Almost a Marketing Victim But Saved at The Last Minute
Here’s a story about some key mistakes that your New Hampshire Small Business can not afford to make in this tough economy. Read on so you don’t end up a “Marketing Victim.”
Yesterday I got a call from a prospective client. The voice on the other end informed me that he was just about to approve the final “proof” of a direct mail piece. But his gut was telling him that “something just wasn’t right.”
And the story begins…
I asked: “What is your gut telling you specifically?” He went on to tell me that the copy (the words used to communicate the marketing message) just did not seem “good enough can you please take a look and make improvements?”
The fist major problem…
Marketing messages can’t just be “good enough.” Take direct mail for example. People sort their mail over the waste basket and “good enough” STILL gets thrown out. You can imagine that less than “good enough” doesn’t stand chance. Might as well take your money and burn it.
NO! To get through the clutter and then actually cause your prospect to take action your entire message must be COMPELLING! It must be able to solve a problem that your prospect has. Your marketing message has to appeal the self-interests of the prospect.
The story continues…
I asked him: “Did you put any of this together or did you just totally outsource this to the designer?” He said he totally outsourced it. OUCH! Hey- I love designers, I use their services and my clients need their services. But just because someone is a “Graphics Designer” does not qualify them to write the compelling message that goes hand and hand with the good design (sometimes) to cause the prospect to take action. For that you need a good copywriter.
Here’s something sad: Most business owners (small and large) would not have been savvy enough to realize that something was not kosher. They’d just send out the piece- nothing would happen and they’d conclude that “Direct mail doesn’t work” or “Marketing doesn’t work.”
Wait- but that’s not all…
I then asked: “More importantly, beyond me looking at the copy – WHO is this being sent to?’ The answer came back very vague; “A list of people who make over a certain amount of money each year.” Oh man- at this point I could smell the smoke from the burning money. Just because someone makes over a certain amount of money does not qualify them as a good prospect!
There’s more but I’m going to save it for another post! But luckily this business owner called me before he lit the match to burn his money. (In this tough economy you can’t afford to make mistakes like this.)
A good copywriter (like me) will take in the whole picture. Here’s what I mean. When he called me he wanted me to take a look and improve his mail piece. But when I dug deeper I found flaws that needed to be addressed first- BEFORE – I could even think about fixing the copy! Makes sense right??
I am just happy that I was able to prevent this business owner from wasting his money and becoming a marketing and advertising victim. And I did without putting on my super-hero costume!
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