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  <body>&lt;p&gt;Have you ever been at a party or other social gathering and heard people talking about a subject that&amp;rsquo;s important or interesting to you, so you jumped in and joined the &lt;br /&gt;conversation?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Who hasn&amp;rsquo;t, right? Half the fun of social gatherings is getting involved in cool conversations. And who knows...You might learn something new or make new friends.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, you&amp;rsquo;ve probably also had the less pleasant experience of being involved in a fascinating conversation, then having some (usually loud and obnoxious) person butt in with comments that aren&amp;rsquo;t even really on topic. Maybe they even &lt;br /&gt;hijack the entire conversation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then what happens? Everyone who was originally talking starts finding excuses to drift away ASAP.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Of course, at every decent sized party there&amp;rsquo;s also almost always one person who spends the whole time talking about themselves, what they do, how great they are, etc. etc. ad &lt;br /&gt;nauseum.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;BORING! These folks can send you scurrying for the bathroom or another drink in a hurry.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sheesh, who wants to listen to someone blather on about stuff that&amp;rsquo;s only important to them? And that&amp;rsquo;s exactly what these last two annoying people are doing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This all probably seems like a no-brainer right? Because we&amp;rsquo;ve all been there.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What most folks don&amp;rsquo;t realize is that your marketing materials can have the exact same effects on your prospect. It just depends on whether they&amp;rsquo;re written to be an interesting conversation people want to join in&amp;hellip;Or a pushy, obnoxious or boring monologue that makes them run away.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because here&amp;rsquo;s the thing...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When you sit down to write your marketing materials, you&amp;rsquo;re really getting ready to have a one-on-one conversation with the person who&amp;rsquo;s going to read them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s up to you to decide what kind of conversation that&amp;rsquo;s going to be&amp;hellip;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull;&amp;nbsp;If you make it sound like your typical, formal, boring, all-about-me marketing, people aren&amp;rsquo;t going to stick around to read the whole thing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull;&amp;nbsp;If you make it into a pushy, overbearing, hyped-up sales piece that talks only about what you think is important, few people are going to want to read it at all.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull;&amp;nbsp;But if you can slip into the conversation your prospect already has going on in their head&amp;mdash;and add something interesting, useful or valuable&amp;mdash;they&amp;rsquo;re going to want to hear &lt;br /&gt;&amp;bull;&amp;nbsp;everything you have to say.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So they&amp;rsquo;ll read every last word. And they&amp;rsquo;ll end up liking you and appreciating the information. In the best of all worlds they&amp;rsquo;ll even take action by getting in touch.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s why one of the best tips copywriters often give is to write like you&amp;rsquo;re having a conversation with a good friend.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Think about it this way...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Chances are you wouldn&amp;rsquo;t beat your friend over the head with your point of view (because that&amp;rsquo;s no way to keep friends around). But if you&amp;rsquo;d found something you thought would really help them solve a problem, fulfill a want or fill a need you&amp;rsquo;d be sure to tell them all about it. And you&amp;rsquo;d let them know exactly how it could help them and why.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That&amp;rsquo;s what your marketing materials should do too.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So the next time you sit down at the keyboard to write an ad, sales letter, brochure, Website text or whatever, don&amp;rsquo;t be boring or pushy. Instead, try to sound like the kind of interesting, smart, positive person you&amp;rsquo;d enjoy meeting and talking with at a party.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Join in on the conversation by letting the reader know you understand where they&amp;rsquo;re coming from. Then offer helpful advice and tell them what they can do to get, or learn, more.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;rsquo;re struggling with this, instead of writing try recording yourself talking to a friend about your product of service. Then just transcribe the recording, do a little editing, and you&amp;rsquo;re ready to go.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Master this with your marketing and I guarantee people are going to want you to stick around. And once they get to know and trust you, they&amp;rsquo;ll end up becoming your clients or &lt;br /&gt;customers, and possibly even your raving fans too.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</body>
  <created-at type="datetime">2009-06-07T16:07:37Z</created-at>
  <deleted-at type="datetime" nil="true"></deleted-at>
  <featured-at type="datetime">2009-06-09T17:22:05Z</featured-at>
  <heat-index type="float">-6.42572</heat-index>
  <hits type="integer">1592</hits>
  <id type="integer">4912</id>
  <is-public type="boolean">true</is-public>
  <learn-category-id type="integer">15</learn-category-id>
  <member-id type="integer">5821</member-id>
  <permalink>get-more-clients-by-making-your-marketing-materials-the-life-of-the-party</permalink>
  <posts-count type="integer">31</posts-count>
  <published-at type="datetime">2009-06-09T10:21:32Z</published-at>
  <reviewed-at type="datetime">2009-06-09T17:22:05Z</reviewed-at>
  <submitted-at type="datetime" nil="true"></submitted-at>
  <summary> When you sit down to write your marketing materials, you&#8217;re really getting ready to have a one-on-one conversation with the person who&#8217;s going to read them. </summary>
  <title>Get More Clients by Making Your Marketing Materials the Life of the Party </title>
  <topics-count type="integer">1</topics-count>
  <updated-at type="datetime">2009-06-09T17:22:05Z</updated-at>
</article>
