You only have a few seconds to capture people’s attention and get them to take action. Whether you’re creating a website, an advertisement, an email or a sales letter, the creative message is the most important element. Without a strong message, you’ll be ignored. Here are 3 simple tips to get more people to respond to your marketing:
Sell the Offer, Not the Product
The CEO of a furniture retailer we’re doing a website redesign for gets it. She said, “When customers visit my site, I want them to know why they’d want to buy from us, not just what we sell”.
This is fundamental thinking! Why? Because she sells the same furniture brands that her competitors sell, both online and in-store. So, how does she compete with the ones that offer it cheaper?
She sells the offer—a lifetime warranty on furniture. If something goes wrong, she sends out a truck with a new piece and picks up the old one. No muss, no fuss. It speaks to quality of product (it has to be good because she couldn’t afford to keep replacing) and customer service.
Stick to One Message
Novice marketers make the mistake of filling up ad space or airtime with as much information as they can fit. Heck, they’re paying for the space, so they might as well get the most out of it, right? Nope, this is marketing—not packing a carry-on for a weekend in Vegas!
Mixing too many messages into promotional copy (text, audio or video) is a surefire way to bore or confuse people and turn your marketing investment into a goose egg return. Stick to one message, incorporate the action step you want people to take—and sell the offer, not the product!
Understand the Two Step Process of Engagement
Successful creative messaging gets people to move through at least two steps—taking notice and/or taking action.
For example, in digital display and paid search advertising, your ad copy needs to compel the right people to click your ad (the first action) and then your landing page copy needs to sell the offer so they do what you ultimately want them to do (the second action).
If you’re writing copy for a print advertisement, your creative needs to be interesting enough to divert their attention from the editorial they were reading (take notice). Then, your offer needs to be relevant and compelling enough to take another action—like call, email, visit your website, visit your store, etc (take action).
The same rules can be applied to radio, television, sales letters, emails, direct mail and more.
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