Words to the Wise

Ask. Nicely, of course.

You’d be surprised at how many people simply don’t ask for the order. They bury it deep inside copy, or in a weak image . Your call to action has to be loud, clear, and easy.

Something like “Pick up your phone and call 1.800.123.1234 now to order your own two week supply” makes it clear what the reader needs to do.

One particular area where I’ve seen weak calls to action is in political campaigns. In fine print, at the bottom of a postcard, is where the campaign genius decides to put the instructions on how to show your financial support.

You have to be clear on what action you want people to take and how they should take it.

Many of my clients are good writers. Which, for me, is a double-edged sword. Often, the fact that my clients are good writers with great attention to grammar and spelling leads to questions like this:

“Uh, Jason, I know you’re a professional copywriter, but you left the period off the headline in my print ad. Could you please revise and re-send? Thank you.”

While some copywriters see this as a negative email, I see it as an opportunity to enlighten clients on the difference between writing and copywriting.

In the case of the above-referenced email, I have a two-part, general rule about periods and headlines. It goes like this:

1. If the ad is text heavy and reads more like editorial (such as the Ayer #1 format) than a simple print ad, I tend to not use a period in the headline.

2. If the ad is more of a branding ad with heavy reliance on images, I tend to use a period.

A study was done some years ago, and the results indicated that use of a period in an editorial-style ad headline dropped reader comprehension levels and caused readers to feel like they didn’t need to read any further.

In fact, 22% of the people in the study commented that they realized they were reading an ad when they came to the period. It may seem like a ‘duh’ statement, but advertising shouldn’t jump up and scream at you. It should walk up to you and shake your hand, not yell at you from across the room.

Also in the study, 10% of respondents claimed that the period lessened their intent of reading beyond the headline.

The bottom line here is that your advertising should not get its own way. Test your advertising and be sure that your audience is reading past the first line. Talk to your copywriter and make sure you are both on the same page before the first words are even written.

Kim Mack and Staci Douglas will make an appearance on This Hour Has 22 Widgets Tuesday, September 25th at 10am Eastern time. Kim and Staci are sisters and the founders of Out of the Box Party - a website dedicated to helping busy moms find safe, fast and affordable solutions to throwing birthday parties for children.

During the segment we’ll talk about how the duo markets their products, why they started the business and the challenges they face in terms of sales and marketing.

This Hour Has 22 Widgets is my new radio show that mixes client products and services with marketing tools and trends.

When done correctly, article marketing is a cost-effective way to drive traffic to your Website, help your site rank higher in search engines, and turn you into a subject-matter expert. And, with a little editing, each article can be re-used as original content on your site, which also boots your search engine rankings, thereby increasing your visibility, which, for me anyway, leads to more sales. In other words, articles are a VERY versatile tool for your online marketing.

My article marketing services include:

• Creation of one HTML and one plain text version
• Keyword and key-phrase-rich content
• Unlimited article revisions prior to submission
• Creation of usernames and passwords to article submission sites as necessary
• Manual submission to 50+ sites
• Detailed article submission report
• Re-write of article for use on your website including the addition of title and description meta tags

I work together with each client to decide on the topic and focus for each article.

Turnaround time from the start of writing to submission is roughly two to three weeks after deciding on each article topic and focus. This turnaround time can vary with the number of articles being submitted and is usually shorter.

I offer between one and five articles at a time, and will submit articles at the rate of one per week, mostly because I submit to article submission sites manually, since I find that software can be unreliable.

The more articles you order, the cheaper it is. For example, if I write one article for you, it’s $275. When you order all five articles , the cost is $195 per article. And keep in mind that you get the version that’s submitted to the article sites along with the version I edit for YOUR website.

Thinking about article marketing the next time you want a good way to put relevant content on your site and drive traffic.

Every week I read about another ad agency or PR firm that’s won some ‘prestigious award.’ But what’s an award really boil down to? For me, it boils down to a third-party endorsement by some governing body or panel who decides what company will get the award based on who won last year and who’s popular this year.

Honestly, the only third-party endorsement I want is that of my clients.

You could win every award known to man and STILL not produce results for your clients. I have clients come to me for exactly that reason - the award-winning firm they were using didn’t produce the results the client wanted.

Secretly, I think the reason I don’t like awards is because I never want to win one based on this criteria:

“Recipients of the “blah blah blah” Award are recognized by industry experts for talent that exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.”

Really, I’d much rather my clients be happy than have to see my name next to copy like that.