by tradespeopleinsights | May 28, 2009 | Marketing Tools
Professional tradesmen are just as busy as the rest of us and they need to know, what’s in it for them? My experience working with marketing departments is that they are in the features/benefits mode most of the time and have a difficult time adjusting to writing online. In order to write effectively, you must understand how people read on the web.
And how do users read on the web? The answer is, they don’t...they scan.
Nielsen Norman Group’s research found that 79 percent of their test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.
For your company’s blog to be effective, your text must be scannable. Jakob Nielsen offers this advice:
- highlighted key words (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
- meaningful sub-headings (not “clever” ones)
- bulleted lists
- one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
- the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
- half the word count (or less) than conventional writing
Nielsen’s research also found that users detested “marketese”; the promotional writing style with boastful claims. I’ve often said that the moment you start to sell on your company’s blog is when you will lose your audience.
You need to understand how people read on the web and learn to write for them effectively. Go to Jakob Nielsen’s web site and read this paper. If you look at the top blogs, you’ll find they follow Nielsen’s style guidelines remarkably well. How Users Read on the Web
by tradespeopleinsights | May 27, 2009 | Marketing Trends
I know you’re convinced that your product or service is the best solution to a tradesman’s problem. According to a recent post in B2B marketing online, a new study from Enquiro Research shows that 99% of B-to-B buying is about CYA. If business buying is driven more by risk adversion, then you need to address those and take the risks out.
This puts a different light on how to approach these buyers to improve your conversion rates. Here’s a summary of some of their suggestions:
- Understand Business Buyer Risk. To improve conversion rates, it’s essential to understand the extent to which your company and its products or services may be perceived by your target buyers. From the eyes of the buyers, where do you stack up: are you a major player in the market or a new entry?
- Become an “Approved Vendor.” If you’re not the 800# gorilla in the market, you have an uphill battle. You could have the most brilliant marketing strategy, were able to get in to see the right people and even demo the product, but you don’t get the order. Reason – we got a better deal from our existing vendor or we went with an approved vendor. One way to address this is champion a teaser offer, e.g. 60-day trial period.
- Use Search Marketing to drive Word-of-Mouth. Enquiro research suggests that word-of-mouth can be hugely influential in the buying process, especially in those cases where the buyer has no previous experience in that product category. Search marketing is a powerful tool for getting your message in front of prospects.
- Personalized messages to different targets. Make each landing page, e-newsletter or offer as relevant as possible to the target. To increase conversions: match prospects with happy customers that came from similar risk profiles. Also consider linking to customer reviews.
What are you doing to improve conversions to sales?
by tradespeopleinsights | May 26, 2009 | Marketing Tips
One of the great things about social media and blogs in particular is you can almost instantly see how you’re doing in the world of blogging. Most programs like WordPress have monitoring devices built in. You can see what’s hot and what’s not. You can monitor what sites are sending you traffic and what key words are doing their job.
While it’s nice to know these things, don’t get obsessed with them. Darren Rowse from Problogger had a post recently, 17 statistics to monitor on your blog, that you might find helpful. Here are a few that I think are important:
- Overall visitors. Are they increasing or decreasing?
- Most popular posts. Gives you direction for future posts.
- Referral stats. What sites are sending you traffic? If it’s another blog, maybe you should develop a relationship with them.
- Questions from Readers. This gives you a good indication of topics for future posts.
- Key Words. Which are generating the most traffic?
- Bounce rates. How many people go to your site and then click off ? You need to make your site sticky so people stay on it.
Remember, stats are good monitoring tools, but make sure you take that info to improve your content because ultimately, if you listen to your audience, your readership and pass along will increase naturally.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 21, 2009 | Marketing Tips
You may have the best widget in town, readily available and priced to sell. You need to determine their hot buttons and what trips their trigger. But to get the tradesman interested, you need to:
Get their attention. Address the (WIIFM) “what’s in it for me” question. We need them to feel excited about your new widget and eager to learn how it can make their job easier and more profitable. Use “how to” videos, case studies and online training as ways to get them engaged. Raise questions.
Covert to a customer. Now that you have their attention, what do you do? You need to soft sell and persuade them that your solution is best for them. Build your case, establish the trust factor and then send them to a well-constructed landing page that gives them an offer they can’t refuse and a clear call to action.
Remember, content is king and it defines who you are. Sonia Simone has an interesting post, 49 ways to profit from content marketing, that should give you some guidelines to consider.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 20, 2009 | Marketing Tips
Good writing doesn’t have to be complicated. Especially in a blog, you need to get in, make a point, have a call to action and get out. Professional tradesmen are too busy and too smart to have to waddle through a post and try to figure out what’s in it for them. Here are 3 sure ways to make your point:
- Clear. If you can’t capture their attention with a good subject line and then deliver your core message in the first paragraph, you will lose them. Don’t make them think, spell it out for them. Remember, blog copywriting isn’t about winning a creative award, it’s about delivering a straightforward message.
- Concise. Keep it to short sentences and paragraphs even though they might not always follow the rules of grammar. Remember, you’re not writing a white paper or a master’s thesis. You want to make a point and get out.
- Compelling. Keep it interesting and persuasive. Keep it as personal as possible and cite real life examples. Do your homework and find out what piques your readers’ interest.
Write from the heart don’t to try to maximize your SEO key words.
So what are your thoughts on killer content?
by tradespeopleinsights | May 18, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Blogs are now in mainstream media(over 100 million worldwide ) and it presents a unique opportunity for marketers to both influence and monitor conversations that are relevant to your business.
Conversations about you, your brands and your competitors as well are happening as you read this… These conversations are taking place whether you’re participating or not. Wouldn’t you like to be on the inside looking out?
I read a post recently on E marketing Daily that outlined some interesting stats about the number of people either touching or being touched by blogs. Here are some highlights:
Currently, 27.9 million US internet users have a blog they update at least once a month and they represent 14% of the internet population. It’s estimated by 2013 that 37.6 million users will update their blogs at least once a month.
Even more impressive are the number of blog readers. eMarketer estimates that in 2009, 96.6 million US internet users will read a blog. By 2013, 128.2 million people (58% of all US users) will be doing the same.
The numbers tell the story – don’t ignore blogs. They’re not going away and smart B-to-B marketers will get ahead of the curve sooner than later.
