Selling with Content

Message to marketers: "We are all publishers now."

Content creation for traditional media and public relations is very different from creating content for a content marketing program. In this short video, content marketing guru Joe Pulizzi explains the difference.

 

Is your company newsletter "all about us"?

How many company sponsored newsletters are regularly read? Since most are promotional content packaged in newsletter form, not many. These, "all about us" newsletters contain news about the marketer’s new products and new sales as well as stories about company personnel, testimonials, and user stories.

While this kind of information is interesting to people inside the marketer’s company, customers often see it as just promotion. How many people are thrilled to get ongoing promotions in their e-mail in box? Not many. 

Marketers who use newsletters as a promotional tool are missing the bigger opportunity of creating a newsletter that acts as a direct channel to customers. It is not hard to do. Instead of sending promotional newsletters, build ones with content which is 80% non-commercial information that customers want to read and 20% company promotion. When customers are sent information they want to read about, they often look forward to receiving it. When newsletters with customer centric content are sent out: 

• Customers read them more regularly.
• Newsletter open rates go up.
• More customers subscribe. 
• More customers stay subscribed.
• Newsletters can be sent out more frequently (2x per month or weekly). 
• The newsletter builds a positive brand image.
• No one gets accused of being a spammer.
• When the newsletter carries a promotion, it goes to a wider audience that is more receptive to the sponsors messages.  

A newsletter that first follows the informational needs of customers and not the promotional needs of the sponsoring company open an ongoing marketing channel of communication to customers. Creating a channel to customers it is a much bigger win than just sending promotions and hoping for the best. 

Steve Jobs shows that great content always finds a way

Whatever you are doing for the next 15 minutes, will probably not be as useful as watching this video of Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University. 

Jobs talks on how he set life  priorities from three difficult experiences: his early life as an adopted child, being fired from Apple in 1985, and his life and death encounter with pancreatic cancer. It is a serious, timeless piece of wisdom from an iconic American hero...great content!

But as I watched the video I saw something unsettling. The Stanford students were barely listening to Jobs. At the start many were talking in the background. Into the speech, audience laughter came at times as if the students were watching a TV sitcom rather than serious lessons of life and death. 

But with social media, great content can endure beyond initial audience indifference. This video is alive and well on YouTube, where it has been seen by millions (3.6 million on one of many posts), on iTunes, blogs, and websites. 

Since 2005 Jobs went on to become Amerca's most respected CEO. As he departs for yet another leave from Apple for unspecified health issues, the message of this address seems more urgent than ever. No one is laughing or talking in the background now.

 

What does online influence actually look like? Looks like content

The discussion about online influence needs to shift away from discussions about Facebook, Twitter, and LinkIn and move to a discussion about content and personal connections.

Brian Solis, one of Social medias most consistently great thinkers did a study asking social media practitioniers where online influence comes from. Some of what Brian uncovered was counter intuitive, but all makes good sense when you think about it. 

Is there a differce between popularity and influence? YES, big difference.

The more fans you have, the more influential you are? Maybe not. Respondents valued fewer more tightly connected followers to masses. 

Most important function that creates online influence? Top choice by far: Create, post, or share compelling content. Many other functions fell behind this including: being famous online, being authentic, and connecting with famous people. 

Bottom line: online influence is about creating content that connects with others. When you think about it, isn't that what all stripes of social media provide opportunity for?

 The way online influence is most often evaluated is in the ability to motivate followers to action. I have seen the influnce Brian has on his followers first hand. Last year I quoted him in a social media research study I did. When Solis read it, he liked and tweeted that he was reading it. Within hours the study had been retweeted over  a hundred times.  

Here are some of Brians charts from the study:   

 

 Read about the study

Download a PDF of the findings:  

http://www.vocus.com/social-media/influencer/what-makes-an-influencer.pdf

Are blogs the new buyers guides?

Before you invest money buying advertising in a buyer’s guide consider that a recent research study suggests that online blogs may be replacing the buyer’s guide function for many customers.

A study from BuzzLogic and JupiterResearch that focused on the behavior of heavy blog readers found them relying on blogs for information previously thought to be in the benefit list of search and buyers guides.

Before I present findings from the study let me say that I am skeptical of studies like these. If you ask a respondent if a blog influences their buying deicsions it is easly enough to say, "yes." If the next day a survey asked the same respondnet, "Does the kind of breakfast you ate affect your buying deicsions?", many would say would also say, "yes." The bigger point is that there are many factors now inplay where buyers guides once ruled.

From the study:

"Blog readers do not appear to rely as heavily on search as a means to find new blogs as compared to consumers of traditional online media. According to the survey, one in five general blog readers (defined as consumers who have read a blog in the past 12 months) use blog links to discover new blogs. Further, the study suggests blogs are not consumed in isolation, but experienced as part of a connected conversation – nearly half (49 percent) of blog readers and 71 percent of frequent readers read more than one blog per session.

•    Blogs influence purchases: One half (50 percent) of blog readers say they find blogs useful for purchase information.
•    Blogs sway more purchases among readers than social networks: More frequent blog readers say they trust relevant blog content for purchase decisions than content from social networking sites.
•    Niche focus ups influence factor: For those who have found blog content useful for product decisions, more than half (56 percent) said blogs with a niche focus and topical expertise were key sources.
•    Blogs go beyond tech: Outside of technology-related purchases, for which 31 percent of readers say blogs are useful, other key categories include media and entertainment (15 percent); games/toys and/or sporting goods (14 percent); travel (12 percent); automotive (11 percent); and health (10 percent).

It’s Buy Time: Where Blogs Sit in the Purchase Cycle
According to the study, blogs factor in to critical stages of the purchase process, weighing most heavily at the actual moment of a purchase decision. When it comes to respondents who said they have trusted blog content for purchase decisions in the past, over half (52 percent) say blogs played a role in the critical moment they decided to move forward with a purchase.
Blog readers also replied around blogs’ influence as it relates to the following steps of the purchase process:
•    Decide on a product or service: 21 percent
•    Refine choices: 19 percent
•    Get support and answers: 19 percent
•    Discover products and services: 17 percent
•    Assure: 14 percent
•    Inspire a purchase: 13 percent
•    Execute a purchase: 7 percent

My take is that there now is a universal buyers guide. It's called Google.

This story has some traction, here is a link to a short summary of the that study that ran in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/business/22drill.html?_r=1

Read the entire Buzz Logic press release:
http://www.buzzlogic.com/press/news.html?postdate=1225203064

 

Survey content that sells: do more black men go to jail than college?

Surveys can create powerful content that sells. They sell not by overtly asking for an order, but by creating the “persuasive facts” that decisions are based on.

Call me skeptical, but having crafted hundreds of surveys that sell, when I hear a "persuasive fact" I want to know who created it, what bias it has, and what its creators are trying to sell me.
Here is one such "fact" I've heard for years, most recently during the 2008 Presidential elections:

"There are more black men in prison than in college."

Do you believe it?

This "fact" was used by several candidates during the 2008 presidential campaign (including the guy who won) and is accepted as as true in many social discussions. But the "fact" is misleading and should not be used. It first was introduced in 2002 as part of a study created by the "Justice Policy Institute", whose stated mission is “to promote effective solutions to social problems and to be dedicated to ending society’s reliance on incarceration.” A high minded organization, but not one without a bias on the topic.

The report compared two government statistics: In 2000, there were 791,600 black men behind bars while only 603,032 were in college. The numbers dramatized the shameful condition of American black men at the time.

But using this "fact" is not appropriate for two reasons:
First off, it is no longer true:
The same government statistics released in 2005 showed 864,000 black men in college and only 802,000 in prison. Still terrible numbers, but progress had been made, and as of 2005, a small majority now go to college.

But the bigger point is that this fact misleads because it is an apples to oranges comparison. Attending college and going to jail are different life experiences that happen in different time frames. A majority of people, black or white, go to college only between ages 18 to 24, whereas the "opportunity” to go to prison can happen throughout adulthood.

The black male population of 2000 had a very high frequency of incarceration. If you compare their frequency of attending college, which would only happen in a four year window, to their frequency of attending prison, which could happen anytime during a lifetime, the comparison will skew toward prison. Just because the statistics of "going to college" and "going to prison" were gathered in the same year does not mean all comparisons between them are valid.

Take this 2007 quote from then presidential candidate, John Edwards:

“We cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They’re all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two.”

Even as the basic statement about more young black men going to prison was accurate back in 2000, Edwards is stretching the comparison to mean things it does not.

Working with the 2005 statistics, the fact checkers at the Washington Post did an “apples to apples” comparison of just college age black men, in college and prison, finding that the number of black men in college is actually, "...five times the number of young black men in federal and state prisons and two and a half times the total number incarcerated.”

If you make the "fact" about black men an apples to apples comparison by limiting the sample to just black males of college age, the remaining fact just doesn’t sell:
"There are two and a half times more college age black males attending college, than there are in prison.”

Yawn.

Think about this: this "fact," about more black men going to jail than college was first presented almost 10 years ago by an advocacy group. The "fact" is still influencing decisions today even though it is not true anymore, and was originally based on a bias most people were not aware of.

Again, I state that surveys are the most powerful sales agents on the planet. If you are not using them to advocate your organization’s ideas and products, well, call me skeptical again.

Read the Washington Post fact check report

Read a review of the original report that shared "the fact" from the Justice Policy Institute

Read a 2007 NYT article: A black film maker tries to debunk the myth of more young black men in prison than college

Inception and selling with ideas

As a persuasive element in marketing, ideas are powerful, tangible, misunderstood, and underused. I loved the first few lines from Christopher Nolan's hit movie "Inception" because they dramatize just how influential ideas can be:  

What is the most resilient parasite?

 An idea.

 A single idea from the human mind can build cities.

 An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.

See the movie trailer:

 How do ideas actually sell? Here are the first few lines from the chapter on selling with ideas from my book "Presentations That Change Minds": 

  On March 19, 1999, Steve Forbes entered the crowded field as a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. There were nine candidates running and Forbes’ entry would made it a field of ten. The son of publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes, Steve was little known in national politics and most observers bet his only chance of winning on massive spending from his personal fortune.

But the unique advantage of personally bankrolling a campaign vanished when rival candidate Morry Taylor, a millionaire wheel magnate from Quincy, IL, spent about $1.5 million of his personal fortune on TV ads in the early days of the campaign.

Despite the odds, Forbes shot past eight of his rivals in the first few primaries to become the solid second place contender behind Bob Dole, the long-standing US Senator from Kansas.

Most credit the success of Forbes’ campaign to his ability to present new, compelling ideas that challenged his audiences. One idea, the flat tax, eventually took center stage and became almost synonymous with the Forbes campaign. USA Today reported, “Dole pokes fun at Forbes for being a one-note candidate: "You ask him about your headache, he gives you his flat tax message."
   
The story of how Steve Forbes, a virtual political unknown nationally, could enter a crowded field and have a solid shot at winning the Republican presidential nomination is the story of just how powerful an idea, skillfully delivered, can be.

The essence of using an idea to persuade is to sell an audience on a unique idea which, if accepted, gains acceptance for your candidate, product, or proposal. In short, buy my idea, buy what I am selling.

If you bought the idea of the flat tax back in 1999 you likely voted for Forbes. In the same year, if you bought the idea that the best value in computers was in buying direct from a manufacturer, you likely bought from Dell Computer. Before you start, ask, “If they buy my idea will they buy what I am selling?”
Consider these four ways an idea most often results in a sale:

1. Idea ownership. Steve Forbes “owned” the idea of the flat tax. If you wanted it as part of your future, he was the guy who could deliver and you had to vote for him.

2. Sell an idea as feature. In 2003 Seachange Technology introduced a new idea to structure video storage by using a ring pattern instead of the commonly used linear structure. If IT audiences bought the idea of the ring structure, they had to buy from Seachange, the only supplier who had it.   

3. Implementation. An ad agency recently proposed a new idea for a marketing campaign targeting senior citizens. Because the agency had extensive and unique knowledge and experience implementing programs like the one proposed, they felt confident they would get the contract if the client liked the idea.  The client might say, “OK we love the idea.  Who can make this happen?”  

4. Change that requires specific expertise. A technology company proposed using new digital technology to change the workflow at a radio stations. While many suppliers offered the equipment necessary, implementing the changes in workflow required specific expertise that only this company could provide.  

Ask yourself:

What idea can we advocate which, if accepted, generates preference for our product or service?

Have ideas been used to manipulate? 

Many times. In the 1960's Shell Oil sold the idea that an ingredient in their gasoline, platformate, gained cars extra mileage. Was it true? Yes. In the dramatic 60 second TV spot that follows Shell sells this idea. Shell correctly assumed that most Americans have little understanding of petroleum products. In the ad Shell did not mention that all brands of gasoline had platformate.

 But if you bought the idea that an ingredient in Shell gasoline extended gas mileage would you buy your gas from Shell? Many did so for many years. That's a pretty resilient parasite.    

Blogs and websites: like peanut butter and jelly

I frequently suggest to clients they combine their blog and website. But often the mentality is that websites are websites and blogs are blogs.

  Most often, the core content of a website changes less frequently the content of a blog, making it much less interesting for search engines and readers looking for something new.

But when blogs are linked to social media distribution and then combined into a website they become stronger together: the blog becomes a traffic and search engine magnet pulling in attention that gets shared with the less dynamic website content. I’ve never seen an actual case that documented this working…until now:

TMG Brand Communications is a boutique public relations and marketing communications agency in New York City. TMG had an excellent web site which presented its capabilities and samples of its work. But the site was lightly trafficked. A post on Dan McCarthy's ViralHousingFix describes the strategy:

“In the last quarter of 2009, TMG developed a blog centered, integrated social media marketing strategy to elevate its brand presence. TMG established a blog on a sub-domain of the tmg-media URL. This blog, “Tami McCarthy’s BuzzCloud”, was set up “using WordPress and the Cordobo Green Park theme. The agency also created a TMG Brand Communications fan page on Facebook, pointing the page to the primary TMG domain. The Networked Blogs application distributed blog posts to the Facebook page, and a plug-in was used to distribute posts to Twitter.”

The impact was immediate. In the six months following the launch of the blog: TMG increased web traffic to its TMGpr.com agency site and to its new blog, Buzzcloud, by 198%. In addition: 

• Visits to TMGpr.com, the agency site, increased 32% in the six-month period following the blog launch;
• Search engines drove 61% more traffic to the agency site in the six-month period;
• The number of keywords that drove traffic to TMG’s agency site gained from 425 to 1,178 in the six-month period. 

This success story was all about leveraging content. At the center of this strategy was Tami McCarthy’s blog, which constantly pushed content into a social media system that included a Facebook page, and Twitter account.

By combining the blog with the existing TMG website, overall site traffic jumped 198% in six months!

Are you maintaining your website and blog separately? If you are, it’s like eating peanut butter and jelly in separate sandwiches.   

 

Link to Tami’s blog: http://buzzcloud.tmgpr.com/

Read more detail of this case study on Dan McCarthy's ViralHousingFix: http://www.viralhousingfix.com/tag/google-inc  

Study: top content marketing tool is... the newsletter?

There are some very cool options in the content market's toy box. When social media is added into the mix we get to play the darlings of the news cycle like Twitter and Facebook Fan Pages. But a recent study by the British consultancy cScape, suggests that the most effective content marketing tool may the less sexy, reliable work horse: the newsletter.  

In a terrific FREE study cScape measured how marketers use different tools to establish online engagement with customers. cScape did us real service by mixing social media and traditional online tools to give us a better understating all options, less the typical social media hype.

The finding that stood out came  when marketers were asked which media aided customer online engagement the most. All the newly minted social media experts must have headed screaming for the door as the lowly, e-newsletter took the top score.

Sure, social media is a great way to engage customers, but lets not get distracted by the sizzle. Newsletters are a workhorse for advancing ongoing online customer engagement. 

On top is the chart of what marketers say improved their online customer engagement, below is how ad agency personnel responded to the same question. Newsletters are the top pick for both groups.  

View a free version of the report

The $877.9 million Twitter content strategy

In July 2009 Amazon.com bought online shoe retailer Zappos.com for $887.9 million from entrepreneur Tony Hsieh (pictured).

At the time, Amazon was selling many products online: books, consumer electronics, movies, toys, and tools. Why spend all that money just to add shoes when Amazon could have easily added a shoe line of their own?

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, said he was motivated to buy because Zappos had a unique corporate culture and brand. But it was Hsieh's ability to communicate the essence of these using Twitter that captured a national audience and created a competitive selling advantage. Hsieh opened his Twitter account in June 2007 and by 2009 had over 1.5 million followers, one of the 100 most followed in the country.

Surprising to many Hsieh, did NOT Tweet about: shoes, online retailing, or Tweet special shoe offers. In fact, Hsieh only owned 10 pairs of shoes and was rumored not to know much about any of them.

Here is what Hsieh did Tweet about: his obsession with customer service. Why was Tweeting about this, and not shoes, such a successful content strategy? Two reasons:

1. The people side of customer service is far more interesting than shoes. Even if you are a shoe fanatic, there are thousands of shoe websites to visit. One more Twitter stream would not make a difference. But as a customer service obsessed CEO on Twitter, Hsieh was the only game in town.  

2. Customer service is the key issue holding back most first time shoe customers from buying online. Think about it. Selling books online is easy because the book you buy in a store is as good as the same book you buy online. But a when buying a pair shoes, their fit is critical. In a store, you try them on, and the fit is assured. But buying shoes online is a big risk unless the online retailer has a high enough level of customer service to overcome the “fitting” problem.

Customers who might worry what happens when the shoes do not fit or how fast returns can be made need a lot of assurance to keep them from just visiting a local shoe store.

But customers who bought into Hsieh's obsessive view of customer service were more likely to give online shoe shopping a try. First sales with new customers became the defining moments in the Zappos success story because about 75% of Zappos sales came from repeat customers.

One more thing, Hsieh used Twitter to tell a whole story, not just share a series of short, clever Tweets. Here is his explanation:

"Think of each tweet as a dot on a piece of paper. Any single tweet, just like any single dot, by itself can be insignificant and meaningless. But, if over time, you end up with a lot of tweets, it’s like having a lot of dots drawn on a piece of paper. Eventually there are enough dots for your followers to connect them together. And if you connect the dots, in the aggregate it paints a picture of you and/or your company, and it’s that total picture that is your brand.

Think of each tweet as a dot on a piece of paper. Any single tweet, just like any single dot, by itself can be insignificant and meaningless. But, if over time, you end up with a lot of tweets, it’s like having a lot of dots drawn on a piece of paper. Eventually there are enough dots for your followers to connect them together. And if you connect the dots, in the aggregate it paints a picture of you and/or your company, and it’s that total picture that is your brand."

The essence of a great content sales strategy is that it both attracts an interested audience and delivers content that Positively affects that audience's buying behavior. Hsieh's Twitter program did both. Think about your organization's content. Does something bigger happen when you connect the dots?