Does Your Headline Pass the 8-Second Test?
Imagine you’ve proudly posted a lead-generating white paper on your website. You sit back to reap the contact information you’ll capture from such an investment, but weeks later, you find that only 3% of your website visitors actually downloaded the document! You’ve done the market research and know your white paper’s subject matter is compelling and leading edge. So what’s gone wrong? It could be your headline. Beware – and Be Aware of – the 8-Second Test Recent research suggests that it takes just 8 seconds for a reader to decide to keep reading....
Read MoreHow to Break Through Reader Tune-Out
I’d guess that for nearly all of us, writing is something we do by default – sort of like driving. The communication (or driving) lessons we learned long ago have become habitual, and we depend on them without thinking to get the job done. But now more than ever you need to rethink your approach to writing communication. In a single day, your readers have to process hundreds of “Read Me!” messages in email, on billboards – even on bathroom stalls! If you write by default with common phrases and clichés, your reader won’t read your message – or won’t remember reading...
Read MoreHow to Clearly Present Features and Benefits
Maybe it’s the former technical writer in me, but I love tables for organizing information. (I love them even more than bulleted lists, but that’s a subject for another newsletter.) Like bulleted lists, tables work well for listing information, in particular information that requires additional description. For example, I just wrote a one-page product flyer for a software application that included a features/benefits table. This worked because I could link the benefits to each feature, like this: Features Benefits Transforms checks into electronic transactions Slashes...
Read MoreWhen Using Testimonials, Avoid this Big Mistake
If you know anything about marketing, you know that you need testimonials. This article won’t focus on how to get testimonials from your clients (though I’ve included an innovative tip from John Jantsch), but instead on how to refine them. One of the biggest mistakes I see in testimonials is using them “as is.” Let’s face it, not everyone communicates well in writing, and their initial testimonial may be too long, awkwardly written, or contain typos. As long as you’re not changing the meaning of the testimonial, don’t be nervous about cleaning it up. A testimonial is just...
Read MoreEver Expounded on a Bar Stool? Try It for Your Marketing Message!
In my senior high school English class, our writing had to be ship-shape. Our English teacher, Sister Mary Richards (an Anglophile and English language devotee) made sure of that with her bright red pen. Thankfully, in most marketing writing, you can loosen up and write in a conversational tone. Let’s Get One Thing Clear … Writing conversationally isn’t like how you talk. You’ll leave out all the verbal pauses that drag down a real-life conversation (the “ahhhs” and “uhhhs”), not to mention sentences that trail … now where was I? As copywriter...
Read MoreGrab Their Attention with a Story
“The best copy touches a nerve, like a story illuminating an important truth.” - Joe Coplans, freelance copywriter Put yourself in your reader’s shoes. Which case story would you be more likely to read based on these introductions? Introduction – Before Introduction – After “All United Bank always embraced technology. So when the time required to print, copy, and distribute 100+ reports on their IBM platform crept up to two hours per day, they naturally looked for a technology solution.” “Every day, Jacob Right, VP at All United...
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Mary brought a critical eye to the manufacturing process and was able to translate what she saw on the production floor into a cohesive and comprehensive document.
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