Marketing Consulting

My latest client project launches (or, let the paper cuts heal…)

April 8, 2011, by Tom Chandler 7 comments

I once described launching a successful direct mail campaign as “death by a thousand paper cuts” (though it’s better than launching an unsuccessful campaign), and launching a modern website — with all its interconnectedness, integrations, feeds and general black magic — amounts to roughly the same thing.

The good news is you get a lot of power per paper cut, and the rapid pace of change means clients — who are mostly still easing out of the old static website model — award you “steely eyed web geek” status simply because you download a plugin and type in an API key.

The bad news? The day *after* you’ve worked a miracle, they’re sipping their coffee and waiting for the next miracle.

Real magic, frankly, is easier.

The Latest Site. The Newest Client.

The latest work project — and my next retainer deal…

We built the new site for California Trout; a California-based conservation group that’s done a stellar job of protecting and restoring the state’s coldwater fisheries for the last four decades.

On my Trout Underground fly fishing blog, I’ve been a vocal supporter of their work, and a vocal critic of their utter lack of communication with their supporting members and the public.

Under the impetus of a new Executive Director, they listened — and hired me to build the new site (Phase One), and then help manage their content stream (Phase Two).

If you’re a regular reader, this is the site I didn’t write, but will support with content (via a retainer — a sweet word for any freelancer).

Now that it’s live, I can hopefully take a few deep breaths, start the content work, and maybe finish my own marketing site (proof that failure only hurts once, but success keeps biting you…).

My Dirty Little Small Business eMail Marketing Secret (Hint: It's WordPress)

August 27, 2009, by Tom Chandler 4 comments

Spend too much time in the echo chamber that is social media, and you’d think email marketing is dying – nipped in the bud by sexier, more “realtime” media.

Don’t believe it.

Even in the grips of the recession, email marketing is enjoying a renaissance. And yes, “Twitter gets the press, email gets the order” is a phrase uttered by plenty of email marketers.

I’d suggest it’s true.

The ROI of email remains higher than other media channels – a reality every marketer ignores at their own peril.

And small businesses – who typically must retain customers at a higher rate than their larger competitors – find email programs indispensable.

eMail/eNewsletter programs remain powerful tools for small businesses

After all, email programs still represent the single best way to keep in touch with most customers – who aren’t going to visit a blog or site every day.

I can see a day when the combined might of RSS and social media channels (like Twitter) will dent or damage email, but email remains a staple media channel among my students and client businesses.

Why? And how do I get less-than-technically-savvy clients to embrace email?

More importantly, how can you add value to your copywriting services – providing a complete “content cycle” for you small biz clients?

Enter WordPress

I know. One minute I’m talking about email, the next I’m suggesting blog software as a solution.

It makes perfect sense. Really.

Simply put, email marketing integrates beautifully with a blog – to the point that several of my non-blogging clients have installed a WordPress CMS.

Why? Because it’s a powerful, email-friendly publishing platform.

Publishing content remains a huge barrier to small businesses, who often rely on static Web sites – and sometimes-expensive, often-hard-to-reach Webmasters to update those sites.

Publishing via the simple WordPress editor is something most small business users can grasp – a process that is far faster, easier, and cheaper than paying a Webmaster.

The key is this: Each blog post offers its own unique URL, so each article can serve as its own landing page.

That’s useful.

Today’s business-oriented emails work best when they tease several articles, giving the reader a choice of content and allowing them to jump when they wish.

By contrast, publishing complete articles in a newsletter is a bad idea; if the first story isn’t of interest to the recipient, they may not make it all the way through to the second.

Using a WordPress CMS as an article bank makes perfect sense – and it also helps my clients derive an SEO benefit from their newsletter content (which doesn’t happen when you simply send a newsletter).

A WordPress CMS also easily integrates other social media channels (like Twitter).

That’s important too.

One of my key tenants of online marketing for small businesses is this: Leveraging the same (or similar) content across multiple channels makes perfect sense for those who have better things to do than sit and “generate content” all day long.

(And yes, most small businesspeople have better things to do.)

A Caveat

If a small business installs WordPress solely for the purpose of intermittently publishing articles, then don’t call the installation a blog.

Instead, give it a name that isn’t weighted down by expectations of daily posts. It’s not a blog, it’s a “builder’s journal.” Or a “What’s New” page. Or a “Fresh Ideas” page.

In other words, don’t create expectations your client’s not going to meet.

Next week, I’ll offer up another of my dirty little email marketing secrets for small business – resources that make it possible for less-savvy, time-constrained small businesses to succeed with email marketing.

Keep writing (and now, consulting), Tom Chandler.

A Geezer Looks at Social Media Marketing, Buzz, and Online Marketing Boot Camp

February 24, 2009, by Tom Chandler 8 comments

There’s No Denying Social Media’s Buzz. But How Real Is It?

I recently read (and misplaced) an article deriding many social media “consultants” as carpetbaggers, and after reading a presentation to a trade association by a social media “guru” I’d say that’s true for at least one of them.

Naturally, this isn’t a blanket condemnation of social media consultants. After all, I’m a True Believer (note the caps) in engagement marketing, which qualifies me as someone willing to believe in the long-term power of connection with your audience.

So instead of condemnation, consider this a call for sanity.

In the marketing world, social media channels should meet the same performance standards as other, less-glamorous marketing channels. But the buzz is hard to escape – as is the sense that more than a few consultants aren’t doing their clients any favors.

Online Marketing Tough Love

I’m in the midst of teaching an Online Marketing Boot Camp – a class I developed for a local economic development agency. Even at the outset, social media reared up on its hind legs, demanding attention.

My students want to know if they should dive in. I’ve got two more weeks to figure it out.

Over the last month, I’ve read a lot of “Ten Reasons Why Every Primate Should Have a Twitter/Facebook/MySpace Presence” posts.

What’s striking is how few of those Top 10 “reasons” offer any hope of revenue. After all, I’m teaching small business owners and micro-entrepreneurs – people with limited time, and long, long to-do lists.

It’s easy to rave about the blue-sky benefits of Twitter and Facebook. But harder to define the dollars-and-cents return – especially when most of my students didn’t enter the business world to become “content generators.”

Most have trouble sticking to a regular e-newsletter mailing schedule. And email/e-newsletters remain the ROI Kings of online marketing.

Yet the social media buzz is powerful – as are the temptations.

Social Attraction

I consult with a small business client who’s done a great job putting their online marketing world in order.

Their Web site is solid (it’s running atop WordPress). They’re growing their monthly e-newsletter list (within a week of each mailing, the e-newsletter generates about half their revenue)

We launched their blog into a regular, google-pleasing, traffic-pulling orbit (no, we didn’t call it a blog – we wanted the publishing platform but not the baggage).

They’re a regional business, and yes, 95% of their new business comes via the Internet.

And yes, they’re asking me about social media.

My answer? Maybe.

Asking The Right Questions

First, let’s revisit the idea that new technology doesn’t drive marketing programs – business goals drive marketing programs. Investing time in a new media channel because it’s generating “buzz” doesn’t quite meet the bar.

In other words, the questions aren’t “Should we Twitter?” or “How about Facebook?”

It’s “Where are your customers? How do they want to be contacted? Can you deliver high-value content? How many media channels can you reasonably feed?” Then comes the biggie: “Do the contacts generated by social media convert into sales – or just traffic?”

In the case of several of my boot camp students, the answers to those questions suggest getting their online house in order before they launch social media initiatives. Sites should be dynamic and sticky. And – for most clients – an email program is a necessity.

Lest you think I’m a total unbeliever, I’ll say this: One of the boot camp students is an absolutely perfect fit for the hippest, hottest social media we can dredge up (fashion), and we’re going to go for it – though I’m suggesting an email program to turn short-term social medioids into long-term (profitable) customers.

For that small business client? I’m thinking it’s time to explore Facebook – but the second he misses an e-newsletter deadline, we’re taking the keys to Facebook away.

Keep marketing, Tom Chandler

The Story of a Hollywood Marketer (or, What We Can Learn Reading The New Yorker)

February 2, 2009, by Tom Chandler 3 comments

I can’t tell you the first thing about movie marketing, but that didn’t stop me reading every word of a long, interesting article in the New Yorker which delves into the life of a top movie marketer – a man known as The Cobra.

While I’m not suggesting you immediately adopt Hollywood methodologies, the article’s still a fascinating read for any lifelong student of marketing:

Publicity is selling what you have: the film’s stars and sometimes its director. Marketing, very often, is selling what you don’t have; it’s the art of the tease. A première lets the marketing and publicity teams join in a final effort to “eventize” a film, to move it to the top of the nation’s long to-do list. Many premières feel slack and dutiful, but this one had the fizz of a genuine event.

The article is long and involved (as New Yorker articles often are). In this case, the thread runs through literally months of the subject’s life, and the narrative’s spotted with intriguing personal glimpses.

Still, my marketing-oriented readers will be most interested in the glimpses behind the Hollywood marketing curtain, including the passages about playbooks, audience segmentation, and even the standard campaign layout:

Modern campaigns have three acts: a year or more before the film débuts, you introduce it with ninety-second teaser trailers and viral Internet “leaks” of gossip or early footage, in preparation for the main trailer, which appears four months before the release; five weeks before the film opens, you start saturating with a “flight” of thirty-second TV spots; and, at the end, you remind with fifteen-second spots, newspaper ads, and billboards.

Studios typically spend about ten million dollars on the “basics” (cutting trailers and designing posters, conducting market research, flying the film’s talent to the junket and the première, and the première itself) and thirty million on the media buy. Between seventy and eighty per cent of that is spent on television advertising (enough so that viewers should see the ads an average of fifteen times), eight or nine per cent on Internet ads, and the remainder on newspaper and outdoor advertising.

The hope is that a potential viewer will be prodded just enough to make him decide to see what all the fuss is about. It’s the “belt and suspenders and corset and parachute harness” approach.

How do Hollywood’s marketers keep from reinventing the wheel?

Each maneuver and ad buy in Palen’s campaigns is detailed in a confidential playbook. For marketers, much of the science of marketing is determining which old movie your new movie is most like, so you can turn to that movie’s playbook as a rough guide. Much of the art of marketing is developing a campaign that reassures moviegoers that the new film is very similar to (or at least “from the director of”) another one they liked.

Like most long New Yorker articles, the writer wraps up a lot of loose ends at the finish, typically offering us one final (often startling) glimpse at the character, and this is no exception:

Many film marketers grow disillusioned with their jobs, with the lying and the cheating. But when I asked Palen whether the job had affected his understanding of our primary levers—of the human eagerness to give way to laughter, fear, sorrow, and passion—he looked at me sharply and said, “I hope not. Because owning the secrets of cattle mentality is not aspirational. I love my job, I love being a part of all this, of staying fresh and young.” He was thinking aloud, not his favorite mode of self-presentation. “I mean . . . my mom still listens to Patsy Cline. I have this—not a fear—but she stopped at a certain age, and I don’t want to stop, to get old.”

Brilliantly told, it’s an article worth reading – even if you don’t glean one useful marketing hint from it.

Keep reading, Tom Chandler.

Who Exactly Are the Four Best eMail List Service Providers for Small Business?

November 5, 2008, by Tom Chandler 13 comments

Lately, I’ve been teaching. A lot. I’d recommend it to you if you get the chance (more on this in an upcoming post).

After all, you very quickly learn two things.

First, if done properly, the teacher always learns more than the students.

And second, you’re forced to realize how daunting today’s online technology can be to a small business owner – someone who’s running a whole business – not simply a marketing department.

I’m looking at ways to ease that particular pain for my students. So I’m turning to you for advice.

My email/enewsletter marketing class covers the idea of self-hosting your list (using software like PHPList), but recommends an email service provider.

Naturally, I’m looking for the best combination of ease-of-use, power, features and cost. And I can’t simply send them to Marketing Prof’s sizable list of vendors without guidance.

That’s why I’m turning to the Undergrounders. Currently, I’m considering four email vendors (remember, they must be suited for small businesses):

Constant Contact (the leader, powerful, lots of features – but not necessarily easy)
Vertical Response (similar to above)
iContact (up and coming vendor with an intriguing mix of ease-of-use and power)
The unfortunately named MailChimp (one of the simplest I could find)

If I were starting a small business email list today – and I didn’t have better than two decades in this business – I’d look hard at iContact.

Of course, the issue of blogs replacing e-newsletters is also rearing its head, but that’s a different discussion.

Any opinions, facts, recommendations or howls at the moon? Better choices for beginners? More power for users? Any options I’m overlooking?

Keep writing (and teaching), Tom Chandler.

An Introduction to RFM: Three Letters Every Response-Oriented Copywriter Should Know

August 29, 2008, by Tom Chandler 7 comments

Sometimes, better copy isn’t the solution to a client’s marketing problem.

As a value-added copywriter – someone offering your clients more than vowels and consonants – you should know how to generate success for you clients, even if it doesn’t mean another rewrite.

Which is why I’m introducing you to three letters: RFM

RFM spreadsheet

They stand for Recency, Frequency, and Monetary. And they represent a simple, smart way to dramatically increase profits.

Why Segment?

Smart marketers preach the gospel of “know thy customer.” RFM segmenting uses customer data most businesses have already collected to define their customers by their past buying habits – the single best predictor of what the future holds.

And yes, a few of you just stopped reading. This is, after all, the stuff of the direct response nerd – the data-mining spreadsheet geeks who dwell in the shadow areas behind the more glamorous “creative” work.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

RFM is just one more tool in the savvy marketer’s toolbox; an extremely useful item that solves problems for marketers the same way hammers solve problems for carpenters.

And I pity the copywriter who sits down at a meeting, wants respect – and then has to ask what RFM stands for. Don’t be that yutz.

Why RFM?

Easy. It tells you – quickly and easily – how your customers are behaving.

Let me help you visualize how it works.

Take a long list of customers and their data. The basic idea is to divide them according to their habits, creating a grid where each square holds customers that are distinguished from the customers in the other grids.

We do this by assigning an RFM “score” – easily done if you have access to customer data.

Each letter corresponds to a customer trait. For example:

“Recency” tells you how long it’s been since a customer last shopped (or bought, or surfed your site – whatever)
“Frequency” tells you how often a customer shows up
“Monetary” is how much they spend

Let’s start with the easiest: Monetary.

All you’re doing is dividing your list into five equal-length segments, and assigning the customers in each segment a score from 1 to 5 (let’s make 5 the biggest spenders, 1 the least).

(Hint: You can use any grid size, so if your list is small, using scores from 1 to 3 is easier and still plenty effective.)

So everyone who has spent from $1-20 at your e-commerce site gets a “1″. From $20-$40, they get a “2″. And so on. The top spenders get a 5. (CHAID is a far more scientific way to do this, but it’s also far more complex. Keep it simple at first.)

Then you do the same for the Recency and Frequency. Divide those lists into five equal-length segments, assign them a score from 1 to 5 (5 being the more desireable behavior), and viola!

You’ve got an RFM grid.

What? “Where’s my grid” you ask?

Simple. You don’t actually draw a grid and place names in it. You create virtual one by combining scores.

For example, your “best” customers are those who scored a “5″ on all three attributes. They’re your 555s – the people who visit most often, spend the most, and and did it just recently.

By contrast, an RFM score of 135 means:

Recency = 1 (they haven’t showed up in a long time)
Frequency = 3 (they used to come fairly often – a middle of the road type)
Monetary = 5 (when they came, they spent big)

By contrast, your 111 customers haven’t visited recently (R=1), don’t come often (probably once: F=1), and didn’t spend much when they did show up (M=1). Don’t invest too much marketing to this group.

See How it Works?

You want your middle-of-the-road customers? They’re likely the 222/333 crowd.

Want to know who used to spend and visit a lot – but hasn’t in a while? (And believe me, that’s useful information.) Look for the 155/255/145/245/154/254 crowd.

Quick Quiz: What’s the RFM for a customer who showed up relatively recently, never came back, but spent a lot?

(Answer: Recency (R) = 4 or 5; Frequency (F) = 1; Money (M) = 4 or 5. So you’re looking for a 414, 515, or some similar combination).

I saw this procedure done on a casino marketing database that contained literally millions of records.

They created an RFM grid using a simple database (On smaller lists, a spreadsheet will do).

Given the competitive nature of the casino business, how much of a monetary return did they enjoy through the simple act of segmenting their customer list?

To call it “sizable” is to call Everest a “big hill.”

This stuff works.

More Useful Than You Know

It’s tempting to look at your newly defined RFM rankings and do the obvious thing – market the hell out of your 555 crowd.

That’s probably a mistake.

My advice? Don’t overlook all the niche possibilities (copywriters understand niches).

For example, marketing to your high-value crowd is obvious; they’re already great customers.

But what about the customers who used to be great customers, but aren’t any more? That’s a potentially rich vein of ore – especially since you can now easily identify them.

How about the big spenders who only showed up a couple times, then stopped? Is it worth marketing to get them to come back? (RFM = 525/515/424/etc)

And how about the steady spenders who fell a little below your radar, then stopped coming? Aren’t they worth an attempted jump start? (RFM = 222/233/etc)

For that matter, you can target specific traits of specific groups. For example, you can identify the folks show up rarely, but spending lots when they do. What can you do to bring them around more often?

See the utility?

Class Dismissed… Almost.

RFM is a basic building block of marketing, and smart marketers are also applying it in the online arena (often using variations like RFD [D = duration, as in how long someone spends on a microsite]).

It’s not the kind of thing a direct response copywriter will do every day, but if your client is using RFM to segment a list, then you’d damn well better know what’s happening – and what segments you’re marketing to.

If your client isn’t using it – but should be – then you become the hero for suggesting it.

RFM is a universal technique that sees use at any business with repeat customers.

Casinos, airlines and others like them use fairly complex RFM systems to market more effectively, but there’s no reason a smaller company – or e-commerce site – wouldn’t benefit from this simple, quick, no-special-tools-required technique.

Keep marketing, Tom Chandler.

UPDATE: Multichannel Merchant just posted an article about email list segmenting. It mentions RFM in passing, but focuses on other email-specific traits. My take? It’s easy to say “notice that someone buys once every three months and market to them then” but how do you maintain that level of granularity in your work?

Frankly, I say stick to the basics and add where it’s possible, but don’t get sucked into the vortex of data generated by online marketing – unless you’ve got the time, tools and budget. There are probably easier fruit to pick.

RFM, marketing, copywriting, RFD, direct response marketing, direct mail marketing

Recession Affecting Your Client's Marketing Budget? Offer Them This Cost-Effective Alternative…

August 7, 2008, by Tom Chandler 5 comments

I’ve marketed my way through enough recessions to recognize the pattern; marketers stop playing games, and start spending their money very, very carefully.

In the past, that meant a lot of my ad budgets were switched to less-glamorous media like inserts, card decks, etc.

Today, the rush is on to find the most effective, affordable online media (hint: online ad buys seem stagnant). And while coupons are regarded by many as a relic of the pre-Internet era, a New York Times Magazine story says coupons are back – especially online coupons:

Its figures show that in 1998 consumers redeemed about 4.7 billion coupons. The number of coupons that manufacturers issued has gone up and down since then, but the redemption number fell steadily every year until last year, when it leveled off at about 2.6 billion. According to the Promotion Marketing Association Coupon Council, less than 1 percent of coupons are distributed digitally — which seems a little surprising given that coupons-on-the-Web companies have been around for years.

Perhaps it was the positive economic mood that held them back, but that’s changing: the online data tracker Hitwise says visits to a variety of thrift-focused sites are up by about a third over the past year, and the likes of Coupons.com and more recent entries like CouponWinner.com are lately reporting big spikes.

Good news? Bad news? Does it matter to you?

A little fiscal reality check is always a good idea (if the supposedly targeted ads on social network sites aren’t working, it’s time we moved them elsewhere). But the take-away here is simple: in the face of a shrinking budget, the smart copywriter offers their client a cost-effective alternative.

And while “everybody else is doing it” is hardly a killer business case for a promotion, it’s the kind of statement that opens a client’s mind (if not their checkbook).

Remember, in a recession, clients are often scared. That means they’re seeking value from their marketing efforts, and while coupons and promos aren’t glamorous, they’re cost-effective – and they work.

And in the case of online coupons – a largely untapped medium – it’s likely your competitors simply aren’t competing.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

Copywriting in Three Dimensions: How "Fun" Sold Six-Figure Software

July 11, 2007, by Tom Chandler 6 comments

When you’re selling a corporate product that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, you need to reach executive buyers (Directors and VPs).

The bad news? There’s no shortage of gatekeepers and roadblocks between you and your quarry, and you’ve got to put your sales rep in the office of a qualified executive, and do it quickly.

So what’s the quickest route to success?

The Birth of a Lumpy Mailer

Regular readers know I’m a fan of lumpy mailers — three dimensional objects (often with a humorous slant) shipped to small, carefully targeted lists. Because they’re clearly not “junk mail” — and they carry an aura of value — lumpy mailers blow right through barriers and onto desks.

In this case, my client was launching eMerchandising software designed to boost the per-cart revenues of large online stores. While we were in the midst of rolling out a largely online “mass media” campaign (nothing’s really “mass media” any more), I discovered our prime mailing list held only 80 names.

The Process

A short list of targets always ignites a “lumpy mailer” fire in my brain, so I started brainstorming ideas. Several scribbled pages later, I’d penciled in three good concepts, and moved onto the research stage — which effectively killed two of my concepts.

The remaining idea involved miniature steel shopping carts, and I was astounded to find them available for less than $7 each (far lower than I expected). A lumpy mailer was born.

I was lucky. I’ve worked with this client for many year (across several companies), and she’s well aware of the door-opening power of a lumpy mailer. You’re sometimes forced to educate clients who resist interesting solutions simply because they’ve never seen them before. In this case, that wasn’t a problem.

The Campaign

Our basic campaign concept played out in an earlier print ad which featured a split headline.

Shopping Cart Print Ad

Pointing at the stacked shopping cart was “This is a BroadVision eMerchandising Shopping Cart.” Pointing at the near-empty cart was: “This Isn’t.”

The first run of the print ad offered a white paper, and the ad generated far more leads than expected. Time to breathe a sigh of relief.

After all the other elements hit the market (e-newsletter sponsorship, print, banner ads, PR, etc), we shipped our foot-long shopping carts to targets in large white boxes.

Do Lumpy Mailers Work?
The ready-to-ship cart shorn of some of the accompanying elements.

Each cart carried several supporting pieces — including a foamcore-mounted piece promising the reader they’d never see another empty shopping cart. Also included was a handwritten note from a sales rep promising to get in touch.

That’s a key statement — lumpy mailers can be tailored to generate response, but when you send them to high-value targets, the mailer often paves the way for a near-term contact.

The thinking is simple; cold calling a VP’s office earns you a one-way trip to voice mail. But calling an office that just received a fun, three-dimensional goodie (neatly aligned with your product benefits) lands your sales rep a spot on the VP’s appointment calendar.

Helpful Hint: It’s critical that any followup calls immediately reference the lumpy mailer. Consider featuring a catch phrase in the mailer and to advise sales reps to use that phrase at the start of their call.

Results?

Early reports from sales reps were highly favorable, but because my contact is on maternity leave, I don’t have any numbers (and it’s likely too soon, given the long sales cycle). The sales reps were happy (a rare thing indeed), so the client’s happy, and for the freelancer that’s what counts.

The moral? Much of the marketing world’s attention is focused online, yet the there’s no reason to ignore traditional techniques like lumpy mailers. They work.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

[tags]marketing, direct mail, direct response, direct marketing, lumpy mailer, direct mailer[/tags]

The Headline Says "Blogging is Dead." So Why Are You Reading This?

June 4, 2007, by Tom Chandler 12 comments

“Google Says Blogging is Dead” one headline screams, while BusinessWeek asserts blogs are being “Twitterized” — that blogging’s apparently too-thoughtful posts are being replaced by shallower, less-thought-intensive bursts of information.

Is blogging dead?

Are blogs dead? Should my clients reconsider my advice to build and populate business blogs — and offer 140 character micro-thoughts instead?

Should I be planning for a new career in telemarketing?

Hype and Blogging

A blog isn’t a holy relic with supernatural powers (as some in the blogosphere might suggest). Nor is it the Ultimate Marketing Tool business has long pined for, but apparently it’s beyond the reach of many in the media to understand that.

A blog is simply a powerful, easy-to-use electronic publishing platform. They’re exceptional tools for businesses, even if only used as one-way conduits for pushing information to customers and prospects.

They’re affordable, they’re responsive, and it doesn’t require an advanced course in nuclear physics to get something posted on the company site. So why are they dying?

They Aren’t, Of Course

The answer, of course, is that blogs aren’t dying in any meaningful sense. New blogs are created every second, but not as many as before. To a hype-addicted media, slowing growth apparently now equals impending death.

And let’s be clear — growth is slowing among personal blogs, and nobody with a half a brain is surprised. Most human beings are not writers, yet approximately 15.5 million of them thought they’d give it a try, thinking writing was an easy, relaxing pastime.

Naturally, they were mostly wrong about that, and it’s hardly surprising that people are trading in their blogs for the bite-sized chunks of twitter and its ankle-deep stream of consciousness.

It’s a perfect fit in a culture that sometimes feels a little disposable, and a quick visit to the twitter site tends to confirm that thinking.

Wither the Business Blog?

I don’t believe Twitter’s going to offer much impact on small and medium-sized businesses. (Somebody will prove me wrong of course. It’s simply a matter of time.)

Lifestyle advertisers like Coca-Cola and Nike might jump on it — turning a largely free service used by teenagers into a multi-million dollar division of the marketing department — but my average client? I don’t see much point.

The “traditional” businesses blog will continue to grow (and yes, you can quote me). For some, they’ll transform the way businesses communicate. For others, they’ll have little impact.

Hype, of course, will continue to fly like crap in the monkey house at the zoo, and it’s likely we’ll soon see other screaming headlines telling us blogging’s a dead horse, that it just laid down and passed on, when anyone with two eyes can tell you it just ran by and is looking stronger with every furlong.

[tags]blogging, blogs, business blogs, twitter, hype[/tags]

Leveraging the Value-Added Copywriter: An Underground Manifesto

January 11, 2007, by Tom Chandler 15 comments

I recently conducted a pair of Messaging Platform interviews with clients. I was struck by how good they are at their core competencies.

And how most market like it’s still 1991.

It’s not a knock so much as a reality. Marketing has changed more the last five years than it did the prior 50.

Anyone would have trouble keeping up – especially in the context of a small business, where the marketing manager is also managing sales staff, fighting PR battles, and scraping gum off the conference table.

The result, of course, is an unhappy kind of stasis. Companies keep throwing dollars at one-way channels like trade advertising – even as ROI shrinks.

They might be too busy to notice. Their copywriter shouldn’t be.

The Opportunity

I’m a huge believer in the value-added copywriter - the marketing genius who brings more to the table than the ability to sling words.

Are you savvy enough to walk into a company, define the message, see the holes in the marketing plan, and maximize the return on their tight marketing budget?

Can you confidently explain the value of engaging customers via blogs? Can you leverage the latest technology on behalf of your client?

Can you do all this in business terms your client will find attractive?

It’s Not About the Words

A recent small business client built a great product, but lacked a consistent, differentiated message. His Web site actually inhibited sales. And he didn’t understand the power of engaged communities.

We sat down. He listened. We fixed the problems. And sold two years of production in 1.5 months.

It wouldn’t have happened if all I sold were vowels, consonants and assorted punctuation. Instead, I sold success. Will that client ever go anywhere else?

The Copywriter of the Future

As the evolution of marketing quickens, copywriters increasingly occupy a unique space.

Content is King. Engagement is Queen.

And knowing how to get results is fast becoming as important as writing the words which get them.

New marketing channels are created on an almost hourly basis. The people best prepared to exploit them are those who fill them with content.

That’s you. The copywriter.

It’s Different Today. Are You Ready?

I don’t want to hype Web 2.0 beyond reason. But my 20+ years of experience offers me a unique perspective.

Years ago, a single copywriter couldn’t begin to compete with an ad agency’s horde of media specialists, art directors, traffic coordinators, account execs, and assorted stuffed suits.

Today, one smart copywriter can out-market the whole bunch. And do it on behalf of a company 1/10 the size of the ad agency’s mega-client.

It’s not easy. But the leverage is there – if you’re perceptive enough to seize it.

Viral. Engagement. Video. RSS. Buzz. Blogs. Skype-enabled VOIP.

They’re buzzwords. But they’re also levers. Long levers. And Archimedes once said that if he had a long enough lever and a place to stand, he could move the earth.

Today’s value-added copywriter has the leverage to move the marketing universe. Are you ready?

[tags]copywriter, web 2.0, marketing, [/tags]

Impress Your Clients (with "Click to Call" For Small Business)

November 17, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

If I convince my readers of anything, it’s that the copywriters who add value beyond the words set themselves apart from the herd.

Part of adding value means staying current, and intelligently applying new marketing developments to your clients’ situation.

For example, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing posted a note about a hosted “click-to-call” service for small business from Jaduka.

“Click to call” has been a staple contact point on the Web sites of larger companies for some time.

A customer clicks, their phone rings, and they’re talking to a service representative.

It’s an impressively seamless customer engagement point, and – until now – it’s been the province of larger companies.

Now anyone can add “click-to-call” to their Web site or other online contact point – even Google listings.

Jaduka even offers a free account.

I don’t know if it’s a useful tool for sole proprietors. But for a business of any size, it’s a great example of the Internet leveling the playing field.

And an excellent demonstration of yet another way to add value to your copywriting relationships.

[tags]duct tape marketing, click-to-call, click-and-connect, jaduka, copywriter, [/tags]

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