Tag Archives: marketing

communications marketing messaging

Getting the message

January 25, 2013 – 12:52 am

OK, I’m tired and a little cranky and I’ve had WAY too much chocolate, so I’ll just hit you with the question upfront:

Does your organization have a strategic messaging framework?

  • If your answer is ‘yes’, you may be excused right now; feel free to pat yourself on the back heartily, go forth, and conquer!
  • If you responded ‘no’, then please take a seat, because this blog’s for you.

If you don’t have a current strategic messaging framework in place to hang all of your communications from, I’d be willing to bet that your website, your Facebook page, your trade show collateral, and a whole bunch of other stuff is not performing as well as you’d like.

If you don’t have messaging in place and in the hands and minds of everyone across the company (it’s not just for marketing and sales folks anymore!), it’s likely everyone is communicating about your company differently. Your customer is getting wildly inconsistent messages, and they don’t know what to believe.

Would you do business with a company that kept you guessing?

Putting together a messaging framework isn’t exactly rocket science, but there is an art to it. If you’re in a crunch and you need to come up with one fast, here’s a cheat sheet of what you should include at the very least:

  • Value Proposition – Why your customers want and need what you’re offering, and how it benefits them
  • Audience – Examined by industry, job title, and what they care about
  • Messaging Pillars – What are the core 3-5 things you want your audience to know about your offering?
  • Messaging by Audience – Lists of how each of the core pillars translate for each individual audience segment

Still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the task? Just contact me, and I can help you get some messaging in place so everyone in your company can start communicating confidently and consistently with your customers, partners, and the media!

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copywriting

Writing Out Loud

July 31, 2012 – 6:44 pm

Have you ever gotten some fresh campaign copy in from your copywriter/agency/freelancer, read it, and wondered why it didn’t work? It should have been perfect:

  • It incorporates all your messaging
  • It targets the correct audience
  • It includes all the features and benefits of your offering

And yet, it sucks. Why, why, WHY?

Well, take a minute, close your office door, and read the copy. Out loud.

Do you sound like the robot from Lost in Space?

If so, you’ve found your problem: Your copy is not conversational. Your copy is not warm. Your copy is not “listenable.”

In general, people tend to tune out things that are dry and not engaging (“Bueller. . .Bueller?”). The mind sits up and takes notice however, when it identifies a more human element in what it’s reading, hearing, or seeing.

Once your customers can “hear” what they’re reading and identify with it, your days of copy that is only great on paper may just be over!

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marketing

(Marketing) Agent Provocateur

July 3, 2012 – 8:08 pm

When was the last time you did something that pissed someone off?

I was thinking about that today, and realized that there is fine line we walk when playing provocateur with our marketing. A lot of people trade on the risky, the controversial, or the just-plain obnoxious to get an audience’s attention.

But with marketing, how often can you realistically whip out the Lenny Bruce/Sam Kinison/Sacha Baron Cohen card and actually make it work? There are people out there who will tell you that as long as you’ve “gotten their attention,” you’ve been successful. But have you?

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m all about using provocative language—in a smart way, and with humor—to get the job done. But if you’re out there going at it, knocking the offensive, risqué, or obnoxious ball outta the park with every hit, it gets old for your audience. Fast.

Not to mention how exhausting it will be for you, thinking up something “controversial” to say every time you venture out into the market. I need a nap just thinking about it.

The bottom line is, it’s more important to be smart with your marketing than anything else. And yeah, keep on giving ‘em a poke with the edgy stuff, but just do it every once in a while. Keeps your audience on their toes and interested, but stops short of becoming an eye-roller of a cliché.

Now I’m off to go procure some illegal sparklers. Happy 4th, USA!

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brand branding marketing social media

Pooh Cool

May 23, 2012 – 11:55 pm

The other day, someone on Facebook (OK, it was actually Erika Napoletano if you must know) shared a pretty funny cartoon. It was Winnie the Pooh, looking up earnestly at Christopher Robin, saying, “It would be cooler if you were Christopher Walken.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-HA!

Right?

But do you ever worry about this? I think it probably comes up a lot in people’s minds, given the constant exposure just about every market niche gets from global media outlets, big and small.

You know who your competitors are—are they cooler than you are? Are you cooler but not necessarily better? What if you’re not cool at all?

Guess what? It’s OK.

Why? ‘Cuz your customers—who are your customers because they want and need exactly what you happen to be offering—don’t care if you are cool. Really, they don’t.

They know that you understand what their problems are, and you can solve them. A Flash animation on your web site or a hipper-than-Ryan-Gosling infographic is not gonna change anything for them.

You get them. They know that. And they want you.

But Christopher Walken’s still cooler than you are. There’s really nothing you can do about that.

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copywriting marketing

Girls! Girls! Girls!

April 11, 2012 – 11:27 pm

Take a look at your marketing copy. Read over your web site, your social media posts, your case studies, and your customer newsletter. Better yet, have someone else read them out loud to you—preferably a woman.

Do those words sound weird coming out of her mouth? Hmm.

Some things die hard, and one of last great hangers-on of the Old-Boy Network years seems to be marketing copy that’s clearly written for those who pee standing up. With the number of women in the C-suite growing every day, maybe it’s time to think about how to talk to the female BDM.

Marketing to women isn’t new; for generations, legions of (largely male) marketers have targeted women with specific types of campaigns. Prior to the women’s movement of the 1970s, major corporations worked to persuade housewives to buy certain brands of floor wax, detergent, and breakfast cereal. When women began emerging in the workforce, cigarettes, panty hose, and designer clothing began popping up.

Today, we have women at the helm of organizations like Yahoo, PepsiCo, and Xerox, with more just like them on their way up. Take a look in your customer database; how many women are you (or SHOULD you be) marketing to?

Need to get started marketing to the women in your (work) life? Here are some tips:

  1. Forget about marketing to women. Instead market to your woman. That’s right: incorporate a targeted female decision maker into your audience mix. She’s not just any woman; she’s the specific type of woman you want to reach.
  2. Don’t just water down your message and call it good. Your target women do not just want the “lite” version of the messaging you serve up to their male counterparts. If you don’t “get” them, they will know it—and they’ll move on.
  3. Quality and value make an impression. When women become engaged with a quality brand, they are willing to pay for it, and they remain loyal.
  4. Pastels are passé. Women don’t respond to campaigns splashed with colors and images suitable for a 1974 feminine hygiene ad. Give them a look and feel of strength, confidence, and capability that they can relate to.

Women are a market force today, and if you’re smart, you’ll make sure you’re marketing to all of your customers, not just the boys’ club.

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marketing

No Solicitors

April 6, 2012 – 11:50 pm

I just had the lovely experience of dealing with a very aggressive door-to-door window salesperson. She completely disregarded the very prominent “No Solicitors” sign next to the front door, and banged on it repeatedly. By the time I came up the stairs from my office, crated the large, wildly barking dog, and got the door open, I was really in no mood to hear what she wanted to say.

Words were exchanged.

So after I got back to my office and finished being irritated (well, sort of) at the obnoxious window woman, I started thinking about her marketing technique. If she goes all around the neighborhood, insisting on knocking at doors with “No Solicitors” signs near them, how much is she realistically gonna sell?

If you’re selling to people who don’t want to buy, you’re doomed.

The issue here, as it is for many companies, is target market. So many organizations, in their rush to market, completely forget to think strategically. Not about to whom they wish to sell (note classy and correct  use of “to whom.” Thanks, Mr. Georges!), but rather about who actually wants to buy their offering.

Messaging 101: Discover who wants what you’re selling, and determine which of their problems your product or service will solve. Figure out what they need to know about it.

Then speak specifically to those people, in places they congregate (Twitter, Facebook, industry conferences—or in the case of the hot-tub industry, the county fair). Sales are easy, if you’re selling to someone who wants to buy—and there are more of those folks out there than many realize. Big, broad campaigns can waste time and money, and completely overlook the highly targeted group of people standing by with their wallets open.

I just hope she’s not on straight commission.

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marketing

Are you hosing your customers?

March 15, 2012 – 8:53 pm

This week, I was asked to contribute a guest post to the C3Centricity blog, so I thought I’d also share it here. Enjoy!

Delivering a Campaign Win Amidst Online Saturation

Fifty years ago, the primary platforms used to communicate to customers were print media, TV commercials, and billboards. Given this, large-scale campaigns were pricey, and only a handful of major brands had the resources with which to execute them.

Now flash forward. These days, the results of corporate marketing initiatives are as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. As marketers, we still have the commercials, billboards, and print ads to content with, but now we also have to consider things like search engines, social media, and mobile computing. Beyond that, we must deal with the knowledge that just about anyone with a computer and an internet connection now has the capability to market a product or service online, quickly and inexpensively. >>READ MORE

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branding copywriting

Wizards, Robots, and Branding Cluelessness

March 7, 2012 – 11:21 pm

I recently came across a practice that is unfortunately growing by leaps and bounds as businesses try to cut corners to save on marketing dollars. I call it robo-writing.

Startups, mom & pop companies, and other organizations that generally have little-to-no marketing resources at their disposal can be most at risk here. In searching for a bargain, they fall into the trap of trying to get something for nothing, assuming that wizard-generated copy is better than no copy at all. So they give it a whirl.

There are dozens of free downloads of sales, marketing, and ad copy wizards out there. Most are easy to use, and many are based on so-called “proven” algorithms, so really, why NOT use one?

Here’s why:

  • Keywords are not everything. Keywords can be part of your copy strategy, but not all of it. They help with online searches, but do nothing to directly impact marketing and sales. Most copy generators put all their eggs in the keyword basket, so beware.
  • “Test-tube copy” is not engaging. If your target audience is a computer, fine. But most companies I know are ultimately trying to sell to humans, and processed, clinically correct copy is not going to capture their attention.
  • Wizards don’t know jack about branding. If your company wants to project a specific vibe, you need to use a writer that can give some personality to your content—to reinforce your brand, and develop trust.

Still think you can’t afford professionally written copy? Talk to a reputable freelancer and find out if he or she can accommodate your near-term needs at a reasonable cost (can you say, short-term introductory rate?)—or if they can refer you to someone who can. Then as your business grows (thanks to your kick-ass, professionally written marketing copy), you’ll be able to expand and extend your relationship with your writer as you move forward.

You don’t feed your kids processed cheese; why would you feed your customers processed copy?

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copywriting marketing Web

The Web Page No One Talks About

January 27, 2012 – 12:06 am

You’ll find one on every Web site, but most people only click through to it in those moments of desperation when they can’t find contact or employment information any other way.

It’s the About Us page.

To say that most of them are dull would be an understatement. And before you tell me that “they-don’t-matter-because-your-web-analytics-indicate-that-nobody-goes-there-anyway,” think again. There’s also this:

Maybe nobody’s reading your About Us page because it just plain SUCKS.

Sadly, this is often the case, but it doesn’t have to be that way. When written properly, your About Us page can actually be one the most effective pre-sales tools you have.

To get your About Us page the love it deserves—and to help it work harder for your bottom line—its marching orders should be:

  1. Talk about your customer upfront – Give them a reason to feel that you understand what they need, and that what you have to offer is going to help them.
  2. Don’t be boring – Most About Us pages are so dry they’d go up in flames if you held a lit match to them; make sure the copy is conversational, and reflects your company’s personality and unique vibe.
  3. Tell a story—but make it short – Nobody really wants get slapped in the face with your organization’s historical timeline; find a crisp, snappy way to talk about how far you’ve come using a single paragraph and engaging language.

You can also shake it up by including a sampling of your recent tweets, information on your current customers, and a link to your blog. And maybe an image or two to spice things up—just like babies, grown-up people love to see pictures of other people doing interesting things.

So in your opinion, which companies are hitting it out of the park with About Us pages, and which are barely making it to first base? Let me know in the comments below.
Wanna get in on some more hot marketing action? Come see me here.

 

 

 

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branding

Let’s get intimate—with your customers

January 18, 2012 – 11:44 pm

As the competitive landscape gets noisier and noisier, many experts believe that customers—whether Business Decision Makers (BDMs), Technical Decision Makers (TDMs), end users, or consumers—are going to be making purchase decisions based upon personal branding.

Personal branding? Isn’t that just for celebrities like Jamie Oliver, Oprah, and Donald Trump?

Nope.

The fact is, because customer engagement is more and more often based upon personal relationships (or the impression of them) these days, even larger companies like Intel, Microsoft, and Sony are recognizing the value of personal branding.

Of course, Apple realized this value long ago through the charisma of Steve Jobs. But unfortunately, most tech firms—alas, not even Apple, anymore—simply don’t have an executive figurehead with his crazy-good natural magnetism.

So many organizations, large and small, are now looking to develop a more intimate relationship with customers via personal branding. But riddle me this, Batman:

Should personal branding be about who you want them to think
you are—or who you really are?

For the answer to this, let’s look back at those celebrities I mentioned up top. Did any of them set out in the beginning to “develop a personal brand?” Absolutely not; they were just being themselves, and the brand developed around them. Think about it:

  • Jamie Oliver: Goofy and down-to-earth, cause-supporting family man
  • Brand Perception: Anything branded with Jamie’s name is accepted as health-oriented, simple-to-use/do, and championing the average Joe (or Jill)
  • Oprah Winfrey: Easy-to-relate-to, generous media mogul
  • Brand Perception: Whatever Oprah attaches herself to is assumed to be cool and new, great for personal growth and development, and helping those in need
  • Donald Trump: Arrogant, business-savvy millionaire
  • Brand Perception: Products and services under the Trump umbrella are perceived as upscale, top quality, and destined for success

Have these folks fallen short of these generalized perceptions every once in a while? Of course they have—they’re human, after all. And that’s exactly what makes them relatable.

They may be wealthy and powerful, but when it comes
down to it, they’re just a flawed as we are.

And that, my friends, is exactly what makes them so successful as people—and as brands. I think the tech industry should loosen up and learn some real lessons here.

A personal brand not only makes your organization more relatable; it can also create a buzz that stuffy, by-the-book corporate brands just can’t achieve. It can draw customers to you, rather than keep them at arm’s distance. And the bottom line is that customers feel much more comfortable opening their wallets to do business when they feel they have established a personal relationship.

What do you think? What’s your fave personal brand—and why?

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