Looking to get better results out of your website, e-mail, direct mail or other advertising and outreach efforts?
Over the years of working with and training the greatest businesspeople on the planet — small business owners and their teams — I’ve found that this is by far one of the greatest opportunities for growth available. You can significantly impact your bottom line relatively quickly by devoting some attention to this area.
And for the record, I’m not talking about buying more advertising, sending more pieces or redesigning your website. In fact, I’m not talking about spending more at all!
What I am talking about is this:
Change the Words You Use
We all recognize to one extent or another that the words we use — whether they’ll be read, heard or both — have an impact on our results. After all, no one would remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech if he called it, “We Might Eventually Improve Something.”
But since most of us in the world of small business don’t think of ourselves as great orators or great writers, we tend to approach creating our marketing pieces a bit haphazardly. Ask any web designer which phase of a web project tends to drag on endlessly and they’ll undoubtedly tell you, “waiting on content from the client.” Why? It gets done last because we dread it and pay as little attention to it as possible.
A seasoned marketer, on the other hand, approaches things differently. In fact, I train our clients and students that content comes first — right after you’ve figured out who the target audience is for a given piece. Outreach methods, colors, designs and everything else come last.
So the question becomes:
How Can I Increase Results Just By Changing the Words I Use?
I’m so glad you asked!
Here are 5 key ways you can improve your response from your existing efforts.
- Use a Headline
- Make a Bold Promise
- Write from “Me” to “You”
- Pass the “So What?!” Test
- Make ‘Em an Offer They Can’t Refuse
These are cardinal rules of getting results with your marketing. If you’re not doing these each and every time you touch a prospect with any form of marketing or advertising, then you have room to improve!
And over the next few posts, we’ll tackle these elements one at a time. You’ll have lots more detail to work with. So… if you haven’t subscribed yet, do it right now! Then get started by learning how to “Use a Headline.”
The 1st, or 6th, way to improve your response rate is purge your list.
Basic RFM, or some simple segmentation, or just getting rid of the non-responders will lower your costs, you use less media, and increase your response rate by getting a relevant message to people who have proven they care, and who are responsive to whatever channel you are using.
Hi James,
Thanks for jumping in with your cogent observation. Obviously, for those businesses who are working from existing lists, this is critical. For many of the smaller businesses who are new to direct response marketing, developing databases is still new to them. Looking forward to diving in to list management opportunities in future content here. In the meantime, as businesses learn to utilize the principles of direct marketing in their various outreach efforts–online and offline–we hope to see them improve conversions.
Thanks again!