The Power of Words- How to Write Powerful E-mails

By: Michael Dolpies

(Don’t forget to join Champions Way and Mike Dolpies for a special webinar on June 10th  at 1PM EST, 12 CST:  Direct Mail Secrets That Will Fill Your School.)

Michael Dolpies started his first school in 1998 when he was just 18 years old. He is the creator of many top selling martial arts business resources including: Quick Karate Sales Letters and The Magic Intro Program. He is the co-founder of
The MA-Biz Secret Society.  To get a FREE MP3-
“The Insider Secrets of Six-Figure School Owners” go to: www.MaBizSecretSociety.com  
To get a FREE email course-How to Master Direct Mail for Martial Arts Schools go to: www.quickkaratesalesletters.com

Do you know how to send an effective e-mail to potential students?

This article will teach you:

  • Magic Words That Bring You Students
  • How to Correctly Frame Your Communication so Students and Prospects know what is in for them
  • An example of a “Martial Arts Marketing Makeover”
  • Why developing this one skill can help your school in all areas
  • How to Guarantee that your letters and emails get read
  • Confidential Headline Secrets that will get You Results

As martial artist we are constantly mastering different skill sets. One thing that we all know as martial artist is that some of our mental and physical skills are of greater importance than others. We also know that a lack of competence in a certain key area can undermine everything.

We can be a truly great fighter but without the discipline to train hard and keep our composure under pressure our actual fighting skills of little impact. Another example- Speed and agility will only go so far if we do not have the endurance to go the distance.

The same is true as we are running our business and trying to increase our student count so that we can earn more money. If we are weak or lacking in certain key business skills it can be enough to hold us back and undermine our success.

 My goal in this article is to help you improve one of the most valuable business skills there is…Copywriting! The fact is that when you develop this skill magical things can happen….

To some of you, this maybe a confusing subject. Some will wonder if copywriting is that little © they see everywhere? Not really! Copywriting is how you put your words and communications together to persuade people to join and stay in your school!

Copywriting is everything!

 But let’s talk first about the most widely used function of copywriting which is to put words on the computer screen or on paper that persuade people to take the action that you want! Stay with me because I’m going to reveal some secrets here that I have never shared before….

The way you handle your intros, your walk-ins and your phone is really “copy.” Like I said copy is everything. I have found that most school owners have a good handle on things like, phone, walk-ins and intros. But when it comes to being able to put it down in print or up at a website is where they lose it.

When writing messages to students or prospective students frame everything in a way that says to them- “Here is what this means to you and this is how you will benefit!”

The results can be amazing- look at this example from a website headline that I helped a client improve.

An example of a Martial Arts Marketing Makeover

Here’s what he had on his site….

“Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art that dates back to over 2000 years, today modern Taekwondo is practiced in over 170 countries worldwide
and has been a official Olympic sport since the Sydney games in 2000. “

I’m a tkd guy and love the art and the sport. I take pride in my close to vertical side kick and my spin hook kick but this is a real yawner to the average person…

I convinced him to change it to…
 
"How an Ancient Korean Art & Modern Day Olympic Sport
Can Give You or Your Child the Confidence, Discipline, Focus, And
Athletic Skills to Be A Leader Not A Follower...
 
Read on and Discover How This Little Know, But Proven Secret
Can Give You and Your Child an un-fair Advantage in School & life...”

The results were more leads and students coming from his website! The problem that he had and the reason why his website was not producing prior to us changing it was simple: All of you marketing lives and dies on the headline and his original “Taekwondo” headline was confusing and not relevant to someone seeking the benefits of martial arts training. I hope you can see the difference!

Where Does Good Copy Come From?

It certainly starts off as the ability to persuade face to face. If you have ever enrolled someone in your school you can persuade!

The hard part is to translate that ability in to print. But when you acquire this skill something magical happens…

You then are able to craft speeches, and group or one on one presentations that persuade so much easier! I became pretty good at copywriting by simply doing it!  Actually, if you saw my first ever sales letter you’d probably laugh. But it totally came from me simply pretending I was sitting in front of an intro, telling them the benefits of my program, answering their objections and asking them to join. In the letter asking them to join was simply asking them to call and schedule an intro!

 
Here’s something you must employ right away to guarantee that your messages get read.

Break up your paragraphs! I try to do it for you when I write these articles! Letters and emails that are sent to your prospects should be easy to read! I don’t care how powerful your words are if the site of them turns people off, you’re dead!

 

Now some Magic Words and Phrases That Will Bring You Students

The great David Garfinkel of “The World Copywriting Institute gave me these magic words:
Naturally, You’re Invited, Discover and How to. Feel free to use them in your marketing.
Some Magic Phrases:

“You can see for yourself that….”

“You can’t lose!”

“We’re ready to prove it to you.”

 Confidential Headline Secrets.

A lot of people struggle with the whole concept of headlines. After reading this you no longer will!

As we talked about before…Everything in your business is copy! Copy is the words that you choose and how you structure them for maximum influence. Hmm- Think about those “Mat Chats,” they too must contain elements of good copy.

Headlines are simply “Openers.” Headlines are how you grab attention. I don’t care if you are teaching class, writing an ad, or sending an email.

On to our headline secrets…

Headlines are fairly formulaic, so let’s quickly give you some winning formulas to start with.

  • Curiosity- Humans are enormously curious, so when ever you can play into this go for it.
  • Make News- Start with words like “Announcing” or “Finally.”
  • Call out your prospect- “Attention All Women,”  “Attention Men Who Want to Get in Shape!” “Attention Parents!”
  • How to- Always a Winner
  • Who Else- Another Winner
  • Ask a Question- asking the right question to your target market is always a good idea especially when you can pin point the exact question that they are thinking.

I’ll hope you’ll join me on June 10th when I tie it all together for you and show you how to laser focus your marketing efforts to attract the right students to your school!

Michael Dolpies started his first school in 1998 when he was just 18 years old. He is the creator of many top selling martial arts business resources including: Quick Karate Sales Letters and The Magic Intro Program. He is the co-founder of
The MA-Biz Secret Society.  To get a FREE MP3-
“The Insider Secrets of Six-Figure School Owners” go to: www.MaBizSecretSociety.com  
To get a FREE email course-How to Master Direct Mail for Martial Arts Schools go to: www.quickkaratesalesletters.com