Marketing Revisited

People are talking…

Tom Blue — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:33:07 +0000

Regardless of what you sell, people will ask others before they buy. And guess what. They trust what they hear from their friends more than anything you’ll ever say in your advertising.

This is hardly breaking news. Since the first caveman started selling clubs and spears, people have been voicing their vendor related gripes and praises to their friends.

Word-of-mouth just happens. And that’s how most of us still view it… something that happens as opposed to something we can actually influence.

If that’s still your view, you’re missing the boat and probably losing business as a result.

Two things have happened that should thrust this topic to the forefront of every marketer’s (business owner’s) mind.

First, the internet has amplified the voices of average people to a level that can be almost deafening at times. Witness the influence of blogs on the political scene.

More than half of all web users have on at least one occasion published their opinion (“review”) of something they purchased.

We’re doing it more and more… and everyone loves it. Customer reviews may be the most persuasive single element of a product/service marketing web site.

Second, as consumers, we’re so overwhelmed by marketing clutter and so suspicious of advertisers’ claims that we actively seek the opinions of others to guide our purchase decisions.

In this light, it’s easy to see how word of mouth can either be an engine of growth or a monkey wrench in your marketing machine. So, what do you do about it?

If your customers are generally happy when they leave you, then the simple answer is twofold. Give them something to talk about. Be interesting. And then help the conversation to take place (and spread). Make it easy for people to talk about you.

What they say (as long as it’s good) is not as important as you might think. Let’s face it. It will probably never be a recitation of your mission statement and core values. That’s ok.

The stuff people talk about is the stuff that sticks in their head and is easy to repeat.

Zappos.com offers a free 365 day return policy.
Rivah Interiors in Virginia’s Northern Neck greets you with wine and beer the moment you enter the store.
The Carnegie Deli has a 7 inch corned beef sandwich.

This is the stuff people talk about. And it’s good for business.

buzz marketing, word of mouth

Are You Asking Too Much of Your Marketing Materials?

Tom Blue — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:32:35 +0000

Twice in two days, I’ve had the same conversation with marketers suffering from the same confusion. Both are organizations that rely on lead generation as the first step in their sales processes. That is to say, they expose prospects to their marketing message in an effort to move them to contact the company, learn more, and finalize a sale.

The problem both companies had (and I see this all the time) is they were falling into the trap of over-communicating in their marketing materials… telling their whole stories… every detail… forgetting that the goal of their marketing is not to close the sale on the spot. Rather, the goal is to motivate a prospect to call and engage in the sales process.

I find this happens most often when companies write their own marketing copy. They are so close to what they’re doing, they lose their ability to trim down their story. They can no longer write copy that engages prospects quickly, established the firm’s credibility, yet leaves enough to talk about that it makes sense for the prospect to call.

This problem is VERY easy to stumble into. I struggle with it myself when I’m writing about products or services that I’ve been part of creating.

Here’s what seems to happen…
You understand so well the rationale behind each element of what you do. And you’re such an informed critic of your own product/service offering that anything less than a full explanation of everything you provide (and why) starts to feel incomplete to you.

The result – you wind up trying to wet the whistle of your prospects with a fire hose. WAY too much information… and way more than they need in order to reach the decision to give you a call.

The information overload either dissuades prospects from investing the time to process your message - or you answer so many of their questions that they no longer need to call you to learn more and begin the sales process.

The next time you find yourself reviewing a lead generation program, ask yourself the following questions:

Does our marketing earn the scarce attention of our audience?
Does our marketing (design and copy) establish our firm’s credibility?
Does our message differentiate us from our competitors?
Does our copy help prospects qualify themselves?
Are we providing a compelling reason for prospects to engage in our sales process?
Is our copy concise and scannable enough to engage a busy prospect?

These can be tough questions to answer for yourself. This is one time when it can really pay to get some objective feedback.

copy writing, increase response rates, Lead Generation, Tom Blue

Who’s Making Money on Facebook?

Tom Blue — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:06:23 +0000

I got my 5th invitation today to join the 6 Degrees of Separation group on Facebook.

I decided to investigate it. I’m seriously intrigued (as we all should be) by the social networking phenomenon and how it will impact the marketing world in the months and years ahead. Clearly there’s a viral potential for ideas and applications within social networks that is unprecedented.

Yet, I’m still waiting and watching for case studies that demonstrate the marketing ROI on these initiatives. There is no doubt these concepts draw eyeballs… and can be sticky (at least for short bursts of time). But is anyone other that the app developers making money?

I believe the successful ROI case studies are soon on their way. And in the interim, there are certainly a number of interesting endeavors to reflect upon.

I read a fascinating post recent on the popular Christmas time application – Elf Yourself (not done in connection with a social network). Advertising Age, reports that 26.4 million people (myself included) spent an astounding 2,600 YEARS at ElfYourself.com turning themselves, their friends, and others into dancing elves.

If you happened to be among those who got sucked into this delightful application, let me ask you this. Can you remember the company that was behind it?

(Answer: OfficeMax)

And if so, were you even remotely inclined to buy some office supplies – or even frequent their stores on a more dedicated basis?

I doubt it.

I loved the application. But what did it have to do with the OfficeMax brand – or office supplies?

Have a look at what happened to web traffic at officemax.com (red line) during the holiday season. (Source: Compete.com)

Pretty much nothing….

The popularity of Elfyourself doesn’t appear to move the needle at all for OfficeMax.

Could they have done more to link the application back to the brand? Sure. Elf yourself and get a 15% off your next OfficeMax.com purchase.

Would it have helped?

I hope we have the chance to find out next year. As I said, I think ROI is right around the corner on some of these viral apps.

So back to my Facebook - 6 Degrees investigation…

The group (experiment) was started by Steve Jackson, a London based author who was doing research for his new novel, The Watcher. One of the themes he apparently explores in the book is the way the Internet connects people.

So on the afternoon of November 28, 2007, he started the 6 Degrees of Separation group and invited all of his friends to join. By day’s end, the group had fewer than 20 members.

As time progressed, things started to look up. By day 4, it was up to 200 people.

On day 5, things started to get really interesting… a doubling in 24 hours.

A week later, he was up to 30,000 people.

The next day… 141,000!

Over the next two weeks, at times the group was adding 3 people every SECOND. Six days in a row averaged 220,000 new members per day.

On day 13, the group hit 1 million people.

The slow down started on day 18 – shortly after crossing the 2 million mark. Since then, the numbers have trailed off.

Today, less than three months since the group began, I became new member #4,314,483.

Here’s what the growth looks like cumulatively and by day. (Please forgive the image quality.)

Cumulative Group Membership Growth over 56 days (peaks at 4 million)

Daily Membership Growth over 56 days (peaks at 230,000/day)

While the magnitudes may vary widely, I suspect that the shape of the daily growth curve is fairly representative of most viral concepts launched within social networks. It’s tough to argue against the potential here.

Now the question is how to harness this potential to produce a positive ROI.

Facebook, Marketing ROI, six degrees of separation, Tom Blue, viral applications

How to Get the Most from Your Testimonials

Tom Blue — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:37:43 +0000

I’m a big fan of user reviews.

As a consumer, I refer to them whenever they’re available, and I find that they influence my purchase decisions. Short of a product demonstration, as an instrument of persuasion, the user review has to be among the most effective tools we have at our disposal.

Consider for a moment the difference in your own mind between a user review and its big brother, the testimonial.

As similar as I suppose they are in theory, I regard the two very differently.

To me the very designation – testimonial – suggests that the message will be positive… one notch down from its slippery sibling, the endorsement.

Particularly online, testimonials have been so abused, bastardized and corrupted that unless they are particularly well presented, I find that I view them all as counterfeit… sales copy from deceptive marketers.

User reviews on the other hand, at least for now, remain relatively pure in my mind.

For some reason, I feel like the user review is a more authentic, unscripted expression of a real person’s real-life experience with a product or service. Probably naively, I expect to hear both the good and the bad.

I trust them more.

So what do if you’re a testimonial junkie and don’t yet have the facilities to cultivate and display user reviews?

First and foremost, make sure that your testimonials are believable. Lest you be lumped in with the counterfeiters.

To maximize the believability of your testimonials…

First, with the exception of spelling errors, embarrassing grammatical problems, and elimination of clichés, don’t edit them. People can spot a fake from a mile away, and if your testimonials are deemed as fakes, you’ve done yourself more harm than good.

Second, make sure they are specific. Speaking in generalities is neither authentic nor persuasive. Don’t present “Your service was great!” That doesn’t mean anything to anyone. Rather, favor testimonials with a real story.

“I arrived late and starving. I had to be in meeting with one of my biggest clients in one hour and had considered dashing through McDonalds on my way. I was thrilled when I left the clean and peaceful setting of your restaurant having had one of the best bowls of French onion soup I’ve ever had… in 27 minutes flat! I’ll be back.”

Third, attribute your testimonials as specifically as you can. Why do marketers conceal the name of the testifier - or replace it with their state of residence?

Is it because the person giving the testimonial insists on remaining anonymous? If they were so worried about their anonymity, why did they write it in the first place? Did they really say, I’ll give you this testimonial, but you had better not say who wrote it?

I doubt it. And unless your product pertains to hemorrhoids or some sexual dysfunction, no one else is going to buy it either. So at the very least, present a first name, last initial, city, state, and if relevant, a description of the person or their circumstances that make the testimonial valuable.

If you’re selling washing machines, an attribution like this might be appropriate.

Michelle B., Richmond, VA
Mother of five boys, ages 2 to 13

In certain circumstances, you could go even further to build believability with photos (before and after using your product if appropriate).

The second thing you have to do is make sure your testimonials serve their persuasive purposes.

Anytime we find ourselves quoting customers, the underlying purpose is most likely to remove the perception of risk and/or address a specific objection in the mind of the buyer. So, you want to be sure that your testimonials address actual fears or objections.

Holly Buchanan (a friend of mine and persuasion guru from FutureNow) wrote a wonderful post discussing the three traits of strong testimonials. In discussing this point, she writes that “testimonials from skeptics stand out because they sound credible.”

Consider the following:

“I have been repeatedly disappointed after buying ____ because despite claims to the contrary, they’re always hard to assemble. So when I read that yours were quick and easy, I had my doubts. I’m now convinced. I assembled my ____ without tools in 3 stress-free minutes.”

In this case, the testimonial overcomes a common concern over assembly by acknowledging up front the legitimacy of this issue for other prospects – then dispensing with it.

This leads to Holly’s next point which is that your testimonials must be well-placed – making sure that the subject matter that is addressed in the testimonial relates to the information around it. Context is critical.

She also makes the insightful observation that there are really two types of relevance to consider. The first (and most obvious) has to do with subject matter relevance. Place your easy-assembly testimonial near your claim that your product is easy to assemble.

The more subtle issue to consider however is your prospects stage in the buying cycle. On your landing page for example, your testimonials should be geared to a prospect who is still asking the more fundamental questions. How are different from other competitors? Can you fill my needs? What kind of company is this?

Testimonials dealing with the efficiency of your fulfillment and return processes are better aimed at people further along the buying cycle.

We all know this to be true. The voice of a real customer… speaking candidly on your behalf can be extraordinarily powerful. Your job is to see that it is projected, heard and believed at the right time and in the right place to move your prospects to action.
Marketing Principles, testimonials, Tom Blue, user reviews, Web Copy Writing

When Overt Benefits and Dramatic Differences Are Hard to Find…

Tom Blue — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:23:40 +0000

A professional marketer recently suggested that the marketing principles I’ve been addressing related to overt benefit, dramatic difference, and real reasons to believe are outdated… they no longer apply since the dawn of category competition.

The example that she cited was that of GM, Ford, and Chrysler perfecting these principles only to converge on a “commodity position” and obviously struggle in the marketplace.

At times it would be easier to draw this conclusion and search for an easier path to resolve our most fundamental marketing challenges. But respectfully, I disagree. These principles are not outdated. Rather, I think that these tired organizations have forgotten (or possibly can no longer deliver on) the concepts of REAL reasons to believe and DRAMATIC difference. Their products are painfully inferior to their foreign competitors, and sadly, they no longer have a benefit to offer that is more pronounced than 0% financing.

In fairness to their marketers, the weight of the business economic issues plaguing our auto makers (the burden of healthcare costs, etc.) is probably as much or more to blame for this than anything else.

However, when your category becomes crowded, and if ever wellspring of product innovation runs dry, differentiation can always be found in the provision of service… making bold declarations and standing behind them… building new and REAL reasons to believe.

Since she cited the automotive industry, let me direct our focus to Lexus and ask if these principles are in any way failing to serve Toyota. Lexus actually follows through on its lofty ideals that are stirringly articulated in its Covenant with customers:

The Lexus Covenant
Lexus will enter the most competitive, prestigious automobile race in the world.

Over 50 years of Toyota automotive experience has culminated in the creation of Lexus cars. They will be the finest cars ever built.

Lexus will win the race because Lexus will do it right from the start. Lexus will have the finest dealer network in the industry.

Lexus will treat each customer as we would a guest in our home.

If you think you can’t, you won’t…
If you think you can, you will!
We can, we will.

What happens when these ideals are assaulted by real-life problems? Lexus rises to the occasion.

Nancy Fein, vice president of customer service with Lexus recently told the story of a minor technical glitch that affected some 3,000 of its inaugural LS 400 sedans nearly 20 years ago.

Lexus discovered the problem and responded… NOT by hoping no one would notice… and NOT by asking their new buyers to return to the dealership for repairs. Instead, they sent some 300 of its executives to the homes of the affected customers to apologize in person, hand-deliver a gift, and repair the problem (with the help of a technician) right there in the customer’s driveway.

Last year, a similar issue arose with some 700 of its ES 350 models that had been delivered with faulty transmissions. In this case, Lexus did ask these customers to return to the dealership to drop off their cars… but not for repairs. Rather - to pick up their BRAND NEW replacement - no questions asked.

Not surprisingly, follow-up surveys show that these customers were MORE LOYAL to Lexus than buyers who experienced no problems at all.

So I ask - is it the principles or the marketers that are outdated?
Marketing Principles, Service innovation, Tom Blue

Marketing When People Ignore Marketing

Tom Blue — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:14:47 +0000

I had the pleasure last week of kicking off the 2008 First Friday Forum series for the Retail Merchants Association (RMA) in Virginia. The content of this talk was pulled from a series of my posts on the laws of marketing physics as defined by Doug Hall at the Eureka! Ranch and other helpful insights from such authors as Dr. Robert Cialdini and Chip & Dan Heath (Made to Stick).

Filmed before a group of about 200 Virginia retailers, the RMA produced a nicely edited version of the talk.

As I’ve been asked repeatedly by my readers to provide a video post, I thought this might be of interest to some of you who have gotten to know me only by way of my writing. The talk has been abridged (sacrificing my infomercial humor), but they did a nice job of capturing much of the substance. If you would like to receive the slides from the presentation, shoot me an email or comment.

Marketing Principles, Persuasion, Retail Merchants Association, Tom Blue

New Marketing ROI Calculators

Tom Blue — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:34:44 +0000

If you’re not doing ROI calculations before and after your marketing initiatives, you certainly should. Let me remove any excuse for not doing this…

I’m surprised by how easy it is for marketers to overlook this important calculation as they weigh their creative options and plan their campaigns. So, let this first act as a simple reminder not to undertake anything marketing-related this year without at least considering your anticipated return… and the return you got the last time you did something similar.

Sometimes it’s admittedly difficult to arrive at solid ROI forecasts in the marketing arena. Your investment in PR… in word-of-mouth… brand-building…. That’s not to excuse those who turn a blind eye all-together to ROI relative to these activities, but there is no denying that it can be tough.

But when it comes to direct marketing and pay-per-click advertising, you’re insane if you aren’t being diligent about ROI.

This is why I’ve taken a couple of my own ROI calculators and published them here for you to use whenever you like. Bookmark the page. Send it to your colleagues. And never again accept another DM or PPC marketing proposal without a clear calculation of ROI (along with the underlying assumptions).

Despite their less-than-exciting names (Direct Mail ROI Calculator and PPC ROI Calculator), these calculators have other applications if you are careful with your assumptions.

For example, any direct marketing or other campaign for which you can estimate your reach and your campaign costs can be dropped into the Direct Mail ROI Calculator replacing mail quantity with your reach estimate.

Similarly, ROI for most any online campaign can be estimated with the PPC ROI Calculator by simply assigning an assumption to your click cost in the campaign. You should be doing this anyway.

I can’t tell you how often people tell me “I can have an ad (banner) on XXXX.com for only a penny per exposure!”

Most people wildly over-estimate their click-through-rate (CTR) on ads like these – and the quality of these clicks in terms of their conversion likelihood. Test your assumptions and their ultimate pay-off using the PPC Calculator.

Where these calculators differ from most others I’ve seen is in the break even analysis. Most of us like to know these simple answers as we work through our campaign assumptions.

“If these are my costs and quantities, and this is my profit from an average sale, what kind of response rate do I need to make this campaign worthwhile?”

“If my sites converts X% of visitors into buyers, and I make Y in profit from an average online sale, what can I afford to pay for a click?”

These break even calculations provide answers to these and other similar questions.

Now, I’d like to ask something of you. Tell me the ROI questions that puzzle/trouble you most. I plan to pay special attention this year to ROI issues. Your response may lead to new calculators on the ROI Calculators page.

Second, if you’ve got an approach that has helped you calculate ROI on other types of campaigns, I’d love for you to share them with me.

Now go try these calculators.
calculating marketing ROI, marketing return on investment, Marketing ROI, marketing ROI calculator, ROI calculator

How to Be the Most Believable Marketer in Your Space

Tom Blue — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:21:22 +0000

A short while ago, I wrote a post discussing one of three key marketing principles discovered and well-documented by the Eureka! Ranch (Overt Benefit). I’ve gotten a lot of feedback since, and thought it would be worthwhile to complete my review of all three principles as we should all have them at the forefront of our minds as we undertake our work.

The second principle speaks to the skepticism that all of us feel when confronted with marketing. Let’s face it… life experience has taught us to believe little of what we hear from marketers.

For this reason, strong statements of benefits – no matter how compelling – fail to move people to action without the help of REAL reasons to believe what you’re saying.

The benefit is what your offering. The reason to believe is HOW you’re going to make good on the promise. We simply have to provide both.

As I watch the marketplace today, I find that this issue – the real reason to believe is the greatest weakness of new business concepts.

To convert the excitement ignited by the overt benefit into actual sales, people demand that we provide persuasive credibility and evidence that we (or our product/service) will perform as promised. With customer confidence at an all-time low, giving compelling reasons to believe a marketing message is AS IMPORTANT as providing an overt benefit.

When communicating benefits, you may recall that there is a negative correlation between the number of benefits featured and the impact of the message. More is NOT better.

Not so with providing reasons to believe. In fact, as a rule, more reasons to believe are better than fewer as is evidenced by successful infomercials. Think about it. The best infomercials (the ones you see over and over) dedicate more than half of their time to reasons to believe (as opposed to communicating features and benefits).

I have mentioned the Proactiv skin care product line before. You lose count of the “unpaid” celebrity testimonials after a while.

How do you communicate your reasons to believe?

According to the research done at the Ranch, there are five proven strategies to communicating real reason to believe. With one exception they are all equal in their effectiveness:

Kitchen logic (42% probability of success)

Personal experience (45% probability of success)

Pedigree (41% probability of success)

Testimonial (41% probability of success)

Guarantee (60% probability of success)

Kitchen logic conveys how the benefit is delivered, using language that people can easily understand and quickly relate to… old-fashioned logic.

Personal experience is about providing customers with an opportunity to see, feel, and experience the product or benefit. There are three types of personal experience: 1. sampling, 2. demonstration, and 3. sensory feedback.

A demonstration is particularly effective when it is set in a situation that seems nearly hopeless. They can be done live OR documented and used as evidence in brochures or advertising. Sensory feedback is about providing people with signals that reinforce your product’s effectiveness. At its simplest, this means helping them see, feel, smell, taste, or touch the experience.

Pedigree is about providing people confidence by detailing the heritage behind your product or service. There are three types of pedigrees:

development pedigree (providing credibility as a result of the design, creation, formulation, or production process behind your product or service);

marketing pedigree (best selling, recommended by 3 of 4 doctors, etc.); and

trademark pedigree (using a brand or trademark that has a pedigree of trust – Good Housekeeping).

Testimonials can be provided by customers, experts, or independent third parties. Media quotes can be an outstanding source of independent testimonials.

Guarantees can be the most powerful reason to believe IF the fine print is minimized. The power of a guarantee is directly linked to the level of risk that you appear to be taking. No risk… no marketing benefit.

6 More tips on being the most believable marketer in your space:

The Internet and infomercials are marketing media that carry high levels of consumer skepticism. If you use these media, you must triple your credibility communications to achieve the same level of impact as classic physical retailers.

Score your real reasons to believe versus your competition.

Your reasons to believe MUST BE relative to an overt benefit that MUST speak to a target audience. Therein is created a chain reaction in which each piece of your message works together.

Anything done during development or production that is unique offers potential as a reason to believe.

Beware of offering irrelevant reasons to believe.

Beware of following the industry in offering reasons to believe. The more a strategy is used, the less credible it becomes. People simply conclude “they always say that.”

copy writing, marketing laws, marketing message development, Marketing Principles, Tom Blue

Top 10 Blogs for Writers

Tom Blue — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:52:38 +0000

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know the value I assign to stellar design and copy. Not surprisingly, I’ve found some of the most helpful writing advice on other blogs… some of which you will find below.

Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers (a blog well-worth following) has announced the winners of his second-annual Top 10 Blogs for Writers.

Thanks to Michael for compiling the list once again. And congratulations to all of the winners.

Copyblogger, by Brian Clark: Holding the number-one spot for the second year running, this site excels at teaching the art of writing. I like this blog so much that I subscribe to Brian’s email feed. This one is well deserving of the top spot.

Freelance Writing Jobs, by Deborah Ng: For writers seeking new work, this site is your sole destination and maintains a top spot in our contest from last year.

The Renegade Writer, by Linda Formichelli and Dianna Burell: Are you a freelance journalist looking for inspiration? Look no further.

Web Content Writer Tips, by James Chartrand and Harrison McLeod: With a focus on making more money as a writer, this blog is full of helpful how-to articles.

Web Writing Info, by Courtney Ramirez: This excellent blog looks at social networking and emerging web-based opportunities for writers.

The Golden Pencil, by Anne Wayman: Wayman, a second-year winner, examines how to go for the gold as a freelance writer.

Catalystblogger, by Jennifer Williamson: Williamson writes about the pains and trials writers face.

Freelance Parent, by Lorna Doone Brewer and Tamara Berry: Two moms provide excellent perspective on writing with a dash of parenting.

Write from Home, by Amy Derby: Derby provides fresh commentary and advice on writing.

Copywriter Underground, by Tom Chandler: This site, a second-year winner, provides regular doses of inspiration for copywriters.

If you’re serious about your writing, give these a look.
Blogs for writers, copywriting

Here’s Your Chance to Start Creating Your Own Video Presentations – FREE for a Limited Time

Tom Blue — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:53:28 +0000

If you’re like me, you’ve noticed and begun to appreciate the utility of online videos. The professional applications for this technology are nearly endless… tutorials, customer service & tech support content, online sales presentations, educational seminars…. And when the content is relevant to your visitors’ interests and professionally delivered, it can really enhance the online experience (and your conversion rates).

Contrary to popular belief, they don’t have to be expensive to create.

I learned today (and have since verified) that Camtasia Studio, an application that has been widely applauded (and that I plan to begin using) is offering a full version of its screen capture video software, Camtasia Studio Version 3 at no cost. Yes – FREE for a limited time.

If you’ve ever considered offering online video, recorded webinars and sales presentations, here’s your chance to dip your toe into the water at no risk with a pretty solid application.

Here’s what you have to do…

Download Camtasia Studio here. When you double click to install the software once you have saved it, it will ask for a name and key. Don’t take the “free trial.” Register the software here, and they will send you your key immediately by email.

When you’re ready to learn to use the application, here are some great training videos where you can pick up everything you need to know.

If you create something worth sharing, send me a link.
build your own online presentations, Camtasia Studio, free video presentation software, online video presentations