No Accounting for Some People

Most advertising and marketing seems to talk to itself, with companies touting things only of interest to themselves.

For example, I recently had a meeting with a business owner who was complaining about the time he’d wasted that morning listening to a presentation/sales pitch from an accounting firm that wanted his business. He’d seen them as a favor for a friend of a friend, and was regretting his charity.

First, the majority of the presentation was a PowerPoint, the best meeting killer around. (Honestly, have you ever been impressed with a PowerPoint presentation?)

Second, the presentation was loaded only with facts of interest only to the accounting firm: how long it had been in business. How many partners it had. The certifications of each. And on and on.

Has anyone ever said, “My accounting firm must have at least 20 years of experience”?

My current accountant’s sales pitch was all of five minutes. He asked me a few questions without ever talking about himself. He learned that I was most concerned with putting money away for retirement. “What if,” he asked me, “I could show you how to put more money away for retirement without increasing your out-of-pocket expenses, with everything paid for with tax savings?”

“How could I do that?”

In three minutes he described a different way of setting up my business — very legal, common, conservative and above board, by the by — that would save me thousands of dollars a year in taxes, all of which could be allocated for retirement. I’d still have the same amount of money going into my bank account every month.

He set it up, and it worked exactly as he said it would. That was in late 1999, and he’s still my accountant. (In fact, he’s since moved several states away, but he keeps up on my state’s regulations because he has several clients here.)

I happen to know how many partners his firm has, because his firm is just him. How long has he been in business? What are his certifications? To this day I still have no idea.

If he’s ever done a PowerPoint for himself, I’ve never seen it. But I’ve recommended him to several other people, and they all switched their business to him.

Does your marketing spew scattershot information that impresses no one but yourself? Or does it identify your prospects’ real needs and show how you can fulfill those needs?

New Sales Strategy: Show Up

Today we interviewed a new client who has devised a fiendishly simple, yet remarkably effective, sales strategy: he shows up. More specifically, he gives an underserved niche in his industry — a very large niche — the time of day.

In return, they give him large checks.

“Eighty percent of success,” as Woody Allen famously observed, “is showing up.” Here’s how it works for our new client:

His insurance agency exclusively offers insurance to owners of apartment buildings in New York with fewer than 100 apartments. (In New York this is considered a small building.) Most of these folks are ignored by insurance agents. Many complain that the only communication they ever receive from their agent is a bill.

He takes the time to educate them a little about the insurance they need, and in return approximately half become his clients. Twenty minutes of Commercial Building Insurance 101, and he lands a new client at least half the time.

Is your sales batting average over .500?

Here’s another example: I sometimes drop in, unannounced, on a client. Usually I’m in the neighborhood and just saying hello. Almost every time it turns into new paying work: “Hey, as long as you’re here, can we give you this project?” A 20-minute visit, when balanced against the dollar value of the projects it generates, is the most lucrative and successful form of marketing I can imagine.

In addition, clients are loyal to people who pay attention to them and treat them as important. This is true in industry after industry, and pays dividends beyond sales and revenue. (A recent study, for example, showed that people don’t file malpractice suits against doctors who listen to them and answer their questions, rather than brusquely rushing them out of the office, even when mistakes or bad outcomes occur.)

When was the last time you got out from behind your desk and actually visited your clients? When was the last time you called one of your clients and said, “Tell your employees not to eat breakfast tomorrow morning, because I’m coming in with a tray of bagels?” How often do you call your smaller clients, not to make a sales pitch, but just to see how they’re doing?

In other words:

• Talk to your clients regularly, even if you have no business reason to do so.
• Find underserved market niches within your industry, and give them some attention.

It works.

It’s not about you. (At least, it shouldn’t be.)

Have you ever noticed how boring most company websites are? In almost every case, most of the copy highlights selects facts about their organization—when they were founded, who’s running the company, their commitment to customer service, etc.—and then list their services or products.

Who cares?

If I’m visiting an insurance company’s website, I probably have a need in the immediate or near future. Telling me what year you were founded or how long you’ve had an office in Paducah, Kentucky, doesn’t help solve that need.

If you’re interested in using your website as a marketing tool that actually increases revenue, keep the following points in mind when creating content:

• Who is my target audience? Back to English 101, you need to know whom you’re writing for if you want them to read—and connect with—your message. You may have more than one audience. Organize your website and write the copy accordingly.
• Why are these audiences visiting my site? Are they shopping around for the best price? Are they looking for more information? The answers to these questions should shape your content.
• How can I meet visitors’ needs? If you need inspiration, check out the competition. (Chances are, they’re too busy touting their own praises to address client needs.) Provide information that will help your audience achieve their goals, fulfill their desires, etc.

Whatever you do, don’t devote your website to talking about how wonderful your company and your services or products are. Once you’ve proven that you understand your audience and can make their lives better, they’ll reach the desired conclusion on their own.

Do Your Documents Show Your Age?

Back in the day, Ms. Nancy Duty taught me—and the rest of Bruceville-Eddy High school—to use two spaces at the end of every sentence and after colons. Most of us were learning to type on IBM Selectrics, although a few were using the newfangled electronic typewriters. (The previous year, my eighth-grade class had started to learn typing on Macs, but the school still had a limited number of computers.)

I never gave any further thought to this practice until I read an article on typesetting in John McWade’s Before & After magazine. This design guru said that the extra space wasn’t necessary in computer typesetting. I stopped using the second space immediately, but I’ve continued to encounter—and delete—countless extra spaces over the last 15 years.

As Cathline Marshall of Studio K&M once pointed out, that extra space “shows your age.” It tells readers that you learned to type in the BC era (before computers), when fonts were monospaced and the letter “m” took up just as much space as the letter “l”. In fact, HTML automatically deletes the second space, requiring serious effort to stick in that little character.

And really, why would you?

Did they ever give us a good reason for that extra space? Ms. Duty told us to use it, period. Sort of like the Ten Commandments coming down from Mount Sinai. Originally, this rule improved readability by clearly showing the end of a sentence, but with the advent of computers and variable-spaced fonts, it was no longer necessary.

Now, it’s annoying. (I can’t count the number of times I’ve found an extra space lurking in an otherwise-pristine document—usually because I tried to manually eliminate all the little offenders.)

Maybe you’re old school, and you honestly think that there’s a legitimate reason for using that extra space. Please accept the fact that this is no longer standard practice, and try not to be offended when editors remove every last one of those buggers.

Don’t believe me? Check out the Chicago Manual of Style.

7 Critical Elements in Direct Marketing Campaigns

Direct marketing campaigns require seven proven elements to be successful. Omitting any of these can seriously reduce the effectiveness of your efforts.

• Target Audience Development – Who is your audience/target market? Identify specific characteristics/needs/wants of your ideal customer and develop ways to appeal to those characteristics.

• List Management – Your prospect database is the single most important body of information you possess. Outdated or inaccurate prospect lists waste expenses in lost leads and time.

• Graphic Design – Visual appearance is the key to making a positive first impression and gaining your prospect’s attention long enough to convey your written message.

• Copywriting – The critical element to compel your target audience to act (buy, call, browse website or catalog).

• Copy Editing – Trim the fat and polish your language to make sure your message hits home. Nothing destroys your credibility faster than shoddy or amateurish copy.

• Distribution – The impact of your campaign and your cost-per-lead are directly affected by the way you distribute your message, whether by direct mail, e-mail, phone calls, etc. You must know, based on your knowledge about target audience, what approach will be most effective while minimizing cost.

• Tracking and Follow-Up – The most important step to seeing real return on your marketing investment. With good tracking and consistent follow-up, you will emerge from this process with qualified leads and sales.

Playing the Numbers Game: Percentages & Time

Howard Levy, principal of Red Rooster Group, asks the following questions about proper style for percentages and time:

When you have a range of numbers referred to in a sentence, do you use an en dash or the word “to”? As in “20 to 40%” or “20 – 40%”?

Also, would you use the % sign after both the 20 and the 40?

What about time ranges? Do you need to use the :00 in all cases, even if some times start at :30, as in 6 – 7:30 pm vs. 6:00 – 7:30?

All excellent questions. As is typical when dealing with English grammar rules and style guidelines, the answers depend on the circumstances.

Percentages

• When working with a technical document, the standard convention calls for a numeral and the percentage sign. Ex. The control group experienced a 5%–7% reduction in discomfort.
• In nontechnical text, the convention is to use the numeral with the word percent. Ex. Marci predicted a 75 percent chance that John would cancel their date.
• That being said, The Chicago Manual of Style advocates use of the percentage symbol in nontechnical text that’s chock-full of percentages. Direct-response marketing copy, which relies heavily on specific proof, falls into this category. (Plus, testing shows that the percentage sign does a better job of grabbing readers’ attention.) Ex. This little-known stock produced gains of 286% after only six months.

Beyond that, using “to” versus an en dash or opting for one or two percentage signs depends on house style or client preference. The style selected simply needs to be consistent—certainly within the document and preferably throughout the organization’s materials.

Time of Day

Use numerals—including the zeros for even hours—when emphasizing exact time. (Times ranges fall in this category.) Ex. The meeting was scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. and end at 7:30 p.m.

When referring to time of day in even, half or quarter hours, spell it out. Ex. The wedding ceremony begins at two thirty.

If you’re curious, the appropriate style for abbreviating ante meridiem and post meridiem is either lowercase with periods (a.m. and p.m.) or small caps without periods (which I can’t figure out with WordPress’s limited formatting options).

Don’t Leave ‘Em Dangling

Here’s something to avoid in your written communications. Inexperienced writers (and even some experienced ones!) occasionally make dangling participle errors. Sound like something your high-school English teacher would say? Maybe, but professionals do not dare to make errors like these. Professional-level writing requires a professional-level understanding of grammar and clarity.

A participle is a verb that is constructed with either an -ing or an -ed ending that may be used as an adjective.

• Ex.: He ate scrambled eggs for breakfast. She enjoys her expanding portfolio.

Adding a participle to related words creates a participial phrase.

• Ex.:  Still holding the newspaper in his mouth, the dog ran from his master.

But notice what happens when the participial phrase is moved to the end. Consider the following:

• Ex.: The dog ran from his master, still holding the newspaper in his mouth.

The author likely intended the participial phrase to apply to the dog, but it doesn’t in this case because it is placed beside “master.” Is the master holding the newspaper in his mouth?

Here are two more examples:

• Ex.:  After being whipped fiercely, the cook boiled the egg.
• Ex.:  Flitting gaily from flower to flower, the football player watched the bee.

Has the cook just been flogged? Does the linebacker flit gaily?

The grammatical problem in these sentences rests with the placement of the participles and their antecedents, the nouns which are modified. A participle without a clear antecedent is called a “dangling participle,” because it’s left “dangling.” Make sure that phrases modifying nouns are placed beside the noun being modified.

7 Marketing Questions to Survive a Down Economy

With businesses everywhere scrambling to maintain their customer base, some basics can occasionally be forgotten amidst panic and uncertainty. So let’s get back to basics.

Some studies estimate that the typical American is subjected to more than 30,000 marketing hits a year, or more than 80 hits a day. Depending on where one lives, that estimate could be much higher. With that kind of clutter, how can businesses make their message heard? By asking yourself a few simple questions about your business.

1. Are we passionate about our product or service? Without the real belief and passion that your product is superior, how can you convince others that it is? Your passion and commitment—or the lack thereof—will come through, and your customers will notice.

2. Are we consistent with marketing and promotions? Successful marketing requires consistency. Fresh, memorable advertising; newsletters that run like clockwork; regular direct marketing and follow-up. Do these things haphazardly at your peril.

3. Do we have a clear benefit? Marketing 101, but sometimes this basic idea is forgotten. You have to sell something your customers want. Find out what they want through research. Should your company introduce a new product or service:

• Because it’s easy to make?
• To use up old inventory?
• Because your customers want it?

The best answer should be clear.

4. Are we communicating our benefits? Getting excited about your product’s latest super-cool features often overshadows the most important thing: telling the customer why those features are so cool. Why do those features matter?

5. What is our position in the market? Unless you invent a unique new paradigm for products and services, your market is already crowded with competitors. How does your company compare? Don’t tug on Superman’s cape, and don’t face off against your biggest competitor on its own turf. Find your niche, and exploit it shamelessly. If your competitor is selling the same benefits for half the price, you’re still doomed.

6. How many more marketing techniques can we employ? Creative marketing strategies are limited only by the imagination. Basics such as the Yellow Pages, print, pay-per-click ads, direct mail, etc. are all designed to put you in front of your customer’s eyes and make a sale. Going beyond the basics, however, can be effective and lucrative. How many other strategies can you conceive? Social media, viral marketing, other new technologies bring new possible avenues to spread your message.

7. Do our marketing materials make the most powerful possible appeal? Cheap, cobbled-together marketing materials are the kiss of death. Everything you put in customers’ hands—brochure, direct mail package, web site—says volumes about your company. Strong visuals and clean, compelling copy are worth the cost.

Understanding your Audience

In a previous post, we discussed how critical it is to understand your audience, so that you can speak to them most effectively. Casualness and formality are different styles. It’s important to be able to write in styles across the formality spectrum, but they have the same purpose: to help you connect most effectively with your audience. How do you know where to start?

Whether you’re writing business communication or marketing copy, here are some things to keep in mind about your audience, and why.

• Age. The older your audience, the more likely you can expect that they will respond to a higher degree of formality. People of earlier generations value respect and formality; therefore, it is more likely that your communication will connect if you use less casual language.
• Family. People have sets of priorities that vary with the age of their children. Parents of pre-schoolers have different priorities and concerns than parents sending their kids to college. If you can identify those differences, you can use them in your communication.
• Generation. Baby boomers have different needs, wants, and outlooks than Generation Y. Do you know what kind of language each generation responds to? Different types of slang and different social expectations are just a couple of things to think about.
• Interests. Personal interests can have a powerful influence on what kind of language is most effective. Skiers speak a different jargon than skateboarders. Stay-at-home moms have a different vocabulary than female executives. Opera fans respond differently than jazz listeners. If you have information about your audience’s likes and dislikes, incorporating that knowledge into your writing can help you to connect with them.
• Values. What motives your audience? Monetary gain? Political ideology? Religious faith? Social justice? Career advancement? If you know what drives your audience, you can appeal to that drive.
• Social Class/Income. In a society that values egalitarianism and “all men are created equal,” we don’t often like to think about social class, whether including ourselves in one or identifying others as such. It can be a touchy subject, but denying that class distinctions exist can be damaging to your attempts at communication. People who join country clubs are not usually the same people who play in hockey or softball leagues. Think The New Yorker versus People magazine. Forbes versus Field and Stream. Be careful here, but be aware of it.
• Occupation/Profession. Job titles and responsibilities have a huge effect on how your communication will be received. Even if you’re communicating with people in the same company, marketing personnel will have hugely different buttons to be pushed than IT professionals. Upper-echelon executives have different concerns than project managers. Doctors and lawyers respond to different stimuli than private investigators and engineers. In all of these cases, the more you can use language that emulates the language your audience already uses, the more effective your communication will be.

In summary, put yourself in your target’s shoes before and after you start writing, think about your purpose, and then develop a picture of what kind of writing will best appeal to your audience.

Speech Versus Writing—One Pitfall of Not Knowing the Difference

Consider this: casual writing arises from casual speaking. We naturally use a lot of contractions in our speech, most often without thinking about them. (A contraction is the mashing together of a noun and verb am/is/are.) You’re (you are) and they’re (they are) are ubiquitous in speech, and they also lead to some of the most common—and damaging—writing mistakes.

Want to shoot yourself in the foot? Use your in your copy when you actually mean you are or you’re. And don’t confuse they’re with their or there. It’s a common mistake because they sound the same, but there is no quicker way to torpedo your communicative efforts.

How’s this for an example:

Your an excellent customer. Were doing our best to send your order as soon as we can. You’re widgets are almost ready. Their coming by Priority Mail.

Your and their are possessive pronouns, to be used only with a subsequent noun, e.g., your shoes, your money, their jobs, their self-respect, indicating that the noun belongs to or is associated with the pronoun.

When you catch yourself doing this and think, “Oops! What a dummy!” that might be what your boss or your customer would have thought, too, had you sent that communication through.

A good way to avoid this altogether is to avoid using contractions in your writing, or at least using them much less. Be aware that writing is not the same form of communication as speaking. It requires more time and more stringent adherence to rules to look professional and be effective. Spell out you are, they are, we are, etc., at least until you are sure of the difference.

It will make your communications look more professional and eliminate the chance of saying something like: There running a good business over their with they’re new CEO.