Archive for July, 2009

(Fifth in a Series)

Essentially this is put up or shut up time in your copy writing. You’ve gained attention with a great headline, made sure your copy is focused on customer needs, stressed benefits and set yourself apart from the competition.

Now it’s time to deliver the goods. You can just say you’re the best. You have to prove it.

The most powerful tool you have for backing up your claim is to provide tangible evidence of superior performance in your field of expertise. You need to show — with facts – that your product or service is successful in providing the benefits and other results you promise.

One way to spotlight your track record is with case histories and success stories in your copy. Real life examples about how your product or service solved a customer problem allows the reader to empathize with the situation and celebrate the victory. If they can see themselves benefiting in the same way, you’ve done a good job.

Testimonials from satisfied customers are another effective tactic in convincing prospects that you can do what you say. Make sure to use testimonials from comparable customers.

Running a list of your current clients — and including how long they’ve been with you — provides a subtle endorsement, especially if you have a number of long-time clients. It shows you’ve been successful in building relationships that endure. Clients don’t stay around long if you’re not meeting and exceeding their expectations.

(Next: Establish Credibility)

Popularity: 38% [?]

Anderson Analytics recently released a study about who is using the most popular Social Networking sites: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. The data could be useful to marketers who target certain demographics.

Here are some of their more interesting observations, based on the study:

• More than 110 million people – 60% of the online population – use social netowrking sites.
• Twitter has passed LinkedIn in overall popularity.
• MySpace draws the youngest audience (15-24); Facebook is next (18-34); Twitter is third (15-34) while LinkedIn is the most mature (18-44).
• More than half of U.S. consumers who use social networks belong to more than one.
• Social networks are not just for kids – nearly 30 percent of the 45-to-54-year-olds polled said they have a Facebook profile.
• The average social networker logs in about four times a day, five days a week, and spends about an hour online.
• Social networkers’ feelings about brands online are more fairly positive. Some 52% of social networkers had friended or become a fan of at least one brand. When asked by Anderson if they would like more communications from brands, 45% were neutral, while 20% said yes and 35% said no.
• About 32 percent of social networkers are business users; 26 percent say they are fun-seekers; 22 percent consider themselves social media mavens; and 10 percent are casual followers.

The study tracked U.S. user behavior for 11 months. Anderson conducted the study online in June with 5,000 demographically representative respondents, and then went in-depth with 1,250 users, defined as anyone who had signed in to a social network account during the previous 30 days. The company also surveyed about 250 non-users.

After crunching the data, Anderson came up with observations about the typical social network user:

Twitterers: More interested than the others in many subjects but skew particularly high in all news categories, restaurants, sports, politics, personal finance and religion. They also especially like pop culture, with music, movies, TV and reading. Buying habits mirror that. They’re more likely to buy books, movies, shoes and cosmetics online than the other groups. Twitterers are also entrepreneurial. They are more likely than others to use the service to promote their blogs or businesses. More likely to be employed part-time (16% vs. 11% average), have an average income of $58,000, and average 28 followers and 32 other Twitterers they’re following. They’re not particularly attached to the site, though — 43% said they could live without Twitter.

MySpacers: While MySpace users skew younger. They also said they’d used the site much less in the past six months. The 67 million who are still there are into having a good time. They’re more likely to have joined MySpace for fun and more likely to be interested in entertaining friends, humor and comedy, and video games. They’re less into exercise than any other social group but seek out parenting information more than any other. Their average income is the lowest, at $44,000, and they have an average of 131 connections. They’re more likely to be black (9%) or Hispanic (7%) than users of the other social sites. They are also more likely to be single (60%) and students (23%).

Facebookers: There are 77 million Facebook users. Out of 45 categories, only national news, sports, exercise, travel, and home and garden skewed even slightly higher than average, and then by only one or two percentage points. They are more likely to be married (40%), white (80%) and retired (6%) than users of the other social networks. They have the second-highest average income ($61,000) and an average of 121 connections. Facebook users skew a bit older and are more likely to be late adopters of social media. But they are also extremely loyal to the site — 75% claim Facebook is their favorite site, and another 59% say they have increased their use of the site in the past six months.

LinkIners: All about business. More males than females (57% to 43%). Highest average income ($89,000). More likely to have joined the site for business or work, citing keeping in touch with business networks, job searching, business development and recruiting as top reasons. They like news, employment information, sports and politics. More likely to be into the gym, spas, yoga, golf and tennis.
Excluding video-game systems, they own more electronic gadgets than the other social networkers, including digital cameras, high-definition TVs, DVRs and Blu-ray players.

What does all this mean if you’re contemplating using social media for marketing? As is always the case, it starts with knowing your target audience and understanding their habits. Marketing to a younger audience via Twitter might be difficult; likewise, MySpace might now be a good choice for more mature consumers. Organizations really need to take a holistic approach to social media, one that reaches all potential consumers for the brand, and does so in a compelling and consistent way that builds awareness and equity for the brand. Not doing so will result in your brand failing to connect with your customer in a meaningful and viral way.

Popularity: 45% [?]

(Fourth in a Series)

Consumers are bombarded by thousands of marketing messages every day. Everyone claims to have the best prices in town, the greatest customer service, the most satisfied customers. If you sound just like the other guy, chances are you won’t stand out from the crowd, no matter how good your product or service.

So, how do you differentiate yourself from the competition?

Start by taking an honest look at what you have to offer and compare it to others in the same industry. You’ll probably see a lot of similarities but there will be differences. Is it your experience? Your use of technology? Your clients? Your results? Your customer service record? Your price?

Once you’ve identified what makes you different from the competition, craft your copy to emphasize the benefits of those differences. Tell your readers why it is to their advantage to use your product or service instead of the competition. Don’t be afraid to provide head-to-comparisons — assuming they come out in your favor.

(Next: Prove It!)

Popularity: 35% [?]

(Third in a Series)

It’s a simple concept that has been around for years but one that bears repeating here. Persuasive copy intended for a consumer audience should come down heavily on the side of benefits. Customers don’t necessarily want to know how your product works, only that it will save them money or time, make them feel better or solve some other need or want. It doesn’t matter that a clothes washer has a 5 hp motor, only that it makes clothes cleaner faster and at a better price than the competition.

Persuasive copy aimed a B2B audience, however, can be different, perhaps a 50-50 mix of features and benefits, perhaps even a bit more titled toward features. Specialists may care about the technicalities and will understand the benefits. Still, for every feature you include should be able to point out a benefit to the user — clearly explaining the feature makes the benefit more believable.

Features are factual statements about the product or service being promoted. But features aren’t what entice customers to buy. That’s where benefits come in. A benefit answers the question “What’s in it for me?,” meaning the feature provides the customer with something of value.

Here are three ways to determine what benefit your product or services produces:

Know your customer. Gather as much information as possible on each market segment. You have to gather demographic data (age, sex, household income, family size, number of credit cards, media preferences and so on) and psychographic data (value system, primary hot button, behavioral style, response mechanisms, fears, passions and so on). Demographic data is fairly easy to come by – observation and conversation are two good methods. Getting inside your customer’s head is a different matter – most small businesses can’t afford to conduct in-depth surveys. You may have to observer and make some assumptions based on external factors. While this is not foolproof, if you put together enough observations, it is possible to derive a reasonably accurate picture of what motivates an individual.

Change your point-of-view. Step out of your role as the provider of a product or service and think like a consumer. You fully understand what you are offering – they may not. Put yourself in their shoes as the buyer. Approach your own product or service as if you’d never seen it. Then ask yourself – and anyone else who will answer – “What benefits will that feature bring me?”

Think in terms of results. There’s nothing wrong with the term “benefits,” but if you refocus the problem to think in terms of “results,” the situation becomes clearer. Results go one step beyond benefits. What is result of the benefit? When you use this “results” approach to discovering your business’ benefits, you can be sure the marketing messages you use to reach your prospects will be right on target.

(Next: Differentiate Yourself)

Popularity: 32% [?]

(Second in a series)

When it comes to writing persuasive copy, set aside your ego and focus on the customer. They don’t care about your experience, your awards, your family or your plans for the future. They just want to know how you are going to meet their needs, satisfy their wants and solve their problems.

Persuasive copy gets inside the head of your specific audience and anticipates their questions, their doubts and their concerns. Persuasive copy deals with those issues by focusing on the customer.

If you were selling a health insurance plan to small business owners, which opening do you think would attract more attention: “Let me explain the Smith-Johnson Employee Health Benefits Plan” or “Are you tired of getting inferior health coverage for outrageous premiums that threaten to put you out of business?”

Obviously the second approach is far more attention grabbing. The first approach is focused on the seller; the second touches on an important issue that affects hundreds of thousands of potential customers.

A great way to ensure you are focusing on the customer and not yourself is to count the number of time you use “you” vs. “us” or “we” in the copy. Two “yous” for every “us” or “we” sounds about right.

In writing persuasive copy that focuses on the customer, it’s essential to understand their point of view. Conduct focus groups, attend trade shows and talk to your current customers to get to know the way they think, what’s important to them, and what motivates their decisions. Speak to those points in your copy and you’ll push the buttons that trigger them to do what you want.

(Next: Stress Benefits)

Popularity: 42% [?]