Meet the New Marketer

Most content marketers "live in a delusional bubble of branding hype," claims web designer Gerry McGovern.

He's proven his point with his delete key, boosting clients' sales by expunging 90% of the content on their websites.

"Organizations in general publish far too much of ego, vanity content that’s high on hyperbole and low on information," McGovern writes in his blog New Thinking.

Today's marketer crows about his inestimable edge over old-schoolers like Don Draper.

Today's marketer brings a data-driven, likable, personalized, "un-marketing" approach to the craft.

Yet fewer than 10% of B2B executives say they trust web content, according to a study by the CMO Council.

The revolution brought about by todays 's new marketer, so far, reminds me of lyrics by The Who: "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."

The Booming Business of Selling Books

You can take the boy out of Madison Avenue, but not vice versa.

Earlier this year, madman-turned-author James Patterson launched his thriller Private Vegas with a bang, by selling a single advance copy rigged to explode 24 hours after the reader opened it.

Patterson asserted that the reader who started the book would experience a veritable "race against the clock" to finish it.

The novel's price tag: $294,038.

At the same time, Patterson offered 1,000 free copies of Private Vegas on his website, digital versions rigged to "cinematically" self-detonate 24 hours after they were opened.

Patterson's experiential social media campaign racked up 419.8 million impressions, and thrill-seeking readers spent 13,896 hours reading the advance copies of Private Vegas, according to CMO. 

Paul Malmstrom, a creative director with the author's agency, bragged in a news release, “For this launch, we aimed to create the most thrilling reading experience ever. One that takes the suspense of Patterson’s new novel to a crazy, new level."

Yup, crazy… like a fox.

Patterson has sold more than 300 million copies of his novels in the past 25 years.

The Return of Mad Men?

Once upon a time, people believed corporations weren't crooks.

The Great Recession changed that.

It was Corporate America's Watergate.

In today's Post-Recession period, corporations look no longer to Mad Men to tell their stories, but to brand journalists, who pride themselves on eschewing '60s-style corporate hokum.

"I've been a reporter, and I've also been a marcom writer," says David B. Thomas, posting on LinkedIn. "There's a big difference."

The marcom writer, according to Thomas, produces only "buzzwords and grandiose claims."

The brand journalist tells a story. 

"The people who read [the story] appreciate it because it gives a straightforward, unbiased analysis of the situation," he says.

Above all, the brand journalist strives to be informative. 

"Before she starts writing, she asks, 'What's important here for my audience? How will this help them solve their business problems? How can I make this interesting, informative and fun so that people will remember it and share it?'"

A practitioner myself, I appreciate the difference between a marcom writer and a brand journalist, too.

But then I remember how the Original Mad Man, David Ogilvy, once insisted, "The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be."

Ogilvy also scolded contemporaries who relied too heavily on buzzwords. 

"Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon," Ogilvy wrote.

What's old, it seems, is new again.

Embracing Swag

Mimicking their B2C cousins, savvy B2B marketers are plying swag to secure customers' loyalty, says a new white paper from Forrester Research.

B2B Loyalty, The B2C Way offers dozens of examples:

• On Super Bowl Sundays, a marketing automation provider—knowing its customers are at work—ships them "war room care packages."

• A B2B phone company sends customers a catalog of general merchandise they can buy for loyalty points.

• Another B2B phone company lets customers use their loyalty points to bid in an auction for tickets to sports events.

"Loyalty programs may be a B2C construct, but the concepts apply in B2B marketing," the white paper says. 

"As B2B marketers get serious about loyalty, they can jumpstart their efforts by embracing some B2C approaches. In some cases, it may be a matter of reframing, organizing, and scaling what’s already in place."

Brevity. Before It was Cool.

A recent study by Microsoft reveals that 67% of heavy social media users struggle to concentrate.

Ultrathin attention spans make brevity—or, more accurately, conciseness—more important to marketers than ever.

In his introduction to the 1979 edition of The Elements of Style, E.B. White praised his teacher and coauthor William Strunk for writing, fifty years earlier, "fifty-nine words that could change the world." 

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

It's little wonder Strunk revered brevity. 

He was an English professor at Cornell; forced to read undergraduates' papers, he understood well there are limits to the patience of every reader—even an academic.

Jumping the Shark

Well aware that most customers are "deletists," email marketers will swim any length to catch you.

Sometimes, too far.

A marketing automation provider recently sent me an email with the following subject line:

Don't open this message unless…

The "payoff" (a fairly insipid one) appeared in the body of the email:

You want to automate your marketing woes away!

Obviously, I took the bait.

But I ask: Why would a company that sells, of all things, email marketing services sink to such lows?

So be warned.

Avoid clickbait subject lines. 

Even if they increase opens, they'll take a bite out of your brand.

A Thing of Beauty

What's more important In marketing emails, copy or design?

In a new report on email marketing from the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, digital strategist Jason Falls answers the question—categorically.

It's copy.

"Nothing makes an email more powerful than expertly written copy," Falls writes.

"Catching the recipient’s attention, taking them on a quick journey, and making them believe that more than anything they have to take the action you want them to take and take it right now, is a thing of beauty."

Falls quotes Derek Halpern, a fellow digital guru who "swears by text-only emails."

“I’ve experimented with both simple text and fancy HTML," Halpern says, "and in all my experience, simple text generates the best results."

Should You Use "Free" in Your Subject Lines?

Although the adjective can stampede customers, most experts urge you never use "free" in the subject line of marketing emails.

That's because "free" is a so-called "trigger word" which, thanks to spam filters, might well earn you a goose egg in the delivery column.

Similar trigger words include "urgent," "guaranteed," amazing" and "unlimited."

But there's good news for marketers.

As spam filters get smarter, they're learning to distinguish emails sent by bona fide marketers from those blasted by flimflammers.

Smarter spam filtration means marketers can take "free" off the list of trigger words.

I asked digital guru Jason Falls, who recommends rule-breaking to email marketers, whether you should worry about using "free" in subject lines.

"There are actually two reasons it's only a minimal concern," Jason said. 

"First, only spam filters set to a very high level of filtration would weed it out. I'd guess you've seen some 'free' headlines in your inbox in the last few months.

"Also, once you have someone subscribing to your email list, most email systems and filtration methods learn to trust emails that you see, but don't mark as spam. It's sort of a machine-learning way of white listing email addresses. 

"So using a headline like that with a segmented list of people you have sent to before, have opened before, or are long-time list members means the email is more likely to get through than not."

Get Personal in Your Marketing

Ready for a shocker?

B2B brands have stronger emotional bonds with customers than B2C brands.

According to a new study by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), 40% to 70% of customers feel an emotional tie to such brands as Oracle, Accenture, FedEx, SAP and Salesforce.

In contrast, only 10% and 40% of customers feel an emotional tie to such brands as CVS, L'Oreal and Wal-Mart.

Most of us are taught—and believe—that B2B customers care only about the business value a brand delivers.

But, based on its findings, CEB urges B2B marketers to adopt campaigns that focus on the fulfillment of customers' personal and emotional needs.

B2B campaigns that promise personal value have twice the impact of those promising business value, as demonstrated by recent campaigns by Xerox, Grainger and Edwards Lifesciences.

Social Spam Surging

Spammers are frantically spreading their muck across the social media networks, according to a study by Nextgate.

Spam increased by more than 350% on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn during the first six months of 2013.

Facebook and YouTube host considerably more spam than the other social networks, according to the study.

We're immune to the spam that floods our email in-boxes, but social spam is insidious, because it's much more difficult to detect.

And there's another reason spammers love it.

Where spam delivered as an email reaches one victim at the time, spam delivered as a post on a social media network can reach thousands.

What Content is the Most Effective?

What content works best for attracting new B2B leads?

Research reports, according to a new survey by content creator Ascend2.

The firm asked more than 400 marketers to rate a variety of devices for their ability to generate leads.

Thirty percent of marketers chose research reports as the most effective device.

Twenty-eight percent chose Webinars and twenty-six percent chose white papers.

A research report can act like a prospect-magnet, provided it asks the right questions and answers them in an honest way, according to the firm's blog.

Reports that don't focus on customers' "common pain points" or that merely recycle your opinions won't woo prospects, the firm says.

To Sell More, Connect the Dots

How often do you receive, as I did this week, an unsolicited email like this?

Hi,

Hope you are doing well.

I am following up with the email I sent you regarding IT Decision Makers.

I’m curious if you had a chance to read my previous email and take this initiative further.

Please send over your data requirement and the criteria of your target market to process quality, counts, samples and pricing.

Please note that the database can be customized in exact line with your need.

Thanks and I look forward to your reply.

Warm regards,

Carlton

What's wrong with this email?

1. The sender didn't distinguish his product from the hundreds of competing ones.
    
2. The sender wants the reader to write down and send him specifications, but the instructions are vague and the task sounds daunting.

Want to sell more? Connect the dots for your prospect. 

1. Your prospect needs to know how your product's different. Spell out the difference and help her visualize success by using it.
   
   
2. Your prospect's busy. Make it easy for her to choose your product by leading her through the first step toward buying it.

Clicks Don't Tell the Whole Story

Facebook's advertising director says digital ads can't be proven to drive sales, according to Business Insider.

Although counting digital ad "clicks" today remains most advertisers' yardstick, Facebook's Gokul Rajaram told an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt, "there's really no correlation between clicks and whether people actually convert."

Rajaram suggested that digital ads should not be judged by today's measurement model, but by how they build brand awareness slowly over time.

"We need to move towards a more sophisticated, multi-touch model and figure out how to accrue value at each touch point," he said.

Plus ça change.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

I don't often hear from my life insurance carrier. 

The company silently sweeps the premium due every month from my bank account, while we go merrily about our separate ways.

I'm not sure I want to hear from the firm, to be frank.

But this week, I suddenly did.

The letter carrier brought a stately direct mail piece offering me a $400,000 accidental death and dismemberment policy.

It arrived one week to the day after the bombs blew up at the Boston Marathon.

Tchotchke peddlers began to cash in on the tragedy within 24 hours. 

An insurance company simply moves a bit slower.

Is Your Sales Presentation Dangerous to Your Health?

Most sales presentations backfire, says Tim Riesterer, coauthor of Conversations that Win the Complex Sale. That's because most salespeople are:

Blabbermouths. They over-pack presentations, believing customers want to know everything. "In reality, the more information you insist on giving your prospects, the worse you can make it for yourself," Riesterer says.

Self-absorbed. Customers want to know what you've learned from other customers. But sales presentations always begin elsewhere. "You will tell them all about you and your company and why your products are best," Riesterer says. "You will also include the obligatory map of the world with your locations; the entire range of the products and services you provide; and the logo slide showing all of your clients."

Bland. Most salespeople fail to contrast their offerings with competitors'. As a result, customers zero in on price. If you don't offer a unique viewpoint, Riesterer says, "you've fallen into a bake-off where everyone is presumed to be exactly the same."

To avoid these pitfalls, Riesterer recommends:

Focusing your presentation on issues and trends. Couch your presentation in terms of the things that worry customers and threaten the status quo.

Differentiating your products and services from competitors'. "Prospects want to hear your distinct point of view on the potential challenges, threats, obligations, or opportunities that put their objectives at risk," Riesterer says. "And, to reach a decision, they want to clearly see a difference between what you offer and the competitive alternatives."

Rule #1: Think before You Link

With 200 million subscribers and climbing, in mercenary hands LinkedIn can be a weapon of self-destruction.

We’ve all connected with people whose self-serving discharge leaves us hoping LinkedIn will introduce a “hate” button.

But one comment arrived in my inbox last week that should earn for its author the LinkedIn Lummox of the Year Award.

She attached her tone-deaf comment to a 100-day old post by the manager of an interest group I follow.

The manager’s post asked readers to remember a beloved colleague and group member who’d died, suddenly and prematurely, two weeks earlier.

The self-promoter's comment read:

Sorry for your loss. I help companies with their tradeshows and events. Give me your marketing list and I will turn it into $$. Call 800-523-4635.

Clearly she hasn’t learned LinkedIn Rule #1.

Social Can't Sell

In The New York Times, tech journalist Stephen Baker recently asked, “Can Social Media Sell Soap?”

His short answer: nope.

Precision targeting, which generates ads "so timely and relevant that you welcome them," has "fueled a market frenzy around social networks," Baker writes.

But social networks are heading for a fall, because social can't sell.

As proof, Baker cites a chilly sales statistic (courtesy of IBM) from last year's Christmas season. 

"On the pivotal opening day of the season, Black Friday, a scant 0.68 percent of online purchases came directly from Facebook," Baker writes. "The number from Twitter was undetectable. Could it be that folks aren’t in a buying mood when hanging out digitally with their friends?"

I think Baker is on to something.

Social can't sell.

That's why the oxymoron "social media marketing" would make George Carlin's list.

Social is unlike traditional media.

When you consume traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio and TV), you willingly trade your attention for content. 

That means ads are—more or less—welcome.

But in social, ads aren't welcome. 

They're like a telemarketer's cold call in the middle of the family dinner.

You're Producing Your Own Video. What's the Point?

Washington, DC-based writer/producer Dan Bailes contributed today's post. He has created shows for American Diabetes Association, National Association of Realtors, National Geographic and Urban Land Institute.

First, to power up your video, ask yourself, what’s the point?

 

What are you trying to accomplish and why?

Second, ask yourself how your product or service benefits your target audience.

And show it!

Best yet, show real people who have benefited from what you have to offer.

Third, have them tell their stories in their own words. 

Authenticity is key and that’s a great way to convince your audience of the benefit of what you have to offer.

Fourth, shorter is better. 

Fifth, if you spent all those years gaining vital experience to excel at what you do, why do you think you can just do the video yourself? 

Sorry about that, but hire a pro. 

It will make all the difference. 

And that’s the whole point, right?

Learn to Love Tofu

I've just concluded my first month as a Vegan and resigned myself to loving Tofu.

As a marketer, Tofu should be part of your daily diet, too.

Tofu is an acronym that stands for “top of the funnel.”

The top of the funnel, of course, is your lead-cistern.

According to inbound-marketing agency FiveFifty, 97% of first-time Website visitors are top-of-the-funnel people.

They're "just looking" and far from ready to buy. 

So, if your content appeals only to bottom-of-the-funnel people, you look a little desperate.

"Remember the last time you were shopping at a retail store, and the sales representative kept asking if they could start a dressing room for you?" FiveFifty asks. "If you’re just browsing, their attempts to close a sale can feel overly pushy."

To make delicious Tofu, you need to prepare "buyer personas" that include the demographics, pain-points and priorities of your leads.

"The world’s best Tofu is based on answering real-life questions people have when they first come to your company's Website," FiveFifty says.

Starbucks' "Newsjacking" Attempt Falls Off the Cliff

Starbuck's attempt to "newsjack" deficit negotiations has fallen off its own cliff.

Last week, CEO Howard Shultz asked the employees at 125 Washington, DC-area stores to scribble the phrase "Come Together" on the paper cups they hand customers. 

But employees aren't cooperating.

I asked three of them why.

"We're too busy," one said.

"We can't remember to do it," said another.

"It's pretty stupid," said the third.

Lesson learned: There's many a slip between the cup and the lip. 

If you want to newsjack successfully, first get your employees on board.