best Regards,

Click here to read the September 2002 issue.