Short and sweet
This product will help you increase your ROI and decrease your TCO = I have no freaking clue what the REAL business benefits of my product are, and I’m too lazy to figure it out. Source: Cranky Product Manager
“unsubscribe” – when we hit the “off” switch
I just read a blog post by a well respected author making a couple of good points about email marketing and the importance of the subject line and signature.
Good information, but the post was 1,400 words long without sub-headings. So I thought I post a comment, generally supportive but making a point about the importance of being brief in email marketing and effective use of headings.
But I didn't. I unsubscribed. Does that make sense, or was that the right thing to do? Probably not. He made a good point after all and I should have given him the feedback he deserved. Fact is, I don't always do what is logical and right. Nor do our customers.
Riddles or offers?
Is this a riddle or an offer? I'm still not sure I've worked this out... It's amazing how many sales you can lose if people don't understand your offer.
“The new rules of Marketing & PR”…and book reviews
I must admit, when I was first linked to and offered a copy of "The new rules of Marketing and PR" for review, I was more impressed with David Meerman Scott's clever strategy to create buzz than anything else. I guess it is fair to say that he is "walking the walk" of "the new rules".
Having said that, "The new rules of Marketing and PR" proved to be a surprising read, as it offers both a compelling argument why the rules have changed, and then offers a comprehensive guide how to go to work with these rules.
The point about the "new rules"
The central argument is that now that you have the opportunity to market directly to people online (without having to buy media or influence journalists, under the "old" rules) you can tell your own story and you should.
The style is blog-like, without being light on, and the real-world examples of how various business have applied the rules are interesting and credible.
No shortcuts
When you read David's book you are reminded of the fact that are no shortcuts in good communication; if anything, he advises to invest more time and more effort in what you write, and who you write it for.
For example, David highlights that collectively, as marketers, we still too often fill pages with meaningless or internally focused, egocentric content. Sometimes because it is quicker, sometimes because that is what we believe the CEO wants to read. Instead, he advises, spend some time and find out from the people that matter; your audience of prospects/customers/members etc.
"When I see words like "flexible", "scalable", "ground-breaking" or cutting-edge" my eyes glaze over." he writes. I think we all know that feeling.
The challenges I can see
The biggest challenge is that with this explosion of self-generated media will do to the people we aim to reach. Will they suffer from overload and simply go back to reading a few, leading publications? Like a newspaper? I fear that unless we figure out a way to filter online information, people may simply turn off.
The rules at work
Finally, I think it is fair to say that the fact that I am writing a book review is illustrates that the "new rules" are here. A marketer in Australia, writing a blog with readers around the globe, about an American book I can only buy online.
Hard to argue his point, isn't it? Would I recommend this book to my friends? Yes. So that includes you, and if you have read the book, tell me what you think.
Billions of dollars in the bank, but no spellcheck
Error message from Google Analytics:
Does it matter? Probably not a lot, but dead links on websites and spelling mistakes in error pages do say something. They say: "We don't care about detail" or "We don't spend a lot of time on our own web site."
30 seconds between success and failure
Rands In Repose: A Glimpse and a Hook
On the surface, this post about writing good resumes has little to do with marketing or branding. But it does. A seasoned hiring manager gives us a crisp overview of how he forms his opinion of an applicant in "the first 30 seconds".
That's not a lot different from the amount of time we're likely to get from our prospective customers, now that time is the scarcest commodity
The new war for talent; people who can write
In the one corner: customers/prospects (aka people) overloaded with information and communications from an increasing and diverse number of sources. On offer is a few seconds of their attention, then a few more if you can keep them interested.
In the other corner: a fierce competition for these peoples' time and attention. Capturing it, maintaining it, involving them.
In the middle: a person who can somehow communicate concepts, emotions, ideas in an enticing, captivating, concise manner...
Around the ring: decreasing levels of literacy in schools and colleges...
I can see a new "war for talent" looming.
Success defined by your goals, not someone elses
The topic of blogging is not something I spend a lot of time writing about; there are plenty of others that do that a lot better than I could.
Today I read a post by Eric Kintz, Vice President of Global Marketing Strategy & Excellence for HP that talked about something that has puzzled me for a while. The idea that to be successful in blogging you have to post every day. He doesn't think so, and I agree.
At the heart of it is really what you define as "being successful". For some bloggers it is to drive as many people to their website as possible so they can make money with advertising. That's irrelevant to blogs like mine because I don't advertise and never will.
This blog is about sharing ideas with people with similar interests who in the process either teach me something, or learn something. I believe that it will build relationships that I couldn't build otherwise. Simple as that.
His post is insightful; I know I can only read a limited number of posts each day. I run out of time. The greater the number of media sources, bloggers, podcasts, video casts, the more selective I will need to be in what I read, hear, watch etc.
So I probably stick with the ones that give me one great insight a week, rather than five bits of fluff a day. Here is one of his ten reasons why post frequency doesn't matter:
5: Frequent posting keeps key senior executives and thought leaders out of the blogosphere –
My colleagues and industry peers cite bandwidth constraints as the number one reason for not blogging. They are absolutely right:frequent posting is not very compatible with a high pressure job. As an example,not one single blog is authored by a senior corporate marketing blogger
in the top 25 marketing blogs listed by Mack.
It raises another point that relates directly to marketing; setting goals. The strength of Eric's insight is that it links being successful with what you set as your goals.
How often do marketing efforts fail because of unclear, poorly defined goals? How often do companies spend a small fortune on a particular type of media (say radio advertising) because the salesman could show it worked for other companies? (who had different target markets, offers, products, services etc)
I like his thinking.
More on elevator pitches
Will Swayne has a good question/comment regarding my earlier post (April 21) on elevator pitches:
"Hi David - A lot of people I talk to are keen to come up with a great "elevator speech". I like the idea too but it's very hard to come up with one that works without sounding too rehearsed, salesy or corny. Can you share any examples of successful elevator speeches? "
I agree, it is very hard to come up with a good elevator pitch. The reason it is hard is because it is the final outcome of a fair bit of hard work. The elevator pitch is in essence a well-worded distillation of what your business/brand is about. One of the reasons why many elevator pitches sound rehearsed, corny or salesy is because they have been developed with the purpose of getting someone's attention, not to engage with them.
It's a bit like walking around with a flowerpot on your head: you will get people's attention, but I doubt they want to give you their business.
A good elevator pitch is nothing more than a distilled version of your normal sales presentation; and that's the catch. Unless your sales presentation clearly defines what specific problems you solve for your customers and how you differentiate from competitors it will have little impact.
The substance of a pitch is what sells first. The form is about understanding the emotional pressure points of your audience; what are their fears and motivations.
So if your elevator pitch is not as sharp as it should be don't just work on the appearance, work on the substance and go back to work on what actually differentiates your company. Once that is clear, tell the story based on those emotional triggers you believe your audience responds to.
What are your experiences with this?
Making an “elevator speech” work
Elevator pitches are a key part of most b2b sales and I read a good article by on this topic by Mike McLaughlin a site called "Guerrilla Consulting"
Although this particular article is focused on consultants, the essence of what is an effective answer to the question "so, what does your business do?" is no different.
The key observation in this article is that you need to create the "pitch" from your customers/clients perspective, not to grand-stand and to ask questions instead of blowing your own horn.
Now that may not sound too revolutionary to a lot of people, but it is by far the greatest mistake people make when they are put in the position to sell themselves or their service; they either undersell by giving some confused, convoluted, technical explanation or they go in to "sales" mode and lose credibility instantly.
Here is my spin on elevator pitches:
- Facts about the problems you solve
- Outline of what you do to solve these problems, including how you differentiate yourself
- Clarified through a typical client project
- Ending with a relevant question about their business to make it a two way conversation, rather than a monologue.
Write it down, rehearse it (tape it and listen to yourself) and refine it.
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