Every page… every email… even your Facebook posts… need one.

What does that mean? It means you’ve got to be crystal-clear about what action you want people to take after reading (or viewing) your message. And you need to tell them plainly what it is.

The call to action is, quite simply, your invitation for people to respond.

With one caveat. In most cases, you won’t actually ask for a sale.

Don’t get me wrong. You do want to drive sales. But sometimes, you simply want to push people to the next step in the sales process, not rush them to checkout. And largely, this decision depends on the channel where your message appears.

Your call will range from indirect to direct, from asking for time to asking for money.

The key is to make your call to action appropriate for the channel you’re publishing in, so people are led through the sales funnel without ever feeling that they’re “being sold.”

To help make it clear, let’s look at sample calls to action in social media, content, emails, ads and landing pages, so you have a good framework for crafting appropriate and effective calls to action that improve your bottom-line results.

Social media: an implied CTA

You’ve probably heard the mandate that social media posts should have a call to action (CTA). But it’s important to realize that a CTA in social channels is far different from what you’re used to seeing on a sales page.

People follow you on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to keep up with your brand. (Well, maybe to get special offers.) They want relationship, not a stream of hard-sell offers.

So how do you make a call to action without turning people off? Indirectly, of course.

Look at how Prevention Magazine does it in this post:

Or this tweet:

Warmer weather, means more running outside. Use these 10 simple injury prevention tips! ow.ly/kqXW6 #nyrr #centralpark

— SHARE FITNESS(@ShareFitness) April 25, 2013

They aren’t demanding, and they don’t even mention a sale. Instead, they’re friendly. They tease… offer valuable information… and invite readership.

How you can do it

In social media, focus on relationship first, sales last.

Promote content or special offers by posting a short description or teaser, followed by a link. One trick for increasing engagement is to create a graphic for your content. Upload the image, then put a teaser and link in the description.

But remember, not all posts need to include a link. You can also share tips and useful information, or post funny pictures or cartoons.

The point is to make relationship your goal, and save hard selling for other channels.

Content: low-pressure requests

Content can be a little more direct than social media, but you still want to avoid a hard sell. Think about how people find your content, and you’ll understand why.

The majority of your blog traffic probably comes from search engines or social media. People do a keyword search because they’re looking for information. They respond to a social media post because it looks interesting.

If, once they click through, they find a low-value article that doesn’t meet their expectations, it looks too much like a bait and switch. They won’t trust you… or want to buy from you.

You must give people what you promise, and in most cases, that means no sales pitch. Which is why content usually provides no more than an indirect push towards the sale.

Where appropriate, you may link to a sales page or invite people to learn more. You may also have ads on the page. But the content itself should provide value to your readers: entertainment or useful, actionable information.

How do you create a CTA with this no-sales mandate? Let’s look at how Henneke Duistermaat does it in one of her articles.

This post doesn’t drive sales or even ask for a click-through. Its sole purpose is to help readers become better writers by giving them solutions to writer’s block.

Her call to action reflects that: “Come on. Have fun. Let’s try something wacky.”

There’s no link and no product promotion. And that’s good. Because readers of this blog don’t want to be sold. They want to become better bloggers.

Here’s another way to put a call to action in your content. This one is from Copyblogger’s Sonya Simon:

Like Henneke’s article, this one doesn’t ask for the sale. Instead, it asks for engagement, which often leads to brand loyalty, which ultimately ends in a sale.

How you can do it

What action do you want people to take after reading your content? It could be a comment or a social share. It could also be one task that would help readers apply the information in your article.

Make that your CTA. Then pose one or two questions at the end of your post to get people thinking — and encourage them to post their answer in the comments.

Email: ask for a click

Calls to action in email are much more direct than in social media and content.

With email, you usually want to drive traffic to your website. So you need a compelling headline and a strong CTA.

This email from GlassDoor does it well.

It starts with an intriguing headline, which is followed by one sentence, the command: “See the photos…”

The button is the formal CTA, reiterating: “View the photos.”

But that’s not all. It ends with a second call to action: “Share it…”

Notice that each element could be considered a call to action. It’s phrased as a command, is compelling and specific. That ensures that no matter what readers focus on, they’ll be compelled to click through.

How you can do it

Don’t leave any doubt in your readers’ minds. Tell them exactly what you want them to do.

In your emails, as in this example, don’t worry about a big warm-up or lengthy product description.

• Just get people’s attention.
• Tell them how they’ll benefit if they do what you say.
• Then tell them to do it.

Ads and sales pages: drive action

Here’s where CTAs take on the direct response, hard-sell style we’ve come to expect.

In advertising and sales pages, your task is to drive sales. So your call to action should be direct and compelling.

For instance, look at this ad by Prevention, which appeared in the sidebar of one of its emails:

This screen shot is filled with commands:

• Try it free
• Discover how to lose
• Click here

But no matter where you click on the ad, you end up on the sales page. Each command is, in essence, a call to action. And if any of them appeal to you, your click will get you to the sales copy.

It’s the same with sales pages, except here, you have the space to lay out your offer and make a separate call to action.

Here’s how Prevention does it in its Zumba® Fitness promotion.

The offer is presented with a benefits-oriented subhead that makes exercise sound fun. Then it describes everything you get with purchase, using words such as “bonus,” “exclusive,” “full body-shaping system” to add value.

The final paragraph offers specific benefits: “lose a dress or pants size in just 10 days,” “blast the fat and sculpt your hot body,” and “get even more exclusive bonus features.”

It’s enough to get you drooling.

But that’s just the offer. Here’s the call to action:

How you can do it

In an ad, place your benefits-oriented call to action in several places, all linking to the same landing page. (It may be rephrased, but it should be just one promise.)

On your landing page, treat your offer and call to action as two separate elements. Your offer needs to spell out everything people get when they respond. It should overcome objections and make the product absolutely irresistible.

As in the email, when you finally give your call to action, make it concise and clear. And don’t get too fancy. All you have to do is ask for the sale.

It all boils down to this…

The phrase, call to action, generally brings to mind a loud-mouth infomercial pitchman screaming Buy Now! But if you’re active in social media and content marketing, that’s not the most accurate description.

Sure, you need a call to action. But the action you request won’t necessarily be to buy. More often than not, you’ll ask people to click a button, read more, or watch a video before you ever get to the sales pitch.

It’s okay, though. Indirect CTAs still drive action that can lead to a sale, especially if the action deepens relationship or builds brand loyalty.

Focus on making an appropriate call to action for each channel, and you’ll drive action that appeals to your followers… and will ultimately lead to the sale.

About Kathryn Aragon

Kathryn Aragon is managing editor of The Daily Egg and publisher of the C4 Report. She is committed to helping businesses communicate, connect, convert... and capture their market. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.

Subscribe to the Crazy Egg podcast!

The post How to Make Effective Calls to Action in Every Channel appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Unfortunately, many companies are still hazy about how photos work when you put them into blog posts. At times, it just seems easier to ignore the legal fine print that comes with grabbing a photo off the Internet and throwing in onto your blog. (I’m guilty myself.)

However, finding a photo you are allowed to use can help save you a huge headache in the future. The last thing you want is to be found using photos illegally, even if it does take a few extra minutes each time you load a post. It’s important you know the who, what, where, and why of photos for your blog posts.

The Who, Where, Where, and Why of Finding Photos Online for Your Blog

When it comes to finding photos, you want to make sure that you are staying legal on all aspects of your website; not just your blog.

Blogs are typically where most of the issues lie, but being educated about photos is something you can apply to any aspect of your website. So let’s look at some of the details you need to know:

The Who

You want to make sure that you are relaying information about photo publishing to everyone involved in your company.

Although you might be the one that publishes most of the photos on your blog, there could come a time when you’re on vacation or when you take a sick day that someone else has to take over. You want everyone to be on the same page, not just the company owner or the content manager.

The What

What you’re looking for when you look for photos to use on your blog online are one of two different types: Creative Commons, which are free, or Royalty Free Stock Images, which are usually paid. Below explains a little bit about each:

Creative Commons.

This is a type of license that allows photographers to license their work for free in certain situations (including blog use). Images under the creative commons license are typically not available for commercial use, and you almost always need to give attribution.

Royalty Free.

Royalty free images are images you can pay for. Most recommend using these images if you’re going to highlight the photo in any way or use it as a major point on your blog post.

Price usually depends upon the size of the photo, but are typically only 2-3 dollars per photo. Most companies have you buy a certain number of credits that allow you to purchase any photo on the website at any time.

Want tips on selecting the right image? Check out this article on conversion-boosting images.

The Where

This is the big question and, as discussed above, it can be split up into two parts: free photos online or paid photos online. Below are a few places you can find photos legally online and whether or not they are free or for a charge.

iStock Photo. Paid.

This is a site that is very easy to navigate. It utilizes different categories and allows you to search for photos by keyword terms. They also offer flexible payment options, which is something pretty unique to this site.

Flickr. Free.

This is the most popular place to find free photos that you can use. In fact, I found the photo above by using Flickr.

I like this site because it is very clear about what you need to do in order to be able to share an image. Once you find an image that works for you, you can click on the link under “license” to see what your options are. Below is a screenshot of the screen I saw when considering using the photo for my article:

Every Stock Photo. Free.

This is more of a directory full of licensed photos from around the web (many coming from Flickr). They have a great selection and also explain to you under what terms you can use the photo. In most cases, you simply have to give attribution to the site. Other than that, you’re good to go.

Bigstock. Paid.

This website allows you to buy credit pack so that you can buy photos as you need them. They have many 99-cent images and everything is high quality. According to the site, they have over 13 million photos, illustrations, and vectors.

Creative Commons. Free.

This is the site devoted strictly to creative commons. In addition to photos, it offers information about why it matters and what all of the terminology in the online photo industry means. You can also find photos here that can be used for commercial use.

The Why

You want to make sure that you have the correct photos for your blog for two reasons:

Legal Reasons.

Copyright laws are serious. If you’re found stealing a photo and claiming it as your own, you could wind up paying thousands of dollars just for that one photo. It all depends upon what the owner of the photo chooses to do, but paying a huge fine is likely your worst-case scenario.

SEO Reasons.

Google does not want to see websites stealing photos, and because it’s important to optimize your photos for search with descriptions and tags, Google will surely find you.

Having quality images on your website can help you show up in image search results and other SERPs, not to mention improve CTR, so you don’t want to get penalized if Google finds out you stole the photos that are getting you so much attention.

It’s easier than you think

In the end, finding pictures to put on you blog should be one of the easiest aspects to running your website. Not only do you have to worry about all of the normal things associated with a company website — SEO, conversion rates, PPC ads, reader engagement, analytics and other data, etc. — but you have to worry about things such as duplicate content and intellectual property when you go to publish content.

These things can get messy; at least with photos you can stick to a few great sites and know you’re safe.

Do you have any tips about finding photos online? Have you ever gotten in trouble for using a photo that you weren’t allowed to use? Let us know your story and tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

About the Author: Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword density to recovering from algorithm updates. She writes for HigherVisibility.com, nationally recognized as one of the best search engine optimization firms.

Photo Credit: Valerie Everett on Flickr.com

The post Finding Photos Online: The Who, What, Where, and Why appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Automation sometimes gets a bad rap, but it can be a good thing, especially if it saves you time. That’s what IFTTT does.

Here’s a quick guide to IFTTT terminology. (On a side note, pronounce it like gift but without the G: ift.)

To make it work you, put four elements together:

• a channel (which can be a site like Twitter or Dropbox)
• a trigger (something that happens on one channel, like uploading a new avatar to Twitter) – that’s the this part
• an action (something that happens in another channel, like making that new Twitter avatar copy to your Facebook profile). That’s the that part.
• ingredients – bits of data that are part of a trigger (like a Twitter hashtag)

Together, the combination of channel, trigger, ingredients and action make up a recipe — and there are thousands to choose from on IFTTT. There are personal recipes and shared recipes which you can edit to create new personal recipes.

Confused? Don’t be. We’ve got a roundup of articles that will give you tons of tips and resources, so you can dig deeper into what IFTTT is and learn how it can help you.

Getting Started

Review: IFTTT connects social media, photo and other Web services

The best way to understand IFTTT is to go through the process of setting up a recipe. That’s what this PC World walkthrough offers. Setup is simple and painless and, despite some teething troubles, the author describes the site as “fun and pretty darn useful, too.”

How to Supercharge All Your Webapps with IFTTT

This tutorial by Lifehacker’s Adam Pash walks you through how the site works and shares some useful recipes.

How To Use IFTTT To Save Time & Automate – A Behind The Scenes Look

This is another beginner’s guide covering setup, use and why the author thinks the tool is amazing. Useful ways that the author uses IFTTT include creating a roundup blog post and managing an email calendar — both of which could be useful to marketers. The 10-minute video is worth viewing and there’s also a transcript if you don’t have time to watch.

Social Media Marketing

6 Ways To Use Ifttt & Buffer For Social Media Success

Buffer is another of my favorite social media tools, so it was a great day when it was integrated with IFTTT. This article presents a number of useful recipes, including recipes allowing you to Buffer favorite tweets, schedule post updates, share your Instagram photos with an appropriate hashtag and more.

IFTTT as a social media monitoring and marketing tool

As a marketer, you’re probably already using a social media monitoring tool, but what if you could turn the content you are monitoring into more great content your audience can share? With the right recipe you could find out if someone is using your competition hashtag and selectively share that on another network. Or, as this post suggests, make sure your RSS feed updates selected social media channels without having to worry about when the API changes.

12 Ways to Use IFTTT for Social Media Management Magic

Emoderation presents some great recipes here, including ways to link Facbeook and Google+ statuses, send content to Tumblr and more. One tip stands out for marketers who want to be ultra-responsive — a recipe to notify you immediately when things change on your Facebook page.

Create a Simple Twitter Campaign with IFTTT

This post on the Marketing Tech Blog shows you how IFTTT works with something like Hootsuite to schedule Twitter posts.

Content Curation

Why IFTTT Could Be the Best Blogging Tool Ever

Your social media account requires a lot of care and feeding, and one way to do this is by content curation. This post includes a number of content curation recipes to help you do that.

Using IFTTT to Curate Content

Brian Groth shares four content curation recipes here. The thing to note here is that he has specific text, so it’s not just another automated share; there’s context too. Check out recipe number 4 — a good one to customize for your own sharing.

More Useful Recipes

10 Ways to Automate Your Life Using IFTTT

On the Open Education Database blog, writer Ellyssa Kroski describes several useful IFTTT recipes and a few that are just plain wacky. While I don’t think there’s any need to send an automatic warning of a zombie outbreak, the recipe that changes profile pictures simultaneously on Twitter and Facebook is useful for marketers who want to keep branding in harmony.

And these recipes could also prove useful:

• Upload videos posted on YouTube to your Facebook Page – Sometimes it can be time consuming to post content in lots of different places. The recipe above helps alleviate some of the pain.
• Replace Google Reader – it’s nearly time for shutdown so this could be useful.
• Keep an eye on the competition – monitor your competitor’s feed for certain terms — you’ll need to edit this one.
• Get out of a meeting by scheduling a phone call — nuff said!

IFTTT Resources

By now you have seen just how useful IFTTT can be. With more than 3,000 pages of recipes on the site at the time of writing, it could take a while to find your favorites (though the site includes filtering and search features), so here are some good places to start.

• Popular IFTTT recipes from the site itself
• Share your best IFTTT recipes – tips from Lifehacker readers
• How IFTTT is Changing the Way We Do Things on the Web – food for thought and some interesting usage examples
• Best IFTTT videos – for visual learners, via Marcus Endicott
• 35 Super Useful IFTTT Recipes You Might Not Know About – Lifehack article with a useful social media category

Have you used IFTTT? We’d love to hear about the recipes you have found most useful.

About the Author: Sharon Hurley Hall is a professional writer and blogger. Her career has spanned more than 20 years, including stints as a journalist, academic writer and ghost writer. Connect with Sharon on her website.

The post IFTTT: Your Recipe for a Simpler Marketing Task List appeared first on The Daily Egg.

When users visit your website, they may not  be ready to make an immediate purchase.

That’s why your job exists as a marketer —  you compel prospects to do business with your company. In other words, it’s your job to pave the path to sales, to move users through the conversion funnel.

What Is the Conversion Funnel?

It’s as simple as the steps that your prospects take to become first-time customers. Paths can be long, short, convoluted, or extremely direct.

What Prestige Marketing points out is that all conversion funnels have the same three components:

1. Brand Awareness – Prospects  discover your company and visit your site for the first time.

2. Consideration - Prospects evaluate your brand and product to determine fit and need potential.

3. Conversion - Prospects decide to work or shop with your brand for the first time. Some become repeat buyers. 

Visualize It

It’s mission-critical that you map out your prospects’ paths to sales.

As this infographic (above) from Visual.ly points out, you start attracting customers by casting your net wide — with freebies like e-books and resourceful blog posts. Tell your story to sell your brand via PR, social media, and ads.

The next step is to transform those inbound clicks into leads — a small proportion of whom will become paying customers. Profits are a by-product of this extensive process and funnel through the customer acquisition and relationship-building process.

Keep Steps Small

Marketers can minimize user drop-off at every stage of the conversion funnel. Fine-tune your steps into clearly segmented states to zero-in on strategies that promote engagement, retention, and sales.

The following infographic from Ion explains the precise steps that your brand should take to make your marketing more effective.

Focus on delivering a stellar, up-front user experience that builds a brand connection through content that’s focused to your audience.

Follow through on your efforts by delivering a strong conversion optimization strategy once users are on your website. Facilitate targeted conversations so that your prospects are in the right place at the right time.

Test your forms, headlines, layouts, and color schemes to ensure that you’re maximizing your sales opportunities. Learn from your results to inform your post-conversion strategy.

Select the Right Metrics

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all success metric for your conversion funnel. As the following infographic from Smart Insights points out, marketers need to evaluate different data points at each stage of the process.

A few tips

• When evaluating the success of your brand’s alignment to your prospects’ exploration stage, pay attention to new fan acquisition, website visitors, and inbound links generated.
• For the decision-making stage, pay attention to time spent on site, shares/comments/likes, and leads generated.
• When measuring the success of your buyers’ purchase stage, evaluate orders, revenue, and average order value (AOV).
• Finally, evaluate the customer advocacy stage by monitoring repeat purchases, lifetime customer value, and referrals.

In short, align your strategy with your business model — no need to rely on a cookie cutter approach.

What are your favorite conversion optimization strategies? Is there a particular stage of the funnel that you’re having trouble optimizing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Ritika Puri is a San Francisco based blogger who writes about trends in business, internet culture, and marketing. She’s inspired by the intersection between technology, entrepreneurship, and sociology. By day, she works for a large online media company, and after-hours, she runs her writing consulting business, UserGrasp.

The post Paving the Path to Sales: The Conversion Funnel Explored appeared first on The Daily Egg.

So when you see advertisers consistently bidding for the top spots in competitive markets in AdWords, it’s a good bet their landing pages are conversion superstars.

Here are 5 superstar landing pages from top AdWords advertisers in highly competitive markets and the lessons we can learn from them…

DietPillUniverse.com

This Landing Page for DietPillUniverse.com isn’t selling diet pills. It’s selling a personalized solution that’ll help you find “Your Perfect Diet Pill.”

We all believe we’re different. And we don’t want a one-size-fits-all solution. We want one that’s personalized to our own unique set of wants, needs and desires.

And, in many markets, the more your prospect feels they’re getting a solution that’s customized just for them, the more likely they are to do business with you.

A great way to deliver that personalized information (or at least the perception of it) is by inserting a questionnaire like the one on this DietPillUniverse.com landing page into the conversion funnel.

Besides promising customized results, there are a few other things to note here.

First, the questionnaire creates curiosity. I mean, if you’re in the market for a diet pill, don’t you wanna see which pill is the perfect one for you?!

Second, it gets prospects engaged and invested in the process. The first click is often the hardest one to get a prospect to take. Using a questionnaire like this can overcome the Click Inertia many Internet users have and smooth the way for the clicks to follow.

And notice how this landing page is selling the quiz…

…They tout the 97.3% Success Rate (being highly specific like that helps boost the credibility of your message)…

…They tout that you only have to answer 7 “quick” questions to let visitors know it’s quick and easy to get their results…

…And they tout “No Contact Info Required” to reduce the fear many visitors may have that they’re going to get spammed.

Sometimes your landing page shouldn’t be selling the ultimate product or service you’re selling…it should be selling the first click.

Lesson #1: Make your prospects feel special and that they’re getting a solution that’s custom tailored for them.

Lesson #2: Sometimes your landing page shouldn’t be selling your product or service, but selling the first click.

ClearPoint

The lesson on this Clearpoint landing page is the video (below).

The video is only a little over a minute long…but it packs an emotional whallop (and does it in a way that’s not obnoxious or over the top).

It gets into the heads of people who are struggling with debt. The woman in the video talks about the overwhelming feeling of debt…how the stress of debt keeps you up at night…how you have to borrow  money from family or friends (and feel like you have to start avoiding them because you own them money).

It effectively taps into the emotional realities of their prospects and skillfully leads them to the realization they can’t handle the situation on their own and need help.

From there, the video segues into the idea that picking up the phone is the hardest step. But once you do that, you’ll find it’s a much easier process and you can get the help you need.

This is a very subtle, but effective call to action to get prospects to contact Clearpoint.

Watch the video now, and you’ll see what I mean.

Lesson: Most of your competitors have dry, boring marketing messaging. So get emotional! Get into the heads of your customers. Tap into their emotions so that they feel you truly “get” them.  Establish that connection and you’ll stand out from the competition and get more conversions.

Get more ideas for video marketing here.

Bookit.com

You want to give people a reason to take advantage of your offer NOW. Because once they leave your landing page, most of them ain’t coming back.

Knowing this, many marketers include some scarcity or time crunch to get their prospects to act immediately.

Bookit.com adds a unique twist on this strategy. They’re offering a “99-Hour Best Sellers Sale.” And what you can’t see in this screenshot is that they have a time counter actively counting down the time until the sale ends.

Two main things I like about this.

First, it creates an extra sense of tension and urgency. It’s not just that the sale ends this Friday at midnight. But by using the time counter, you can SEE the seconds ticking away before your eyes.

Second, it creates movement on the page which immediately draws the eyes to it. Now, movement can be a dangerous thing. You have to be careful not to overdo it and/or have movement that distracts people from what you want them to be focusing on. But, in this case, I think they use the movement very effectively to draw people’s attention to the sale.

Lesson: Give people a reason to ACT NOW. And using a mechanism like a Time Counter makes people FEEL that time slipping away and create that extra urgency needed to get the conversion.

Bills.com

No features or benefits. No copy or video about how great Bills.com is. No testimonials, stats, videos, etc.

This landing page from Bills.com gets straight down to business by asking “How much to you owe?” And they use empty space, font size, and background coloring so your eyes immediately gravitate toward the one action they want you to take on this page…answering that question.

Now they don’t sell the call-to-action (filling out the questionnaire) like DietPillUniverse did. But, they don’t have any links, offers (other than their phone number), etc., that could distract visitors like the DietPillUniverse landing page. (Not saying one way is better than the other here…you’ll have to do your own tests to see which works best for you.)

Once you start this questionnaire and answer all the questions, you end up on this page…

Most companies have a form like this right on their landing page. But Bills.com does something clever here. They hold off on the form. Their very simple landing page is all about getting people to commit to answering the questions in the questionnaire first.

Then, once they’re committed to the process, they’re more likely to provide a name, email address and phone number.

They took the time to answer the questions. They want to see the results.

Lesson: If you want to get people to fill out a form, that form doesn’t have to be on your landing page. If you put a “barrier” between the landing page and the form that gets people to commit to a process, you can end up capturing a lot more email addresses along the way.

AdRoll

This AdRoll landing page (which, by the way, is also their home page) covers the highlights of what AdRoll does in a clear, easy to digest format.

You know what they do…Retargeting.

You know what they help you do…Get More Customers.

You know what they want you to do…Start Your Free Trial.

All this is laid out very clearly above the fold of this landing page.

But what I really like about the AdRoll site is the layers of proof they have built into it. In a world where prospects are more than a little skeptical about the claims made by advertisers, proving the claims you make on your website is vitally important.

And AdRoll starts the proof parade off at the very top of this page with the Inc. 500 logo letting people know that they were named the #1 advertising company by Inc. Magazine. That’s instant credibility.

Then their main headline makes the claim “#1 Retargeting Platform.” Now, anyone can claim to be #1 in some way, but they back that claim up with lines like “trusted by more companies than anyone else” and “5,000 brands choose AdRoll for retargeting.”

They also use logos effectively on this page to provide even more proof. They use the logos of the companies they partner with like Google, Facebook and other big players in online advertising. They also use the logos of their customers, which include well known companies like SEOMoz, Hootsuite, Nestle and others.

Lesson: It’s not what you say about yourself, it’s what others say about you. If you make big claims on your website, back them up with lots of proof!

There you have it!

These four landing pages are great examples of the follow-through necessary to get great results from your PPC campaigns. Sure, the ads need to be optimized and well-written. But if your landing page falls short, you still won’t get the desired results.

Do you have anything to add? What are your favorite techniques for getting people to commit?

About the Author: Adam Kreitman is a Google AdWords professional who owns Words That Click, a firm focusing on SEM for small businesses. Follow him on Google+

The post 5 Landing Page Lessons from Top PPC Advertisers To Help You Crush the Competition appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Far too many copywriters and marketers spend the bulk of their time obsessing over choosing the perfect words, checking their grammar, and revising countless drafts, all to make sure everything is “just right.”

And while there is value to making sure you convey your sales message as best you can, figuring out what to say in the first place should be where you spend most of your time and effort.

When you do, you’ll see improved results — more clickthroughs, higher conversions, and a bigger bottom line.

Why Figuring Out What to Say Is Your #1 Task

Pretend you’re in a foreign country.

You’re lost and want to get back to your hotel. You know you can’t be that far away and spot a stranger on the street who might be able to help. As you approach him, what’s the biggest concern on your mind… is it:

1. Worrying about how perfectly you’re going to say what you want to ask? Or…

2. Making sure you figure out exactly the right thing to say, so you don’t accidentally ask them where the bathroom is, instead of your hotel?

If you plan on getting your desired result, what you ask that stranger is of critical importance!

When it comes to communicating your marketing message to your audience, it really is no different.

Your audience speaks a foreign language — one made up of their beliefs, desires, values, needs, wants, and more.

It’s your job to figure out what this language is, and then figure out what to say so you get your desired result. The rest is — for the most part — details.

Legendary copywriter and brilliant marketer Dan Kennedy, calls this the message-to-market match.

Your message needs to match your intended market. The right message to the wrong market will flop. By the same token, the wrong message to the right market will do just as bad.

Back in the 80s, the now-defunct Braniff International Airlines ran a series of ads that had the wrong message to the right market. They were hoping to appeal to Spanish-speaking first-class travelers.

The ad agency they hired went with the literal translation of Braniff’s tagline, “Fly in leather,” without thinking through what it was they were really saying.

The ads would entice folks with “Vuela en cuero.” For those familiar with Spanish slang, the airline was telling them to “Fly naked!”

The Swedish company Electrolux made sure their message-to-market match was on target.

They opted not to run a long-standing campaign in the U.S. that had done very well in the United Kingdom. The campaign heralded the slogan, “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”

So I don’t keep rambling on, let’s take a look at “live” examples of what it means to be on target with the “what” in your marketing copy (or any other written communications, for that matter).

Sites That Got the “What” Right

The following three sites really put in some effort and serious thinking to get their message just right… is it any coincidence they are very successful in their respective markets? (The answer, of course, is no! )

MailChimp

MailChimp is an email autoresponder service, offering the ability to create, track, and send simple plain-text emails and fancy (if you want) html email newsletters.

Take a look at the copy on their home page:

There isn’t much copy before the call to action to “Sign Up Free.”

But the copy that is there is enough to get the job done. It conveys the proper WHAT to the right market. Here’s the copy as it currently reads on the site:

“Easy Email Newsletters

3 million people use MailChimp. Sign up and join them today.

MailChimp helps you design email newsletters, share them on social networks, integrate with services you already use, and track your results. It’s like your own personal publishing platform”

The “what” here is virtually perfect. It’s to the point and addresses the “language” of their audience. Would this homepage be as effective if they said something totally different?

Maybe something like, “MailChimp — The trusted autoresponder and email list management service for 3 million happy users. Sign Up Free”

My guess is most likely not. They’ve identified what their audience REALLY wants, which is an easy way to create, send, and track emails. Their headline conveys that immediately.

Now, what if they focused on the “how” part of their message. Do you feel that saying “Simple Email Newsletters” versus “Easy Email Newsletters” would make a big difference?

Or maybe they could say: “Email Newsletters Made Simple.”

We could spend hours tweaking the copy they’ve already got. But I doubt it would make as big of an impact as figuring out what they wanted to say in the first place (i.e. going from “MailChimp — The trusted autoresponder and email list management service for 3 million happy users” to “Easy Email Newsletters”).

KISSmetrics

Crazy Egg’s sister company, KISSmetrics, is a provider of website analytics that helps you identify, understand, and improve key business metrics that’ll lift conversions and profits.

Take a look at the copy on their main landing page:

Again, they know their audience and have really thought about WHAT to say. With this copy, KISSmetrics is meeting their audience where they are at mentally.

This market is clearly looking for more specific data on their web visitors than can be gathered with free analytics solutions.

The copy reads:

“Google Analytics tells you what happened.

KISSmetrics tells you who did it.

KISSmetrics fills this gap by showing you every action each individual did. Finally, you’ll know who your most valuable customers are and how to get more of them.”

Would this be as effective if KISSmetrics had settled on a different “what?”

Maybe something like… “Improve Key Performance Indicators In Your Business With Customer-Centric Analytics Tools.”

I’d be willing to bet dollars to donuts that it wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective.

And what of tweaking the copy that KISSmetrics has currently? Again, it probably won’t make that big of a difference in opt-in rates, so long as the core message remains the same. (“Google Analytics tells you what happened. KISSmetrics tells you who did it.”)

Dev Bootcamp

Let’s take a look at one last example — Dev Bootcamp. They’ve recently garnered a ton of free press because they’re offering a unique way to learn the skills of becoming a sough-after, highly-paid web developer.

Instead of bogging their students down with knowledge they’ll never use once they enter the workforce (as would happen with a traditional, four-year degree), Dev Bootcamp teaches only the necessary skills that’ll be used and valued in the workplace.

The copy is short, simple, and to the point:

It reads:

“IN 9 INTENSE WEEKS

You will become a web developer”

They could of said, “Earn more with a career in programming for the web… Dev Bootcamp will give you the skills you need to succeed. Find out more.”

Again, it wouldn’t be as effective as the “what” they currently have.

Could we tweak how they’re saying what they’re saying?

Of course. They could say, “You: a web developer in just 9 intense weeks.” Or “Become a web developer in just 9 short weeks.”

No matter how you say it, the message is still clear and will appeal to their target audience.

 “Okay, Okay… I Get It Already! HOW Do I Figure Out WHAT To Say?”

One word:

Research. Plenty of it.

And that means going beyond the “basics.”

You should already know the demographics of your audience (i.e. gender, age, location, etc.)

Instead, you should really follow the old cliché of walking a mile in your prospect’s shoes.

What does he or she believe? What emotions does he experience on a daily basis? What secret desires does she have that she never shares with anyone else?

One great way to get this kind of valuable info is to visit forums related to the market you’re in.

See what conversations are going on. Notice the words being used, and the emotions, opinions, beliefs, etc that are being expressed.

You could also visit blogs in your market. See what’s being talked about. Take a look at the comments too.

Social media is also a great way to tap into the conversations that are going on between those in your target audience.

Finally, perhaps the best thing you can do is interview your current and past customers. Find out what made them become your customer versus the competition. Why did they buy? What needs/desires did your product or service satisfy? What do they like most about it?

Dig deep and get as much info as you can.

This is the kind of work you should do before writing a single word of copy.

And when you put in the elbow grease required to do this kind of research, the “what” will become that much easier to figure out. Better yet, it’ll probably be right on the mark, leading to improved results, better conversions, and bigger profits (as a bonus, the HOW will practically write itself!).

About the Author: Guillermo Rubio is a freelance copywriter who specializes in helping businesses achieve better results from their marketing efforts.

To find out how he can help you with a particular marketing challenge (and to get a special report on boosting your content-marketing ROI), please visit www.GFRCommunications.com.

The post “Say What!?” Why WHAT You Say In Your Sales Copy Matters More Than HOW You Say It appeared first on The Daily Egg.

We’ve developed a new product. We’ve worked hard to get the product right. We’ve slaved for hours to get the launch prepared. A new brochure has been designed and a web page is almost ready to be published.

And now we only have to write the product description. It’s the last thing we want to do. Because writing a product description is boring.

Product descriptions are indeed often dull. But they don’t have to be.

To seduce your web visitors to buy, don’t just describe your product. Sell your product. Sell your product with imagination.

A good product description transports readers to a different world where they can visualize what it would be like to use your product. Make their eyes shine and their mouse almost automatically goes to the buy button.

Sounds good?

Let’s have a look at how to write seductive sales copy.

1. Use the power of imagination

The copywriters at Innocent Drinks understand the copywriting tricks that make you yearn for their smoothies, juices, and vegetable pots. They don’t just sell healthy drinks. They sell you an experience:

Can you smell the aroma of coconut and spices when reading that paragraph? Can you hear the noises of a bustling market? Do you picture a colorful market?

Research has proven that if people imagine holding a product, the desire to own that product increases. It works the same with the description of this Innocent dish – the sensory experience of reading the tantalizing product description makes you crave the Malaysian Rendang.

The power of imagination works for non-food brands, too. Here’s an example of Apple:

Imagine side-splitting, adventure-filled, must-see flicks produced by you and shot on iPhone 5.

Copywriting tip:
Spice up your product descriptions. Help your reader imagine what it would be like to own or use or eat your product. Use sensory and emotion-rich words.

2. Use a conversational tone of voice

What’s easier to read: sales copy full of gobbledygook or a simple description?

Sometimes we try to make ourselves sound better than we are. Or we are stuck for words, so we add overused words like groundbreaking, cutting-edge, or innovative. These words are fillers that slow your reader down. Why request such an effort from your reader when your copy can be simple and easy to read?

Consider this description by Innocent Drinks:

You’d probably fail a writing exam with the above text. But who cares? This copy is about selling – not about passing your exams. The text is easy to read and makes you want to read on.

Innocent copywriters start a conversation with their readers by asking a question (How can a drink taste this good?). Asking a question and presenting an answer is more persuasive than just stating This drink tastes fabulously good.

Innocent doesn’t worry about writing whole sentences nor are they concerned about starting a sentence with And. They enjoy using casual language like pop some strawberries and bananas into a bottle and Say no more!

Dropbox uses simple language but slightly less casual:

Even if you accidentally spill a latte on your laptop, have no fear! You can relax knowing that Dropbox always has you covered, and none of your stuff will ever be lost.

Copywriting tip:
What’s the right tone of voice for you? Consider how you speak to customers and prospects and try to emulate how you talk in your writing.  And remember: Don’t let your high-school education get in the way of writing clear, persuasive English.

3. Increase credibility with specifics

“Anybody who works on tested advertising will tell you how important it is to be specific in your copy.” ~ John Caples

John Caples tells a story about the power of specifics in his book Tested Advertising Methods. A mill initially advertised their quality standard was 52.7% higher than the official standard required. When the approach was softened and the figure lowered to 50%, demand fell to fraction of what it was before. 52.7% is more specific and more credible than 50%.

This is how Innocent includes specifics in its copy (note the second bullet point):

9 oranges and ¾ of a crushed mango sounds more credible than oranges and mango.

Amazon is also specific about the weight of the Kindle Paperwhite:

Weighing only 7.5 ounces, Kindle Paperwhite weighs less than a typical paperback.

Copywriting tip:
General claims sound like marketer speak. Specific details sound like a fact. Find specifics you can include in your sales copy such as numbers, dates, or names of materials used.

4. Steal copywriting tricks from poets

Nursery rhymes are easy to remember because of the smooth sounds of rhyming words.

Techniques like rhyme and rhythm can make your statements stand out. For example:

The above sentence maybe sounds like a nursery rhyme, but rhyming doesn’t have to be childish. Apple also uses rhyme and alliteration:

The world’s largest – and smartest – collection of apps.

A display that’s not just smaller. It’s smarter.

Copywriting tip:
Read your sentences aloud. Where do you stumble? How can you make your copy smoother and more rhythmic?

5. Engage with mini-stories

Innocent Drinks was founded by three friends. They weren’t sure whether they should leave their jobs to set up their own business. So they went to a festival to sell their smoothies and asked customers to help with their decision and dump their empty bottles in a “yes” or “no” bin. Almost all bottles ended up in the “yes” bin, so the next day the three friends resigned from their jobs and started Innocent Drinks.

There are many great stories about how companies were founded, but what about stories that explain why and how products were developed?

Innocent uses mini-stories in product descriptions:

The above mini-story highlights the following benefits of the product in a non-pushy way:

• It’s based on a mix of ingredients children have asked for (so this is something they’ll definitely drink!).
• Unlike many other drinks this smoothie isn’t synthetically flavored. This smoothie contains real fruit.

Apple writes a short story about the testing of the iPhone earphones:

Apple engineers asked more than 600 people to test over 100 iterations of the Apple EarPods. Testers ran on treadmills in extreme heat and extreme cold. They performed various cardio workouts. They were even asked to shake their heads side to side, up and down. The result: Apple EarPods provide stronger protection from sweat and water, and they’re remarkably stable in the ear. Which means they stay in, even when you’re on the go.

Copywriting tip:
Which stories can you tell about why or how you developed your products? How can these stories highlight features or benefits of your products?

6. Don’t forget to address objections

If you want to sell your products, you need to address all objections to buying your product.

Some people think using fruit in curries is weird. This is how Innocent addresses this:

One of the big concerns of e-readers is that they’re difficult to read in sunlight. This is how Amazon takes away this objection for the Kindle:

Kindle Paperwhite has a matte screen that reflects light like ordinary paper so you can read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room with no glare.

Copywriting tip:
Organize a brainstorming session with a few colleagues. Create a list of all potential objections to buying from you. If you’re not sure, ask your customers why they hesitated to buy from you. Once you have a full list of objections, discuss how you can address them.

The truth about your product descriptions

When you next write your product descriptions stop boring your readers to tears. Quit listing your features. Stop blabbing about your specifications. Stop boasting you’re the best.

Spice up your copy. Write tantalizing sentences. Use delicious words. Make your reader feel something.

Stop describing your product. Start a conversation with your reader.

Delight your readers. Enchant them and seduce them.

About the Author: Henneke Duistermaat is a marketer and copywriter. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook, and she helps companies earn business with engaging e-newsletters and persuasive web content. Sign up for free copywriting and content marketing tips at Enchanting Marketing.

The post 6 Tantalizing Techniques for Writing Seductive Sales Copy appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Based on definitions I compile from a Google search, UX describes the individual perception, thoughts, and responses with respect to a product, system, or service. It’s how we feel and think about, and how we perceive and react to a certain product.

Pretty straightforward, right?

Then how come there is still so much confusion out there about what UX really means? Why do people still get it confused with usability? And why is it such a challenge to design for a truly great experience?

UX is not simple. It is not the result of beautiful design, or great usability.

Rather, the user experience brings together many different disciplines and requires full commitment of all of them. Let’s take a closer look at some key aspects of UX and how they contribute to the big picture.

1. Usability

Let’s start with usability. A lot of times, people mistakenly believe that the usability of a website is the only thing that makes a great user experience. This is not true. It is true, however, that usability is essential for good UX.

Without good usability, people are not able to reach their goals, or at least not within an accepted period of time. The lack of basic usability principles can result in a negative experience, leaving the user confused, overwhelmed, uncertain, or even frustrated.

In order to achieve better usability, it is important to be familiar with your target audience and to have a clear idea of what your users are trying to achieve. Here are 5 key principles to keep in mind:

• Availability & accessibility
• Clarity
• Learnability
• Credibility
• Relevancy

Usability is essential and maybe even determining for good UX.

Usually, I look for positive examples to underpin my points. In this case, I’d like to look at a negative example.

Acer is a big brand for digital products, such as computers, tablets, monitors, and much more. One of their main product lines is laptop computers. That said, it’s obvious that most visitors will be looking for information about laptops.

But instead of making it as intuitive as posssible to find this information, Acer actually challenges their users to find a laptop according to certain specifications.

Starting on the homepage, it takes me three clicks to finally get to an overview of all laptop computers. Then, this overview is very confusing.

All 29 products look the same, and there is no visual clue to help me differentiate between the different items. Also, there is no clear indication that I can compare products.

After I figure out that I need to select the products I want to compare, the comparison is limited by three items.

When looking at the filter specifications on the left, they are very limited and also confusing. For example, when selecting any of the three screen sizes smaller than 14 inches, there are no products available. Why even offer that filter option then?

Do better than Acer. Make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for.

2. Aesthetics

The appearance of your website plays an important role for the user experience. And though you could argue that it shouldln’t place second in a priority list, personally, I believe that aesthetics are critical for good UX.

Why? Because the visual design and the look & feel of your system or product can have a huge impact on your users’ emotions.

Emotions affect how we perceive something and, more importantly, how we remember it. Emotional design can help you grab your users’ attention and influence their perception.

If you guide your users and help them reach their goals in a more pleasant way, your design becomes fun and engaging. At the same time, emotional design helps you to build a positive relationship with your users.

Using aesthetics the right way, can make your design:

• Appealing
• Effective
• Pleasurable
• Memorable

The look & feel of your system or product can have a huge impact on your users’ emotions.

Spotify makes great use of visual appeal on their website. With little text and a lot of expressive images, you get drawn right into the site.

The visual design of this website perfectly reflects the feeling that comes with the product. The sphere that is created makes you feel free, light, and happy. The design is simple and very focused. It’s about being flexible and about discovering the world — while listening to your favorite music.

When designing your own website, take into account the feelings evoked by your design. Does it match your core message?

3. Customer service

An aspect that is more practical in nature, but just as important, is customer service. We all know how annoying and frustrating it can be to call customer service for the hundredth time and to get the same vague answer every time.

Bad customer service can scare off your users. Worse, it gives them reason to share their bad experience and advise friends against your product or service.

Customer service is important because it shows your users that they can trust you and that you are available in case they need assistance.

Customer service is about building relationships with your users. It’s about starting a conversation, about listening, and about talking back. Good customer service makes the user experience more personal and increases brand loyalty.

Good customer service makes the user experience more personal and increases brand loyalty.

An example par excellence for good customer service is the brand Brabantia. Their ambition is “to develop solid household products that retain their beauty and performance for up to 20 years.”

Brabantia is not a cheap brand, but one that develops “solid, reliable products that are made to last.” With this promise in mind, a lot of people are willing to pay a higher price. I’m one of them.

But does Brabantia live up to the “long-term guarantee” for their products?

They do. I have a 150€ waste bin at home, and a few weeks back, the lid wouldn’t close anymore.

It turned out a small part of the closing mechanism was broken. A new lid cost 40€, which I wasn’t too excited about paying. After calling the customer support, I was able to order a new lid. For free.

It took me less than 2 minutes to order the new lid on their website. It was delivered to my house the day after. Seriously, I love that brand!

Want loyal customers? Develop great customer service.

4. Brand consistency

Another important aspect of a good user experience is a consistent experience.

What do I mean by consistent? Your customers must recognize your brand immediately — whether they visit your website from their desktop computer, tablet, or mobile, and whether they visit your physical store, buy your products, or see your advertisement on television.

A consistent look & feel is important to create a sense of familiarity and trust.

You want faithful customers, right? Then don’t let them down. Don’t confuse them. And don’t expect them to make the effort of keeping up your relationship.

Customer loyalty is all about recognition, identification, and keeping our lives as simple as possible. As long as we are happy with one brand, there is no need to take on the challenge of getting used to another one.

Customer loyalty is all about recognition, identification, and keeping our lives as simple as possible.

Apple is the master of consistent customer experience. No other brand can match it.

No matter if you visit their website or one of their stores, if you buy their products or see an advertising poster, the look & feel is always the same.

It’s always about simplicity and a clean and elegant design. It’s about the product and the customer, and about a relationship between the two that is… well… almost creepy.

Apple is a lifestyle. This lifestyle is shared by many people around the world and it cannot be changed from one day to the next. Apple has promised their users innovation and uniqueness, and for the price we pay for their products, that’s what we expect at every encounter with the brand.

Once you set high standards, you also raise your users’ expectations. Keeping these expectations satisfied can become a true challenge. But it’s a key to better user experience.

5. Personal impact

Last but not least, the personal impact your product or service has on your users contributes to the overall user experience.

Only when we interact or engage with someone/something can we draw valid conclusions about our experiences. And these conclusions are important for how we remember something.

Negative emotions are easily eliminated from our memory. Positive emotions, on the other hand, help us remember. By creating a personal experience and getting your users engaged, you significantly increase the chances of triggering positive emotions.

Also, we like to share positive experiences with others. So a positive impact not only motivates people to come back, it’s good for word of mouth advertising as well.

A personal impact motivates people to come back and tell others about their experience.

As an example, Slavery Footprint creates an unforgettable first impression. This site is an awesome initiative for building awareness and creating action against modern-day slavery.

When visiting the site, you get welcomed by one single question: How many slaves work for you? You can then go through an interactive survey to find out the answer and discover how your are connected to modern-day slavery.

The site is created in such a simple, yet engaging way, that it is shockingly effective.

After learning about how this issue applies to you and your lifestyle, you have no option but to accept that the topic is serious, that it is happening right now, and that we must do something about it.

Slavery is a very delicate topic and also one that is easily pushed to the back of our mind, especially here in Western Europe in the year 2013. Yet, the innocent and friendly design of the site and the straightforward way of asking people to get involved leave little room for denial.

This personal impact has nothing to do with the usability of the site. Still, it is a very essential part of its user experience.

What about you?

As you can see, user experience is far more than usability. By incorporating elements of design, customer service, branding, and impact, you can create a user experience that far exceeds the norm.

Do you struggle to create a stellar user experience? What are your challenges? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

About the Author: Sabina is founder & CEO of UXkids and community manager atUsabilla. While her education and interests are broad, Sabina is passionate about improving interactive media for all ages.

The post Understanding The User Experience appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Maybe you’ve bought into content marketing and social media for just that reason. But it’s important to realize that simply posting articles and tweets isn’t enough.

Content marketing needs more than great writing to yield results.  As much as you focus on blogging, producing videos, and publishing e-books, you  need to strengthen the path from pageviews to sales.

This path can span a period of days, weeks, or even months. That’s why you need a well-developed retention strategy to keep your prospects engaged.

Here’s where social media enters your marketing mix.

To move users through your conversion funnel, you need to do more than tweet and share. You need to inspire action through contests, questions, custom apps, and multimedia.

The mobile and social app experts and ShortStack recently published an analysis of how these tactics measure up to one another. Check it out:

Source: ShortStack

Now let’s look at these strategies (and more) in conversion-optimizing action.

1. Make Engagement Personal (ModCloth)

If you’re a marketer, you need to think beyond the world of your computer screen. The world is more than just apps, status updates, and digital multimedia. That’s why ModCloth, an online storefront, is venturing out in the community by hosting a pop-up shop in the world’s fashion epicenter, New York City.

Is there anything more social than a live event?

When you host an event in person, your reach is likely smaller, but your ROI potential may have higher depth. You do the math. If 30 of 60 attendees make three $150 purchases next year, that’s approximately $13,500 in sales. Not bad, right?

2.  Bring Out Your Team (Credit Karma & Onboardly)

Your customers are people, and there are people behind your brand. Connect the dots!

Engagement is something that happens on a highly personal level. You can host all the contests and post all the status updates in the world — but nothing will ever replace that human-to-human bond.

Looking for an invaluable way to drive conversions for your organization? Make your team highly visible, and don’t forget to smile.

Example #1 is Credit Karma, an online platform with free credit monitoring tools. Typically, engineering is something that happens behind the scenes.

In bringing their star developer, Alex, to the public eye, Credit Karma emphasizes the humanity and hard work that goes into building this product — by people and for people. Trust is crucial.

Example #2 is Onboardly  — a startup marketing and PR agency. Their success depends on several core personality traits: energy, enthusiasm, creativity, and a strong team workflow. Through social media, the team conveys all of the above.

The people behind your brand are your company’s most powerful conversion tool. The key to sales? Relationship building.

3. Engage the Senses (Oreo)

The more senses you can engage in your customers, the more you can engage them. Multimedia is a great way to do this — but you need to do more than just post pictures and text.

Think outside the box. People love music, video, delicious tastes, yummy smells, etc. Here’s how everyone’s favorite cookie aims to engage the senses with a music download:

What’s better than a freebie from Oreo?  A freebie music download from Owl City. While Oreo is a brand well-known for food, it isn’t a company that’s famous for its rockstar jams. Here’s where strategic partnerships come in.

In the social media world, you’re never alone, so don’t be afraid to partner with the community.

Why not partner with us right now? Add your favorite customer engagement strategies in the comments below.

About the Author: Ritika Puri is a San Francisco-based blogger who writes about trends in business, internet culture, and marketing. She’s inspired by the intersection between technology, entrepreneurship, and sociology. By day, she works for a large online media company, and after-hours, she runs her writing consulting business, UserGrasp.

The post Customer Engagement Tactics That Go Beyond Tweets & Shares appeared first on The Daily Egg.

During a business meeting, someone told me to “birddog that information” and I almost collapsed. (On a side note, if you’ve been on-boarded or parachuted into a new office that’s replete with jargon-merchants and you need some comic relief, then you’ll love buzzword bingo.)

One of the more curious phrases I hear is brand integrity. A potential client will say, “I’m really worried about using direct response copy here…it might compromise brand integrity.”

Here’s what the person is really saying.

“I think direct response copy is obnoxious and I don’t want an infomercial type of thing because customers will equate us with crass hype and craziness.”

The difference between branding and direct response

In the marketing world, there are two somewhat divided camps: branding and direct response.

The branding people create advertising that attempts to make the client or customer feel a certain way about a product or service. McDonald’s runs seemingly non-stop ads featuring smiling people eating hamburgers and enjoying milk shakes. Its slogan is a carefully crafted: I’m Lovin’ It!

If you like vodka, then you’ve probably seen the print ads for Absolut. Here’s one of my favorites:

You can see 60 more Absolute ads here.

The theory?

• Produce clever, funny, and entertaining advertising.
• Spend a small fortune on media placement so the ads are pretty much everywhere.
• Hope that people react positively to them and flock into stores and restaurants to enjoy the product.

Here’s a problem: “pure” branding ads NEVER have a measurable call to action.

Proof? The super-clever ad above does not even try to persuade you to call a toll-free number or visit a website or redeem a coupon. With apologies to my brothers and sisters in the branding world, measuring ROI is, at best, guesswork when it comes to branding ads.

In the direct response world, we produce advertising with one goal: persuade someone to take a specific action that leads to a sale. Direct response advertising is measurable. It’s accountable.

The raw results are there for everyone to see. If it works, keep using the copy. If it fails, try something else. Direct response copywriting is not for the meek.

Bottom line: It works

Legendary advertising man David Ogilvy is famous for creating famous brands, but he loved direct response more than branding. Watch this video to hear his take on the subject:

Direct response copywriting is, admittedly, somewhat formulaic…and yes, it can be obnoxious, especially when the product isn’t exciting.

For instance, the golf industry has produced some of the most obnoxious infomercials ever created. Like this video:

See what I mean? This video is pure direct response advertising written by a direct response copywriter. Clients are justifiably worried that direct response copy will ruin a brand because customers will equate the company with hype.

And that’s totally understandable.

Direct response = Sales (not necessarily hype)

To allay any fears, it’s important to understand that many of the world’s top brands use direct response techniques.

Let’s start with LL Bean. Here’s a simple product.

As you review the ad, notice the direct response elements: offer (free shipping); the upsells (complementary products); benefit-laden copy; total clarity in the presentation of the product; the guarantee.

You might think of LL Bean as a company that sells high quality outdoor equipment and clothes. But LL Bean is a direct marketing company that uses direct response techniques… including direct response copywriting.

Is it obnoxious?

Hardly.

“Mr. Branding” himself, David Ogilvy, started his business by mailing letters to prospective clients. That’s a direct response exercise. He also wrote ads that appeared in major newspapers. Here’s one of them.

The ad provides a classic example of the “How To” headline. It’s not “clever” and it’s not “creative” but it’s effective. It uses another powerful direct response technique: providing information. It also ends with a clear call-to-action.

This presents a pure example of direct response copywriting. And it’s NOT obnoxious.

Furthermore, it perfectly maintains “brand integrity.” Ogilvy and Mather became one of the world’s most financially successful advertising agencies and David Ogilvy retired to a chateau in France.

Here’s an important lesson from Ogilvy and others

You CAN have your cake and eat it, too.

You can (and should) use direct response copywriting techniques in your marketing, so you measure the return on investment.

Hype isn’t an issue, and it won’t hurt your brand. In fact, the tone of your copy can perfectly complement and even augment your brand. The skilled direct response copywriter can turn up the volume or turn it down depending on the product and the audience. In fact, here’s a ‘volume’ guide I give to clients.

For example, when I’m selling financial products, I turn down the volume. When I’m selling cleaning products, I turn up the volume to 11. When I’m selling information, it’s somewhere in the middle. Energetic copy converts well in the golf space.

You can use the power of direct response marketing to help you sell products and services. You can simultaneously make people feel great about your brand.

Yes…as those mid-80s Michelob branding ads used to bleat…You Can Have it All!

About the Author: Scott Martin is a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He’s helped companies sell a wide range of products and services but primarily specializes in information products and golf.

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