WHERE'S THE BEEF? WHERE'S THE BEEF?
I CAN'T BELIEVE I ATE THE WHOLE THING. I CAN'T BELIEVE I ATE THE WHOLE THING.
YO QUIERO TACO BELL! YO QUIERO TACO BELL!
Although thoroughly entertaining and memorable, these popular advertising slogans did nothing to increase the sales of the brands they represented.
Award winners, yet they did not attract new customers, increase market share or increase profits of the brands they represented.
What were they trying to do…to entertain and amuse or to sell their product or service?
What are you trying to do with your marketing message, with your web site, with your advertising campaign? Are you trying to entertain and amuse? Are you trying to sell your offer? Are you trying to increase your market share? Are you trying to attract more clients for your services? Are you attempting to increase your products brand awareness?
What are you trying to do?
The purpose of your marketing message should always be to sell your offer and motivate the customer to positive action. This should result in increased sales, more customers and more profit.
I know the temptation to create an attention getting entertaining message is hard to pass up. However, time and time again it has been proven that entertaining marketing messages rarely work. Entertaining marketing messages usually do not result in increased profits, larger market share nor do they attract more customers.
You must be creative when designing your message. Your creativity, however, should be focused on ways and means to influence your prospects behavior so that they respond in the way that you want them to.
What is that response?
What action do you want your new prospects, your opt-in list participants, your advertisement readers, and your web site visitors to take?
Do you want them to sign up as affiliates? Do you want them to subscribe to your newsletter? Do you want them to opt-in to your mailing list? Do you want them to request additional information? Do you want them to call you? Do you want them to refer someone to you? Do you want them to buy your product or service right now? Do you want to put together a joint venture? Do you want to invite others to join your lead-sharing program?
What are you trying to do?
This is the most important question you must ask yourself. The response that you want the reader of your marketing communication to take will determine what you say in your message.
What is the goal of your marketing?
To quote Dale Calvert, a well know MLM entrepreneur, "if you don't know WHY– the HOW doesn't matter."
Why are you writing? What are you trying to communicate? What do you want the reader to do?
Your sales letter, your web site, and your e-mail message are your salesman in print. Do they make effective sales presentations?
The reader will be curious. They will be open to suggestions. Can you develop enough interest in your product or service, through your message, to induce them to take the positive action you want?
Your mission is to educate your prospect, your customer, the visitor to your web site on the when, the where, the how, and the why your proposition will benefit them. Can you do that if your message is designed to entertain?
If you do not have a compelling WHY in your own mind, you will not be able to write a message the people will understand. If you do not know WHAT you want your prospect to do you won't know what to say.
If you don't know why and you don't know what, HOW do you get people to understand?
When people do not understand, they mistrust. When people mistrust, they say no to your offer.
This does not mean that your offer is bad it only means that you did not provide enough information or the right information to help the reader understand what is in it for them. How they will benefit from your product or service.
You did not establish a relationship with them. You failed to communicate from the same knowledge base that they are comfortable with. You are not talking their language.
This is bad for business.
You must convey to the reader what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how they will benefit from it. You must write this in a personal, conversational manner. Just like you're talking to a friend. Overwhelm them with your incredible offer.
You should come across and write with passion – act as if what you are offering is "the greatest thing since peanut butter and jelly". Be sure to back up your claims with solid testimonies and expert opinion. The more testimonials you have, the BETTER!
Keep this question ever present through out your marketing message development process:
What am I trying to do?
Then keep on writing until you get your message perfect.
How do you know when you have perfected your message?
Your message is perfect when you are making a profit from it.
Isn't that what you are trying to do?
