Marketing Misstep #1: Only Creating Marketing That Appeals to Everyone

Creating marketing that appeals to everyone our business would like to have as a customer seems like exactly the right thing to do.

Let's use an example to demonstrate...

"Here at the Supergreat Financial Company we offer a wide range of financial services to meet all of your financial needs..."

The thought process that leads to us developing a message like that one tends to be:

"Well... there's people out there who want mortgages, there's people out there who want life insurance, there's people out there who want pensions... our company offers all of those products and services. So, by using a general, professional, and all encompassing message, we're maximising our potential opportunities to do business and get a nice big slice of the cake."

A perfectly logical and sensible approach, when we think about it...

LIKE A MARKETER.

But what if we were to think about the situation as a prospect instead? How do our thoughts when we are in "prospect mode" compare to our thoughts when we are in "marketing mode"?

Big difference.

As a prospect open to receiving marketing messages about a product or service, we're laser focused on a single problem or frustration that's causing us some pain. And what we're looking for is a SPECIFIC solution that speaks DIRECTLY to our current situation - often in a way that's so insanely literal it's tough to even believe.

Our thought process as a prospect tends to be something like:

"I wonder who can help me find a Penthouse available to Let in Glasgow City Centre... let me take a look at these adverts... Globalwide Property Solutions... not sure about them... The Glasgow Letting Company... hmn, sounds kind of promising, what else do we have here... G1 Citymiddle Luxury Penthouses... AHA... yes... exactly... that's definitely the one for me, let me give that number a call right now."

The reality could be that both other (more general) adverts offer access to a much wider selection of Glasgow City Centre Penthouses than the one we actually responded to, but most of us wouldn't even bother to call and find out. Because the messages we didn't respond to appear to be so far removed from our own selfish desire in the moment that we view them as being totally irrelevant to the outcome we're trying to get for ourselves... especially when side-by-side with an ad that is laser targeted on exactly what we it is really want.


Let's make all of this real by examining a couple of small ads from one of the most competitive marketing environments in the UK... car insurance.

The first advert:


Direct Line are in "marketing mode" and appealing to everyone. Because they are a big brand that a lot of people trust, I'm sure this advert works amazingly well for them.

The second advert:


We can't even tell which company is running this ad because it's in "prospect mode" and focusing 100% on the potential customer and what it is that the customer wants. No company logos. No branding. All about appealing to someone who has a Japanese car.

Nice way to carve yourself a little piece of the car insurance market, don't you think?

We can't all build a brand like the one Direct Line has overnight, and successfully generate a big response to our communications through simply appealing to everyone.

But we certainly can create customer-centric marketing very quickly, and immediately position ourselves as something unique and different in the minds of the prospects we choose to target.

Important point here: I'm not suggesting that we have to limit our entire business to a single segment of the market (although that might not be such a bad idea!)... I'm saying we should seriously think about creating marketing documents that limit themselves to communicating with a single segment of the market a time. There is no reason why a business can't create a dozen different customer-centric ads or micro-brands... and... even run them side-by-side right next to each other in the same publication (just open up your local Yellow Pages to the "car insurance" section, for example, and take a look at the small print on the customer-centric ads, you're going to be seeing the same company name(s) a LOT).

Most companies only do marketing that is of a very general nature and fails to speak clearly to anyone in particular.

But therein lies our opportunity and our edge.

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The Basic Building Blocks of a Compelling Headline

Writing a good headline attracts a motivated crowd to what we have to say and compels people to begin to read the rest of our message.

But write a bad headline - or even, at times, write a mediocre headline - and anything of value that we have to communicate is just going to get lost amidst the daily clutter that fills up peoples lives.

In this post, we'll use a hypothetical (and not to be taken too seriously!) example of headline writing to explore how some key elements that make for a compelling headline can work together and really grab eyeballs in a way that almost 'forces' our reader to continue on.

But before we go ahead and get started, let me be crystal clear that I'm NOT suggesting you should use all of the following building blocks together in every single headline that you ever write from now on... far from it. What I'm suggesting is that you should consider which elements best apply to your own unique situation, mix and match a little bit, and ultimately combine them together in different ways until you come up with an irresistible end result.

Here goes.

1) Starting with a basic fact...

I wrote a webpage

2) Adding benefit...

I wrote a webpage that increased sales

By adding a benefit we're highlighting the value (the "what's in it for me") of the message that we have to share with our readers if they continue to pay attention to us.

3) Being specific...

I wrote a webpage that increased the online sales of a struggling manufacturing company

Claude Hopkins, the Aristotle of advertising, once said that "specificity shines with trustworthiness". And because generalities tend not to inspire confidence we can almost always make what we have to say a lot more believable simply by being more specific, like above.

4) Quantifying results...

I wrote a webpage that increased the online sales of a struggling manufacturing company by 117%

It's very powerful to be able to quantify a contribution made towards achieving a business goal. Top businesspeople (in particular) are fanatical about getting specific, measurable, and achievable results. But we also love results in our personal lives too. For example, when it come to losing weight.

5) Including the element of time...

I wrote a webpage that increased the online sales of a struggling manufacturing company by 117% in only 14 days

We all like things to happen within a reasonable period of time (and often we like the to happen as quickly as possible!) or at the very least we like to be clear about the length of time involved when it comes to achieving an end result, getting a benefit, realising a promise, and so forth.

6) Balancing the equation...

I wrote a webpage that increased the online sales of a struggling manufacturing company by 117% in only 14 days without spending a penny more on marketing or advertising or anything else

In our example above it is easy to imagine how after reading the words "I wrote a webpage that increased the online sales of a struggling manufacturing company by 117% in only 14 days" what might pop into the head of a top businessperson is "yeh sure, I'll tell you how to increase online sales by 177% in only 14 days, it's by tripling our adwords budget, or by doubling our PR spend". So, the words in bold help to tickle a few frustrations as well as switch off some key 'heard it all before' objections that might well be whizzing around in our prospect's mind. This is what I call "balancing the equation".

7) Creating curiosity...

12-year-old kid wrote webpage that increased the online sales of a struggling manufacturing company by 117% in only 14 days without spending a penny more on marketing or advertising or anything else

One of the keys to creating curiosity is incongruence, in other words elements that conventional wisdom would suggest don't really belong together in the same place. In our example above the sort of person you would expect to be responsible for producing the results mentioned might be a top copywriter, or a marketer, or someone from a similar background or profession. Definitely not a 12-year-old kid! This heightens the curiosity factor.

8) Making newsworthy...

12-year-old kid reveals revolutionary new marketing tactic used to write webpage that increased the online sales of a struggling manufacturing company by 117% in only 14 days without spending a penny more on marketing or advertising or anything else

One thing that unites almost all of us is our desire for news. Whether it's the homeless man on the street, the busy executive traveling to work on the train, or the tycoon flying to work on his jet, all will be reading the newspaper and finding out what's fresh and going on in the world. The words in bold above help to imply that our example is newsworthy and that there is something that's never been seen before going on (and about to be shared).

9) Offering proof...

12-year-old kid hailed as "amazing" by New York Times reveals revolutionary new marketing tactic used to write webpage that increased the online sales of a struggling manufacturing company by 117% in only 14 days without spending a penny more on marketing or advertising or anything else

Basically, we can define proof as being anything that makes what we have to say more believeable in the eyes of our reader. In the example above, now this isn't just any old 12-year-old kid but rather one that has previously featured in the national news. The credibility of the New York Times rubs off on us.

Summary

- Starting with a basic fact
- Adding benefit
- Being specific
- Quantifying results
- Including the element of time
- Balancing the equation
- Creating curiosity
- Making newsworthy
- Offering proof

There's a lot more to writing a compelling headline, but if you keep these basic building blocks in mind, and mix and match them as you go along, combining different elements together, you'll be surprised at how many compelling headlines you can generate quickly.

How to Generate an Endless Stream of Content Producing Ideas on Tap

We all have our days when as much as we might throw everything we can at our work - with all the effort we can muster - ultimately what we have to show for all that hardship is nothing.

It's at times like these - when a blank sheet of paper is mocking me - that I like to immerse myself in the creative work of others to fire my own thinking, rather than to sit around and stew, hoping for the best.

And one of the best ways I have found to reliably and consistently come up with the concept for a piece of content that a lot of people will respond to is to surround myself with concepts and ideas - with pieces of content - that have already proven themselves to have mass appeal.

And that's what I want to pass on to you now in this post. A little 'secret weapon' I've used for a long time to help me generate an endless stream of content producing ideas, almost 'on tap'.

Believe it or not, I made the document I'm about to share with you available for a short time almost two years ago. And, to my amazement, I still receive the occasional tweet or email requesting a copy, even now. That's why I've decided to go ahead and make the document available for download here - so anyone who wants to call upon it when creative inspiration seems to be lacking can do so.

What is this document?

Simply a compilation of irresistible little headlines and 'blurbs' that have graced the front covers of some of the worlds most popular glossy magazines.

Words that trigger emotion and have compelled many of us to want to read on and know more.

It's impossible to read even a single page without being inspired to create multiple pieces of fresh content for your own business. All you have to do is substitute, combine, adapt, and modify the underlying structures of what is written for your own purposes... which is easy done.

Important: take inspiration from these examples, but don't copy them. Especially not word for word.

Finally, please feel free to use this document in any way you want.

(Doesn't contain any of my own contact details or branding etc).

Get Content Ideas Document [420kb]

The Mistake That Ruined Millions of Marketing Campaigns

What I'm about to discuss might be a little bit unsettling, and for some people even strike directly at the heart of their current marketing thinking and approach.

Because there is one mistake that is so big, and so frequently recurring, that it's responsible for more wasted spend and ruined marketing campaigns than any other single factor there is.

Let's start with a quote from P.T. Barnum, the great American Showman, and some people say the first ever 'showbiz millionaire', who once said famously "people will give you their last nickle to be entertained".

Barnum's been dead for a long time, of course. But simply by observing the world around us we can quickly prove to ourselves that this statement of his is even more true today that it was all those years ago.

For example: many footballers make millions because of their ability to pack out stadiums and entertain loyal fans up and down the country. We watch movies and maybe even hang pictures of the stars on our walls, fantasizing about what it might like to live their amazing lifestyles. And comedians like Jonathan Ross command huge sums because of their unique ability to make us laugh and entertain us.

Anyway, you get the idea.

Just like Barnum said, we are willing to part with a lot of cash (one way or another) to have fun and to be entertained. And those who have the ability to entertain us can collect enormous fees for doing so.


But here's something else to think about… Jonathan Ross, Hollywood Movies, Rock Stars, Footballers, Video Games, and so on… all of these modern day sources of good times and great wealth have at least one thing in common with each other, something that most people tend to innocently overlook, which is…

You will not find any of them in the Yellow Pages.

Sure, there's an "Entertainment" section in the Yellow Pages. But fundamentally speaking, we pick up the Yellow Pages for a very different reason than we switch of the television.

We open up the Yellow Pages when we are seeking the solution to a problem that we have in our lives…

Not when we are looking to have fun or to be entertained.

For example: we open up the Yellow Page when our boiler breaks down and we need someone to fix it fast. When we're moving house and want to find a removal company to help us. When we are looking for a mechanic or a lawyer or locksmith to help us solve an urgent problem we're experiencing.

This is an important and all too often overlooked distinction that reveals a second highly lucrative 'buying mindset' that we all have within us – a mindset completely separate from the world of entertainment. What I'm talking about, of course, is the world of PROBLEM SOLVING.


So, to recap...

1) People will pay a lot of money for you to entertain them.

2) People will pay a lot of money for you to solve their problem.

But... to cut to the chase... here is the reason why millions of marketing campaigns have failed miserably and wasted so much hard earned money in the process…

Our prospects will not pay a single penny to be ENTERTAINED when what they are really looking for is the solution to a PROBLEM that they have in their lives.

Here's a bit of a silly question that exaggerates in order to make the point:

Would you trust a brain surgeon wearing a clown suit who squirts water in your eye to make you laugh during an initial consultation?

Probably not, obviously.

But maybe a better, more realistic question is this one...

Does your business more belong in a stadium entertaining tens of thousands of people, or does your business more belong in the Yellow Pages because it solves a problem?

The reason I pose this question is because most businesses judge the quality of their marketing and advertising based on how much it entertains others (as if their business really belonged on a stage and in the world of entertainment). They judge based on how much much what they send out makes other people whoop and cheer. Or even based on how much it arouses within them good feelings about themselves and/or their company.

Not by the level of relevant and measurable action/response that is actually generated by the campaign. (leads, sales, subscriptions, etc).

For a lot of businesses, marketing is seen as a golden opportunity to be funny, to be clever, and to entertain great numbers of people. It's secretly seen as a big opportunity just to have a jolly good time. And this is a huge mistake.

Legendary ad man David Ogilvy summed it up best when he said, "if you spend your advertising budget entertaining the consumer, you're a bloody fool".

I'll drive home the point and finish off this post with a couple more quotes - the first is from "Ogilvy on Advertising", the second is from "The Robert Collier Letter Book".

“When I write and advertisement, I don't want you to tell me that you find it 'creative'. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. When Aeschines spoke, they said “how well he speaks”. But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'let us March against Phillip'.” [Ogilvy]

“If you want your readers to say, as the crowds did of Demosthenes' famous rival [Aeschines] 'What a clever speaker' then it is quite all right to start with catch phrases and the like. But if you want to emulate Demosthenes, whose hearers forgot all about him in their interest in his message, then your whole effort must be centred on arousing the feeling in them 'Let's Go!'.” [Collier]

I suggest you review your current marketing and ask whether the focus is on making your prospects say "HO HO HO" or whether the focus is on making your prospects say "LET'S GO".

Barnum was right... people will give you their last nickel to be entertained. Just not when what they are really seeking is the solution to a problem - and especially an urgent problem - that they have in their lives.

Avoid this mistake. Focus your efforts and energies on demonstrating the value you provide and how you can solve your prospects problem instead; if that is in fact the business that you are really in!

P.S. I think that the world's of 'problem solving' and 'entertainment' are overlapping like never before on the Internet and the two are by no means mutually exclusive, but that is a topic for another time.

The Role Design Plays in the Online Decision Making Process

I remember being asked to share my views on the role aesthetics play in online decision making. Specifically, how design can influence a purchasing decision on the Internet. I've decided to go ahead and republish my answer here.

Hopefully what I'm about to share will help to shape your thinking on a topic with a unique ability to cause stress and chaos whenever designers, copywriters, and other creative types lock horns over a new project. Because I think this is a topic that remains largely misunderstood.

But my own take on this is mercifully simple, as you'll see.

The Question

"Long copy sales letters have a very distinctive style, it seems. There is a lot of centred text, simple fonts, very little evident design, and a lot of primary colours. Personally, this style makes me mistrustful of whatever is being sold because it looks so "amateurish". However, from the results I have seen, including your own, it looks like style/aesthetics are not an obstacle to people at all. Can you comment on the importance of aesthetics to getting results from people? Do we as web professionals tend to overrate visual bells & whistles? Do aesthetics really play any role in users' decision making?"

My Response

I think the easiest way to start is with a short quote from a book described by the Journal of Marketing as "one of the most important ever written [for marketers]". The book is called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Dr Robert Cialdini (ISBN-13: 78-0688128166)...

"There seems to be an automatic response to attractive people. The response falls into the category that social scientists call "halo" effects. A halo effect occurs when one positive characteristic of a person dominates the way that person is viewed by others[emphasis added]. And the evidence is now clear that physical attractiveness is often such a characteristic. For example, good-looking people are likely to receive highly favourable treatment in the legal system - studies have shown that the attractive defendants were twice as likely to avoid jail as the unattractive ones." (Cialdini, P171 - 172)

Piggy-backing on these words of Cialdini, my own view is that design gives you website its own "halo" effect, so to speak.

What I mean by that is a lot of people make decisions about the quality of your products and services based on the overall impression you convey within the first few seconds of their arrival on your site. This "halo" effect is a judgement triggered by your design.

This initial judgement can be anything from "yuck, these people seem amateurish and unprofessional", right through to the much more desirable "oh wow, look at this, I really want these guys to be good".

For better or worse, your design frames the way a prospect views you. And shapes the rest of their interaction with your site.

Now, first impressions aren't always decisive, of course. They can be overcome! All I'm suggesting here is it's much easier to sell to people when they are initially "for" you rather than "against" you - and that's the key difference aesthetics can make.

But there's more.

Each element of design on a page has to clearly justify its place. Any "bells and whistles" should only be included when they help to further your argument and convey something not otherwise possible without them. Meaningless design only serves to divert attention from your content... which is a terrible idea because...

People visit a website hunting for information, not a piece of beautiful-to-look-at "art".

And that gets to the heart of the reason why many simple looking sales letters continue to perform well. Simple sales letters tend to provide prospects with information/promises directly targeted to their current problems / needs / desires / concerns – in other words, exactly what potential customers want.

However, there is a problem with sales letters, especially the kind that use lots of primary colours and little evident design: sometimes they trigger an immediate "oh yuck" reaction in their target audience. They are dismissed by us in the same way that junk mail through our letterbox is often immediately dismissed. Your design, and other factors, really help to switch off this conversion rate crushing initial negative "oh yuck" reaction. Think of it this way…

The purpose of your design (including the structure of your site) is to get people to read your first line of copy. And get people to do so in the right frame of mind.

So, design certainly plays a crucial role in the online decision making process but, for maximum response, design has to quietly facilitate the process of communication rather than strive to be the star of the show itself.

That's not to play down the importance of design – far from it. Design might be even more important than copywriting (sometimes). But I'll come back to that at a later date. Prospects want valuable information and solutions to their problems – not an art show.

Which is well worth keeping in mind.

A Quick and Easy Way to 40% More Customers?

If you generate any of your leads, opt-ins, or subscriptions through using a form on your website, then you're going to love this one.

Take a moment to think about how the simple before and after pictures, (which you will find in the article I'm linking to below), might be easily adapted for the purposes of your own business.

Your reward for doing so? An immediate boost in response, to the tune of up to 40%.

Here's exactly what I'm talking about ---- > http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1007

Continue the Conversation Going on Inside Your Prospect's Head

Here's a brilliant way to win your busy readers' focused attention at the beginning of a blog post, a landing page, or even a sales letter.

Use this approach and, more often than not, prospects will embrace what you have to say as valuable insight, rather than dismiss your words as meaningless clutter, in a world that's awash with far too much information.

Though powerful, I feel this tactic is far from manipulative, as I'll explain.

What is this method of getting the attention we want? It is called continuing the conversation that is going on inside our prospect's head.

As old time direct mail wizard Robert Collier explained back in 1934…

"Your prospect wants certain things. The desire for them is, consciously or unconsciously, the dominant idea in his mind all the time. You want him to do a certain thing for you. How can you tie this up to the thing he wants, in such a way that the doing of it will bring him a step nearer to his goal?"

To help make things clearer, let's take a look at a few practical examples of this technique in action. And appropriately, these examples are served up with the help of Collier himself (The Robert Collier Letter Book):

To help make things clearer, let's take a look at a few practical examples of this technique in action. And appropriately, these examples are served up with the help of Collier himself (The Robert Collier Letter Book):

Letter to a Father

Your boy is a little shaver now. He thinks you are the most wonderful man in the world. You can fix his boat, mend his velocipede, tell him wonderful stories. But it will only be ten or twelve years until he goes to college. The fathers of the other boys his chums will go to see them. There will be a Railroad President, perhaps; a great Banker; a Governor. And you will go; and your boy will say, "This is my father, boys". How will he feel when he says it? Will he be proud of you?

Letter to a Druggist

After you have run up front a couple of times to sell a couple of stogies, a package of court plaster and a postage stamp; to change a five dollar bill for the barber, to answer the phone and inform Mrs Smith that Castoria is 25c a bottle, and assure Mrs Jones that you will have the doctor call her up as soon as he comes in, then take a minute for yourself and look over this proposition…

Letter to a Farmer

Any man who owns a cow loses a calf once in a while. If you own a herd of a dozen or more, you are probably losing one or two calves a year. We know of breeders who were losing every calf – some sixteen – some over thirty a year. And these breeders stopped their losses short – just like that – through the information given in our…

Picture the scene: can you imagine our druggists gnashing their teeth at the endless trivial details preventing an honest days work? Can you imagine our farmers chatting over their fence about the ongoing frustrations (and cost!) of losing cattle? Or how about that happy father who loves his son and wants more than anything just to make him proud? These scenarios seem very plausible to me, even if they are more than 70 years old now. They all gently begin by continuing an important conversation that's taking place inside the target market's heads. They all resonate with ongoing experience. They get the reader nodding in agreement. And they establish the necessary rapport to slowly redirect the flow of conversation towards a proposition. In other words, they all win the reader's attention.

With a little bit of research, you can soon discover what problems your own prospects are talking about most often, and, importantly, how they are talking about them, too.

For example, visit some online discussion forums, check out a few blogs, or even read letters written to the editors of popular magazines published within your niche. Observe, listen, and maybe even ask a couple of questions along the way – the preoccupations and pressing concerns of your audience will be revealed to you soon enough.

Align with the dialogue and you will get the attention you want.

Next, gently redirect the flow of the conversation towards your own product or service. Explain why what you have to offer is relevant. Show how your offering helps move your prospect one step closer to attaining their heart's desire. How it makes their world a better, healthier, happier, or even a richer place.

Simple enough.

There is nothing new in the idea prospects are motivated to act in their own self interest – we all are.

But one more thing. Any discussion around influence has the potential to attract cries of manipulation; sometimes justifiably so.

But such criticism would be wide of the mark here…

Because to continue the conversation that is going on inside someone's head, and apply this 'technique', you must first invest the time to really understand the person you are about to communicate with, first.

You have to really get to know and care about them. Engage with them. Imagine what it might be like to walk a mile in their shoes. Sympathise with their hopes, dreams, fears and doubts…

And so on. You get the idea!