marketing strategies
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)!
How to build a relationship of trust with your dental industry clients
Want to build a relationship of trust that keeps clients/customers doing business with you again and again? This tool is regularly abused by the ill-informed (and sleazy types – you know who you are). And at the same time it’s an under-utilized marketing tool.
I’m talking about e-mail. Not the kind that jams and spams (reference earlier “sleazy types”) your inbox and that of your clients.
I’m talking about e-mail that…
…gets opened
…read
…clicked-through (links to your website, online product sales page, social media sites/pages, etc.)
…and even forwarded as a referral source to client colleagues
Question: Do you send out email? How often? Is it sent via an opt-in delivery system (the optimum delivery method – more on that in another post)? Are you measuring response?
>E-mail promotions are the hidden power of business communication.<
Here’s how:
1–Effective e-mail promotions are about building a relationship of trust
Think of each e-mail as a portion of an ongoing conversation. One that establishes an acquaintance…builds credibility…and a long-term sales source.
2–Effective e-mail promotions are conversational – not hyped up sales pitches
When I write an e-mail promotion (or any copy) I ask the question: “Would I say that sitting on a bar stool?” Do your e-mails sent to your client list pass the bar stool test?
3–Effective e-mail promotions open the door to larger service/product promotions…resources…sales pages…online content and more
Some people talk too much and say nothing in the process. Those are the conversations we avoid!
Trying to do too much in a single e-mail promotion overwhelms and dilutes your marketing approach.
Build trust through an ongoing conversation – one e-mail at a time.