Like this is a suprise … The New York Times reports that a U.S. government study shows that roughly two-thirds of eighth-graders and three-fourths of high school seniors are not proficient writers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/education/03cnd-writing.html?ex=1207886400&en=f8d63bf9a998b0e8&ei=5070

Of course, anybody who’s read an interoffice memo lately can tell you how poorly most people write, even if they’re college graduates.

The study (http://nationsreportcard.gov/writing_2007/w0016.asp, http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008468) does show, at least, that students’ writing skills have not declined in the five years since their 2002 study.

(As an Alabama resident and Mississippi native, I’m going to refrain from the usual Alabama taunt of “Thank God for Mississippi,” the state which ended up last in the rankings.  Alabama probably didn’t fare much better, anyway.  But at least Alabama improved somewhat, at the eighth grade level.)

Advertising is risky and expensive.  Networking can be time-consuming and downright exhausting.  And Caller ID has all but killed cold calling.  What’s a small business to do?

Anyone who’s been in sales and marketing for long can tell you the game is changing, and in a lot of ways. 

Consider these factors:

Technology is making it easier for prospects to hide. The bright, shining promise of communications technology was supposed to be greater accessibility.  Communication without limits, they called it.  Everybody will be reachable all the time, they cheered.

It never happened.

Instead, prospects are using technologies like email filters and Caller ID to block interruptions to their already overcrowded schedules.  Potential vendors are screened ruthlessly.  Gatekeepers are reluctant even to give out decision makers’ names and job titles, which makes pre-sales due diligence that much harder.

It’s now okay to lie to salespeople.  Sales trainer Ari Galper tells the story of a phone conference he once had with what he thought was a serious prospective client.  At the end of the call, Galper was about to hang up when he heard the prospects talking amongst themselves after they thought they had disconnected. 

“Okay, so we’re agreed,” one man said to his colleagues.  “We’ll string this guy along until we get the information we need from him, then we’ll go with [Galper's competitor].”

Galper was floored.  It was one thing for prospects to do competitive research and seek bids, but this was a new low. 

Advertising cynicism is at an all-time high.  According to marketing expert Jack Trout, the average person is bombarded with over 4,000 marketing messages each day.  Much to the chagrin of advertisers, people are now reacting in self-defense.

They fast-forward their DVRs through ads.  They visit the Internet armed with pop-up blockers.  And they subscribe to “commercial-free” satellite radio. 

People are willing to pay good money just to be left alone.

The Internet has created unrealistic expectations.  The biggest battle that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) faced in its quest to stop illegal music downloading wasn’t legal but psychological.  The generation that had grown up with the Internet, with its vast store of free stuff, simply expected that all media should be freely available. They didn’t understand violating a copyright as depriving an artist of compensation for his/her work.

Similarly, prospects scour the Internet for free information on you, your competitors, and your industry.  Why should they take your calls or give you face time when they can Google you instead?

The convergence of these factors creates what sales consultant Jill Konrath calls a “perfect storm” of marketing resistance.  Is it any wonder that, according to her research, 75% of all small businesses close because owners spend too much time generating too little revenue?

Aligning yourself with the new reality

Fortunately, there’s good news in all this.  The same “perfect storm” that makes it so difficult to market your business the old way is opening up a new way to reach marketing-resistant prospects. 

The silver bullet?  Information-based marketing collateral.

How to work with (not against) the marketing-resistant prospect

If you’re going to prosper in this new environment, you have to understand not just its origins but its opportunities.  The marketing-resistant prospect has several key attributes that create “white space” you can strategically insert yourself into.

They want to buy, but they don’t want to be sold.  Marketing resistance doesn’t necessarily mean sales resistance.  Prospects’ need for your products and services didn’t evaporate — just their tolerance for traditional marketing approaches. 

Marketing communications that take an informative rather than “salesy” approach are more effective with this audience.  Tone is everything.

They need to know what you know. The new marketing-resistant environment often makes it look as if prospective clients aren’t open to new ideas.  Don’t believe it for a second. 

Globalization is forcing decision makers at every level to do everything better, faster, cheaper.  New ideas aren’t just tolerated, they’re sought out as critical competitive advantages.

Prospects may not have time for a sales pitch, but they’ll make time for research.  And if you’ve got the right information presented the right way at the right time, you’ve got your foot in the door.

They often value convenience and credibility over all else.  If you’ve positioned yourself correctly, their time constraints can be your friend.  Several small but well-received information pieces, distributed over time, will keep you on the radar screen, increasing your chances of being “top of mind” when strategic decisions have to be made quickly.

For the full special report, “Reaching the Marketing-Resistant Prospect,” go to www.savadra.net/marketingresistance.html.  You’ll be able to download the full report complete with strategies for creating information-based marketing materials that reach this elusive (and growing) market.

“Yeah, I know, he’s got a Yahoo.com address, but we won’t hold that against him.”

It was just a humorous comment from a graphic designer friend of mine. But it really got me thinking: What impression do your prospects get from something as innocuous as a “freebie” email address?

Not a very favorable one, it turns out.

Many protest that one email address is as good as another. Once your recipients have you in their address book, they say, that’s all that matters.

But with the rise in spam email, phishing attacks, and other Internet fraud, web credibility is becoming more important every day. If your email address isn’t one that your recipients immediately recognize, they may be deleting your email unread to avoid spam or viruses.

Solving this little problem is a lot easier than you think. Most web hosting companies offer packages that allow you to inexpensively register a domain name, then set up POP email accounts (like you@yourdomain.com). 

Domain registration can cost as little as $1.99 (although $6-10 with yearly renewals is more typical), and email accounts from $10-30 per year, depending on how many email addresses your company needs.

So, for about the cost of one large gourmet coffee each month, your email address can:

• Build your brand – Every time people receive email from you, your address reinforces your company name, your value proposition, or whatever else you want your domain to say about you.
• Drive traffic to your website – If you have a website with that same domain name, seeing your domain name in your email address could prompt your email recipients to visit your website for more information. And that’s another opportunity to sell.
• Enhance your web credibility – Having your own domain name gives recipients the impression you’re in business for the long haul. After all, where would you rather do business – with a store that has a canvas banner out front … or one with a permanent sign?

Isn’t your professional image worth $4 a month?

One Saturday morning, I was on my way to grab an oversized latte with a friend. I pulled up to the light just outside my neighborhood and saw some local high school students hawking boxed donuts to raise money. But even though I wasn’t interested in donuts (I was craving an espresso brownie instead), one of the students caught my eye – for all the wrong reasons.

She was holding her sign upside down.

I had to laugh – out loud. (I almost rolled down the window to tell her, but I was afraid I’d get snarled at. That happens when you get teenagers out of bed too early in the morning.)

As I drove through the intersection, though, it hit me. That’s a great metaphor for the most common small business marketing mistake out there: Wrong-Side-Up Marketing.

So, what’s Wrong-Side-Up Marketing, you ask? Simply put, it’s marketing that focuses on YOU instead of THEM.

“Of course my marketing talks about me and my company,” you protest. “I have to tell prospects about my products and services, right?”

Well, yes. That’s important information. And you need to talk about that … eventually. But to get their initial interest, you have to talk about THEM first.

This is what marketing experts call focusing on benefits instead of features. In other words, don’t offer prospects a sales pitch – offer a solved problem.

If you talk about features first and foremost, you’re making your prospects “connect the dots” between what you offer and what they need. It’s like holding your sign upside down – people have to work that much harder to get your marketing message. And if your competitor connects those dots better than you do … you’ve just lost a sale.

Think about it. If you’re a certified financial planner, you don’t really sell financial products – you sell security and peace of mind. If you’re a computer networking consultant, you don’t sell computer services – you sell efficiency and a worry-free work environment.

See the difference? Prospects aren’t looking for someone who sells “X,” they’re looking to solve a specific problem. Your marketing materials should identify your prospects’ pressing problem – specifically and vividly – and then offer a targeted solution. That’s what hits their hot buttons.

And coming up with a great “hot button” benefit doesn’t take trail-blazing originality, just a little extra thought. There are several common benefits that any business can adapt for their marketing materials.

So what are these common “hot buttons” you need to hit in your marketing? Visualize your ideal sales prospects, as
vividly as you can, then figure out which of the following big benefits they’re really looking for:

* Make money
* Save money
* Save time
* Avoid effort

Those four are the big ones. Everybody’s looking to get one of those four primary benefits, so you need to identify which one (or more) you can deliver. Once you’ve gotten one of those down, add a secondary benefit or two, if appropriate:

* Get more comfort
* Achieve greater cleanliness
* Attain fuller health
* Escape physical and emotional pain
* Gain praise
* Be popular

But don’t just stop at identifying the benefits they want – figure out exactly how you deliver them. Be specific.
How do you save them money? How much can you save them? Show them how you’ve done it for others and what you could be doing for them.

For example, do you claim to give superior customer service? Well, everybody says that. To be persuasive, you need to
quantify just what “superior customer service” means in your business and promise to deliver that result. One local plumbing service really gets this concept – they guarantee their plumbers will always show up on time and smelling good. (Nothing vague about that!) So they help customers “save time” (a primary benefit) and “achieve greater cleanliness” (a secondary benefit).

See how this works?

Remember: your prospects are not looking just to buy a product or service – they want to achieve a particular result. Be clear about what benefits you provide, and you’ll find more prospects come knocking!

I came across your marketing materials a few days ago and was impressed enough to visit your website to get more information.

Wow. And I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way.

Don’t get me wrong. You’ve obviously put a lot into your startup – a lot of time, energy, thought, maybe even money. You’ve taken a big step into the often scary world of marketing your business on the Internet, and you are to be congratulated for your pluck and forward thinking. The absolute last thing I want to do is discourage you.

But while your website is very attractive aesthetically (the logo is particularly cool), I’m afraid it’s not doing you many favors from a marketing standpoint.

How can I say that? Well, consider these points:

Too much Flash + not enough text = little online visibility. Flash animation – the software powering most of your site – is a very in-your-face, very sexy tool. And when used intelligently, it does what it does very well.

But it’s got one really huge drawback: Google (and other search engines) can’t read it. Its robots take one look at your 100% Flash content and, not seeing anything they can index, move on to another site.  (For the skeptics out there: http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/googleisgod.html explains this further and provides some tools for you to see your own site through a search engine spider’s eyes.)

So all those nice words and phrases your potential clients are typing into the search engines are leading them … to your competitors’ sites. If you don’t believe me, try Googling yourself (not with your name, but with your keywords like “[profession] Mobile Alabama”) and count how many pages you have to scroll down before you see your own site.

Forced Flash. Once someone from your target market visits your site, you want them to come back, don’t you? Then why must your returning site visitors sit through your entire 42-second Flash intro every single time?

Forty-two seconds may not seem a long time when you’re just reading about it. But think about it the way your ideal prospect will. Imagine he (or she) is on the phone with a valued client who’s assigning the firm a new file. He/she tells the client, “We need an expert to evaluate these records.” So he/she pulls out your card, types in your website address … and then sits there for 42 whole seconds waiting for the intro he/she has already seen to finish so he/she can get to your Services or Contact page.

How many prospects do you think will do that more than once?

Too much sound. Here’s another potential turn-off. Since you’re selling B2B (business-to-business) services, most of your visitors will be accessing your site from their office computers. When their co-workers (or bosses) suddenly hear music wafting from a nearby office or cubicle, they’ll be thinking: “Uh-oh, Chris is out there surfing some entertainment site on company time again.”

Do your visitors a favor. Get your web programmers to put a “Skip Intro” link or button on the entry page. And that “Audio Off” button on the other pages should turn all audio off, not just the music. Your prospects’ co-workers will appreciate it.

Inaccessible to the visually impaired. Have you ever considered that some of your visitors may be visually impaired? Such site visitors often rely on tools like screen magnifier and screen reader software to use the web. The magnifiers make the text and images larger so those who have minimal vision can read it; the screen readers read the site out loud for the blind. Even people who are a little far-sighted (like me) use the web browser’s built-in font resizing tools to make the text more readable.

Many (but, certainly, not all) of these tools will be of no use on your site, for a lot of the same reasons that Google will not be able to read your site (the “all Flash, all the time” programming). True, visually impaired users probably make up a small percentage of your visitors. But what if one of them otherwise would have become your best client?

Why all the anonymous (and unsolicited) advice? I’ll admit it – I’m basically gutless. I don’t like getting irate phone calls from people any more than anyone else does. (And after writing this, I probably deserve a good chewing out for being so presumptuous.)

But you’d be better served by taking all that emotional energy you’d otherwise spend calling me and spending it improving your online presence instead. Your bottom line will eventually show it’s time and energy well spent.

And to prove I’m not just some mean-spirited know-it-all who lives for criticizing other people, I’d like to pass along some resources I’ve found really helpful:

Books (Amazon Affiliate Links)

Get Clients Now!: A 28-day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, And Coaches by C.J. Hayden (ISBN 0-8144-7374-1) – A terrific cookbook approach to building a well-rounded marketing plan based on proven strategies and activities. Identifies where in the sales process you’re “stuck,” then helps you come up with 9-10 daily actions that, done consistently over 28 days, will increase the number of clients you win.

The Ultimate Sales Letter: Attract New Customers. Boost Your Sales (Ultimate Sales Letter)by Dan Kennedy (ISBN 1-58062-257-7) – If you’re using introduction letters as a direct contact marketing tool, this is a good resource on the art of writing for sales. Some of Kennedy’s advice may be hard to swallow at first (he works mostly in B2C, which has a higher “cheese factor”) but can be adapted to the more professional approach a B2B market demands.

Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin (ISBN 0-471-78753-1) – If you want to learn about getting more visitors to your website, this is an ideal non-techie tutorial. You may be limited in how much organic Search Engine Optimi¬zation (SEO) you can do with the site being built almost entirely in Flash, but there are other elements of SEO you can benefit from like directory listings, pay-per-click advertising, link exchange, etc. And when you update your site in a year or two, you’ll be well prepared to guide your web designers in programming a more search engine friendly site.

Websites

Web Pages That Suck (http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com) – It’s got a rude title and an off-the-wall feel, but the approach – “the best way to learn about good design is to study bad design” – is sound. Behind all that humor are some great lessons in what makes a website work..

Action Plan Marketing (http://www.actionplan.com – affiliate link) – Robert Middleton is hands-down the best marketing guru for the solo professional I’ve ever seen. He’s got lots of free and low-cost advice available in the form of teleseminars and ebooks, and his coaching program is top-notch. Definitely consider enrolling in his coaching once you’ve graduated from Get Clients Now. In the meantime, his Website Toolkit alone is worth ten times what he charges.

Google Adwords (http://adwords.google.com) – Do yourself a favor and sign up for an Adwords Starter account. Set the budget low enough to be comfortable, then start testing ads for your site. Later, upgrade to the Standard Account and get free web analytics (shows you where your traffic is coming from). Most people are afraid of pay-per-click advertising, but you can set your own budget and limit search results to a specific geographical area so only Mobile area prospects see your ad (which further limits your costs).

Please understand – I sincerely wish you and your new business the best. I apologize if my approach offends. But if someone had taken me aside when I put up my first (very ugly and marketing-impaired) website and shown me some of these things, I would be light years (and mucho bucks) ahead of where I am now.

Good luck. I hope your new venture succeeds beyond your wildest dreams.

Signed, a fellow small business owner

“Joe Blow is a great guy and a pleasure to do business with” may be a terrific compliment, but it’s a poor testimonial.

Good testimonials from your satisfied customers are a gift. They’re an invaluable sales tool … IF they’re worded right.

So, how do you get the perfect testimonial? Here’s how I structure testimonials I gather for clients from their customers to ensure they’re getting maximum impact:

Before – Get your customer to describe what life was like before he or she started working with you. Was it chaotic? Stressful? Frustrating? Be specific – detailed but concise. Both facts (sales figures, etc.) and emotional content (frustration, stress) are important if you want your sales prospects to “see themselves” in your customer’s shoes. Here is where you need to do some hard thinking about who your “target customer” is, because that’s who your testimonials should be aiming for.

Then – Spell out what the process of working with you was like. If you’ve got a specific system for solving your typical customers’ problems, by all means mention it, by name if possible. What did you help them do that they couldn’t do on their own?

Now – Here’s where the ultimate benefits go, both tangible and intangible. Did sales or customer service ratings improve? Does your customer now accomplish more in less time or with less effort? As with the “before” step, be detailed but concise, and don’t forget intangible benefits like peace of mind.

Using this structure, you come up with something like this:

“Before I started working with Jane Doe Financial Group, my retirement plan was a mess. I wasn’t getting the investment returns I knew I should be, and I was afraid that, if something were to happen to me, my family would be left struggling. Jane did a comprehensive review of my portfolio, diversifying my holdings and saving me money on management fees. She even sat down with me to make sure I understood my current portfolio. Now, I have everything organized, thanks to Jane. I can monitor my financial progress easily, and I feel more secure about both my and my family’s future.”

Above all, you want your testimonials to speak powerfully to your target customer so you get the “that’s me!” response that will make you memorable. A perfect testimonial balances factual and emotional content and speaks to both sides of the brain.

If you’d like help with gathering testimonials to use in your marketing materials, both online and off, contact me for a free no-obligation quote. I’ll interview your satisfied customers, condense their comments into “the perfect testimonial,” then get their signoff so you can use their rave reviews in your next brochure or other marketing piece.

Imagine you’re at a networking event. You’re meeting new people, exchanging business cards, having a pretty good time (even if you are working). You greet an unfamiliar but friendly-looking person in a nice suit, and he/she begins the conversation:

“Hi, I’m Chris with Generic Solutions, Inc. We provide our customers with proactive solutions for systemic organizational problems to positively impact the bottom line by leveraging the employee knowledge base …” And on and on it goes. It’s a good two to three minutes before you can get a word in edgewise.

How do you feel about doing business with Generic Solutions?

Not good, I’m guessing. And it’s no wonder. You’ve been “pitched” in the most insensitive manner imaginable. You’re just another face in the crowd to Chris, someone to recite an elevator speech to. You can’t wait to move on.

Now read a typical home page from a corporate website:

“Consolidated Megacorp is an international solutions provider with locations in 20 countries around the world specializing in document management technology for a wide range of industries …”

Granted, at some point in the business relationship, this information will be useful and appropriate. But doesn’t this leave you a little cold this early on?

It’s been said people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Put another way, it’s premature to offer a “solution” until you’ve convinced your prospect you understand his/her problem. Only after you describe the problem accurately and vividly – so vividly you get a “yeah, that’s me” response – will your web visitor be open to hearing about your “solution.” When prospects are convinced you “get” them, they’re more likely to “get” you.

Instead of inundating your web visitors with corporate facts and figures, think about your home page (indeed, your entire web site) as the beginning of a relationship. Talk to instead of at people. Ask questions (rhetorically, of course, but carefully worded to hit your target market’s hot buttons). Address your reader by using the word “you” (but don’t overdo it). Remember that you’re not talking to a mass of people – you’re talking to one person at a time.

Sure, it takes a little time and effort. You’ll have to think carefully about your ideal customers – what frustrates them, what motivates them, what problem they would give anything to solve. You may even have to pick the brains of some of your best clients to get their perspective.

But isn’t making a stronger connection to your sales prospects worth it?

Want to really hit your sales prospects’ hot buttons? Sell the sizzle instead of the steak, as the old saying goes.

Think about it. If you’re a certified financial planner, you don’t sell financial products – you sell security and peace of mind. If you’re a computer networking consultant, you don’t sell computer services – you sell efficiency and a worry-free work environment.

Visualize your ideal sales prospects, then figure out which of the following big benefits they’re really looking for:

1. Make money
2. Save money
3. Save time
4. Avoid effort
5. Get more comfort
6. Achieve greater cleanliness
7. Attain fuller health
8. Escape physical and emotional pain
9. Gain praise
10. Be popular

But don’t just stop at identifying the benefits they want – figure out exactly how you deliver them. Be specific. How do you save them money? How much can you save them? Show them how you’ve done it for others and what you could be doing for them.

Obviously, not all of these benefits will apply to your target market. But at least one of the top four will, and perhaps one or two others from the list as well. Hit these hot buttons in your marketing, and your ideal prospect will respond!

Given rising concerns about electronic privacy, it was only a matter of time before Congress stepped in to regulate the email marketing industry. The result? The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, effective January 1, 2004.

Want to use email in your marketing mix? Then be sure that your messages meet these four basic CAN-SPAM guidelines:

1) The header must be accurate. This includes the “To,” “From,” and all header information — in short, anything which identifies the sender and the originating domain and email address.

2) Subject lines must not be deceptive or misleading. The information in the “Subject” or “Re:” lines must accurately reflect the content of the email.

3) Emails must provide an “opt-out” mechanism. The message must include either a return email address or another electronic mechanism that allows recipients to request removal from your mailing list. You can allow recipients to opt-out of certain types of communications (if you have multiple ezines, for example), but they must also include the option to stop all commercial messages from you.

4) Commercial messages must be identified as such and include the sender’s valid physical postal address.

Most commercial e-marketing services have features that help their customers meet CAN-SPAM requirements. But no matter which service you use, complying with CAN-SPAM will not only keep you out of trouble, it’ll boost your credibility with your recipients.

As with any legal issue, the above guidelines are a general overview and not a substitute for qualified legal advice. For more information on CAN- SPAM, visit the FTC’s website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm.

I’m a woman on a mission: I want to stamp out unclear, unproductive, “stuffy” language on business websites! And I’m doing it, one client at a time.

Take, for example, one of my clients, a real estate-related firm preparing for a new marketing push. The company was under new ownership, and one of the first things they wanted overhauled was their website.

They recognized, intuitively, that the old copy didn’t really speak to the three distinct audiences they wanted to reach. So they asked me for help.

Right off the bat, I recognized the copy needed to focus on the people they were marketing to – real estate agents, homeowners, and prospective home managers. These people aren’t looking for a “new innovative, dynamic marketing strategy,” as the old home page copy trumpeted. They want to know what this company could do for them – how it could solve their problems, relieve their worries, save them money.

So here’s how we approached the task:

Before: Website circa 1990s

The problem: As the new owners described it, the existing website, which was “state of the art” five or six years ago, was now out of date.   And since they were looking to appeal to an upscale clientele, they not only needed a visual makeover, they needed brand-new copy to speak to their affluent, sophisticated audience.

While one of their in-house web designers tackled the visual aspect of the site, I took a stack of their marketing materials and began work on the text.  The goal: solid benefits-focused copy that spoke to three distinct audiences:

    * Real estate professionals who have vacant properties for sale
    * Homeowners who need to have their vacant houses staged for quick sale
    * Prospective home managers
After: New layout, new sales-oriented copy

The most obvious problem with the old copy was that it focused on features (i.e., what the company does), not benefits (i.e., what customers gain).  It didn’t speak to the things that concern its readers: the anxiety that homeowners have over leaving a vacant property on the market, the hassles real estate professionals experience trying to sell empty houses, and the desire of prospective home managers for affordable and comfortable temporary housing.

So the “teasers” on the home page start with these needs and how the company meets them.  Then the individual pages addressed to these separate audiences expand on those themes.  Contrast this with the old home page’s vague opening line about the company’s “innovative, dynamic marketing strategy.”

Lesson: Here it is again – the classic benefits vs. features discussion.  Your customers don’t care what you do – they care what you do for them.  It’s not an esoteric point.  Let them know why you’re the solution to their problems.  Don’t leave it to them to figure it out.

If you’re looking for sales-oriented web copy that speaks your customers’ language, contact me today for your free consultation!