Sometimes you find out that someone has reproduced your work without permission. There are scales of bad-ness here, ranging from plagiarism through to lack of attribution.
Rachel Martin website GrowthHacking expert
What should you do when you find out?
The answer depends on a few things – if you are a world famous published author and public speaker, you may respond differently from if you are a blogger or a business or a startup. The picture above is Rachel Marie Martin – a Mommy Blogger at findingjoy.net who has suffered multiple abuses of her intellectual property.
Aim for a Win-Win outcome
My suggestion is for you to ring them up and ask to speak to the person who published and instead of complaining, tell them you know they’re using your intellectual property without permission – and ask for something in return.
This should be of value to your and your business. This could be a booking from them to use you as a trainer in exchange for using your articles. Or get them to run an advert for your services free in the next 3 months newsletters. Or an agreement to use more of your articles with express sales offers.
Complaining can work
But in my experience it puts peoples backs up and you are less likely to come out of it smelling of roses.
My preferred tactic is to let them know you’ve found out and then ask for a favour in return – which they should feel obliged to agree to doing.
How to find who’s using your material
The best way is to set up Google Alerts for your name, your brand name and other search strings which can easily trace back to you. I am lucky that AFAIK I’m the only Rebecca Caroe in the world (yay) so easy to find. Be creative – you can also use Google Search Console to find incoming links to your site and linkbacks in blog comments usually get tracked too.
Good luck… and of course a last resort is the Cease and Desist letter (but avoid getting legal if you can).
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Rachel-MArtin.png580586Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-04-22 16:40:392016-04-22 16:40:39What to do when your content is used without permission
Crossfire Engineers are one of the leading practices in Auckland delivering advice for fire engineering in new buildings as well as refurbishments. The team is expert in fire safety advice, but not website marketing.
When they needed to edit their old website it meant paying the developer to upload content and so it was clearly time for a change to a content management system and a new web design.
It was clear that delivering a successful project would include keeping the client informed, but minimising the amount of time taken up by management.
And so we did most of the copywriting briefing face to face by ‘interviewing’ the key team players.
Later, testimonials were obtained from clients direct after an introduction by the Crossfire team, saving them time. We asked questions and wrote the testimonial first draft for them to edit and approve.
Key website successes
The Home page has 3 red buttons to shortcut visitors’ enquiries to the pages most relevant to different services. What an architect needs is different from a Building Owner or Manager.
Testimonials on the bottom of the home page by high profile clients and architects who collaborate with the Crossfire team.
Crossfire Fire Engineers testimonials
Team profiles not just photos but also individual contact details and a synopsis of their career and key skills allow direct contact by clients.
Work for us – one of the drivers for the new website was the need to recruit staff this page sets out more detail about how engineers can re-qualify in Fire Engineering as well as explaining how to emigrate to New Zealand.
Happy client
Jeff Parkinson did much of the day to day liaison for the website project and he has this to say at the end.
We can’t recommend Rebecca enough! She helped us through the process of designing our new website and we are really pleased with the end result.
She helped us to stay focused and used her expert knowledge to ensure our site was relevant, connected and simple to use.
We are really happy with the content she provided, her constant support throughout the project helped us complete the website for a new year launch during a time of high pressure from other project workloads.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/xfire-website.png11642408Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-02-17 11:59:322020-01-24 01:44:59Case Study: Website redesign for busy professional firm
We work day to day with clients on email campaigns, personalised cold emails, event invitation blasts and much more. Over the years we’ve become accustom to building effective email headlines that get emails read and replied to, and we’ve noticed that without that experience entire campaigns can be rendered useless. So if you lack experience building effective email headlines that get your campaigns read and replied to then you’ve come to the right place!
The Creative Agency Secrets short guide to email headlines
Email headlines are a lot like blog headlines. We’ve boiled it down to a few select simple rules:
Short and simple.
Getting to the point quicker with fewer words helps grab attention and keeps it. Shorter headlines are also usually more exciting which entices further reading.
Promise what the full message contains
If readers believe the title is misleading to the content, they’re more likely to discard your email after reading it! It’s all about trust, people.
This also comes along with cohesion and comprehension because if you’re conveying two things at once the reader is less likely to understand what you want them to do and why.
Relevant to the target audience.
This tends to be a given because again, the headline of the email should reflect on the content and your content should be getting sent to the right target audience. But too many times we see email headlines that reflect a part of the content which isn’t interesting or relevant to the target audience. Make sure the your next email headline brings out the part of the content most likely to interest your intended readers.
Make readers curious.
Don’t give them everything, leave them wanting! This should be simple with our first rule of headlines being short but sometimes a “90% of x does y” type of headline isn’t as effective as “So how many of xes do ys, you think? Here’s your answer:”
You may be a cut above the rest now that you know these 4 simple rules, but we’re not done yet. We want to arm you with the best practices, so here’s some fantastic email headline examples (we found many of these on CopyBlogger! They’re a brilliant content marketing resource):
This month we’re working on two clients both with membership businesses. They need strong copywriting on both their home page and the landing / squeeze page where the pitch for members is made.
We got out and tried to find some good examples of membership sites where a really compelling landing page lays out the offer and the benefits.
It was surprisingly hard.
I had hoped that Copyblogger would be good – but despite moving much of their content behind an email registration wall, the old landing page is no longer there – maybe they’re so well known that the benefits are no longer needed.
A subscription service for monthly coaching and education on all aspects of blogging for profit – this page really lays out the details of what a member gets and shows archive material which is also available to each new joiner. The video welcome is a nice touch.
A totally different approach is used by expert business coach, Tom Poland. He uses a letter form to make a strong offer in the headline and a personal offer – with a guarantee.
Both offering education services to modern marketers, these sites have a near-identical page layout and copy style. Interestingly, the DM list of advisory courses look like individual tiles, but they all go to a letter-style long copy landing page from the founder, Ryan Deiss.
Econsultancy landing page copywriting example
Digital Marketer landing page copywriting example
Got any other examples?
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We take pride in our ability to create successful email marketing campaigns that deliver measurable results. We meticulously plan emails to be sent so each one is effective and engaging to the target audience. Here are two case studies:
The sports equipment brand
Space Saver Rowing Systems (SSRS) is a rowing boathouse equipment retailer. They recently launched a new product – The Wraptor Balance. We worked with them on a campaign that generated responses and resulted in sales.
The new product launch campaign
Gathering the right media for the product – The Wraptor Balance is an innovative tool best experienced before purchase. We can’t bring an experience through the internet but we can bring the experience to the reader with videos, photos and the offer of a free trial.
A landing page – Our next step was to create a landing page for the product on the SSRS website. We focused on clear messaging showing how the product was important to use for beginners and why it makes a difference.
We then created web buttons which led readers to the next step in the process: a trial or purchase. Landing pages are incredibly important to product launch campaigns as it is the one consistent place directing customers to an action. As long as you can lead a customer there you’ve got them interested.
A series of blog posts – We then went about scheduling several blog posts that were short and exciting while directing readers again to the Wraptor Balance landing page. This quickly achieved our goal to find interested prospects and get them invested in learning more about the product.
The email blast and its format – Emails are great if you already have a mailing list, which is the only catch.
We sent out 2 emails – the first being a lengthy description of the benefits of having a Wraptor Balance in a rowing club boatshed. The second was more focused with more emphasis on customer experiences through testimonials.
The results
The email campaign saw a whopping 40% open rate accompanied by 10% clicking through to links we included…
Over time we continued to generate small pockets of interest as well…as the graph below shows.
As a result of the campaign Space Saver Rowing Systems has provided 15 clubs with a trial of the Wraptor Balance with 3 confirmed sales to date (and more on the way).
The business consultant
Nick Muller runs a leadership program called Coaching for Change. This is a 4 session training program run over a 6 month period that teaches leaders how to bring change about and lead small businesses to success.
He embarked on an email campaign using our services with the hope of boosting attendance to his program, and we delivered. 9 emails across a 4 week period were sent to two separate email lists which brought him a handful of new signups to his high price coaching course. Each email was unique. The first was an introductory message; the second email followed the first but was a lot shorter and used as a reminder. The final one in the series split our lists between those who had clicked on a prior email and those who hadn’t. For those who hadn’t we focused on the email title more than the content. For those who had clicked on a prior email we focused on convincing them to make contact.
From the graph above it’s plain to see we maintained consistent email open rates around the 30% mark for each of the 9 emails. Normal campaign opening rates are often around 20%, with more successful campaigns reaching 30-40% (yes, that’s us!). Sending the 3rd email out to people who hadn’t clicked on a previous email worked well with a maintained 30% open rate also. This means, as a result of sending that extra email, we expanded the reach of the campaign.
This graph (above) shows the click rates of links within the emails we sent. It once again proves how effective our repeat emails were. The stats suggest that with our third email we managed to convince those who hasn’t opened an email before to both open the email and click a link.
Creating campaigns that count
Our email campaigns consistently demonstrate our attention to detail and planning. By isolating how to get in touch with our the target markets of our clients, crafting the right message and adapting that message based on the recipients’ actions we can create an effective email marketing campaign.
The Blogging Concentrated team are coming to New Zealand in May from 1st to 9th 2015. Creative Agency Secrets are their hosts and we are running one-day training events in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch for you to learn about how to make your business website effective as a marketing and sales tool.
Ahead of the visit, we organised 3 free training sessions for you to gauge the quality of training and to get you excited and signed up for the NZ events.
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SEO-improving-search-rankings.png581885Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2015-03-24 14:53:102015-03-24 14:53:10Free training: What can we do to improve our Search Rankings?
Occasionally I receive the PERFECT message – well-written, timely and full of lessons to copy and adapt. Copyblogger Media is running an event and…. well you work out why you think they needed to write this message.
Use the same paragraph topics if you need to use a similar tactic to fill your event with paying punters.
Subject line: Authority Rainmaker price drop!
We’ve dropped the price of Authority Rainmaker registration from $1,295 to $795 for a limited time. Head over now and grab your spot:http://authorityrainmaker.com
Still here?
Then perhaps you want to know why …Last year we sold out the event months in advance because we were limited to 400 people. We also had to make the ticket price somewhat expensive, because we didn’t want to skimp on anything – food, parties, the audio/visual experience, and so on.
This year things are different in two key ways.
And this is allowing us to lower our ticket prices and get this party truly rocking.
First of all, this year we sold sponsorships. Thanks to the generosity of cool companies like Moz, AWeber, Feedblitz, TopRank Online Marketing, and our Legend Sponsor, Spears Marketing, expenses have been drastically reduced. We had no idea that we would get such an enthusiastic response from our friends in the digital marketing community!
Secondly, we’re in a much larger venue that is turning out to cost us less than the 400-seat venue we had last year. Working with the team at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House has been amazing, and it’s a real treat to have such a magnificent venue without being charged an arm and a leg.
In short, if we would have known earlier how well things would go on the expenses front, we would have sold tickets at a much lower rate so no one was excluded by the high ticket price. We don’t produce this event to maximize profit … we do it to enhance the strength of our community.But it’s not too late to adjust. So we’ve lowered the registration rate to $795. We even issued partial refunds to anyone who paid more than $795!
Cool, right? The event is shaping up to be even better than our high expectations. And now it costs you less to experience it. Check out the details, but remember, the price won’t stay this low forever:http://authorityrainmaker.com
See you soon …
Brian Clark
Founder and CEO
Copyblogger Media
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2015-03-10 13:28:192020-01-24 01:44:57Writing a price change email for Event Marketing
I am working with a newly freelance graphic designer and am introducing her to possible clients.
This is the email she sent to follow up on one introduction and I just had to edit the text.
An introduction is the MOST favourable way of getting a new business face to face meeting. These folks won’t turn you down, generally. So what was wrong with this message?
Hi
I hope this finds you well and the new year has got off to a good start for you!
I wanted to get in touch with you following Rebecca’s introduction in December last year, as I am now in a position where I am able to provide brand packaging design on a freelance/contract basis.
I’ve attached my CV and portfolio of work with this email. If it suits you, I’d love the opportunity to come in and introduce myself and have a chat. There would be no commitment required, just an opportunity to see if there is a fit between my skills and experience and your company.
Kind regards,
Elements of email to improve
So what was wrong with that message? The first paragraph is fine. The second leads off with the right information in the right order but it uses too many words to make the point. Making it two sentences is punchier.
The mention of the portfolio being very short is deliberate – don’t show everything until you have a commitment to meet. You are more impressive face to face than showing finished work. So just send a taster. Select products that align with the recipient’s likely needs.
Then move onto a focus on them – talk masculine words like ‘investment’ and ‘role of design’ – philosophise a bit – you learn a lot about their attitude to good design if you can find these things out in a meeting. And that will inform your likely future work more than just showing a portfolio – discuss how design can help them achieve their business objectives.
Email introductions that get meetings
Here’s my suggestion of a re-draft of the email which may get better result outcomes.
I hope this finds you well and the new year has got off to a good start for you!
We were introduced by Rebecca in December last year, and you said I should “get in touch in the new year”.
I am now providing brand packaging design on a freelance/contract basis.
I’ve attached my CV and a very short portfolio of work with this email
Understanding XYZ’s business is very important if you are to consider working with me. And so I would like to invest my time learning more about your products, markets and the role of design.
Can we meet during the week of 15th February?
I will call you on (name date) to discuss fixing a date and time to suit you.
Kind regards,
So, can you see what I’ve done with the text? I removed all the “maybe” and “if it suits you” and “no obligation” words. These are very cautious.
You are good at your job, you will not be wasting their time meeting you. Sound and communicate your confidence that you are the best thing that’s happened to them and that you will help them achieve their business objectives.
Let me know if you try both which comes out best!
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2015-02-03 15:40:302019-08-01 15:32:23Email text for freelancer pitching a brand
It’s difficult – I know what I want from you when I send a cold email, but it is very hard to get you to respond.
Here’s a great tip – don’t ask for what you want.
Yes, seriously, don’t. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but trust me, I’m going to show you an insider’s trick.
So what do I ask for in a cold email?
Start with offering something for the recipient.
Take a read of this example from Chris Hines.
Cold Email text example
Do you see how Chris leaves you in no doubt about what he wants (it’s in the P.S.) but because he starts by offering me something I would value, when I get to reading the last lines my frame of mind is set to take up his offer.
The Principle of Reciprocity is a fundamental human value found in most societies, Chris uses this because he offers me a service (introducing me to his contacts) first knowing that when I get to reading the PS I will interpret it as a reciprocal requirement to complement his offer of service.
Cleverly written.
Now, can you use this in your business?
Buy a Workshop on how to use email for your business marketing.
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