The White House landing page is the page you see when you visit their site (for the first time). They use a so-called welcome gate to direct new visitors to the landing page.
The goal is to get people to join their emailing list.
And to be honest, the page is quite okay. But it could be better and here are some ways they could increase their conversion.
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Dov Gordon helps businesses attract a steady and predictable flow of new customers.
This is a part of the Secrets of The Marketing Experts interview series.
The chain of marketing starts with attracting customers. And that’s exactly what Dov Gordon helps businesses do.
Dov Gordon is a respected marketing consultant whom even other marketing experts go to for advice. If you don’t know him already, you will remember him after this interview.
In the interview Dov shares his approach that he uses with all his clients; three steps that are sure to help every business.
So, if you want a steady and predictable flow of new customers, check this 25 minute video interview…
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Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation by Sally HogsheadEver wondered how to capture people’s attention completely? Or why you sometimes lose track of time?
The answer to both is fascination.
What is it? Fascination is powerful attraction that captures your attention and focus.
Why should you care?
Fascination is the best tool you have to get your message heard.
If you want to be good at copywriting, you need to understand how to fascinate people.
If you want to write captivating headlines, you need to make them fascinating.
If you want to be fascinating in your personal life or at work, you need to understand the seven triggers.
But the one question remains: What is fascinating and how do you write/become more fascinating?
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Breaking the rules of effective marketing isn’t illegal, you just lose your customers. photo: kelsey e.
Every game has its rules and you can’t succeed if you don’t understand them. So, what are the rules of marketing?
The rules of marketing include the laws and regulations, but you’ll never win a game if you only avoid breaking its rules. When it comes to effective marketing, the referee is the consumer and they get to choose the winner.
Marketing is a game where you get points for style and the consumers decide who wins.
How do they choose the winner? How do you style points? And which rules shouldn’t you ever break?
In other words: How do you create effective marketing messages?
There are countless aspects to think about when you start creating a marketing message. Here are seven that you must ask before doing anything else.
“My customers/prospects” isn’t the answer. Not even close. But still that’s the most common answer.
You need to know which customers/prospects in particular you’re targeting with each marketing message. You can and you should segment people into buyer personas.
If you try to speak everyone, you speak to no one. Don’t try to please everyone with one message; no one’s interested in average or the mediocrity.
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In typical Seth Godin style the book is relatively short and only discusses one idea. But as usual that’s specifically what makes it so good. The one idea is explained exceptionally well with examples and demonstrations. You’re left with a desire to apply the idea into your business (or blog).
In “All Marketers are Liars” Seth Godin says that marketing is storytelling. These stories are created, told, heard, and retold. How to get people to even hear your story can be challenging. And even more so to get it repeated. But with a great story you will succeed.
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As a marketer/blogger you sometimes need to target specific customers, businesses, and medias. That person/business may or may not have been in any contact with you. And it’s very possible they’ve never even heard of you. So, how do you approach them?
There’s a simple three-step approach to this. And the same steps apply whether your prospect is a person, a company, or any other entity (even a blog).
Before you make any contact with the person, do your homework. Google their name for a start, but don’t think that would be nearly enough. Your goal is to find a way to make yourself interesting to them. Ideally, you’ll get them to contact you.
Understand how you can be valuable for them. Answer the question, “Why would they contact me?” If you can’t answer that, think harder.
Once you’ve understood what would make you valuable for them, it’s time to let them see that reason. At this point they shouldn’t think that you’re trying to approach them. But they do need to notice the value you can provide.
Commenting on a blog is a good way to do this. Write a comment where you refer to the value you can provide. But don’t try to sell the idea. The point is just to get the idea out there.
If you have a blog you can write a post that’s interesting to the person you’re approaching. This works especially well if you have a blog since the trackback will take care of notifying the person (if they have a blog as well). A recent post that I wrote titled, “Danny Iny is a Liar – Just Like Me” did just that, though it wasn’t the reason for writing it.
Finally if they haven’t contacted you, you need to initiate contact. You should still only attempt to make them see how you can be valuable for them.
Find out how they prefer to be contacted. Start with something less personal like an email and move on sending them a Tweet and to calling them directly.
Once you’ve created a situation that benefits them, you can grow your relationship.
What do you think about this approach to approaching? Share your ideas in the comments.
The foundation for marketing is always a story. You don’t market a product, service, or a subscription. If you’re not perfectly clear about what your story is, check out the free Guide to Premeditated Marketing.
Once you know your story, you need to tell it. But even if you create a perfect marketing campaign, you won’t reach all of your potential customers. When you put your story wherever possible, you increase your chances of reaching your audience. The more your prospects come across your story, the more they’ll relate to it. Here’s some ideas about where you can tell that story, or at least the “elevator pitch” version of it.
1. Back of your business card. The back of a business card is free marketing space. If you don’t use it, you lose a possibility to influence your prospects.
2. Your email signature. Email signatures are a good place for your story. When your email gets forwarded, your story can reach new people.
3. Your website’s footer. People are used to finding information about you and your company from the footer area. The first piece of information they find should be your story.
4. Invoices. When you send an invoice, you can reinforce your story in it.
5. Receipts. Why not print your story in the receipts your customers get? When they check the receipt later, they’ll be reminded of what you’re about.
6. Product manuals. If you create product manuals for your customers, add your story next to your logo.
7. In videos. If you create video content, you should add your story in it somehow.
8. Inside your web content. Your story will create the best results when you embed it in content, because it’s then seen as content instead of marketing.
9. In your by-line. If you write content to websites (or magazines) other than your own, you’ll add a by-line of you in the end. That by-line should tell your story.
10. What’s the last place? Share your idea in the comments below. And if you liked this post, share it with your friends.
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Joint marketing has a few different meanings. Here I’m writing about the idea that two or more companies join their marketing efforts. This is the least used and least discussed form of joint marketing. But it may be the best thing you can do for your business.
The advantages of joint marketing are compelling. The costs are smaller, when they’re divided. And if done well, it will create greater rewards for both businesses.
There are many ways to join marketing efforts, from TV advertising to content marketing. Which marketing method to use depends of the situation.
There are a three different situations where joint marketing can be used naturally and effectively.
This form of joint marketing is used the most. It has the most obvious benefits and almost any company can use it.
Example 1: A car company and an insurance company could easily use joint marketing. When you buy a car, you’ll need the insurance as well.
Example 2: A knitting yarn producer could team with a needle company. Until you have a nice stock of needles, you need to buy new ones for each knitting project. And many knitters are eager to try every new needle available to find “the perfect” needles.
This form of joint marketing is close to the first one. The difference is that in the first form the products need each other, but in this form they only complement each other.
Example 1: A real estate agent and a furniture store. When you buy a new home, you probably want some new furniture.
Example 2: A gym and a training shoe producer. You’re unlikely to buy a new pair of shoes every time you go to the gym, but the products are still closely related. Joint marketing could easily benefit both.
This form of joint marketing is taking its baby steps. You might’ve seen some advertisements where the principle idea is used.
Example 1: A clothing line and a band can share the same buyer persona. Though clothing companies have sponsored artists for a long time, I haven’t seen this form of joint marketing used effectively, more than occasinally.
Example 2: An organic food store and a book store often share a buyer persona. That buyer persona is the ethically aware university student who’d rather eat organically, and who reads for pleasure and because of the studying.
Your imagination is the only limit when you think of ways to use joint marketing to your advantage. The only principle: The marketed products need to add to the value of the other, in the marketing effort. So, they don’t actually have to be related, but the advertisement should be somehow more valuable to the prospect, because of the joint marketing.
If you have examples or ideas to share, I’d love to hear them. Write a short comment…
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Buyer personas are the individual and identifiable groups of people who buy your products. For example a stereo store has at least three important and very distinct buyer personas.
1. Those looking for a better stereo system. They’re usually men and they generally don’t mind the appearances of the stereo system. Instead they want the ability to listen to LP’s, radio, and CD’s, and just relax with music. They’re not satisfied with their current stereos, so they’ve decided to pay a little more than what they paid for the previous set. But they do have an understanding about the price range they’re looking into. They’re not the most patient customers, but they probably don’t need the products immediately. They like the feeling they get when they buy a new gadget.
2. Hi-fi enthusiasts. A group of almost solely men, who will spend a lot of time pondering the purchase. They’ll test every possible product at their home. They’re interested in technical specifics. They enjoy the process of testing more than the purchase. They like to talk about their preferences and hear the sales people’s ideas, but they don’t believe anyone but themselves. Price is very important; the higher the better, they’ll often buy the most expensive option they can afford … and then some.
3. Women (apologies for the generalization, this is just one buyer persona) looking for something that will satisfy their men’s desire for new gizmos, and their own sense of esthetics. They’re very price concerned. Only technical specifics are less important than the actual sound quality.
These buyer personas aren’t extremely specific, but they give you the idea of what a buyer persona means. Different buyer personas are looking for different things, so you should treat them differently. And not only in the sales situation, but in your marketing too.
Firstly, all the people who visit your store or your website aren’t buyers. Base your assessment of your buyer personas on buying customers, not browsers, yourself, thieves, or friends visiting you. But what should a buyer persona define? And remember: you’re like to have more than one buyer persona for your business; specify as many as you can think of.
1. Gender. I realize this may feel awkward for some people, but you should know the gender of a specific buyer persona. But only if it’s possible. Some buyer personas are not gender specific.
2. Age. The age of a buyer persona is the simplest part of the profile. The age of a person tells you a lot abut them. How you view the world and what you prioritize, depend largely on your age.
3. Profession. In B-to-B business you know the profession of the buyer. But in B-to-C business this may not be so obvious. But if you can find a common profession or a status of a buyer, you can make your buyer persona profile much more accurate. It’s also very important to know how well they understand your product, are they professional users of laymen.
4. Financial situation. This is one of the most important aspects of the profile, so make sure you get it right. Don’t concentrate on your customers’ bank accounts, but make note how much they’re willing to pay. And how easily they make the decision to buy; it tells you how important your products are for them.
5. Purpose. Why do they buy your products? Some products have more applications (like fabrics) than others (nail clippers). The purpose of your product is the core of your marketing. If you don’t know what your customers use your product for, you can’t market or sell it effectively.
6. Education. How well-educated is the buyer persona? The educational background makes the profile deeper. It can help you figure out how they process information. Do they understand graphs, statistics, and study results, or are they more concerned with customer testimonials and simplified features.
7. Free time. How do they spend their time? Common hobbies, interests, TV shows, even eating habits can get you closer to them. You cannot know your buyer persona too well, so even these small details can prove to be valuable.
8. Buying decision. Which factors they take into account when they make the decision to buy? Price, features, ease of use, customer service, and resell value, can all play a part in the decision. If you don’t understand this part of your customers, your marketing can only work if you get lucky.
9. Shopping habits. What else do they buy? This is important when you start creating your business network. What else can you offer to them, and what else are they looking for.
When you have detailed buyer personas, you can, and you must, use them in your marketing. Here’s a few ways to use buyer personas in marketing.
1. Address specific people. When you know your buyer, you can talk to him/her directly. You don’t have to say, “you” when you can say, “25-year old man, living in the suburbs”.
2. Address specific problems. Talking about a specific problem is more engaging than a general problem. But it only works if you address a problem your buyers have, so you need to know your buyer personas first.
3. Address specific beliefs. You can create a feeling of being talked directly at with beliefs. For example, “This product is healthy.” is less engaging than, “Your children need more vitamins, that the school system doesn’t provide.”
4. Pinpoint accurate placement. Placement is a key to effective marketing. When you understand your buyer personas, you know where they are, and how to reach them at the right time.
5. Showcasing the right price range. If you market a product a buyer cannot afford, they won’t buy it. And they’ll be left with a belief that you’re over priced for them.
Understanding your buyer personas isn’t enough to create effective marketing. First you need to understand your story. Then you need to understand your customers (more than just the buyer personas). And only by framing your story correctly, you can create an effective marketing message.
If you don’t know sure you understand all the steps, I’ve created a free guide to Premeditated Marketing, that describes in more detail these aspects. And a couple more aspects, equally essential for effective marketing.
I can also recommend David Meerman Scott’s book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR
I’d like to hear what your buyer personas include. Do you think of something that wasn’t discussed here? Share your ideas in the comments below.
