Image courtesy of photosteve101’s photostream
Along the same lines of, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it,” your online marketing efforts sometimes need to be reminded of this. It’s easy to get caught up in a frenzy of all the tactical to-dos in marketing a website, service or product, but taking a step back to make sure you are properly saying what you want to convey to your audience is important, too.
Remember, as the late, great Peter Drucker used to say, the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. Much of that has to do with the “how” it’s said rather than the “what.” Here are some simple, yet effective ways to make sure you’re not only doing the right things, but saying them correctly, as well.
Use the Word “You”
An easy way to tweak your copy to make it more effective is to get rid of your first person perspective. I’m not talking about speaking in third person to abide by any formal writing rules; rather, this is to remove the “I”s from the equation and make it all about them, your audience. Use the word “you” in place of “I” and flip the story, if needed. People tend to take great interest in themselves by human nature – we like to hear how others see us and project us into different scenarios. Turn your scenarios into their scenarios with this simple phrasing edit.
If you absolutely have to keep yourself in the equation (let’s say you’re literally telling your story), then use headlines to put the readers in your shoes. For instance, if you were sharing a secret to getting more hours in a day, and this was something you figured out through some experience, tell the story of that experience but put a headline above it that says something along the lines of, “An Incredible Discovery that Will Allow You to Get More Hours in a Day!”
Get Personal and Interact
This one is still focused on getting personal but different. It’s actually so simple to do this, but very few actually do. Whether they just don’t want to put the sweat equity into doing it or they’re embarrassed, we’ll never know, but it’s a shame. Both the purpose and power in social media is the ability to connect with people. Often we lose sight of this and stop focusing on actual individuals, which is a big mistake.
Instead of making that mistake and letting your content and brand go unnoticed, why not actually talk to some individuals who may become brand ambassadors and do some of the heavy lifting for you (and much better than you would have). Simply mention a few of your audience members from time to time, reply to them, tag them. It doesn’t matter what network, just that you do it.
Read Tabloids
Yes, you read that correctly – I said you should read the tabloids. There’s a good chance that you peek over at them when you’re in line at the supermarket anyway, which proves my point. Some of the best, most attention-grabbing copy appears on the front page of these trashy gossip magazines. While the actual content is often useless, there’s something to be said and modeled about how they write to generate curiosity.
Promote Much More
Lastly, if you do find that you’re getting caught up in the tactical minutia in your online efforts, remember that content is important, but you should be spending more time promoting your content. Viewership is the only way that your content translates into value for anyone.
Good post!