Free Photo Aggregator
Yesterday I came across a rather brilliant image search engine that searches several free online sites and brings all the results back to the one screen.
(ie, it “aggregates” the results like a meta search engine does — probably because it IS a meta search engine, designed specifically for free photos/images).
The website is everystockphoto — I can’t believe I only found this yesterday!
Great points about the search results …
- You can quickly see the file size (great when you need a minimum size, eg for print usage where you want a particular resolution) — given that you’re searching free photos (many of which are often too small for print needs), this is a very useful feature to have on the search results page (something I don’t find on some of the sites I regularly use);
- It searches (currently) more than 4.45 million photos;
- The license type (is the file in the public domain, do you need to attribute/credit the author etc); and
- Search results also show user ratings and even the source website.
This saves time over searching several free sites to find an image suitable for your needs. It’s particularly “brilliant” for me because it includes sites I’d normally search separately when hunting for available images for client projects, sites such as Flickr, stock.xchng and morgueFile.
I particularly like that it features Flickr photos with a usable license, so you can download and use (within the license terms) photos from that resource: millions of photos in Flickr are now easier to find.
There is also another useful resource — just within Flickr — the Creative Commons area, where you can search content under each of the Creative Commons licenses (all explained on the linked page).
A Real Life Movie Sequel
This news caught my eye today … a real life movie sequel, without leading Hollywood star Tom Hanks in sight!
Here’s part of the story from an earlier Yahoo! News report:
For reasons he can’t explain, (Hiroshi Nohara) has been in Terminal 1 of the Benito Juarez International Airport since September 2nd, surviving off donations from fast-food restaurants and passengers and sleeping in a chair.
Reminds you of The Terminal, doesn’t it! Except this is real life!
As it also states in the news report:
Now, he’s somewhat of a celebrity, capturing Mexico‘s collective imagination with nearly daily television news reports on his life at the food court.
Tourists stop to pose with him for photographs or get an autograph.
The latest reports are he finally left Mexico to return home on Sunday (after leaving the airport on New Year’s eve when invited to stay at an apartment).
That’s one way to get famous!
Copy Tip 29: Overcoming Rapport Obstacles
Well, having been “in transit” back home after a break — and then sorting out the office to kick off the new year — my copy tips are behind, so this week is for catching back up!
Our last copy tip last week was about Rapport … establishing rapport to build a stronger relationship, to
be more persuasive!
After all — we MUST persuade our prospects to take action! So everything we do to be more persuasive is a good thing.
And after I mentioned building rapport via stories I promised to talk about overcoming perceived hurdles of building rapport on paper.
And that’s where we’re at today!
Here’s 4 ways you can build rapport on paper …
- Language
The more you use the language and even the slang of your prospects, the more you’ll connect to them … they’ll perceive you to be more like them and that’ll make you more likeable. Be careful though — YOUR technical terms can turn off a prospect if it’s not focused on them.
Case in point: recently I listened to a speaker talking about a fairly new form of investment. I nearly switched off when he started talking in “tech-speak” — decaying returns, and other fancy mumbo-jumbo words that he understood, but most of the audience did not. So make sure it’s “language” and common phrases the audience speaks! For example, in some categories on eBay, you often see abbreviations like “NIB” — the prospect most likely knows this means “New In Box”.
- Match and Mirror
In person, it seems a lot easier to use this NLP technique to build rapport: by physically matching and mirroring your prospect’s tone, breathing, standing/seated position, they way they hold their arms, how loud/soft they are … without it being an obvious attempt to copy/mimic them.
But you CAN also do this to an extent on paper. You can write in short sentences. Or long ones. Be exiciting. Breathless. You can even write short messages sometimes (depending on your vehicle, you might have no choice!) … it’s another way, along with language, of being more like your prospect. The more you research them, the more you can use this technique to build rapport. Sure, it’s easier to do in person (or on the phone), but you can also successfully get rapport this way on paper.
- Stuff In Common
Just as you’d say it in person, on paper you can also relate more closely to your prospect when you share common experiences. For example, you — like your prospect — might be an accountant. Or a frustrated boat owner. Or someone who has holidayed in France. You might have similar interests, hobbies, geographical connections (understanding city life, rural life, isolation, suburbia etc). - Engage their senses
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) offers a model for the way people perceive experiences — through our senses. The three main categories of representation are being Visual (“I see what you mean” — mental imagery, pictures), Auditory (“I hear what you’re saying” — sounds and speech) or Kinesthetic (“I feel the same way” — feelings). There are also taste (gustatory) and smell (olfactory) senses — however these are often considered less significant as ways we mentally process and perceive our experiences.People have a perferred dominant mode of processing experiences, usually via a Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic sense.
So what this really means is that you create content in your copy that touches on all of the human senses.
As an example, my wife Mel today read a postcard message that was trying to persuade her to attend networking events … and the main copy described how relaxing the event would be because of the lovely aroma of burning essential oils. But Mel has trouble with her ability to smell, so to her that is not very persuasive! The copy would have been more effective if it also described the benefits via other senses (the luxury feel of the soft leather couches, the soft, positive and uplifting music to help spark conversation, etc etc.
Next we’re going to look at some other proven “openings” you can use in your copy to grab your prospect’s attention!
Until then … keep smiling!
Weekly Twitter Tweets at 2009-01-11
- Out for Friday dinner after finishing a full page magazine ad, halfpage newspaper ad, membership flyer, client quote and phone consult! #
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Copy Tip 28: Rapport
In our last Copy Tip I covered how using empathy helped you to build trust, because your prospect could see how your copy related to themselves … how you understand them and their situation, and feel for them.
What we’re trying to achieve with our openings is to build rapport.
An affinity with our prospect. A stronger connection in our relationship.
That stronger association gives us more chance to …
persuade our prospect and be more effective!
Now, in person, or even on the telephone, that’s easier than on paper.
Here’s two personal examples from just the last two days to show you what I mean.
Whilst on holidays a couple of days ago, my wife Mel and I met up with a prospective client at a cafe. Now we’d met before: at an event last month where I did a presentation on copywriting and persuasion.
But our meeting — as happens very commonly — starts off with some friendly, topical conversation: we don’t just dive right in to the full on details of the proposed project.
Instead, we talk about the weather. Finding the cafe. How close by our prospective client lives to where we are having lunch. How our holidays have been.
Nothing of that is concocted or orchestrated … it’s a natural way of building rapport and likeability — personal, non-sales based conversation that builds up our relationship.
We can directly observe and listen to what’s going on, so we can use those observations to build a stronger connection.
(Those observations can cover physiology, language and more — we’ll cover more of this in later copy tips).
Another example — I was on the phone yesterday again to a prospective client about a potential project. In this case it wasn’t someone I knew personally: he’d been referred to me by a common marketing mentor we both share.
Did we jump right in?
No.
Again, the conversation naturally started with something topical: in this case, how the Aussies had just won the third cricket test against South Africa in Sydney (sports news less than two hours old). I’d seen some of the match on tv, and knew some of the newsworthy factors in how close the result had been … our conversation again was a friendly way of building rapport and getting to know each other.
It’s like going out on a date… from my experience (I can’t speak for everyone!), to be successful, it’s all about building rapport and likeability just the same … building up to bigger things. Sure, there are other elements “in play” here too, but that rapport-building component is almost always essential.
And it’s the same need to meet in our copy.
On paper, it seems a harder task, because your prospect is not sitting across the table from you in a cafe, or even on the phone with you. You cannot observer or hear them and respond.
So you’ve got to know what they’re like in advance, so your copy speaks to them directly.
That’s why your research is so critical, to understand your prospect.
You’ve still got to talk to “someone” in your copy — imagine it as a conversation with just one person. So you’ve got to make sure that conversation is with your prime prospect.
Why is the opening so important?
Your headline has already got someone’s attention enough to keep on reading. As famous copywriter Joe Sugarman points out in his book The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, now you’ve got to do everything you can to make sure they keep going.
And Joe points out that once a prospect has read 25 percent of your copy, they’ll most likely read it all.
So your opening MUST do everything possible to make sure your prospect keeps on reading!
Building rapport — and keeping the focus on your prospect — is a great way to make sure this happens. It’s essential in all of your copy, but especially so in your opening.
It means your copy relates better to your reader … they connect with you and your relationship becomes stronger.
That means you have higher levels of trust … and your powers of persuasion are stronger too.
Rapport Via A Story
One great way to connect with your prospects is with using a story.
Creating a story of someone like your prospect helps them imagine themselves in the picture (as expert persuader Kevin Hogan would say, that’s why we laugh and cry at movies). You’re building a strong connection.
There are other ways to use stories too … the story behind the product, or its research, or the way it is created.
Here’s an example of the power of a story –
The very famous and successful Wall Street Journal subscription letter (by Martin Conroy) opens with a story of two men — the story implies how useful knowledge and its application made the difference to the successful man in the story (and it implies how subscribing to the Wall Street Journal can do that for the prospect).
It starts off:
On a beautiful late spring afternoon twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college.
It’s worth tracking down and reading this famous letter! (Try this page). The story is very powerful.
It was powerful enough that it was first mailed in 1974 and continued to be mailed for 25 years.
It was responsible for earning the Wall Street Journal a BILLION DOLLARS in revenue from subscriptions.
I have some more copy tips about rapport and openings coming up soon … how to overcome the perceived hurdles of building rapport “on paper” and other proven opening formulas … stay tuned!