A persuasive website, sales letter or brochure can get a customer to buy a product they’ve never tried once. But even the most skillful marketing copy cannot get a customer to buy something they’ve tried already and didn’t like. Either the goods are delivered as advertised, or else the marketing pro and their client go out of business the next day because they’ll be seen as unreliable.

That said, marketing content can take utilize a technique described by Robert Bly in “The Copywriter’s Handbook” as false logic. The idea is to be absolutely truthful, yet play upon the customer’s assumptions. One example Bly uses is a fruit company that uses the slogan, “less than one in 1,000 people have tasted this pear” – which gives the pear an air of exclusivity, when the statistic may only mean that it’s not very popular.

Another example could be a company advertising the idea that “customer service is our highest priority” – when all customer service has been out-tasked to a subcontractor. Customers may assume that customer service calls are handled by internal company representatives.

But so long as the customer gets great service, the company is being truthful (while using “false logic) to give themselves a positive selling proposition. That’s not a bad thing for the company or the customer.

Marketing copy must be truthful to succeed. “Logical” is a whole other story.

Contributed by Jonathon Narvey, President of www.writeimage.ca, a Vancouver-based copywriting company

The call to action doesn’t have to be a request for an immediate sale. It might be a suggestion for the customer to get information or sign up for your newsletter. You need to be clear in your own mind about your business objectives.

Examples might include:

• “Call us today at (555) 555-5555 to schedule your initial consultation.”

• “Email info@info.ca to get your free information package and take the first step to financial independence.”

• “Purchase online in the next 24 hours and get our complimentary gift pack absolutely free.”

A call to action can be a clickable button on a website or the last paragraph of a sales letter or business email. In a one-page brochure, it might be the only line of copy on the page. It needs to be there if you want results.

Contributed by Jonathon Narvey, President of WRITEIMAGE, a Vancouver-based copywriting company. www.imagewrite.ca

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The Sales Flight Plan Workshop by 30,000 Feet Coaching will help you grow your revenues and reduce your closing time.

Gabe Padva, expert sales trainer and coach, will show you how to develop and use a proven sales system which is effective and measurable. Most importantly, he’ll show you how to powerfully communicate what you do best so that your prospects will pick you over the competition regardless of price.

At the end of this workshop you will have the tools you need to double or even triple the amount of your incoming qualified leads plus a sales system that cuts your closing time in half.

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To get the Lift pricing, you will need to add the following discount code:

Liftgov – government funding payment $97 commitment deposit
Lift – payment without government funding $1,250

It starts with first impressions – so let’s start at the beginning:

1) When was the last time you took a good look at your website?

When many employers are sourcing, identifying, and pursuing top candidates they focus mainly on salary and benefits… what they may not be realizing is that most applicants’ first step is reviewing the website of your company.

Simply put – salary and benefits don’t matter if they don’t apply in the first place.

This means that, whether you like it or not, your website represents not only your products or service but also your culture and what you stand for. Does your website’s “about us” section talk your culture or 3rd party recognitions? Can the person take pride in working for your company based on your website? Does your website make you look outdated or ahead of the curve?

The overall question is ….. what does your website say about you?

2) How do you deal with applicants when they actually apply?

So the best national candidate has applied to your company because of your fantastic website. So the question is now, what are you doing about it? How they are managed through the application process reflects how you treat your employees. So, a few questions to think about:

How long does it take for you to get back to them … a day, a week, never?

Do you give them contact information so they can speak to someone if they have any questions?

Do you send through an email thanking them for applying or just do nothing?

The bottom line is – the first impressions you create dictate the type and quality of people that will apply to your company.

The good news is, you can take control of this process right now and attract the best.
about

In my view, it has had a profound effect on the most valued employees within many, many companies. The question that these HR managers need to ask themselves is, “Am I willing to lose my best people?’

Here is a story to illustrate my point. I met with a client this week at her office. After ten years with one company, she has been promoted three times and is the in-house leader of the organization, essentially the glue that has held the operation together for the past decade.

This is what she told me:

“The number of staff reporting to me went from six to 22 last week as the company decided to make some changes. I am expected to do the same job as before, but my responsibilities have multiplied by more than four times. I know they trust me, but this wasn’t handled like a promotion.more like ‘deal with it’. I am really overwhelmed. I don’t know how long I can keep this up-I am seriously considering looking for a different job in the New Year.”

The reality in the situations such as this is that valued staff members are being overloaded and overworked to the point that they can no longer function and hiring freezes, an absence of replacement agreements, etc., continue to add to the workload.

The powers that be keep piling on the work for their best staff because they trust them to get it done, but have they ever stopped to ask, “Can they truly handle this workload? If so, how long and how are we compensating them for taking on all of these extra duties?”

Why is retention so important right now? When I ask clients what their biggest HR challenge is at the present time the answer is almost always along the lines of, “I have no idea who really wants to be here and who is just staying because they can’t find a better opportunity right now.” The result is a “perceived” high retention rate when in reality it is fear of leaving. However, with our market picking up once again, staff will no longer be afraid to leave their jobs and many will begin actively seeking if they’re not happy.

So, is your team really motivated and engaged or are they waiting for the market to change? If they’re just waiting, how is that affecting your bottom line and internal morale? When should you start making changes? The time is now. Your top talent is a resource that needs your attention. Find them, reward them, engage them and keep them.

Matthew Heiydt
Business Development Manager – Canada
The Personnel Department
Phone (604) 685-3530
Toll Free (888) 685-3530
www.goodstaff.com

There’s certainly something to be said for fine-tuning and adapting your messaging for different markets if you are targeting distinct niches. That said, a coherent marketing and communication strategy will typically involve some key language that is repeated again and again and… you get the idea.

The other important thing to remember about consistency is that you have to let the campaign run its course before switching things up. Sure, after a pre-determined point, you’ll need to start using feedback from your customers to tweak or even remake your key messages.
I once worked for a boss that ordered me to switch up our key messages on an almost daily basis according to feedback from individual customers or individual staff members in different departments. Rather than tweaking the key consistent message for those niche clients, the strategic message kept changing, requiring changes throughout all online and print materials. The end result was massive frustration and confusion for both our clients and my own department.

Long story short: Being strategic about marketing means being consistent and repeating your message over time. If you have confidence in your messaging, let it prove its worth.

Contributed by Jonathon Narvey, President of www.writeimage.ca

A quick example: Which statement from the Services page of a Vancouver-based professional organizing company do you think is better?

A) Out of Chaos is a trusted provider of excellent, customized organizing services located in Vancouver, Canada. Our highest aim is to create and maintain order in your corporate and residential spaces through the hands-on training, support and consultation of a qualified Professional Organizer.

B) Out of Chaos provides customized organizing services. Our aim is to create order in your corporate and residential spaces through the hands-on training and support of a Professional Organizer.

Clearly, the second version is more concise and hard-hitting. Indeed, you could even shave off a few words from the second example and still provide a clear understanding of the company’s offerings.

By all means, write as long as you need to in order to help clients understand what you do. But a good rule of thumb is to avoid redundancy and make every word count.

Contributed by Jonathon Narvey, President of www.writeimage.ca

A website can be a electronic brochure or it can be used as a marketing tool. Can you tell us how your company helps its clients maximize their online presence?

Answer from October 17 Media:

A website should absolutely act as a tool for the business owner, their clients and their potential customers. It simply takes a little planning before you get started. By answering questions such as the following, you will be better able to develop a website with a purpose.

Consider your website’s information architecture.
What information will you provide on your website, why, and what content has the most priority? How will you lay out your information to make it easy for users to locate the content they are looking for? You don’t need to share everything plus the kitchen sink and you most certainly have some messages that need to be heard louder than others. So, prioritize the information by creating some website architecture and focus on content that is going to be most helpful for your clients and prospects.

Self centred brochure copywriting is a thing of the past.
Consider investing in search engine-friendly web copywriting, which serves to increase your website’s page rank in Google and other search engines. Without effective copy written to appeal to both search engines and real people, your website will lose some of its ability to convert prospective customers into clients.

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there – the importance of web coding!
Many less experienced designers are still developing their websites in what we call “tables”. It’s not crucial for you to understand how tables work, but it IS important that you don’t select a web designer who builds their websites in tables – it’s an important interview question! Be sure to ask your designer if he or she adheres to W3C standards and, when your website is complete, be sure to run it through the W3C validator at http://validator.w3.org – it should run error-free through this tool.
The benefits of having great website code include, among many others, making your site more accessible to search engines and mobile phones, decreasing website load times and making it easier to implement future website updates

Make a ‘dream-list’ of what you wish your website could do.
Sometimes these ‘dreams’ are actually inexpensive. Tell your web design and marketing company what your vision is! Sometimes adding features such as a content management system (i.e. so you can update your own website), adding a Twitter feed and adding e-commerce components can be done relatively inexpensively. Be sure to ask! Or, they can be put into a phase 2 or 3 plan and be factored into future expansion plans.

Consider what features would make your business run smoother.
Would it help to have e-commerce with analytical tracking? Would having on-demand video tutorials reduce your customer service inquiries? Would an automatic web demo about your product reduce pre-sales time? How securely stored is your client’s data and how accessible is it to you when you need it? Focus on the needs of your company and clients and build your website around function, not just good looks!

Brenda Cadman
october 17 media inc
www.october17media.com