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Copywriter’s Hit List — Don’t Submit!

February 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

One piece of copy found on virtually every web page (or it should be, since your website should have an ezine sign-up form on every page except sales pages!) is the call-to-action aka “submit button.” But the last thing in the world it should say is “submit”!

Let’s look at the definition of submit from The Free Dictionary:

submit–to yield or surrender (oneself) to the will or authority of another

Not exactly a positive thing, is it?

Submit is a holdover from the days of DOS programming but the word itself has negative connotations for most people.  In fact, it’s really hard to think of any PG-13 rated instance where “submit” has a positive feeling associated with it.

And it can take a big toll on your conversions. According to Marketing Sherpa, “submit” has gotten fewer clicks than any other copy in just about every time they’ve tested button copy.

Instead, you should replace submit with copy that either reinforces what you want the the visitor to do and/or the benefit they’ll get from clicking. For example…

  • Click Here to Get Your Free Report Now!
  • Subscribe Me Now!
  • Order Your Sanity-Saving Guide Today!

It’s a little change that can add up to a big difference–especially over time.

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How Mom’s Love Advice Can Simplify Your Marketing

February 12, 2010 1 Comment

Did you ever have a crush on someone back in school and no matter what you did (or talked your friends into doing for you!) the object of your affections didn’t seem to even know you were alive?

So one day, when you were really down in the dumps and moping about it, you broke down and told your mom. But instead of revealing the magic secret that would finally win your crush over and give you the happy ending worthy of a Pretty in Pink sequel…

…She said you were a very pretty girl (or handsome boy) and she’s sure there are plenty of others who DO like you.

Turns out, mom would have made a pretty savvy marketer.

Because over and over again, small business owners keep beating their head against a wall trying to win the hearts of those who aren’t interested–after all, everyone should or could need their service–while overlooking the prospects who already WANT what they have to offer.

After all, we all know people who need to lose weight, stop smoking, change jobs, redo their website, get organized, get that roof fixed–but they don’t, right?  (It might even be us!)  But needing to fix a problem isn’t enough…they have to want to fix it enough to invest the time and money to do so.

So stop trying to capture their attention and “educate” them into wanting what you offer–and wasting a lot of time, money and energy in the process…

And start homing in on the prospects who already know they have a problem they can’t (or don’t want to) handle on their own and are already seeking some type of solution.

So Who Wants You?

The first time you go through these questions, think about the clients you’ve had …

  • Which ones were quick to sign-up and didn’t need much convincing?  Do they have anything in common?
  • What drove them to contact you?  Are there any common themes or events?
  • Who are your “heavy users” that frequently use what you offer?
  • What other products or services would a client buy to go along with yours? (e.g. someone seeing a nutritionist may also hire a personal trainer)
  • What other solutions did they try before?  This includes courses and workshops they attended to learn how to do it themselves.

Then, go back through and answer the questions by brainstorming other possibilities that weren’t in your client list.

Remember too–we often talk about targeting prospects by gender, professions and industries, but you can target based on a behavior as well. For example, people who have had a certain life experience or bought items that are compatible with yours.

But regardless of how you do it, take mom’s advice and focus on the people who want you–it’ll simplify your marketing and dramatically boost your results while saving you a lot of time, money and gray hairs along the way.

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Revealing Flaws is Smart Marketing in Undercover Boss

February 8, 2010 2 Comments

Saying “yes” to the  TV producer who wanted the CEO to anonymously work on the company’s front lines was a risky marketing move for Waste Management (WM).

Especially since reality TV is all about drama…and the company was given no control and no say in what would air. So you can be sure they’ll choose the worst issues and problems you find.

But it was a smart risk to take.

Because people crave authenticity these days. And whether you do it via copywriting or more visual media,  showing that you don’t pretend to be perfect helps demonstrate that.

In fact, exposing flaws can help build that all-important Know, Like and Trust factor that leads to more clients and more loyal clients in two key ways:

  • When you pretend your business, product or service is perfect, most people can’t help thinking, “Okay, what are they hiding?” So acknowledging flaws helps quell the fear that it’s too good to be true.
  • Have you ever heard someone gripe, “She’s just so perfect I can’t stand it!”?  It may be a catty comment but the reality is we tend to like (and like to buy from) people who are “like us.” So acknowledging flaws makes it easier for a prospect to connect with you.

Of course, what those flaws are is important. If the flaws could prevent your customer from achieving the results they’re looking for, you may need to rethink what you’re offering. And it also helps if you can show how you’re addressing or compensating for those flaws.

A Risky Marketing Move Pays Off

On the first episode of CBS’ new reality TV show Undercover Boss, WM CEO Larry O’Donnell  learns what life is like for the hourly folks at the bottom of the corporate ladder as he goes about working in recycling centers, cleaning porta-potties and picking-up trash.

While the venue of reality TV itself isn’t very authentic, the problems he discovers along the way are. Fortunately for the company, the issues involved unfair management policies that make the company look a little bad, but they’re certainly not PR nightmares.

(Of course, it would have been a whole different story if he’d found, say, employees rummaging through trash to steal identities or a big safety issue that was jeopardizing workers’ lives.)

But the appearance has certainly paid off publicity-wise…

  • Last night’s debut had about 38.6 million viewers–the 3rd largest post-SuperBowl audience ever
  • O’Donnell and 2 of the employees appeared on Oprah last week to promote the show
  • And numerous stories featuring O’Donnell’s appearance have run in business and lifestyle media over the past week

I won’t even try to calculate the value of the media coverage the company has received, which has been overwhelmingly positive.

WM was savvy enough to try to capitalize on the publicity by adding a special feature front and center on their home page that speaks directly to show’s viewers about the company’s sustainability initiatives. (Although I think they could have done a much better job with that.)

For the record, Undercover Boss producers say none of the companies paid to be on the show and none of the employees including O’Donnell were compensated by the show.

Photo from CBS.com

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Copywriting Points Up in the Air

February 2, 2010 2 Comments

…

I saw the movie Up in the Air recently and thought it made a few interesting points about writing good copy

Plot Summary: The main storyline is about Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a “career transition counselor” (aka hired hatchet man) who’s always jetting off to fire employees for companies who don’t want to do the dirty work themselves. While most of us would probably lose our minds in a job like that, he doesn’t seem to mind it.

But just when he’s about to finally reach his treasured goal of earning 10 million frequent flyer miles, a young whippersnapper named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) threatens his job and road warrior lifestyle.

She convinces his boss (Jason Bateman) that it would be much more efficient for the company to replace him and his colleagues with minions who fire via script and webcam. After Ryan protests, his boss assigns Natalie to accompany him on the road to learn the ropes.

(Writer-director Jason Reitman obviously overlooked the fact that getting a company to make such a drastic change–much less one proposed by a chick right out of college–is less likely than Elvis coming back from the dead. But anyway…)

Now On with the Show…

Soon we see Ryan in action, delivering the bad news with an air of practiced empathy and self-help panaceas about looking to the future. While it’s certainly not going to give anyone a warm-and-fuzzy feeling, it’s a stark contrast to Natalie’s “just the facts” approach when given her turn to lead the firings.

Even when the situation demands some kind of empathetic response, she’s totally at a loss for what to say. The result–without empathy, her words lose the little credibility they may have had and the employees’ responses go from bad to worse.

Granted, marketing messages are usually much less dire (thankfully!) than that. But inexperienced copywriters tend to make the same mistake Natalie did of relying completely on logic to persuade the audience.

People want to know you understand what they’re going through. They’re thinking if you don’t “get” where they’re at right now, how can you possibly know what the right solution is for them?

Copy Lesson #1: A little empathy goes a long way in getting the response you desire.

Next, Reitman originally scripted the firing scenes as satirical. But by the time he finished filming, the country was knee deep in recession and he was smart enough to realize that wouldn’t play well in Peoria (or anywhere else in the U.S.)

But instead of rewriting the scenes based on tales from the newly unemployed, he went out to capture real, unscripted reactions from ordinary Americans who had just lost their job in the faltering economy. The result–gut-wrenching scenes that hit home because they didn’t just feel real, they WERE real… to these people and to us.

Obviously, screenwriters are used to writing for a bunch of different voices. But even the most talented ones would have had trouble coming up with such a wide range of unique phrasings and verbal stumblings that oozed authenticity and underscored the gravity of the message.

Copy Lesson #2: Imagining what your prospects might say will never be as convincing as letting them speak for themselves–either in testimonials THEY write, not you, or when you incorporate their actual words and phrases into your copy.

My two-second, two-bit movie review…

Up in the Air is definitely a good movie with some darkly funny points about air travel and the corporate world. But the hopelessly bleak ending was enough to make me ready to jump off a bridge (figuratively speaking). If I’d known that ahead of time, I would have skipped it. After all, I can stay home and watch the news for that!

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