Posted by:
Daniel Levis
July 1, 2009
Issue #705
Dear Web Business-Builder,
Quick question before we get started: What’s the biggest surprise you ever got from a marketing test? Hold that thought because I’ll be asking again …
You’ve probably heard the saying, “if it ain’t broke — don’t fix it.” Heard that, right?
It’s one of the reasons major corporations today have become so fat, satisfied and bureaucratized that managers are afraid to fart without circulating a memo for fear of disturbing the status quo.
Just one problem … there is no status quo. The world is in a constant state of flux. It’s fluxing faster each day.
Business leaders envision goals and make grand plans based on the world as they know it.
They build rigid, monolithic companies that are too big and too rich to fail. And as we’ve seen … their enormity can no more protect them from the firestorm of change than enormity protected the dinosaurs.
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
June 24, 2009
Issue #700
Dear Web Business-Builder,
Saturday night is movie night at my house. That’s when my wife and I curl up on the couch, pop the cork on a nice bottle of wine, and relax.
It’s usually some chick flick or another. And I’m OK with that. But this Saturday night was different.
We watched a movie called “Laurel Canyon.” Yes, I know that sounds like a chick flick. But hang in there …
Meet Jane … one of the central characters.
Jane is a hard-living, free-thinking rock-and-roll record producer, who happens to own a lavish mansion in Laurel Canyon, a suburb of LA.
Her character is based loosely on folk rock icon Joni Mitchell, who actually lived in Laurel Canyon in the 60s. As you can see, Jane looks like something out of Woodstock.
The Laurel Canyon property is vacant, and Jane’s straight-laced son and his super-conservative bride-to-be, Alex, are scheduled to move in.
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
June 10, 2009
Issue #692
Dear Web Business-Builder,
There is an art and science of piecing your sales message together in such a way that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.
Each selling element has two sources of strength. It has inherent strength. And it has contextual strength.
I’ll give you an illustration …
Let’s say you open your sales message by saying, “Hi I’m Joe Blow and I’m widely recognized as one of the top UNIX specialists in the world.
Hewlett Packard, SUN Microsystems and even IBM pay me $5,000 an hour to come in through the back door and help them build mission critical systems for NASA.”
Now, is this a strong credibility statement? In and of itself, it is. But contextually, it’s very weak. Why?
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
June 3, 2009
Issue #687
Dear Web Business-Builder,
Over the years I’ve tested a lot of stuff. I mean why not? The Internet makes it so easy to do.
One of the things I’ve tested is the voice of the pitchman. I’m not talking about comparing different tone and inflection and word choice, but actually comparing response when two different people “voice” the copy.
Of course this is all fantasy built up in the reader’s mind with the use of images and signatures and so forth.
Nonetheless, I’ve seen the exact same copy “voiced” by two different people in a head-to-head split test yield wildly different results in conversion. If you’ve done similar tests, perhaps you’ve seen the same.
What’s going on here?
The difference lies in the relationship that exists, and that can be fostered, between the spokesperson and the target audience. If you can create a powerful bond between the two, get ready to enjoy more sales.
The level of familiarity your target audience has with your spokesperson … any positive or negative past impressions … sex … ethnicity … dress … surroundings and props … even facial expression, can all make a difference. In other words:
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
May 27, 2009
Issue #682
Dear Web Business-Builder,
Many of us sell products that help our customers to earn more money. And many of us sell products that indirectly allow our prospects to make or to save money.
So the more we can understand about what money means to our customers, the more accurately we can align our selling stories, images, and language with their underlying subconscious drives and desires. And the more we can sell.
Make sense?
It’s not enough to simply say, “you can make or save x dollars in x time with this” in your sales copy. That’s a purely intellectual appeal that may or may not trigger a productive emotional response. You must go deeper than that.
You must draw a picture of cause and effect that reaches their core motivation for wanting money in the first place.
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