Marketing Tips, Articles, and Useful
Information
As a freelance commercial writer and copywriter, I've become
something of an information junkie. I read a lot about
copywriting, surf the Internet checking out marketing programs
and web sites, and write as much as possible. If I think
something is useful, I'll post it here. Short pieces and links
to other sites will be right on this page. A list of articles is included at the
bottom of the page.
If you find something particularly helpful or have a question,
let me know.

Marketing a White Paper
Your white paper is free. So, why
should you market it? If you don't tell the readers what
benefit they get from reading your white paper, they likely
won't invest the time. Marketing the white paper lets readers
know what's in it for them. This is especially important if you
are using the white paper for lead generation and asking for
contact information in exchange for the white paper.
Testing whether or not people
will give you contact information is important. Some markets
feel overcome with information. Unless they are highly
confident that the white paper you offer really does contain
information that they will find useful, they will simply go
somewhere else. However, many marketing pros consider not
collecting email addresses from those that download your white
paper a waste. If you don't want to ask for email addresses,
there are a few things that you can do to improve the success
of a white paper.
First, be sure that your company
contact information is located in several places on the paper.
Next, you need to include a clear call to action at the end of
the white paper. Alternatively, you can offer the white paper
further along in the sale cycle, not as an initial lead
generation tool but as part of a lead nurturing process.
Finally, be sure that the content of the white paper is useful,
that it delivers what you promised, and that the readers don't
feel like you've wasted their time.
Direct Marketing
When you hear "direct marketing" you may have visions of
standing over your garbage can tossing out envelopes unopened
and catalogs ignored.
Getting Response
Direct mail is only one aspect of
direct marketing. Direct marketing also includes lead
generating letters, email, telemarketing, print ads with order
forms or phone numbers, and web sites. The main focus of
direct marketing is to get your prospect to do something - to
get a response that is a sale or may lead to a sale. The
key to getting a positive response depends on your prospect and
your business. It may simply be an offer they can't
refuse but more than likely involves appealing to their
emotions.
Direct mail gets a bad rap from many people. But think
about it. At least one of your credit cards is probably
the result of a direct mail package. If you've ever
bought from a catalog or perhaps online it was likely as a
result of direct marketing.
Marketing That Fits
You Most marketing efforts will get an
improved ROI if direct marketing approaches are used. You
don't have to put together thick, glossy, multi-part
mailers. Just be sure you understand your prospect.
Tell him about the benefits of your product or service.
Make him an offer. Give him the information needed
to act - a phone number, response card, web site address, or
your business address. How your direct marketing campaign
looks needs to fit your prospects' wants and needs, as well as,
the format of the advertising.
Look at the advertising you see today. Are you given a
reason to choose that business over a competitor? Is
there enough information for you to act? Is there an
offer to encourage you to respond? Look at your own
advertising. Make some changes and see the response.

Keys for Successful Internet
Marketing
I plan for this to be an on-going list. As I come across
information I think is particularly useful when trying to
maximize your Internet marketing, I'll post it here.
Social Media and B2B Marketing "What can
social media do for me as a B2B marketer?" If that question
keeps you up at night, chances are you won't find the answer --
because it's the wrong question. What you should be asking is
"How can I use social media to help my clients and prospective
clients?"
All the technologies under the
heading new media allow an amazing array of options for
providing information to clients and prospects. Social media
technologies give you the opportunity to quickly answer
questions and have clients give feedback.
Issues to deal with before
spending money on new media include whether or not you are
willing to embrace the transparency that results when using
social media. Also, is management willing to lose control of
the message that spreads?
More to come ...
Traffic Doesn't Help If It Doesn't
Convert Maybe optimizing your current web
site for search engine placement isn't the right thing to do.
(Gasp!!) Sometimes the user experience that is right for your
market and product or service isn't right for search
engines. While generally, the two goals are not mutually
exclusive, sometimes you need to go with what results in
conversions.
One solution is to build a small simple web site for
SEO. Include quality content on the site using
straight-forward navigation. Then include a link to your
main web site for detailed information and the experience
you've found results in conversions. This will get you
found on the Internet and still preserve what you know works
for your users.
Meta Tags Are not All Created
Equal In part because of keyword spamming
practices, Google pays little to no attention to the keyword
meta tag. The title and description tags though are very
important. All search engines use them to some degree.
The description tag is often displayed in search results.
Alt tags for graphics are also important if your site is
graphic-intense. If you don't use alt tags, search
engines may consider your site as lacking content and you won't
rank well. Alt tags are also important if the site visitor
is using a reader to access your web site.
Keep It Simple With all the bells and
whistles available to web designers and developers, it's
sometimes difficult to get a simple, straight-forward web site.
Unfortunately, many search engines have difficulty with
complicated sites. Clean use of html coding assures that
spiders can find and index the content you've worked so hard to
create. In other words, if your site doesn't need Flash or
involved Java-script to effectively communicate with your
intended audience, then don't use it. If those sorts of effects
are expected in your market, talk to your web developer about
making the site search engine friendly without sacrificing
function. You may also want use strategies such as
pay-per-click ads, direct mail, and directory listings to
drive traffic to your site rather than relying on natural
search.
Pay Per Click
Advertising
Advertising on the Internet is a
smart thing to do. However, it is often ineffective. Why?
Because the advertiser didn't follow one of the golden rules of
marketing. It's all about trust.
Trust is even more important on
the Internet than other media. One simple way you
can build trust with pay-per-click ads is to tie the
message of the ad and the page where the visitor is sent -
the landing page - together. This probably means that your home
page may not be the right place to send people. That
doesn't mean you need a new landing page for EVERY advertising
effort. Just be sure that the ad reflects the content of the
page where the visitor ends up.
Unique landing pages are very
effective for retail, special offers, or product and service
launches. If your advertising focuses on one of these types of
approaches, then content specifically tied to the
ad improves the chances of a positive response. Page
headlines that are the same or similar to the ad and content
relevant to how the visitor reached you make the visitor
comfortable. They trust that you will deliver what you promise
- because you already have once.
Does your Internet advertising
match your landing pages?

Copywriting, General Business, Marketing
Articles
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