Direct marketing isn't what it used to be

A little over ten years ago, I was writing direct response letters to business executives, convincing them to show up on a rainy Tuesday in Cleveland for a seminar about business intelligence software--an entire morning or afternoon, mind you. And the seminars would be full. Fifteen to twenty execs would show up for the sales pitch.

Good luck pulling that off today, unless Warren Buffet is speaking. Now we're in the age of the webinar. Nobody goes anywhere, anymore.

And it's not that hard to set up webinars; you can outsource the whole thing through many firms. Then, you can post your collection of webinars on your website, which people can access just by logging in and answering a few questions, like email, firm and phone.

Ironically, this hasn't made direct marketing any easier. In some ways, it's become much harder. Just a few years ago, you could control your prospect contacts completely, doling out the information you wanted to, using offers of white papers to be sent in the mail, in return for talking on the phone. Again, try that today.

All this has changed one of the fundamental pillars of direct marketing, the old adage, "The more you tell, the more you sell." The modern version would be, "The more information you make available, through websites and viral marketing and social marketing and mass media and in-store, the more you sell. Your initial direct marketing contact doesn't have to tell much at all, as long as it gives a URL."

Here's the catch, however. Eventually, you do have to sell. Your audience responds to the initial email blast...they visit your landing page...they view the flash demo. And then what? Well, then they continue through your site if you're lucky, at which point you have to be selling effectively on every page they land on. Or, they don't come back, because the content wasn't good enough.

And that's the same way direct marketing has always worked. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Learn more about my writing and editing services at www.westcopy.com.

Thoughts on Disposable Marketing

I was talking with a client the other day about how the marketing business has changed so much. Hardly anyone worries about printing anymore. Just slap up a web page or crank out a PDF sales sheet.

This marketer--a VP at a technology company--was complaining that people no longer even worry about spelling or grammar. She said she routinely sees misspellings in proposals, web sites, everywhere.

Then it hit me: marketing has reached the status of paper plates. It's now disposable. Don't like yesterday's message? No problem, make up something else today. The email blast didn't work? No worries, just blast out another one. It's all virtually free anyway, isn't it?

But in fact, there is a high cost to ineffective communications. Time goes by. Competitors make headway and seize market share. Customers buy from you…or they buy elsewhere.

The challenge for marketers today is to rise above the fray of Disposable Marketing and find a way to make a lasting imprint on the marketplace. To do that you need a messaging/creative template. This is much like a design template, only it works at the message level. The template is built on a marketing strategy, provides a theme and creative directions, and gives flexible guidelines for creating any kind of advertising or other promotion.

Some might call this branding, but in my experience, branding is too often an ivory-tower exercise in pop psychology, with a tagline thrown in. A message template needs to be very practical; so practical that every marketing project can make easy use of it.

In any case, the bottom line is pretty clear: the more marketing becomes a throw-away commodity, the more you need a message platform that stays with people.

Learn more about my writing and editing services at www.westcopy.com.

Thoughts on SEO Writing

Search Engine Optimization is one of those 'duh' decisions. Of course you do it. By using the right keywords in headers, links and copy, you rank high on google and your site gets more hits.

All well and good. But SEO will only get people to your site. It won't keep them there, or move them closer to a purchase. For that, you need Content Optimization, or CO.

CO is about what marketing and sales have always been about. What's your message? Is it clear--and will people care? How do you present it? How much do you tell? In what order?

The beauty of the internet is, you can answer these questions in dynamic ways that weren't possible even a few years ago. Here are 3 things I recommend to optimize content:

1. More links across more pages is better than everything on one page. Make every page dynamic and deep. Create as many pages as needed to organize each part of your story and give visitors the freedom they need to feel satisfied and in control.
2. On home pages, rotate different types of messages and track results. You may find that some messages make your site more sticky than others.
3. Rotate in new customer stories to highlight on your home page on a regular basis. Updates help your site rank higher, and people always want to hear from other customers. (Make sure it's an interesting story, not a technical manual!)

In other words, your home page, and all your other pages, need to sell like crazy (CO)--while using your keywords in headers, links and copy (SEO).

Learn more about my writing and editing services at www.westcopy.com.