Marketers, do you regularly work with your Customer Service manager to review what your customer service reps are trained to tell your customers? The most critical conversations occur when the customer is unhappy. Because all the money you spent to acquire that customer is about to evaporate if that customer leaves. Are your customer ...
Email Testing is one of the easier Testing options – and it can be the most cost-effective. You want to test the elements that have the biggest impact on email response. That includes: How the names were selected Subject Line (which determines whether your email is viewed) Offer Overall copy with your key benefits ...
What if your boss asked for a meeting to review the status of your digital marketing efforts? What would you analyze for the presentation? Here's what we recently prepared for a client who introduced us to their new president. Percentage of Traffic and Sales by Channel for 2023 and 2022 We gathered this information ...
Do you have too many visitors who never click "add to cart"? The Story Approach helps you focus on your target audience — and discover the key points of differentiation that are going to get that audience excited to buy. The end result is a stronger, more unique, memorable brand promise – that can ...
Have you tried the “Story Approach” as a Messaging Strategy? (It has nothing to do with testimonials if that’s what you’re thinking . . .) It’s an approach for crafting more persuasive sales copy that’s driven by your answers to 7 key questions. Formulating the answers to those questions helps you create your brand ...
Not giving your copy enough attention? Why not switch things up and test some new additions that might keep the persuasiveness of your message from going missing . . . Enhance Your Sales Message with These 6 Persuasive Additions What “tweaks” could you make or suggest to your messaging to make it more persuasive? ...
How does copy become more compelling? One way is to be more specific to your audience with your messages. And that means a smarter message strategy – a clearer direction as to what points your sales message should hit. Every audience doesn’t have the same concerns. And every product or service doesn’t face the ...
There had been a heated discussion between the designer and the sales consultant. The designer produced a cover concept that would be used for a brochure, a presentation, and potentially on the new Home page of the client's website. The company was introducing a new product to the medical market that had two significant ...
Can a graphic artist or web programmer write copy that sells? Can a copywriter create on-brand designs that lead the eye to the response? We've long understood that the "design" side of marketing versus the "copy" side of marketing require completely different skill sets — and it's highly unusual (if not unheard of) to ...
You may be paying a content team to create a steady stream of content – that’s wonderful IF you and they understand the three critical reasons why you’re creating that content: To drive more Organic traffic To drive visitors to the next step you want them to take (to an Offer page or a ...
I see that a lot of marketing departments are “trying to do more with less.” They’re outsourcing tactics, automating what they can, and just trying to get projects done. Essentially, a lot of marketing departments are in “production mode” – just trying to get the next project or tactic crossed off their “to do” ...
“On the TWELFTH Day of Planning, (and full of holiday spirit!) your boss will ask of you: 12 Analytics to Track . . . ELEVEN Copy Review Points . . . TEN Content Marketing Questions . . . NINE Lead Generation Strategies . . . EIGHT Google Ads Success Secrets . . . ...
On the eleventh day of digital marketing planning, your boss will ask of you: “ELEVEN Copywriting Review Points . . . TEN Content Marketing Questions . . . NINE Lead Generation Strategies . . . EIGHT Google Ads PPC Success Secrets . . . SEVEN Email Guidelines . . . SIX Website Improvements . ...
On the tenth day of digital marketing planning, your boss will ask of you: TEN Content Marketing Questions. . . NINE Lead Generation Strategies . . . EIGHT Google Ads PPC Success Secrets . . . SEVEN Email Guidelines . . . SIX Website Improvements . . . FIVE Lead Capture Strategies . . ...
“On the NINTH Day of digital marketing planning, your boss will ask of you . . . NINE Lead Generation Strategies . . . EIGHT Google Ads PPC Success Secrets . . . SEVEN Email Guidelines . . . SIX Website Improvements . . . FIVE Lead Capture Strategies . . . FOUR SEO ...
“On the EIGHTH Day of Digital Marketing Planning, your boss will ask of you: EIGHT Google Ads PPC Secrets . . . SEVEN Email Guidelines . . . SIX Website Improvements . . . FIVE Lead Capture Strategies . . . FOUR SEO Factors . . . THREE Design Directives . . . TWO Website ...
“On the SEVENTH Day of Planning, your boss will ask of you: SEVEN Email Guidelines . . . SIX Website Improvements . . . FIVE Lead Capture Strategies . . . FOUR SEO Factors . . . THREE Design Directives . . . TWO Website Questions . . . and One Measurable Marketing Plan ...
"On the SIXTH Day of Planning, your boss will ask of you: SIX Website Elements to Improve Effectiveness . . . FIVE Lead Capture Strategies . . . FOUR SEO Factors . . . THREE Design Directives . . . TWO Website Questions . . . and One Measurable Marketing Plan . . .” ...
“On the FIFTH Day of Planning, your boss will ask of you: FIVE Lead Capture Strategies . . . FOUR SEO Factors . . . THREE Design Directives, TWO Website Questions, and One Measurable Marketing Plan . . .” What lead capture strategies are you planning to use or try in the New ...
“On the FOURTH Day of Digital Marketing Planning, your boss will ask of you: FOUR SEO Factors . . . THREE Design Directives, TWO Website Questions, and ONE Measurable Marketing Plan . . .” Are you sure your website has been SEO-optimized? We talk with companies at least once a week that think ...
“On the Third Day of Planning, your boss will ask of you: THREE Design Directives . . . (Two Website Questions . . . and One Measurable Marketing Plan.)” Are you using “above the fold” on each page of your website wisely? It’s probably time to review your website page-by-page ...
“On the Second Day of Planning, your boss will ask of you: 2 Website Questions . . . (and 1 Measurable Marketing Plan) . . .” Q: What is Each “Buyer Persona” (or Type of Target Client) Looking For? (And why isn’t our website focused on those items?) As part of your marketing plan, analyze your website from ...
“On the First Day of Planning, my client asked of me: One Measurable Plan!” What’s a Measurable Plan? One with specific, quantifiable objectives, based on past knowledge of your company’s marketing and sales results and effectiveness. When management delivers their sales objectives, be sure you’re ready with a grounded-in-fact budget proposal to achieve them ...
Is your marketing team keeping track of your Cost Per Lead, Conversion Rate, and Cost Per Sale at every step of your sales funnel? Does everyone know those numbers by marketing effort? Understanding the value of every lead and sale can help you decide whether to continue particular marketing programs — and how to ...
We see these 3 most common budget disasters over and over — involving Lead Generation websites, Ecommerce websites, and PPC campaigns. Don't let these happen to you . . . Budget Disaster #1: Creating a New Website – without a Lead Generation Plan – to Solve a Lead Generation Problem The tech company had a ...
As you edit or polish your email messages, are you looking specifically at elements that will boost the sell? We are constantly testing email messages for clients, and we continue to see that using these 5 improvement strategies seems to boost sales and click-through: 1. The key words in your Subject Lines need to ...
How much time are you spending on copy strategy with your SEO and PPC specialists? Do you just assume the messaging they’re using for Page Title (or Headline in PPC) and Description is as effective as it can be? Do you discuss the need for “qualified” clicks? It’s clear from looking at both Organic ...
Have you heard (or given) these copywriting suggestions to help improve your content? Some are absolutely the way to write effective copy – but only if your copywriting team understands how to implement them. Other content ideas are very difficult to implement effectively. “Make it more conversational” A few years ago, I had an ...
(and we might be part of the problem . . .) Battleground #1: Banner image at the top of a web page The top of your page, just below the Main Menu, is very valuable real estate. You want to introduce your most important information there – your “what problem(s) do we solve” and ...
Even when you're outsourcing all or part of your marketing tactics, you still need to ask to see results -- and know what to look for. In Part 1 of “What You Still Need to Know When You Outsource All of Your Digital Marketing,” we talked about the e-commerce company that began their plan ...
The e-commerce company previously operated in 12,000 square feet of office space. They began their plan to have a virtual office where every employee worked remotely several years before COVID. (So, in that regard, they were definitely ahead of their time.) The "marketing department" was completely virtual. The company had already been using an ...
Is there a major disconnect between what small business employers assume someone with a marketing degree knows how to do – and what we actually teach Marketing majors in Business School? Yes. Marketing majors are taught the more strategic areas of marketing. But entry-level marketing positions in small businesses are usually tactical. “Marketing management” ...
How disappointed are you when you click on a link promising information about a particular topic, only to find very basic or too little information? When you promise valuable Content, be sure you deliver. Don’t short-change your audience by not delivering on your intriguing headline or link. Be sure to give them enough information ...
yikes. There's a heated discussion going on within my NextDoor community about plumbers. In San Diego County, there are a few plumbers that seem to do a lot of television advertising. There's the one with the kid that does the talking . . . there are the two guys in a truck making fools ...
Sadly, there are still disaster stories about outside marketing resources that are big on promises -- but haven’t delivered. It frequently happens when companies are trying to save money, and they may not be asking the right questions before hiring. Here are our next 2 in the series of “Top B.S. Phrases” that need ...
We always cringe when we hear stories like these about marketing agencies or freelancers that potential clients have sadly hired. So, we’ve compiled our “Top Telltale B.S. Phrases” that need careful scrutiny – because they may mean you should turn and run the other way . . . (and this is just part 1) ...
You’re launching a new product or service for which you need to generate leads. Or maybe you’re trying to improve existing pages. You’ve talked about features and benefits with your team. If you stop there, you’ve only done 10% of your strategic preparation. Both managers directing the effort and creative resources drafting the content ...
If you have a line of related products, would you showcase only ONE of those products over and over? Wouldn't you want to showcase the entire line — to appeal to the broadest number of visitors? Even the Big-Name Companies Can Have Flawed Strategies Clothing companies produce seasonal lines of clothing. So it is ...
One of my clients is using an online service to find writers to produce blog posts. Maybe you’ve thought about that option as well. The posts are decent drafts to start with, but are far from polished and ready for our audience. Fortunately, all of the writers do have English as their first language ...
I’ve been attending workshops on optimizing product listings for Amazon. And I see opportunities to improve websites in general, based on the best ways to attract attention and drive conversions on Amazon. 1. Go beyond simple photos of your product On Amazon, you want to create “lifestyle images” that show more than just the ...
Have you reviewed your Home page lately? Your entire website won’t be as successful as it could be if your Home page doesn’t do its job effectively . . . Over time, new sections or copy get added. You add new products or services. And maybe you've modified your overall message direction. You should review ...
As a copywriter, I'm always wondering if my copy could be more effectively written. Could there be a copy "formula" I haven't tried that would ...
Is your website designed like it's still 2006? We did our first “What’s Hot and What’s Not” list for effective websites in 2006. And we updated the list in 2012, 2016, 2018, 2019, and now in 2023. What’s changed since 2006 in terms of getting websites right? Seems that many websites still struggle with ...
PPC advertising is a great Testing vehicle. You can test headlines, individual words within your headlines, descriptions, benefits, and Offers. In usually a very short time, you can find the best options to use throughout your marketing. And when you keep testing, you keep learning and continuously improving your results. Even if you’re not managing ...
Copy on your website has a visual component that affects its ability to get read. And it’s the job of the copywriter to create copy that draws the reader in, not only by the words, by also visually. When you write or review copy, here are the visual elements of copy to consider: Key points ...
I've been asking marketers in The Results Obsession for Digital Marketers private Facebook group what their biggest challenges are. Here's the #1 answer: COPY! What is it about copy that challenges even the most experienced marketers? Great copy starts with a great strategy Before you ever create or evaluate a piece of copy, it's best ...
Have you heard that copy should be "conversational"? Do you know what that looks like? Conversational copy reads exactly the way you’d say it out loud So the best test of whether your copy is conversational or not is to read it out loud. It should sound exactly the way you'd say it if you ...
Don’t limit your messaging by assuming too much Do you assume that your leads read everything on your website – or everything in the piece of content you sent them? You may be missing MAJOR opportunities to fortify your key selling points. Don’t assume your leads read the entire document you offered (or watched the ...
It depends on how much each email address (or lead) is worth to you. You can compute that based on how much each new customer (or order) is “worth” to you. First, consider your “profit per sale” and your objectives: Do you have to make a profit on the initial sale? If so, you’ll ...
It still seems that a lot of companies are allergic to Google Analytics. We’ve been told: “We periodically hire someone to review our Google Analytics.” How can you only “periodically” learn where your traffic is coming from – and what traffic you’re getting from each marketing effort? I guess that means you’re only spending marketing ...
Are you still relying on AIDA — Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action — to help guide your sales funnel messaging? AIDA is said to represent the stages that a prospect goes through before making a purchase. I still hear copywriters, even copywriters trained in direct marketing, refer to using AIDA. AIDA is perhaps a very ...
The company owner believed she needed to re-do her ecommerce website because sales were lagging. Her ecommerce website sold courses to particular industries. She wasn't familiar with Google Analytics, so she didn't know whether it was a traffic problem or a conversion problem once traffic got to her site. She was also short on cash. ...
Why not dazzle your boss with a measurable marketing plan? What’s a measurable plan? One that includes quantifiable objectives and a budget to reach those objectives based on past results. When management gives you the company’s sales objectives, be sure you’re ready with a grounded-in-fact budget proposal to achieve them. Where the budget begins Let’s say ...
Your key metrics start with Traffic, Leads, and Sales. You’ll also want to track results of your on-going digital marketing programs. 1. Traffic: number of unique visitors to the website You want to see the number of Users to your website steadily increase. (In Google Analytics, see “Audience,” “Overview.”) ...
Is your website giving you great results? Are you thinking you may need some major reconstruction? You might just need a "tune-up" -- of the 4 items that affect leads or sales: 1. OFFERS: For the Biggest Change in Results, Remodel Your Offer NEED MORE SALES? A more attractive Offer (the special reason I should ...
If the main purpose of your website is to create leads, is your website focused on that? Is your marketing team focused on creating leads? Is your agency? The company president advised me, “we’ve had 2 agencies in the last 18 months . . . the first was a design firm. They did great design, ...
Have you diagnosed exactly what's going on with your website SEO -- using your analytics? (Or do you just look for your site on google.com?) Are you happy with the results of your website's search engine optimization? It seems few businesses are. In general, the complaints seem to go in these 3 directions: “We’re ...
When you create your website copy, those who need to approve that copy will almost always read line-by-line, word-for-word, from page 1 of the copy through to the end (like they’re reading a book). But website visitors rarely (if ever) do that. In fact, website visitors first scan the page they’re on — and about 85% of ...
I was on a call with the principals of a small design agency, who had hired a lead generation company to handle some email business development for them. The design agency told me the lead generation company had “done a few emails” for them. Results to date? “We had some visits, but nothing came of ...
Whether you write copy yourself, have copywriting talent in-house, or use outside copywriting resources, you should know how to recognize copy that really SELLS. If you review and approve copy – you should know the key elements to look for, those key elements that create copy that really SELLS! If you hire agencies or ...
The client told the last web designers they wanted a website design similar to the Prada site . . . And so, the “showroom website” project began, seemingly without thinking about whether the overall “showroom” approach of the Prada website made sense for Company “C”. The website design company was experienced in creating sites in ...
Do you really know how to calculate ROI? How about Lifetime Value? Can you explain how to calculate “marketing contribution”? Here’s a simple presentation of the key marketing math formulas, along with practical ways to calculate things like Lifetime Value. (Discussion of the formulas appears below.) Marketing Math: Key Metrics to Maximize Marketing Dollars from ...
Sales says: “There’s a LOT of copy on the website. I’d rather have less copy and drive visitors to Contact Us to learn more.” Although Sales/Biz Dev might want the entire focus of the website to be on driving leads (and so, may believe there is “too much copy” on the website for lead generation), ...
The most successful Marketing departments get the most from every Marketing dollar. They’re focused on maximizing results — and tend to be set up around some key activities. Here are the key components of their Marketing plans that help ensure their success . . . 1. Use Data to Craft Relevant Communications The smartest thing ...
