There is a new critical skill that has emerged with all the Internet innovations and tools now available to small business. From Facebook groups, Twitter pages, free classified sites and blogs, anybody can now go online and create a marketing presence for very little money. This is the good news.
The bad news is the Internet is getting more crowded by the minute as a new generation of entrepreneurs go virtual. This means if you own a small business, you have to get smarter about standing out and getting noticed.
The ability to write web copy is now the new competitive advantage. Let's examine why.
Every website that offers free or low cost marketing solutions typically have very little flexibility in terms of layout and design. Usually you are able to pick from a few templates and upload some pictures. Most of the time, everything else is text based. This means there is nothing else that differentiates you from competitors except the words you choose to include in the copy.
We at My Perfect Economy experimented with the social meeting organization site Meetup.com, and online classified site Kijiji.com on behalf of our clients. We took advantage of some free trials and created two different campaigns. The first was written using basic copy. Nothing fancy there. The second campaign, we implemented copy writing techniques that are standard to the direct marketing and advertising industry.
We pulled a pretty good response on our first Meetup.com campaign, but we found we were bombarded with questions and the actual turnout was OK at best. Our second campaign actually pulled less response, but the turnout conversion was of much higher quality. We asked each attendee why they chose to come to our Meetup versus other ones and each clearly articulated that our group descriptions stood out. Some even remarked that many other Meetup organizers seem to update their pages using SMS or mobile email devices which results in no formatting and spelling mistakes. The fact our copy was professional and enticing created more legitimacy for our group because with so many choices, one can never really tell what is professional or not.
Our Kijiji experiment was much more glaring in the results discrepancies. The primary difference between the two campaigns was in the headline of each listing. When comparing the first and second campaigns, the second campaign with a direct response headline pulled 300% more views. In fact, the Kijiji ads pulled more response and views than some of the paid listings on other websites.
What makes the difference? Here are a few tips when writing marketing copy for the web.
ATTENTION: Your page headers, titles or headlines should hit emotional hot buttons. This requires an understanding of the demographic on the media or website you are working with.
INTEREST: Making bold promises or statements is interesting. Internet users have shorter attention spans than preschoolers on caffeine. So just come out and make an impression. This can be done with guarantees or with information that might not be common knowledge. Be different here.
DESIRE: Don't tell people what they need, speak to what they want. You create desire by sharing benefits not features. Don't share what your company or product does, share how it will change their lives.
CONVICTION: This is just like a court case. To get a conviction you need evidence people can believe. Simply stating you are the best doesn't cut it. You need compelling evidence like stats, testimonials and educational information.
COMMITMENT: Clearly define what the next steps of action are. Create urgency. Let them know if there is a limited time or quantity. Tell them what to say if they call or what link to click on the website. Again, be clear and spell it out. The advantage of defining an action for commitment is you can actually track where you are driving results.
It doesn't take much to recognize good web copy from copy that just blends in with the rest of the noise. Spend time noticing the difference and train yourself to emulate the key traits that lead to success.
Yes, a lot of web marketing opportunities may be low cost to free, but that doesn't mean they will generate any more results for you. At least you don't have to pay for mistakes but remember; word on the Internet travels fast so your window to make the right impression is a lot smaller than you might think.
Indefinite Exposure Opportunity for Your Business: Does your company's products or services relate to this article or any other content on My Perfect Economy? Become a sponsor and not only take advantage of an integrated online campaign, but change the world at the same time through our Creative Capital and Social Enterprise marketing program. Learn more about advertising with us here>
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The bad news is the Internet is getting more crowded by the minute as a new generation of entrepreneurs go virtual. This means if you own a small business, you have to get smarter about standing out and getting noticed.
The ability to write web copy is now the new competitive advantage. Let's examine why.
Every website that offers free or low cost marketing solutions typically have very little flexibility in terms of layout and design. Usually you are able to pick from a few templates and upload some pictures. Most of the time, everything else is text based. This means there is nothing else that differentiates you from competitors except the words you choose to include in the copy.
We at My Perfect Economy experimented with the social meeting organization site Meetup.com, and online classified site Kijiji.com on behalf of our clients. We took advantage of some free trials and created two different campaigns. The first was written using basic copy. Nothing fancy there. The second campaign, we implemented copy writing techniques that are standard to the direct marketing and advertising industry.
We pulled a pretty good response on our first Meetup.com campaign, but we found we were bombarded with questions and the actual turnout was OK at best. Our second campaign actually pulled less response, but the turnout conversion was of much higher quality. We asked each attendee why they chose to come to our Meetup versus other ones and each clearly articulated that our group descriptions stood out. Some even remarked that many other Meetup organizers seem to update their pages using SMS or mobile email devices which results in no formatting and spelling mistakes. The fact our copy was professional and enticing created more legitimacy for our group because with so many choices, one can never really tell what is professional or not.
Our Kijiji experiment was much more glaring in the results discrepancies. The primary difference between the two campaigns was in the headline of each listing. When comparing the first and second campaigns, the second campaign with a direct response headline pulled 300% more views. In fact, the Kijiji ads pulled more response and views than some of the paid listings on other websites.
What makes the difference? Here are a few tips when writing marketing copy for the web.
ATTENTION: Your page headers, titles or headlines should hit emotional hot buttons. This requires an understanding of the demographic on the media or website you are working with.
INTEREST: Making bold promises or statements is interesting. Internet users have shorter attention spans than preschoolers on caffeine. So just come out and make an impression. This can be done with guarantees or with information that might not be common knowledge. Be different here.
DESIRE: Don't tell people what they need, speak to what they want. You create desire by sharing benefits not features. Don't share what your company or product does, share how it will change their lives.
CONVICTION: This is just like a court case. To get a conviction you need evidence people can believe. Simply stating you are the best doesn't cut it. You need compelling evidence like stats, testimonials and educational information.
COMMITMENT: Clearly define what the next steps of action are. Create urgency. Let them know if there is a limited time or quantity. Tell them what to say if they call or what link to click on the website. Again, be clear and spell it out. The advantage of defining an action for commitment is you can actually track where you are driving results.
It doesn't take much to recognize good web copy from copy that just blends in with the rest of the noise. Spend time noticing the difference and train yourself to emulate the key traits that lead to success.
Yes, a lot of web marketing opportunities may be low cost to free, but that doesn't mean they will generate any more results for you. At least you don't have to pay for mistakes but remember; word on the Internet travels fast so your window to make the right impression is a lot smaller than you might think.
Indefinite Exposure Opportunity for Your Business: Does your company's products or services relate to this article or any other content on My Perfect Economy? Become a sponsor and not only take advantage of an integrated online campaign, but change the world at the same time through our Creative Capital and Social Enterprise marketing program. Learn more about advertising with us here>
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