No guts, no glory

As I watch the Olympics, a pattern keeps repeating itself. So far it’s happened in every event and as sure as the fact that Bob Costas' toupee never moves, it will keep happening. It has to -- there is no other choice. It’s the way of champions. It happens every single time someone beats the odds against them and make it to the top. The Olympics just give it the chance to unfold every night on my squawk box in sports.

Watch the face of every athlete you see on the screen. Do they care about what the camera sees? Are they worried whether anybody thinks they look stupid? These are the best in the world at what they do. Do you see any of them holding back, playing it safe or doing anything halfway?

Nope. Those athletes share the common attributes of success. They’ve identified what they do best, gotten help to do it better and locked on to a goal with unwavering intensity. Regardless of the sport, each contender has an singular focus as they literally attack the challenge before them. It’s a full power, do-or-die mindset. Maybe is not an option.

Talent only goes so far. Getting to the top takes something more. Some call it guts (although I'm not sure why because it's all mental.) The gutsiest part of being great is letting yourself be great. Believing you are unstoppable makes you so.

It works the exactly the same in business.

Five Big Website Mistakes

The possibilities of marketing on the Web are limitless. But only the site owners e a solid web foundation will be in a position to take advantage of the bounty. For anyone who wants to get better marketing results from their web site, here’s what not to do:

• Have crummy headlines. Write boring, passive headlines that have nothing to do with your reader. Forget about arousing interest, communicating benefits, creating urgency or making them want to press on.

• Be vague. Communicate a boring, obscure marketing message with no value proposition

• If a visitor gets past the poor design, generic headlines and bland text formatting, they will not be able to find a core marketing message. They won't understand -- or care about -- what you are offering. The result? Nothing happens. Ignoring the eternal law that Content is King is an ideal strategy to ward off qualified prospects who otherwise might do business with you).

• Make sure the copy on your web pages is unreadable. It is estimated that 95% of us have trouble reading website content. Take advantage of it. Pages that aren’t formatted for readability won’t capture attention of your visitor and they won’t stick around. Why would anyone want to work to get your message? Just to make absolutely, positively sure they don't read anything on your page, write long paragraphs, use worse grammar and spelling than this blog entry, ignore indentation, never use bullet points or text formatted for navigation.

• Leave your visitors hanging. Do not tell them to do anything. Expect people to figure out what to do next after they’ve read the page. Just end without a call-to-action or link to go to another page. Let people scratch their heads, scroll up to the navigation bar and try to guess what to do next, feeling more frustrated by the second.

• Design your site poorly. If possible, hire someone with no marketing knowledge and even less understanding of how people read and comprehend web layouts. The vast majority of small business web sites that are so poorly designed that 9 out of 10 visitors bounce off without even reading anything on the site. Follow their lead then watch your site statistics. You’ll see that most visitors didn’t stay 10 seconds.

There are dozens of mechanical mistakes that can torpedo a website as well. Most of them affect search engine results. Learn how to avoid SEO disaster -- read my whitepaper How to be Invisible to the Search Engines. Just email me for a copy. No obligation. No spam. No kidding.

*******

If you want to kill five more minutes and have a little fun, take a peek the videos in the next post.

How Not to Design

This is what's known as The Failure Fastrack or Shooting Your Results In The Kneecaps. There is nothing I can add:


http://view.break.com/542649 - Watch more free videos


And




Happy Monday!

How to Create Ads That Don’t Stink

Let’s be real. Most print ads in newspapers and magazines stink. We skip by with nary a glance at the ads or their offers. But that doesn't necessarily have to happen with your ad.

Ads are an investment that can provide huge returns. How do you keep yours from being anything more pulp noise?

Write a headline with stopping power
Lame headlines go unread. It’s that simple. Your headline is a fleeting opportunity to pull your audience in. Excite, intrigue, challenge, question, offer — but do not be dull.

Don't make your ad about you
Your readers are focused on their lives and needs. Not you. So why waste your valuable ad by talking about you? Help them understand how or why you help them. Talk to them in their terms about what matters to them.

One message
Humans have a limited ability to remember things. If your audience can only remember one thing from your ad what do you want it to be? Don’t overload the space with every benefit and feature. Save something for their next step. Stay focused on your main point and don’t take the readers off on a bunch of tangents.

Cut it short
Write your copy. Now cut it in half. It’s painful but it makes you really think through your message. After you cut it in half, cut it again by a third. That's how to boil it down to an essential message that people can take in and remember.

Communicate visually
The visual you select for your ad is critical. It should help advance the story. It should not be trite — the same photo everyone else would choose. You don’t always have to be literal. If you’re going into a trade publication where everyone uses a set of similar visuals, avoid those images like the plague! Ask yourself “what visual would communicate the message but also surprise the reader?” Now you’re on to something.

Be clear and compelling
Every ad has one job. To advance the reader to the next step. Visit, call, Hit your website, clip the coupon. Whatever it is you want them to do, be clear about it. And give them a reason to do it now rather than sometime in the future.

Less is more. You’ve got so many things to say but please don’t. Pick one product or one service. People get overwhelmed when bombarded with too much information. Pick one thing. Sell it. Print advertising is very effective. But most people don’t make the most of the ads they buy. Don’t waste good money on bad ads.

Top Do’s & Don’ts for Email List Building

A myriad books and articles have been written lately about the validity of opt-in lists, which are advantageous both for click-and-mortar and for brick-and-mortar companies.

Once you have targeted names in your company-managed list, you can cross-sell and up-sell those existing and potential customers your offerings — a proven less-expensive way of increasing revenue and creating customer loyalty.

We know some tried-and-true tips and tricks for building your list. There are five key points to consider and five glaring points to avoid when creating opt-in lists from the very beginning.

DOs

1. Know how to reach your target audience

Spend some time in market research to find the top 10 places to reach your target audience in the next three to six months. Then work backwards with how you get the email addresses of those candidates.

For example, an email campaign to a list of target email addresses (e.g., purchased from a trade magazine) can have a trackable link back to a signup page. An affiliate listing should mention that you have an opt-in list, and preferably an opt-in signup from the affiliate site. Your booth at an event could have a PC that will allow a quick signup (or, worst case, have a clipboard signup sheet or a fishbowl for business cards.) A radio spot can list your homepage URL.

Remember that part of your marketing budget should cover various outbound ways of reaching your customer—just make sure that once they know about you they know how to opt-in to your mailing list.

Although it will cost you to get those names the first time (through various targeted and brand-awareness campaigns), the results are a true company asset.

2. Make it easy for people to join

Have a very visible location on your homepage or jump page for signups. Evaluate whether it can be on every page of your Web site. And, of course, make it easy for people to opt out or unsubscribe.

Chances are you won't get many sales anyway from those who don't want to hear from you and can't figure out how to stop your communication. Also, simple and easy-to-understand subscribe and unsubscribe mechanisms add credibility to your company brand.

3. Know where to go for "seconds"

Once participants enter just their email address, you should confirm entry, and request (or force-ask) a limited number of demographic questions, such as company name, industry, physical location. This will help you understand where people are coming from, so you can trend-analyze where future marketing efforts should be targeted.

4. Create viral opt-in lists: Content is king, knowledge is power

One of your best target audiences for helping you expand your opt-in list is your existing opt-in list. Make it easy for those recipients to forward your communication to their peers, who will request to be on the list. I've subscribed to about 70% of my lists because a friend forwarded it to me. Why do they forward it? Because "Content is King, and Knowledge Is Power."

However you want to say it, your readers are opting in not to hear a sales pitch but because they have a need. They need to learn something, save time, save money, or be shown something they may want. They also love sharing this knowledge with others.

Therefore, you need to invest time in research what they want to know more about, and potentially how your offering will fit the bill. You could be showing them the latest in workout gear that uses a new high-tech fabric, so explain why this fabric is better. Or you could be listing killer statistics about how your product has saved others time and money (a success story).

When you write the content, put yourself in the reader's shoes and think, "Why am I not hitting the delete key right now?"

5. Create compelling messaging

Where to find your target audience is just one part of the exercise. How to acquire them is all about compelling, clear, concise messaging. What are the three salient points that will get that first-time exposed potential subscriber to jump aboard?

You've seen terrible ads for great products, and great ads for lacking products—and yet the latter often result in higher sales.

Test different messaging on your audience on certain dates. And you will see a spike in certain signups that are working better than others. Once you know what works, spend more time/money to acquire the names.

DON'Ts

1. Offer great prizes for signups

While this might seem like a nice gesture, you'll simply get subscribers whose motivation will be to win a prize, not learn about useful information, your company, or your products. And goodness knows what will happen if your promotion gets posted to another Web site of "contest opportunists" who couldn't be farther from your target audience.

If you provide useful information, that will be prize enough.

2. Deluge your participants with too many emails

Word-of-mouth is a great way to increase opt-ins, but it is a double-edged sword. Once I signed up for an opt-in list to receive event updates and without notification was added to the company's chat-room email list. Suddenly I was receiving 10 emails a day from various people commenting on one initial person's inane comment. I couldn't unsubscribe fast enough.

But how much is too much? I don't want a daily email from some companies, such as product information, yet I do want it from others, such as stock market developments.

Ask a sample of your opt-in list participants what the "right" number of emails is, and they'll let you know. Otherwise they'll let you know when it's too late—with an unsubscribe notification.

3. Be everything to everyone

When you market that you have an opt-in list, your messaging should be focused and hit a nerve. If you're too generic, in hopes of getting more readers, you'll end up being "nothing to everyone."

Don't be afraid to really hone in on one need of your audience members. Sure they may have many needs, but hit the most urgent one first, and save the rest for future emails.

4. Spend too much money acquiring names

Opt-In lists are an asset—and that means an investment on your part. Budget in advance where your target audience is, and what each opt-in list name will cost you to get. Then evaluate potential revenue from that name (a tricky art, but guesstimates will do), and juxtapose your results. It will be clear what areas you want to focus on, and what you want to avoid.

5. Live in a vacuum

Continually view, read, and explore how other companies—from competitors to completely different industries—acquire opt-in names. Sure, most will be the same tried-and-true techniques, but you'll spot an occasional guerilla tactic that will inspire you to try something new.

* * *

The term "opt-in list" was virtually non-existent a few years ago, and yet you'd be hard-pressed to find a marketer with a good Web site who doesn't have one today. Thanks to the Internet, opt-ins are truly a new vehicle for communicating more quickly and effectively to targeted customers.

Note: This article originally appeared in MarkteingProfs in February 2001 and was titled "How Do You Increase Your Opt-In List?” It was written by Teri Dahlbeck.

Consent and CAN-SPAM

Email Lists, Permission and Opt-In 101

• Consent and Permission. Consent is clearly communicated permission to receive email messages from specific persons or businesses. Permission requires providing clear notice to users when collecting their email address in a way that they can easily understand exactly what they are consenting to. Permission-based email sending is the practice of sending email messages to recipients who have agreed to receive them. Here are the Direct Marketing Association's guidelines on permission.
  
• Opt-in lists. An opt-in email list is a list of email addresses obtained from persons who have deliberately requested to be added to an email distribution list. Typically, opt-in lists are built (or grown) by completing surveys, purchasing products, responding to telephone calls, or responding to printed mail. If you have created an in-house opt-In list, the opt-in is only for you (or your company).
  
• Email lists. Create your own list. This takes time but will yield the best results for your email marketing campaigns. Building your own list is the only way to ensure you truly have permission and are in compliance with the law. It’s also the legal way to create a list. All other phishing and harvesting are not legitimate methods, they are the tools of spammers. If you have purchased a contact list, DO NOT email them until you have received permission from them.
  

CAN-SPAM
The Federal Legislation governing unsolicited email is known as the CAN-SPAM Act (Control the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing). It establishes requirements for legitimate commercial email and sets penalties for spammers and the companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law. The act also give consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them (unfortunately this has boomeranged and isn't a recommended practice nowadays.)

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) enforce the Act. Other federal and state agencies under their jurisdiction and companies that provide Internet access (ISPs) can sue violators as well. The basics of the law include:

• An email’s “From,” To”, routing information, originating domain name and email address must be real and accurate. False or misleading information is illegal.
• No deceptive subject lines.
• At least one opt-out method is mandatory in every email.
• Commercial email must clearly be identified as an advertisement and include the sender’s valid physical mailing address.

The FTC recently updated the CAN-SPAM Act with four major clarifications, which went into effect July 7, 2008:

• To unsubscribe, or opt-out, subscribers cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than the email address and opt-out preferences, or do anything else other than sending a reply email or visiting a single Web page.
• The clarification of who the official sender is of a message with more than one advertiser allows the advertisers to decide among themselves who is the sender. The sender is responsible for processing opt-outs and has to provide an address. Note: if the sender fails to honor its responsibility, all advertisers in the message can be held accountable.
• A sender can use a U.S. Postal Service post-office box or private mailbox address as a legal address to satisfy the CAN-SPAM requirement of a "valid physical postal address."
• The definition of "person" to refer to the email sender was modified to clarify that CAN-SPAM applies to businesses or automated mailing services as well as natural persons.

These are the simplified regulations as I understand them. I am not a lawyer and not able to dispense legal advice, and it is always good practice to consult with your own counsel. Detailed documentation on the CAN-SPAM Act, is also available on the FTC website.

The Value of Value

What if you’ve got something going for you so remarkable that it literally guarantees your success? What if you are just failing to see it?

Every business needs a unique selling proposition (USP) that differentiates it from the competition. Identify the elements that create your company’s or product’s special value, and you’ll understand your value proposition and know exactly what the your USP needs to be. You have your arms around the big story of your business.

The surprising fact is, often the extraordinary elements are things you take for granted. Here’s one of my favorite examples:

Worst to First: Schlitz Beer
Back in the 1920s, Schlitz Beer was near the bottom of America’s beer market. The company hired copywriter Claude Hopkins to do something about that unenviable position. The first thing Claude did was tour the brewery.

He saw how the beer was cooled in way that eliminated impurities. He saw the expensive white-wood pulp filters. He learned that every pump and pipe was cleaned twice for purity, and each bottle sterilized four times before being trusted to hold Schlitz beer. He saw the 4,000 foot artesian wells that supplied the water, despite the fact that nearby Lake Michigan could have provided an perfectly fine water at back then.

Like anyone who'd never seen the process, Hopkins was amazed at seeing these details for the first time. When he asked why Schlitz didn’t tell their customers about any of this, theie response was “Because every beer company does it the same way.”

“But others have never told this story,” Hopkins replied. He went on to create an amazing story of unique value, coin the phrase “cold brewed beer” and take Schlitz to the top position in the beer industry.

Once Schlitz put it out there first, no other beer maker dared tout the same processes because no one wanted to look like a Schlitz copycat. Schlitz did pretty much what every other beer manufacturer did but it was the first to tell the full story, and it’s advertising won it new customers.

Say It First
Even though every beer maker essentially made beer the same way, Schlitz was the first to explain the process of creating a pure brew. By doing so, they claimed a "preemptive marketing advantage" or “first mover advantage” over their competitors.

Preemptive marketing occurs when you take commonly used or behind-the-scenes features or benefits of your product or business and make them a central feature of your advertising campaign and marketing message.

Even though the information may be common knowledge inside your industry, when you educate your customers about it before anyone else does, the public will gravitate to you before looking at your competitors.

They'll perceive your product or service as more valuable and see you as a leader in the industry. Make your USP the central feature of your advertising campaign and marketing message.


What’s Your Story?
Above is just one example of uncovering and communicating hidden value. It can make a dramatic difference in your business. There will always be room at the top for a remarkable story. Often, all you need to do is examine what you’ve already got going for you with a fresh perspective.

So… what’s your remarkable hidden value?

A Classic Example of Value

Have you ever watched a woman buy eye shadow? Is she really looking for a blend of minerals, oxides and talc? What's she really buying? What will make her buy one type over another? Look at it this way:

"In the factory, we make cosmetics; in the store, we sell hope."

- Charles Revson, founder of Revlon Cosmetics

The Point: Your real value isn't what you're literally selling. It's what they're really buying.

What George Carlin Taught Marketers

"Let's face it," writes Bill Taylor in a post at Harvard Business Online. "Most companies in most industries have a kind of tunnel vision. They chase the same opportunities that everyone else is chasing, they miss the same opportunities that everyone else is missing." It's an atmosphere that stifles innovation, and can create an unsettling sense of corporate déjà vu as companies continue to use the same old thinking with each new initiative.

If you're caught in a cycle of "been there, done that," Taylor says you need a good dose of vuja dé. Coined by the late comic George Carlin, the remixed term refers to an active search for the opportunities your competitors don't—or can't—see. It's about breaking away from the pack mentality and approaching each new challenge from an entirely new vantage point.

"The most creative CEOs I've met don't aspire to learn from the 'best in class' in their industry—especially when the best in class aren't all that great," he says. Instead, they look far outside their industries and their standard way of thinking for solutions that lead to groundbreaking change.

The Point: "What's valuable to innovation is vuja dé," says Taylor, "looking at a familiar situation with fresh eyes, as if you've never seen it before, and with those fresh eyes developing a new line of sight into the future."

Source: Harvard Business Online

More Direct Marketing Ideas

If you are a business-to-business marketer, direct mail should be part of your marketing plan. Developing and executing a productive campaign is often undervalued and over simplified. Today’s mailing regulations are complicated — postage rates are changing and the flood of mail makes it harder to stand out. The right message is extremely important and must get to the right person in the right way on the right frequency cycle. Capturing your reader has to happen fast and your reader must be motivated to take action.

In addition to my earlier post today, here’s an assortment of 95 direct mail marketing tips to help you get the right message to the right target —in the right way. You’re certain to find some gold among all these tips to help you get more out of your next mailing. These are easy tips for any business to use, and are guaranteed to increase your customer response rate.

• Give a free gift to increase response
• Highlight the free-gift offer prominently
• Use short copy to tease the reader to read further or respond
• Minimize the use of buzzwords
• Make your offer easy to respond to and provide multiple ways to respond
  
• Prove any claims with details to add credibility
• Ask for the order right away
• Use graphics and color to support the message and text
• Offer a free trial to eliminate risk
• Hire a professional copywriter for your content
• Hire a professional graphic designer
• Make your offer easy to understand at a glance
• Promise many benefits
• Give many reasons to buy
• Use all the formatting available with taste
• Have your direct mail reviewed by an objective third party
• If not printing in full color, use colored paper to make impact and save on printing costs
• Consult with a direct-mail specialist to avoid problems and maximize savings
  
• Use a reply card or other reply mechanism
• Put a headline on the envelope
• Include postage-paid return cards or envelopes
• End a page with the middle of a sentence to encourage more reading
• Personalize as much as you can
• Use a Post-It note for greater impact and attention
• Make the offer very prominent in the copy
• Use a no-risk guarantee
• Keep track of target recipients, replies and follow-up
• Tell the whole story
• Keep paragraphs short
• Break up long copy with graphics or white space
• Don’t dwell on history or background
• Offer a free-trial period
• State your geographical service area even if it’s global, national, regional or local
• Keep the sales pitch positive and highlight the benefits
• Include a call to action; tell your readers exactly what you want them to do
• Use a “P.S.” — it's often one of the most frequently read parts of the copy
• Make it easy to purchase: credit cards, terms, etc.
• Offer a discount for a quick response and order
• Make a simple order form for faxing
• Always put a sense of urgency and deadline in your copy
• Put a picture of a phone by your phone number
• Put testimonials at the top of the content and by the call to action
• Use typestyles that are easy to read, not a mix of them
• Have a call to action at the beginning, middle and end of your copy
• Use free information, free samples and a free demonstration as a marketing hook
• Offer a free consultation in addition to the free information hook
• Separate features and benefits (emphasize benefits)
• Use bullet points and small segments of information
• Use subheadings and subtitles
• Include a toll-free number if you have one
• Use a tear-out coupon or one with a printed perforation
• Ask plain questions and offer a simple solution
• Put in a photo of yourself or an associate’s to personalize it
• Make promises; keep promises
• “Free” is still a motivating word — use it and highlight it
• Use handwritten notes or comments on your direct-mail piece
• Guarantee customer satisfaction
• Offer proof of the benefits
• Include case studies and success stories
• Restate your offer often, especially at the end of the communication
• Use captions, sayings or titles under all photos
• Order your mailing list or compile it way in advance of your execution date
• Mail to vendors as well as target prospects
• Outsource things you don’t do best: printing, mail prep, design, etc.
• Put yourself on all mailing lists
• Work with a list broker to tighten list specifications
• Test different copy, headlines and offers
• Use graphics on the outside of envelopes
• Code your mailings to measure response
• Mail frequently to a smaller subset of your list
• Plan and prepare enough mailings for three months at a time
• Use color
• Do a co-op mailing with a marketing partner or power partner
• White space is good — a clean look is professional and easy to read
• Print in large quantities to take advantage of cheaper printing prices
• Use mailing pieces as handouts and for sales kits
• Mail to PR contacts
• Self-mailers are read more than stuffed envelopes
• Postcards are very efficient; usually both sides are looked at
• Print on the flap of the envelope to increase exposure
• Create excitement: “Act Now!” “For a limited time!”, “Hurry while it lasts!”
• Deliver stacks of leftover printed items to trade organizations
• It’s OK to occasionally send the same piece again for consistency
• Mail to educational institutions
• Create fun for you and your prospect with your campaign
• Tie other marketing to your mailings
• Put your website address on all mailing pieces
• Odd shapes can be very effective
  
• Mail with stamps get opened before metered mail
• Include multiple pieces when mailing in envelopes
  
• For smaller mailings, don’t delay your mailing by trying to mail in bulk on one day
• Include a business card in a letter
• Dimensional and lumpy mail gets attention — it gets opened and has a great response rate
• Use your copy to have a conversation with your prospect
  
• Publicize your direct-mail campaign