Increase Your Response: Write From “Me” to “You”
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Get Strategic, Small Business Marketing June 15th, 2009Here’s the 3rd of 5 Ways to Increase Your Response just by changing the words you use!
Hey You!
Hey You!
3. Write From “Me” to “You”
I have a shocking revelation for you: Your future customers don’t care about you.
That’s right. I said it. I’ll say it again.
They don’t care about you.
Why, then, is so much of our marketing material all about us?
When we put it so bluntly as this, it seems so obvious. But somehow we get stupid when it’s time to create the ad, write the e-mail, or put the content together for the website. And we make a massive blunder: we make it all about us.
Your audience only cares about themselves. They’re incredibly selfish. But who can blame them? They’re busy. They have things to think about. Stuff to do. If you don’t answer the question right off the bat:
What’s in it for me?
…you’ll lose ‘em faster than a 2-year-old watching C-SPAN.
So… one way you do it is talk to them about them. Put a picture of your best customer in front of you (a person, not a company) and write to them as if he or she were the only human being on the planet.
This means you use a lot of words like
- you,
- your, and
- yours,
and not much of
- we,
- us,
- ours,
- they,
- them, or
- theirs.
What About Writing in the 3rd Person?
If there’s a faster way to put an audience to sleep, I’m not sure what it is. So… just for the record: don’t do it.
Now of course there are exceptions to every rule. But remember: effective marketing is about starting or cultivating a relationship. This happens one person at a time. It happens one-on-one with your marketing–whether you’re speaking to an enormous crowd or sitting across your prospect’s desk. You would never talk about your company or yourself in the 3rd person while face to face, would you?
This might seem like a subtle nuance. But I guarantee you that if you keep in mind the end goal (the relationship) and you intentionally incorporate the “me to you” approach, you will get significantly better response.
Up next in this series: “So What?!” Subscribe right now so you’ll get it first!
Should You Use YouTube to Market Your Business?
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Small Business Marketing June 4th, 2009One of the questions I am frequently asked by people exploring their online marketing options is:
Should I be using YouTube as a marketing tool?
The answer is 100% “Yes!”
In fact, we recently trained the members of our Strategic Marketing Program on this very topic:
Not yet receiving valuable training on marketing your business in the 21st Century? Click here to learn more.
Increase Your Response: Make A Bold Promise!
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Get Strategic, Small Business Marketing May 27th, 2009Here’s the 2nd of 5 Ways to Increase Your Response just by changing the words you use!
2. Make a Bold Promise
Ultimately, marketing is about promising something to your future customer (or your existing customer… if you’re working toward repeat business). What you promise and how you fulfill it is completely up to you, but nevertheless, you’re making a promise.
So… since you’re already making them a promise, why not make it boldly?
Why not grab their attention and shake ‘em up a little? (or a lot?!)
Be daring. Get creative. Let them know you are different from the competition.
Recently, I asked a member of our training program to read me the headline from his brochure. This brochure is the primary piece of advertising he uses. He sends it out via direct mail and gets it into the hands of prospects or “suspects” as often as possible. He and I were on the phone during one of our training sessions and so I said to him,
“Eddie, read me the biggest boldest thing on the front of your brochure.”
Can you guess what was there? It was the name of his company. Right up at the top.
Yawn.
That’s what readers do when they see it…
When you spend that valuable piece of real estate on the name of your business, it communicates 2 things to the reader:
- You’re only interested in yourself
- You’re boring
Never, ever, make your name, your logo and/or your photograph the first, most prominent thing the prospect sees. The only possible exception to this is if you already have enormous name recognition as an expert with the audience in question. And let’s be real about this. If you already had that kind of name recognition, would you be publishing said marketing piece? (The answer is… it depends. But chances are, you’re not Zig Ziglar, or President Barack Obama, or Gandhi. So don’t do it.)
By changing what he does with that valuable piece of print “real estate,” Eddie could multiply his results. What about you?
We’ve already talked about the importance of using a headline, since it serves to catch the reader’s attention. Making a bold promise is a great way to not only capture their attention, but get them thinking about doing business with you right away!
Up next: how to write your content… If you haven’t yet, subscribe right now so you don’t miss out!
And if you are President Barack Obama or Gandhi, let’s talk! (Oh wait… Gandhi’s no longer with us… and Obama already won the election…)
Increase Your Response: Use a Headline!
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Get Strategic, Small Business Marketing May 20th, 2009You’re on your way to getting better results with the 1st of 5 Ways to Increase Your Response just by changing the words you use! (You may want to take a moment and read that introductory post if you haven’t already.)
1. Use a Headline
Without question, this is the single most important place to focus your efforts first. Some people estimate that as many as 70% or more buying decisions are made from the headline.
What? You’re not using one?
Hmmmmm… could be a clue. Get started. And do it today.
In our work with clients and students, we routinely analyze marketing efforts that aren’t performing up to par. And it’s very common for us to run across great marketing copy that’s absolutely bombing.
The simple fact is: no one will care about (or even read) the rest of the brilliant stuff you write about if you don’t get their attention and pull them in right up front.
- In your e-mails, the headline is the subject line.
- In radio and TV spots, it’s the first phase or sentence the audiences hears or sees.
- In print (and on the web), it’s the 1st, boldest, biggest element of your copy.
It’s your job to sell the reader/viewer/listener on why they should pay attention. And this means that you need to know what’s going on in their world. You need to understand their needs… and more importantly, their wants. You need to understand how what you have to offer them — regardless of what it is — addresses those needs and wants.
And then you need to find a way to use the most compelling, attention-getting words you can muster in order to stop them in their tracks.
If you’re already using a headline and you’re not happy with the results, then it’s time to implement one of the cardinal rules of effective marketing: test everything.
This means write a new headline and test it. In fact, I write dozens… sometimes hundreds of different headlines before deciding which one to test first. And then… even if I’m getting great response, I will test another one. If the response goes up, then guess which one I keep? If it goes down, we go back to the other one. Either way, I’m always testing. Just remember to only change one thing at a time (don’t test a new headline and a different color scheme, for example).
Devote some time to your headlines today. And watch this space for more ways to get more effectiveness out of your marketing!
5 Ways to Increase Your Response
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Get Strategic, Small Business Marketing May 15th, 2009Looking to get better results out of your website, e-mail, direct mail or other advertising and outreach efforts?
Over the years of working with and training the greatest businesspeople on the planet — small business owners and their teams — I’ve found that this is by far one of the greatest opportunities for growth available. You can significantly impact your bottom line relatively quickly by devoting some attention to this area.
And for the record, I’m not talking about buying more advertising, sending more pieces or redesigning your website. In fact, I’m not talking about spending more at all!
What I am talking about is this:
Change the Words You Use
We all recognize to one extent or another that the words we use — whether they’ll be read, heard or both — have an impact on our results. After all, no one would remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech if he called it, “We Might Eventually Improve Something.”
But since most of us in the world of small business don’t think of ourselves as great orators or great writers, we tend to approach creating our marketing pieces a bit haphazardly. Ask any web designer which phase of a web project tends to drag on endlessly and they’ll undoubtedly tell you, “waiting on content from the client.” Why? It gets done last because we dread it and pay as little attention to it as possible.
A seasoned marketer, on the other hand, approaches things differently. In fact, I train our clients and students that content comes first — right after you’ve figured out who the target audience is for a given piece. Outreach methods, colors, designs and everything else come last.
So the question becomes:
How Can I Increase Results Just By Changing the Words I Use?
I’m so glad you asked!
Here are 5 key ways you can improve your response from your existing efforts.
- Use a Headline
- Make a Bold Promise
- Write from “Me” to “You”
- Pass the “So What?!” Test
- Make ‘Em an Offer They Can’t Refuse
These are cardinal rules of getting results with your marketing. If you’re not doing these each and every time you touch a prospect with any form of marketing or advertising, then you have room to improve!
And over the next few posts, we’ll tackle these elements one at a time. You’ll have lots more detail to work with. So… if you haven’t subscribed yet, do it right now! I’ll personally notify you right away when these get published.
Should You Change Your Pricing Strategy in this Economy?
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Small Business Marketing March 26th, 2009
One of the questions many business owners are grappling with right now has to do with pricing strategies. We frequently hear it this way:
Should I lower my prices as a response to shrinking demand?
Conventional wisdom in most cases says, “Yes.”
But I want to challenge you to think this through carefully before indiscriminately squeezing what may be left of your profit margins. Naturally, this question is quite involved and far too complex to address comprehensively in a single article. But there are some important considerations that we can highlight here to help you start to create a framework for your decision-making process.
First Things First
Let’s be clear. In this rapidly-changing economic environment, price is not the issue.
Oh I know it seems like it. Your salespeople and front-line staff may even be telling you that your prices are high. Your customers and clients may even be telling you that price is a big factor in their decision-making.
But this is almost always less than the truth.
The real issue is value.
So… to begin with, you must get to the bottom of what your customers’ needs really are. And if you’re working from data that are more than a few weeks or a few months old, you’re already out of touch.
Sadly, most businesses aren’t working from any real data at all. “Gut hunches,” sticking your finger in the wind to see which direction it appears to be blowing, and looking at your own sales numbers don’t count.
For this answer, you’ll have to get your hands dirty. You’ll have to make some potentially uncomfortable phone calls — perhaps even personal visits — and initiate the dialogue with your customers like this business owner did.
Your customers are likely not making decisions purely on price. Granted, there are always exceptions, but our tendency is to assume that our own businesses are automatically in that category when a remarkably few actually are.
The fact is that your customers’ needs and wants are changing faster than ever. And while you can’t afford to repackage products and services every single day, this is quite possibly where you need to start once you have a legitimate idea of what your customers really need and want.
Perhaps they need more confidence that their investment in your products and services will have a larger (or longer) payoff. In that case, extended warranties or different complementary products and services should be offered.
In some cases, your customers simply need more of a personal touch. Some buying decisions are being prolonged — not because resources aren’t available, but because confidence has been shaken. Don’t mistake hesitance for inability. But also don’t make the mistake of assuming that the drivers and motivations of your customers are what they were last year.
Assumptions Are Evil
Priority 1 for us when working with our clients and coaching group members is to put in place systems to measure what’s actually happening in their businesses. From a marketing standpoint, this means that your message — that thing that actually connects you with your target market — must be tested. I’d say that it needs to be tested more than ever before, but the fact of the matter is that it always needs to be tested. The money that you were leaving on the table a few years ago because your message wasn’t “spot on” was something you may not have noticed. Today it could be the difference between survival and failure.
The time is now to turn your entire organization into an aggressive listening machine.
What you learn will surprise you.
3 Content Creation Ideas for Small Business Marketing
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Get Strategic, Small Business Marketing March 9th, 2009
One of the points that anyone marketing in the 21st-Century will reach is the moment known as “writer’s block.”
We know that we need to be creating great content and pushing it out — whether online, via e-mail or print newsletter, or through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. But what happens when you start running out of ideas for content? It’s that moment when you approach the blank screen, the blank sheet of paper, etc.
We save our very best ideas for the members of our Strategic Marketing Program (who also receive mentoring, coaching and accountability for taking action), but let me throw out some real gems for you quickly:
- Get to know (and then write about) the changing needs of your customers. As if the faster-than-ever changes in society and business that came with the 21st-Century weren’t enough, this economic climate has produced an even faster rate of change for your present and future customers. Note that this content is focused on their needs… not just on how you and your business can help.
- Tell the story of your recent customer/client interactions. What were their unique needs? What problem(s) were they trying to solve? How did your team/staff/product/solution change their situation? If necessary, change names to protect the innocent (or guilty, as the case may be
). But remember that the purpose of search engines is to serve up relevant information to the searcher… who just might be your next customer. (Not to mention that your newsletter subscribers & social media networkers are more apt to read a story than your marketing blather.) - Make a list of the top questions that your customers ask… and answer them. And don’t just put them on that FAQs page of your site. Tackle each one with a separate, unique piece of content… and make it interesting! Train your staff (or yourself, if appropriate) to make note of the new, interesting or unusual misunderstandings your customers have about your product or service. Chances are, you’ll learn something about what your prospects need (or more importantly, want) to know!
Bonus Tips
One concept we constantly drive home is… overdeliver! Exceed expectations! So… now that I’ve given you 3, here are some more!
- In case you missed it, overdeliver.
- Model what you hope to convey. The folks over at sitepronews.com published a great piece on content for social media in which they mentioned making numbered lists. Since they didn’t number theirs, let me summarize it for you:
- Write compelling stories
- Interview an industry expert
- Spark a debate
- Share your own knowledge to help others
- Write numbered lists.
Hope you found this useful! If so… consider subscribing (or grabbing our RSS feed)… and use the “Share & Enjoy” buttons to Digg, Stumble, Tweet, Facebook, etc. to your networks!
Ziglar Just Announced Next Week’s Webinar
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Marketing Training Event January 22nd, 2009
I gotta tell ya… it’s very exciting to me. We recently wrapped up a consulting project for Ziglar, Inc. And I’m still pinching myself. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Zig Ziglar’s distinctive voice… I was in middle school in Texas, and we got a 2-minute dose of “I’ll See You at the Top” every single day on the announcements. He had an impact on me way back then, and has continued to do so throughout my life. I’m grateful to the Assistant Principal of the school who made it a point to infuse every day with Zig’s positive, insightful, motivational wisdom.
Working with the Ziglar team, they tell me that everybody has a Ziglar story. Whether it happened through one of his famous live talks to audiences numbering in the tens of thousands, or through one of his best-selling books, or through one of his audio series, when someone contacts Ziglar, Inc. they have a story to tell about something that changed their life. Many times the stories are quite dramatic.
Of course, there’s much more to the Ziglar organization than just Zig’s speaking and his books, CDs, training programs and audio downloads. They offer world-class corporate training solutions for just about any size business — and I do mean any size. And they’ve recently begun conducting webinars featuring both their top-flight in-house experts as well as outside experts.
I was thrilled to be invited to speak to their audience next week for an event entitled:
How to Attract Customers at Low Cost in this Tough Economy
Hosting the event will be CEO Tom Ziglar, who tags his blog posts, “Proud Son of Zig Ziglar.” Tom is now tasked with taking their business into the future and has quite the vision for the impact they — as a company — can have. He’s been handed the reigns of a multi-million-dollar business and handles himself without any of the awkward trappings that are typical of someone who has grown up in the shadow of a household name. It’s an honor to be associated with him and with the phenomenal team he leads.
In any case, if you’re looking to make the transition into how to thrive in the 21st-century… in any economy, then I hope you’ll join us. The 90-minute event will be jam-packed with practical information that you can put to use right away in your business.
Among the subjects we’ll be covering:
- The Top 5 Mistakes Businesses Make When the Economy Goes South… and how to avoid them!
- Why Things That Worked 10 Years Ago… 5 Years Ago… Even Last Year Don’t Work Anymore… and what you can do about it!
- How to Make Sure that the People Looking to Buy What You Sell Find You… Instead of Your Competition!
- and, of course… much, much, more!
Courtesy of Ziglar, Inc., this event is being made available absolutely free of charge.
Check out all the details… along with a quick video of Zig and Tom Ziglar right here!
Oh… and you’ll want to reserve your spot early, because the 2 time slots will fill up quickly!
5 Low-Cost Ways to Get New Customers in 2009
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Small Business Marketing January 7th, 2009
Well 2009 is in full swing. My question for you is:
How does your pipeline look?
If you’re not satisfied with the number of new prospects or leads coming in to your business, it’s time to get serious about what you’re doing to bring them in. Here are 5 ways to gain new customers on a budget:
- Get to the Top of the Search Engines
In particular, pay attention to Google. Most strategies that help you get to the top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) on Google will also work well with the others. Don’t know how? Training is easy to come by these days, and you can do it yourself or put a member of your team on it. If you’re a salesperson, start blogging about your customers and their needs. - Make Use of Social Media
Once the exclusive territory of geeks, social media is a now easier-to-use than ever before. Two important ones for connecting with people and creating exposure: Facebook and Twitter. The demographics will surprise you — chances are your customers, buyers, prospects, decision-makers, and champions are active. 2 tips: don’t commit these social media sins, and put a strategy in place to avoid the time suck. - Communicate Frequently With Customers (Past & Present) and Prospects
Given the information overload we all deal with, it’s easy for the people you already have relationships with to forget about you. It’s not necessarily that they want to. They’re just as busy as you are. Obviously it’s possible to communicate too frequently, but chances are you’re to busy to do that anyway. Tip: make sure your communication has value. - Revisit Your Message
How many aspects of your life can you count that haven’t changed substantially in the last 12-24 months? Chances are your customers’ businesses are the same way. Is your message out of date? Does it accurately reflect the way that your products and services serve your customers and prospects changing needs? Tip: the message you’re sending may not be what you think it is. - Ask Great Questions and Listen More
Given the rapidly changing business landscape, you need to know — now more than ever — what your customers are thinking. Are they cutting budgets or changing spending patterns? What problems are they trying to solve? Take them out to lunch, out for coffee, or create reasons to get on the phone and find out what’s going on. What you learn will surprise you. It’s also a great time to ask for referrals — your lowest cost customers ever!
What strategies are you implementing right now to load up your pipeline with new business? Certainly, if you need help with these or other 21st-Century methods of keeping your pipeline full, we’d be happy to help. Our distance-learning hands-on training and coaching program is getting phenomenal results with our students. Of course, consulting services are available as well. If you’re interested, drop me a comment.
By the way, we practice what we preach. I dare you to follow me on Twitter.
Happy Epiphany!
by David G. Johnson | Filed In: Raves and Other Asides January 6th, 2009Today is actually the Feast of Epiphany, which gives me a great excuse to talk about why our company happens to share its name with the 12th Day of Christmas. (If you, like the McKenzie Brothers, ever wondered, the 12 days run from Christmas Eve to Epiphany.)
First, a little background on the Greek word:
epiphaneia - lit. “upon appearing,” used to mean “manifestation”
We use it in English when we say, “I had an epiphany!” to mean, “the lights came on!”
In the early Eastern Church, they used the term to refer to the “manifestation” of the infant Jesus to the Magi when they visited from the Orient. He “appeared” to the Gentiles in that moment. Church tradition uses the word “epiphany” to refer to a manifestation or appearance of supernatural beings — in particular Jesus Himself.
From the start of this journey, I wanted to create “epiphanies” for people. Moments when the work that we do would cause information and circumstances to come together in just the right combination to cause people to suddenly “see” what they needed to see.
Have an Epiphany
This has dual meanings for us as it relates to what we do:
- It is our mission to provide top-notch training and coaching to small businesses, to salespeople, and to anyone who needs to attract new customers and prospects. In that process, we want them to have moments where they suddenly “see” (sometimes for the first time) themselves and their businesses in the correct light. It’s a beautiful thing when this happens — it sparks life, creativity and energy. They get fired up about their own businesses in fresh ways… and they do a fantastic job of communicating once this happens. This results in their future customers and clients finding out about them! That is a thrill!
- Secondarily, when we provide consulting services and do other strategic marketing work (such as corporate vision, strategy, onsite training, copywriting, web architecture, social media innovation, etc.), we want to produce work that creates “epiphanies” for the past, present and future customers of our clients. In other words, the work that we do should cause the lights to go on for the people that our clients are reaching out to… so that they suddenly “see” and become raving lunatic evangelists for our clients.
Having been in this business for over 10 years now, I can tell you that there is absolutely nothing like watching somebody “get it.” It’s thrilling to be involved in helping to make it happen.
So… no matter what you’re celebrating today (I hope you’re celebrating something… after all, it’s a wonderful, brand-new day!), I hope you have an “epiphany” today.
And if you’re in business or in sales and you need to do a better job of attracting the people you want to do business with you, then keep your eyes on this space. It’s my mission in life to help you suddenly have that moment where you say, “Aha! That’s what I’ve been missing!”
P.S. If you’re starting a business or considering changing your name, I can’t recommend highly enough having a name that carries some personal significance to you. However… I can recommend that you name it something easy to spell!
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