Author Archives: Jodi Kaplan

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Is Your Email Viral or Vile?

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Viral tegument

Viral tegument (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An old adage says that happy customers tell three people. Unhappy customers tell 11 people. Viral marketing depends on using word-of-mouth, social networks (in-person or online) and email to spread ideas and information. And, in this age of social media, email marketing failures can spread faster than ever.

As in the real world, viruses can be helpful, or downright nasty. Remember that statistic? Three people if you’re happy; 11 if you’re not. Here’s what happened and how to avoid this email marketing mistake.

Is this email viral? Or is it vile?

A friend got a holiday email from a client a few months ago, which she forwarded to me.

It was addressed “Dear [name of company]  friend,”

It thanked her for being part of their family of customers, partners, and friends. Then, it directed her to a link. The link led to their web site, where holiday music played and the background showed all their offices worldwide.

It wasn’t personalized. Don’t you greet your friends and family by name?  Personalizing your emails make them more, well personal, more human.  Personalizing isn’t hard to do.  It’s just adding a simple field in your email form.

Are you being human and helpful? Or annoying?

But, this email wasn’t really about human connections.  It was all about the company sending it.

There was nothing to interact with except to see more… about them. How many offices they have, the number of people they employ.

It was entirely self-focused.  In fact, the only thing remarkable about it is how bad it was. The only reason I kept clicking was “for science.”

Is your email about you? Or about your customers?

Was it supposed to be viral? Make people care? Feel good about the company?

Is that the right way to interact with your customers? And make them feel good about being your customers in the first place?

I don’t know how many people saw this email, or if my friend sent it to other people as well, but I do know I’d never hire this company.

What do you think? How could they have done better?

Simple or Complicated? Which Works Best in Copywriting for Websites?

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Image thanks to Rohan Baumann

When you’re writing copy for your website should you write simply and plainly? Or is it better to show off your mastery of industry jargon and use plenty of insider buzzwords?

In response to a post about writing great headlines, Zachariah wanted to know if you wrote a song, and couldn’t think of a title, would it be better to call it something like “greatest song ever” or give it a title that was more eloquent? Would that stand out more than a title that’s easy to read?

Should you show off your writing skills on your website?

It’s an easy trap, especially if you’re a writer and have a large vocabulary. You want to show off all those big words you worked so very hard to learn. All of them. From antidisestablishmentarianism to syzygy (that’s when three celestial objects are aligned) and Zoroastrian.

Adapt to your audience

For one thing, it’s best not to talk to surfers the way you’d talk to brain surgeons. “Dude, that’s one gnarly aneurysm.”

However, even if your audience is brain surgeons, they’re still people. Your headline and the words you use have to be easy to grasp and digest quickly.

Using long words or jargon or even puns, can make it harder for your readers to understand what you’re saying. If they can’t understand you, they won’t keep reading.  Instead, they’ll leave your landing page or your website and go look elsewhere for the information they want.

Speak to them directly

Don’t make it about you and your company.  Talk to your audience.  Use words such as “you” and ‘your” more than you use words like “we” and “our.”  Use a conversational tone (generally), and show sympathy for their problems.

Keep it simple

Going back to Zach’s imaginary song, it will get more listeners with a title like “I Gotta Be Me!” than it would with a name such as “Melodic Ruminations on a Theme of Personal Development and Growth.”

Make it easy as ABC, 1-2-3. Even if it’s hard. Reading it aloud can help.  If it’s hard to say, it’s probably hard to read.  Try it on a child. If she doesn’t understand you, go back to the drawing board.

What website copywriting tips do you have for keeping things simple? How do you overcome the “curse” of a large vocabulary?

Remarkable Can Be Small (Part 3)

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bouquet of flowers imageThis is the third in a continuing series on how small differences can make you stand out from your competition in a big way.

The first two posts are here and here and the final two are here and here.

There was a big storm in the northeast last weekend. Bob Poole had major damage to his house; he said he felt like he was in The Wizard of Oz. He called several companies to come over and assess the damage. The first one arrived with a bouquet of flowers. He said, “Nobody else brought flowers. I bet they spend over $1,000 a year on flowers. They will more than recover that on this one job.”

Here’s another example. I recently wrote a guest post about writing great headlines. I suggested using magazines to get ideas for headlines, and gave a few examples of how to change the headlines so they worked for your business.

A small thing, but it made a big difference to Kiesha, who said she’d read many, many articles on writing headlines, but “this is the first that actually takes the time to do a brief, yet highly effective comparison to demonstrate how to actually make those magazine headlines apply to blogging! Awesome!”

What small steps could you take to be remarkable? Or, are you already doing something that makes you stand out? Tell us in the comments.

Flowers compliments of hello-julie

What Can Birthday Cakes Tell Us About Marketing?

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Why all the cakes?

They’re not there to make you hungry.

They’re there to make a point about marketing personalization strategies.

Three friends, three cakes

My invisible (that’s invisible, not imaginary!) friend Megan had a birthday in January. I couldn’t be there in person, since she’s in Austin and I’m in New York City, so I got her some cyber cupcakes.

Two weeks ago, Jill, another faraway friend had a birthday too, so I sent her chocolate cake.

This Monday, it was my friend Bronwyn’s turn. Her cake was elegant and decorated with flowers.

A funky, creative friend got cupcakes that matched her personality, an extra-chocolatey cake for my chocolate-loving friend, and an elegant cake for the one who’s a member of the Royal Commonwealth Society.

Give them what they want

Aside from wishing my friends happy birthday, I made choices based on my friend’s preferences, not my own.

Do the same with your potential customers. Create an image in your mind of what they like, need, or want. You can even create a series of biographies. Name them. Draw up a profile of what they’re like and the kinds of information they’re looking for.

To each, her own cake

For example, if you’re a blog consultant, you might have some prospects who are complete beginners and don’t quite know the difference between a blog and a blog post.

Other readers may already have blogs, but want some tips on how to improve them (attract more traffic, get more comments).

A third group might be more interested in technical information – like tips for using PHP (blog programming language) or developing plugins.

This is especially important if you have more than one niche. Create content, products, and services that meet what your specific audience wants, needs, and can pay for.

Do you think this is important? Do you have buyer bios? Or, have you asked your readers for their opinions? Tell me what you think.  And, which cake is your favorite?

Cake images, in order, thanks to:
morguefile, morguefile, and tim parkinson

OK: Confession. Bronwyn, if you’re reading this, you probably noticed that’s a different cake. When I went back to the cake I sent you, I found that it was OK to share, but not OK to use commercially. So, I had to improvise. Hope you like this one too.

The Truth About Buying Direct Mail Lists

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Image thanks to:  fdecomite

Sometimes, the old and unexpected can be new and fresh. Paper direct mail (aka snail mail) may seem out of date and old-fashioned, but being able to hold something (and look at it any time) can be very powerful.

In fact, Smashing Magazine had a feature the other day about creating snail mail campaigns.

But, if you’re going to do a mailing, you’re going to need a list of people to send it to. The obvious first place to start is with the people you already know: your clients, your prospects, and your contacts. You’ll get a better response from people who already know and like you.

If you don’t have clients yet, or your list isn’t big enough, you’ll need to get more names.  What are your options?

Buying a list

Purchasing a list is a bad idea. Purchased lists are generally compiled – meaning that they were put together without any action or purchase from the people on the list. They haven’t asked for anything, or expressed any interest in what you’re selling. Worse, the information is usually out-of-date.

Renting a list

You’re better off renting a list. This means paying for a single use of a list owned by someone else. It might be a list of conference attendees, subscribers to a trade publication, or members of an association in your target market.

Borrowing a list

By borrow I mean bartering (or trading) with someone who already has a list of people you want to reach. Share resources with them. You could provide the design in return for a mention, or do a co-op mailing (where several companies share costs – think ValPak coupons – but more creative).

Have you tried snail mail?  What happened?  Were you pleased with the results?  Need help?  Ask me.