The Copywriter Underground

I recently conducted a pair of Messaging Platform interviews with clients. I was struck by how good they are at their core competencies.

And how most market like it’s still 1991.

It’s not a knock so much as a reality. Marketing has changed more the last five years than it did the prior 50.

Anyone would have trouble keeping up – especially in the context of a small business, where the marketing manager is also managing sales staff, fighting PR battles, and scraping gum off the conference table.

The result, of course, is an unhappy kind of stasis. Companies keep throwing dollars at one-way channels like trade advertising – even as ROI shrinks.

They might be too busy to notice. Their copywriter shouldn’t be.

The Opportunity

I’m a huge believer in the value-added copywriter - the marketing genius who brings more to the table than the ability to sling words.

Are you savvy enough to walk into a company, define the message, see the holes in the marketing plan, and maximize the return on their tight marketing budget?

Can you confidently explain the value of engaging customers via blogs? Can you leverage the latest technology on behalf of your client?

Can you do all this in business terms your client will find attractive?

It’s Not About the Words

A recent small business client built a great product, but lacked a consistent, differentiated message. His Web site actually inhibited sales. And he didn’t understand the power of engaged communities.

We sat down. He listened. We fixed the problems. And sold two years of production in 1.5 months.

It wouldn’t have happened if all I sold were vowels, consonants and assorted punctuation. Instead, I sold success. Will that client ever go anywhere else?

The Copywriter of the Future

As the evolution of marketing quickens, copywriters increasingly occupy a unique space.

Content is King. Engagement is Queen.

And knowing how to get results is fast becoming as important as writing the words which get them.

New marketing channels are created on an almost hourly basis. The people best prepared to exploit them are those who fill them with content.

That’s you. The copywriter.

It’s Different Today. Are You Ready?

I don’t want to hype Web 2.0 beyond reason. But my 20+ years of experience offers me a unique perspective.

Years ago, a single copywriter couldn’t begin to compete with an ad agency’s horde of media specialists, art directors, traffic coordinators, account execs, and assorted stuffed suits.

Today, one smart copywriter can out-market the whole bunch. And do it on behalf of a company 1/10 the size of the ad agency’s mega-client.

It’s not easy. But the leverage is there – if you’re perceptive enough to seize it.

Viral. Engagement. Video. RSS. Buzz. Blogs. Skype-enabled VOIP.

They’re buzzwords. But they’re also levers. Long levers. And Archimedes once said that if he had a long enough lever and a place to stand, he could move the earth.

Today’s value-added copywriter has the leverage to move the marketing universe. Are you ready?

[tags]copywriter, web 2.0, marketing, [/tags]

If I convince my readers of anything, it’s that the copywriters who add value beyond the words set themselves apart from the herd.

Part of adding value means staying current, and intelligently applying new marketing developments to your clients’ situation.

For example, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing posted a note about a hosted “click-to-call” service for small business from Jaduka.

“Click to call” has been a staple contact point on the Web sites of larger companies for some time.

A customer clicks, their phone rings, and they’re talking to a service representative.

It’s an impressively seamless customer engagement point, and – until now – it’s been the province of larger companies.

Now anyone can add “click-to-call” to their Web site or other online contact point – even Google listings.

Jaduka even offers a free account.

I don’t know if it’s a useful tool for sole proprietors. But for a business of any size, it’s a great example of the Internet leveling the playing field.

And an excellent demonstration of yet another way to add value to your copywriting relationships.

[tags]duct tape marketing, click-to-call, click-and-connect, jaduka, copywriter, [/tags]

Will your state-of-the-art Web site sink or swim under the weight of a single printed piece?

Maybe.

Signal vs. Noise posted an excellent idea; every commercial site should create a single printable sheet that sums up the site’s key selling points.

The idea is this; the person reading the Web site might not be the decision maker, and a single pitch page makes it possible for them to sell your product up the food chain.

It’s a great idea, and though I’m a fanatic about leave-behinds, this was a blind spot for me.

Every good pitch I’ve been involved in leveraged a leave-behind piece that summed up the pitch for the pitched.

It was often critical. That’s because corporate pitches often fly because the seller secured a champion on the inside. It only stands to reason that arming that person with strong collateral can’t hurt.

In the case of a Web site, you won’t know who your champion is – so arming them with only a URL isn’t enough. A one-page printable brochure on your site? It’s a sound sales strategy for copywriter and client alike.

[tags]pitch, collateral[/tags]

Today I had lunch with a very, very smart woman. We talked about her non-profit, and how she wanted to move her organization to the next level.

Among other things, she needed a complete marketing overhaul, and she even listed the elements; new logo, new Web site, new tagline… right down the line. And right off course.

What was missing? Her blueprint for success.

She’d left out the messaging platform.

It’s a common mistake. But a lethal one. Without a defined message, you’re marketing into thin air. There’s no anchor and no starting point.

And figuring how you’re going to say something grows exponentially harder when you don’t really know what you’re supposed to say.

Start at the beginning. Craft a blueprint first. And then – with your foundation in place – you can pick the colors for the logo.

[tags]messaging platform[/tags]

Your strongest marketing tool? It’s not your SEO strategy, your finely tuned messaging platform, or even your copywriter.

It’s the passion of your customers.

Tap into that, and you’ve created a mobile sales force that can’t wait to sell your product. They’re engaged. They’re credible. And they’re chomping at the bit to spread your message.

Passion-based marketing? It exists. It always has. But if you market with flat, lifeless messages – or worse, can’t prove your organization shares your customers’ passion – then you’re relegated to doing it the hard way.

Is Passion in your Marketing Plan?

What’s it mean? You’d better deliver a rich experience. Tell a story. Let them know you’re worthy of their support.

You simply can’t market at them. You’ve got to talk to them. Engage. Incite. Capture their allegiance.

Is that in your current marketing plan? Are you using rich media? Interactive online channels? Are you really talking to your customers? Is passion a key part of your message?

In view of all the interactive communication channels popping up, it’s time to sit down, cast aside your preconceived notions about marketing, and look at your marketing plan with fresh eyes.

If your customers are passionate people, then market with passion. Anything less, and you’ll lose ground to a competitor who will…

Blogs are finding their way into the arsenal of corporate marketing departments, and for those willing to try this new marketing channel, the payoffs can be significant.

A marketing blog can build customer loyalty, help recruit new customers, drive revenues, unify fanatic users (who sell your product for you), and help you retain control of your brand image.

But how do small and medium businesses build a successful blog?

Set your goals. Then blog.

The time to define a blog’s mission is not three weeks after its debut. Before starting the project, set clear marketing goals for the blog – and only then define its character.

For example, are you trying to sell product, or are you blogging for the brand? Is the blog a conduit for company information, an attempt to put a human face on the organization, or an online community of fanatic users?

Only when you’ve decided on the mission can you consider the blog’s content. For example, if your goal is to share your company’s passion for your products with passionate customers (passion-based marketing is deadly in the right markets), then you’re looking for passionate writers.

Want to put a human face on your company? Find a storyteller. Trying to impart technical information to users? Search for someone who can distill mountains of information down to molehills of finished copy.

Style counts.

While blogging is an extremely flexible medium, your mission still defines the majority of its content. Simple “how-to” posts impart information (and build traffic), but don’t necessarily incite passion or humanize a company.

Humor works wonders, but requires a deft touch (don’t do it unless you’re good at it – you’d be amazed at how often it falls completely flat).

Photographs help define a blog’s look, but that cuts both ways; if your images are boring and amateurish, that will be everyone’s first impression.

Finally, if your customers are doing exciting things, then don’t create a boring blog. A blog is the ideal place to inspire and motivate customers – so make sure you’re posting inspiring, motivating content…

Welcome to Marketing Smarter #2 – the second in my series on the Messaging Platform. This describes the elements of the Messaging Platform – the document that drives your marketing efforts. My essential messaging platform includes a small, simple handful of elements:

Research Elements (the parts I dig up)

Current Situation
Includes information on the state of your market, current marketing efforts, trends, and your competition. I sometimes use a simple SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) to draw this information out of clients.

Product Pros & Cons
An honest appraisal of your product from the market’s standpoint. Where does it succeed? Where does it fail to your competition? Are you gaining ground or losing it?

Business Goals
A critical, yet often-overlooked element. Your business goals drive your marketing – so why would anyone not include them in a messaging platform? I have no idea…

Creative Elements (the parts I write)

Product Benefits
These are the key product or service benefits – derived from client interviews and market research. Those who play in multiple markets could have multiple “key” benefits.

Marketing Theme
These are the themes that will underly your marketing messaging. Stylish, yet functional, these themes encapsulate your key benefits, but allow some creative wiggle room.

Messaging
The words at the root of all your marketing. Everything springs from this; taglines, campaign themes, headlines, Web copy, PR boilerplate…

Want to see how it works?

We’ll use Chris Raine – who hand -crafts bamboo fly rods – as an example. Because Chris’ bamboo fly rods are hollowbuilt – an unusual style of building that offers some performance benefits – his key product differentiator was also his key benefit: his rods outperform other bamboo fly rods.

His Marketing Theme was: My high-performance bamboo fly rods outperform others.

How did this translate to his marketing? You can see it played out on his Dunsmuir Rod Company Web site.

Build an expensive house without a foundation and you’ll watch your investment simply sink into the earth.

Yet that’s exactly what many marketing organizations do. They build their marketing plan without a foundation, so their marketing efforts slowly sink from view.

Fight Message Drift

The Messaging Foundation is the building block of your marketing efforts – the document that defines what you’re saying, who you’re saying it to, and how you’re saying it.

Why use it? It keeps you focused. It keeps your message alive (and out of the hands of the passive voice that always creeps in). And it fights that most insidious of marketing diseases: Message Drift.

Over time, messages tend to drift – especially in the presence of overworked marketing staff (which describes most marketing departments nowadays). The results are hugely damaging; your customer universe hears not a unified message, but a fragmented, oscillating one.

Build a good Messaging Platform, and you’ll cement your message in place.

My advice? Don’t market without one.

In our next post, you’ll learn how to build your own shiny new Messaging Platform in a few easy steps…

So what are you really? Word jockey or success guru? If all you deliver are words, then it’s time to reconsider your role…

It’s not easy for your clients to succeed in today’s fragmented, fast-changing marketing environment, and for a copywriter used to selling success as much as words, writing simply isn’t enough.

A tricky headline won’t save your project from a bad media buy, and no lead can salvage a program that’s not in line with a company’s business goals.

Do you really need to be as much consultant as writer? Look at the number of media channels available to the average client. Years ago, their choices were limited to a handful of print venues and some broadcast media. Today there’s a universe of choices, and it seems like more are created hourly.

Positioning is key. Messaging is critical. Exploiting niches a must. And sadly, most small and medium-sized businesses – who are too busy surviving to know about the online marketing opportunity created 27 hours ago – will make a hash of media.

If you can’t help them make the right decisions, your project will fail. Your client will enjoy an ROI of pennies on the dollar. And your work will be suspect – your fault or not.

You’re the Expert.

You’re the one who should be asking your clients to think big. You’re the one who finally suggests an online marketing plan. And you’re the one who unmasks their specific business goals – and if the current project really furthers those goals.

The ugly truth is that most businesses still market like it’s 1989. For many, you’re the bridge to today. Blogs? Engagement marketing? Direct mail? Interactive and rich media? Lasered eggs? (No, I’m not making the egg thing up.)

Your clients probably don’t know about them. You should. Because if you want to hold onto clients in a fast-fragmenting marketing universe, don’t sell words. Sell success. The next pair of posts will show you how.

(Up next? The Messaging Platform)