Maine Creative Services – Page 16 – Affordable web design and SEO copywriting for small business

Amazon strikes again. Retailers, be very afraid.

Amazon, which has already revolutionized the way we shop and buy, has taken what I think will be another giant step forward. It is satisfying our passion for comparison shopping with a new service that lets you compare prices — and make a purchase, of course — with a few quick taps on your cell phone.

That’s right. No longer do you have to leave a store and fire up your Web browser to find out if you can get the same item cheaper someplace else. Amazon’s TextBuyIt, which launched yesterday, lets you text the name of a product, its description, UPC or ISBN from anywhere — even inside a physical store.

How does a bricks-and-mortar retailer fight back, especially when the American consumer has already made it quite clear he expects superior customer service, but is unwilling to pay (extra) for it. Retailers, I’d love to hear your thoughts — and ideas for how to cope — in the comments.

Is your writing wimpy and wishy-washy?

Strong, powerful, confident words communicate and convince. Lame, wimpy writing kicks the legs out from under your message, and waters it down.

The most common kind of wimpy writing are “qualifiers.” If you remember what your 7th grade English teacher told you, qualifiers are adjectives and adverbs that limit (“qualify”) your message — thus modifying it — and too often, undercutting it. You’ll find lots of them in your own writing — words like “sort of” and “I guess” and “I think.”

Obviously , there are places where certain adjectives and adverbs are appropriate. Take this sentence: “The dimpled cloud drifted lazily across the blue sky.” In that example, “dimpled” and “blue” are adjectives, and “lazily” is an adverb. You can see how these words describe (and hopefully enhance) the meaning. Unfortunately, most of us overuse adjectives and adverbs, but that’s a topic for another day.

But too often we use qualifiers as a cop-out, as a way of softening or watering down a statement. Note the wimpy qualifiers in italics: “It’s a piece of junk, in my humble opinion.” “She’s sort of a monster if you ask me.” Maybe it’s a little over the top.”
Whether you’re trying to convey a marketing message or a marriage proposal, state whatever you’re trying to say strongly and clearly. Don’t lie or mislead, of course, but don’t water down your message with wishy-washy qualifiers.

I mean, how would you respond if someone wrote,

“I sort of love you. Will you perhaps marry me? I think I could make you fairly happy.”

Doesn’t exactly sweep you off your feet, does it? Now strip out those wimpy qualifiers and see how much stronger and more confidently it reads:

“I ~~sort of~~ love you. Will you ~~perhaps~~ marry me? I ~~think~~ KNOW I could make you ~~fairly~~ happy.”

Don’t feel bad if you find your own writing peppered with wimpy and unnecessary modifiers. That’s what revising and editing is about. Even professional writers and speakers fall into the habit, as Seth Godin admitted today:

“I noticed a little while ago that I was using the word “just” and the phrase “sort of” in my writing. All the time, in fact. In my last book, a search and replace removed more than 80 unnecessary ‘justs’. ~~Just~~ say it. Don’t hide behind waffling terms that don’t mean anything.”

Are you leaving would-be customers hungry for more?

The always-interesting Freakonomics blog in the NY Times recently cited a recent study that confirms the importance of providing lots of product information in your marketing and sales material.

The MediaPost headline says it all: “Majority Of Online Shoppers Check At Least Four Reviews Before Buying.” Take-away point: A solid 68% do their homework before making a purchase.

As a savvy marketer, how do you respond to this knowledge?

First, make sure you satisfy this hunger by providing all the facts and figures your prospects need to make a buying decision. The more complex — or expensive — your product or service, the more information you need to provide.
Differentiate yourself. Find something different, unique, special about your widget that nobody else can claim, and emphasize that in your collateral.
Make your product data available in a variety of formats to please every kind of buyer: Web page, pdf, print (e.g., spec sheets), free samples, etc. Give the people what they want, the way they want it.
Triple-check your facts. Make sure everything is accurate and complete. Fresh eyes find mistakes that eyes tired miss.
Add a case study or two. Customer “success stories” demonstrate how you’ve helped other, similar customers in the past. Pretty compelling and persuasive stuff.

Then, of course, you somehow still have to find a way to keep all these facts interesting — better yet, fascinating — to your prospect. After all, you can’t bore someone into buying. A few tips:

Good copywriting and graphic design are essential. Here’s how it works: An attractive layout catches the eye and encourages further reading. The headline makes you want to read the first sentence. The first sentence makes you want to read the second, then the third, etc.
Effective copy itself begins by addressing the buyer’s wants, needs, fears, etc. Don’t just start bragging on how great you are. Instead, tell me how my life is going to be better if I make your widget part of my life.
Balance features and benefits throughout the copy. Don’t just tell me about the advanced anti-lock braking system (feature), for example. Tell me why I should care. Safety, peace of mind, better protection for my loved ones — those are benefits.

And benefits are why people buy.

Mortgage crisis? What mortgage crisis?

The mortgage market is in turmoil, thanks to the subprime fiasco. Millions of homeowners face foreclosure, mortgage lenders are losing billions, new loans are impossible to get — hey, wait a minute.

If mortgage loans are so hard to get, why are Countrywide, Ditech and other big lenders still running TV ads every 5 minutes? Even the National Association of Realtors is running ads, saying there’s never been a better time to buy a house. (Better for their members, maybe.)

Despite all the foreclosures, lawsuits and investigations, the mortgage industry is still spending money on ads like a drunken sailor. A big chunk of the buy has shifted to the Internet, but the total spend is staggering.

In fact, they’re spending more now than they did during the height of the housing boom, according to today’s New York Times.

Naturally, what’s good for the advertiser is not necessarily good for the customer. “There may be some good, legitimate offers,” a spokesman for the Federal Trade Commission told the Times. “But it’s a good time for consumers to be especially wary.” Gail Cunningham of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, adds, “Consumers need to read between the lines of everything (the advertisers) are saying.”

McKay gets a makeover (finally!)

No, not me personally, of course. I’m nearly perfect just the way I am. (cough-cough)

But after nearly three years on Blogger, it was time for this blog to get a facelift. (No Botox shots, however.)

So now this baby has a whole new look, a sporty leather interior and fuel-efficient hybrid engine. It even has its own domain, www.attract-more-customers.com. So gentlemen (and ladies), start your engines and adjust your bookmarks.

Don’t forget, you can also subscribe via RSS by clicking the icon in the right sidebar. That way, every post will come waltzing into your feed reader with no effort on your part. Life is good.

Now if only spring would arrive… (sigh)

Forget the rebate, I'm holding out for a "bonus" check

What’s in a name? Or any word, for that matter? A lot, it seems.

Take those rebate checks Uncle Sam will soon start mailing out. If the government really wants us to stimulate the economy by encouraging us to SPEND that money, they need a better name than “rebate.”

Like “bonus.”

In a recent experiment, social psychologist Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business discovered if you call a rebate a “bonus” instead, the recipients spend twice as much.

What’s in a name? A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but calling a rebate a “bonus” stimulated a 100% increase in response!

Here’s the reason. A “rebate” was perceived as getting your own money back, so you were less likely to splurge. But a bonus — hey, that’s new money — found money!

Wait a minute, you’re thinking. You mean you can DOUBLE someone’s spending — just by substituting one word for another?

Yes! In fact, finding and using exactly the right word(s) to stimulate spending is what makes a good copywriter worth the money.

Your mustache doesn't match your garter belt, pal

Who says winters in Maine are boring?