copywriting
Does your marketing content pass the 5-second test?
You have 2-5 seconds. That’s all…if you want your marketing promotion to be read!
The first few words of a marketing piece set the stage. Sales letters, email promotions, press releases, website home pages – whatever you use – choose your first words strategically. That is, if you want to keep the reader engaged.
Headlines compel action.
They seize you by the attention-jugular. And the gripping ones won’t let go until you’ve finished reading the copy flowing beneath them – regardless of length.
Study the copywriting that crosses your desk, workspace, or email inbox. What makes it readable, compelling…or toss-able?
Give precise attention to the creation of your headline and the lead copy that follows it. The headline seizes the moment. And the lines of lead copy that follow (typically the first 2 paragraphs) define it.
Riveting, thought-provoking copywriting captures attention. And keeping attention is vital if your marketing communications are to ultimately translate into any measurable amount of cha-$-ching!
Lowlife spammers – I’m averse to say – are masterful at attention-mongering headlines. Check out those that make it past your junk filters. Caught your eye didn’t they? There are reasons why.
Even though you quickly recognize the odor of spam there’s something compelling about the words – right? Despite their evil intentions, there’s a few things to be learned from a spammer’s technique (please don’t confuse my recognition of their technique with acceptance of their modus operandi).
Their magic is typically the subject line. Just as a print headline draws you into the message, the email promotion’s subject compels you to open and read or hit delete.
It makes strategic sense to give attention to the headline and lead in your copywriting that promotes your business, product, or services online or offline.
The following guidelines make a difference in whether your copywriting results in new client or sale…or whether it finds its way to junk-mail central!
1–Create a sense of urgency
Depending on your marketing message’s intent, give readers a reason to desire the benefit(s) sooner rather than later. The element of scarcity can lead to profitable outcomes.
For example…
“It ends tonight at midnight…!”, “Only 4 days remain…!”, etc. implies what? – “you snooze…you lose” – right? Choose words that create a necessary tension and lead to a decision.
2–Communicate usefulness
“How to Get the Heart of 370 Business Magazines in Just 30 Minutes a Month”
Did those words communicate something useful? Check out this headline:
“32 Ways to Save Time and Money from the Pages of Good Housekeeping”
Legendary copywriter, Gene Schwartz knew the power of a compelling headline. He wrote the above two inside of a career that generated over $2 billion in advertising sales.
Effective headlines communicate something of practical value.
3–Claim the unique and specific benefits associated with your product or service.
Use words that enable you to step-away-from-the-crowd. Impress your reader/prospect with your uniqueness. And be as specific as possible. Vagueness creates indifference. Specificity compels.
And remember – a headline should never…
>State something standard, conventional, or…predictable. This stops a reader in their tracks, thinking, “Why read further…I know where this is going…”
>Mislead or trick. If you make a promise you fail to deliver in the remainder of the copy…you’ll lose trust and a potential client or sale.
Make your headlines count just like the seconds it takes to read them!
Is your marketing copy directionally-challenged?
My daughter had missed a turnpike exit. She called me frantic about what to do next. I knew. And I could picture her location from years of driving the same route.
But what I knew and what she was experiencing were two very different things. She: panic…OMG…! Me: “it’s okay…take a deep breath…I’ll get you home…!”
Frustration meets panic when you’re without clear direction. The signs are clear to one who understands them or who has experience with the territory in question.
Trust the signs and you’ll get where you’re going. If the signs are unclear or you’re clueless about where the heck you are – the destination’s an afterthought. Welcome to Lost-ville!
If you want copywriting that compels your dental industry prospects to buy you must have a clear story line.
Michael Masterson calls it “the power of one.” Pick a path. Stay with it. Know where you’re going.
I write best when I follow a thread of thought or a story theme. Imagine the proverbial path of bread crumbs leading to a house where there’s the offer of plenty!
Be clear in your marketing copy.
Just because it’s creative doesn’t guarantee it will bring a prospect home. There are creative ways to get lost and miss the destination completely! The path was fun but now it’s dark and you’re not sure where you are.
This adds clarity to your marketing message:
1) Know where you’re going before you start – you’ll miss what you don’t aim for…everytime!
Remember, it’s vital to identify WHO your prospect is. And then identify WHAT core feelings or emotions you’ll stimulate with the copywriting.
2) Be clear about how to get there – with more than one way to go…pick one path and stick to it!
Rambling content loses the prospect. Sure, creative content might be good eye-candy and win an award or two. But how clear are the benefits to the one reading…seeing it? And benefits lead to sales!
Clarify the big promise of your marketing promotion! A promised benefit that captures understands and captures a prospect’s emotions is worth more to your bottom-line.
3) Picture familiar landmarks along the way – connect with what’s relevant…meaningful…memorable.
Again, this confirms how well you know your prospect and where the copywriting will take them.
Irrelevant content – words that miss the market’s core emotions – hinders connection. It’s like talking and no one’s listening.
If you want to bring your prospect “home,” communicate clearly and compellingly. If they need a GPS to read your dental marketing promotion they’re already lost!
The Bamboo Principle for Successful Email Marketing
I read an article by Harvey Mackay . He reminded me of the amazing story of the bamboo tree.
When a bamboo seed is planted it must be watered consistently each day. This process continues for four years before any growth is visible above the ground.
But…when growth occurs, the bamboo stalk grows 60 feet…in the next 90 days!
Amazing, huh!
Email marketing is similar in scope to the seeding, watering, and eventual growth of the amazing bamboo plant. In recent posts I’ve shared some vital elements of email promotions and why they work.
Essentially, email promotions are a means to build an ongoing relationship of trust with your client list. The copywriting – from the subject line to the main message – are designed to say, “our company, products, services, etc. can be trusted…check us out.”
With email, trust is developed…over a period of time. One day a click-through to your website or online product sales page will deliver a satisfied buyer!
Build client relationships by planting these bamboo-growth elements in every email promotion:
>Plant the seed — if you don’t plant seeds it’s next to certain you’ll not experience a harvest. Are you “seeding” your list consistently? Compelling, story-based emails are “seeds” with the potential to create growth in sales.
>Water the seed — planting and forgetting is no way to increase a harvest. Daily watering is to the seed what follow-up is to your client and prospect list. Email is an effective follow-up tool. Use email to provide useful content and/or links to it on your website (e.g. a blog, article archives, e-newsletters) as a client/prospect nurturing tool.
>Patiently wait for growth — just because nothing is visible above the surface (e.g. the bamboo plant) doesn’t mean growth isn’t prepared to occur. The key is the process: plant seed…consistently water the seed…growth happens.
It’s easy to follow the latest this-or-that fad for client and customer development. Perhaps staying the course with consistent effort will one day produce explosive growth – the kind that happens because you trusted the seed!
The connections you nurture through email marketing works if you plant it…water it…and let it grow!
What a toddler taught me about marketing
My almost-2-year-old grandson loves books. He walks across the room book in hand, plops down beside me and we read together.
One of the books in his stash of favorites is – “What Do Babies Need?” He’s now several months removed from baby-hood. But he’s still occasionally captivated by the pictures and short answers that tell the story about what little ones need. Stuff like baths, food, and most of all, love.
Experience tells me – when a baby’s in need, run the list of basics – food (check!), clean diaper (check!), pacifier (check!)… Find and meet the need and they’ll be satisfied (until the next “need” arises).
Brings to mind another question…
What do people need? Answer that question for every marketing approach with your dental industry supplies, products and services.
Copywriting must target not only the surface needs of a prospect but also those deeper emotional needs. Anyone can market to the surface stuff – and most do.
Getting to the core of what people need takes extra-mile effort. And the extra effort separates a marketing promotion from all the rest.
Lessons from my grandson for discovering the needs of your market:
1) Be naive. My grandson has innocence therefore he learns. Simple things entertain and educate him.
Approach your target prospects with a healthy niavete’. When you think you know them…truth is – you don’t.
2) Be diligent. My ‘lil guy brings the same book to my lap again and again. To him it’s a fresh read every time.
If you want to know the needs of your market – research, research, research – and then research some more. You probably missed something the first or fifth time around.
3) Be resilient. My g-son’s attention span is a nano-second. Two pages into the book and he’s off to something else. Am I offended at his back-and-forth…up-and-down-ness? Not at all! I roll with the changes.
The needs of the moment for prospects change like a child’s disposition. Remember and respond accordingly (see Lesson 2).
Childlike innocence, diligence, and resilience. It’s what babies…toddlers…and your marketing copy need.
3 Essential Elements of Profitable Email Promotions
I was “in love.” And I couldn’t wait to get my next perfume-scented letter (hey, we were giddy teenagers…cut us some slack). Ahh…the joys of adolescent “romance.”
I remember those younger days when I anxiously waited for the US Postal vehicle to make it’s way down my street…to my mailbox!
Here’s a thought – without all the fluffy romantic stuff. Imagine…
…your client list feeling that sense of anticipation I just described when your next promotional email arrives in their inbox.
Is it possible? Yes. And there are 3 ways you can add some allure to your dental product and dental service email promotions…and enjoy profits to boot.
These are the 3 most important (and overlooked) elements of email promotions.
1–The Lead
Why? It’s where you connect with the readers (your client or potential client) and build a relationship.
I go with a *story-based* lead 90% of the time. Notice how I started this one.
Stories, current events, movies, personal life experiences are relevant and compelling. They increase the potential of your entire email being read – especially to the point of the all-important *click-through* link (more on that in another post).
2–The Transition
This keeps you from “shifting-without-the-clutch.” Like when you’re driving a vehicle with a standard (not automatic) transmission. Don’t think high-end sports car. They’re much too smooth. Think 19?? pick-up truck. The kind your grandpa had down on the farm. Remember that gear-grinding noise when the clutch wasn’t engaged when shifting.
That “gear-grinding” happens when you make sudden or disconnected transitions of thought in an email promotion.
I know this probably sounds like a lot of effort to put into a simple email. But, if you want them read and clicked-through to a product or service offer on your website/webpage – you’ll give significant thought to how you “shift” from one element to the next.
Seamless, smooth transitions!
And now…drum-roll please…the most important element of your email promotion…#3
3–The Subject Line
Most emails fail here! Compelling content, smooth transitions, a well-placed click-through link in the email body… even a strategically designed website awaiting your client’s or prospect’s arrival. They’re worthless if your subject line doesn’t persuade them to open the email.
For starters – take a look at your inbox. Critically review the subject lines of your favorite enewsletters you subscribe to and other email you receive. What compels you to open & read or delete?
Subject line wording matters. Read and learn.
And remember…
Compel (tell a story). Connect (seamless transition). Concentrate (subject line)!
Does Your Dental Marketing Content Need to Get-a-Life?
What motivates someone to purchase a product or use a service?
Think about your most recent purchase. Consider the promotion that led you to hand-over your earnings.
Freelance copywriter and author, Bob Bly introduced me to a concept in one of his articles. A colleague revealed [in his opinion] that people don’t necessarily care about the idea of being…say, a millionaire or even making six-figures.
Really – the driving force is…a certain kind of life-style…living life on their terms. Money is simply a means to an end.
Of principle, Bly adds…
“…marketers who simplistically trumpet “get rich” in their ads are making a mistake. Instead of selling the obvious benefit, they could be reaching their prospects on a deeper and more powerful level.”
Here’s an example, according to Bly. Historically, career-training institutions would focus their marketing approaches on graduates making lots of money.
One ad featured an actual student standing next to his new Jaguar. What the ad failed to mention, Bly observes, was that this particular student bought the luxury auto with money he won in a personal injury lawsuit, not with money earned as result of the institution’s training.
New ads have a different focus, he notes. They feature interviews with now gainfully employed students…but they don’t talk about money.
Instead, one of the graduates talks about the pride his kids show when they see him leave the house for work every day wearing a suit and tie. Another student reveals the rewarding overseas business trips his company sends him on. He talks excitedly about his love of travel, the new foods, the diverse cultures, and new people his career enables him to meet. He’s joined in the commercial by his mother who glows about how proud she is of her son.
Bly referred to this deeper level of marketing as “life-style promotions.” It’s the appeal to what truly drives most of us to buy products or use services. The what’s-in-it-for-me answer is in many ways a shift in HOW we live more than it is merely about having money.
The persuasive element? It’s all about lifestyle!
The key…?
>>Whatever business or service niche you are in – connect it to life<<
Here’s a couple of insights into choosing words that give *life* to your promotions. First… >Shift your marketing copy into *reverse*.
>Instead of leading – as is typical – with the product, launch your wording around the lifestyle or the lifestyle benefits your target market desires.
Listen to *life* that’s happening in-and-around your business/service and the *lives* of your customers/clients. How does your product or service impact their *lifestyle* (at any level)? When you’ve made a list…you’re ready to write your copy (before creating a product).
Next…
>>Drive your product/service *forward* with copy instead of driving your copy with the product/service.
Write a persuasive lifestyle promotion about a product/service you haven’t rolled out yet (yes, you read that correctly). When you’ve tested the promotion’s selling-appeal (by actually placing it in front of your market) and found it’s effective (meaning interest is gained…order inquiries roll-in) THEN develop the product. Risky, yes! But…now who’s in the driver’s seat?
Lifestyle appeal works in a good (or bad) economy! The promise of a different, and perhaps better, lifestyle will drive your products and services forward…profitably!