When the Prospect is a Hospital

May 6, 2011

Two things about marketing to hospitals the copywriter needs to know… Scrape away all of the hospital’s economics, the politics and the noise, and what’s left is an organization that actually wants to take care of patients. Because patient satisfaction scores are measured and influential, the copywriter needs to make sure the core message of [...]

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The Tricky Target

May 5, 2011

Let’s say you’re marketing an assisted living facility.  Or home care nursing services. And let’s say the actual prospect doesn’t want any part of it. But the prospect’s child or spouse knows that the prospect needs help.  Here is the true decision-maker.  And even though the process of moving into an assisted living facility or [...]

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How Do You Sell Stuff You Can’t See?

May 3, 2011

It is the dream conversation of any copywriter who has ever written for radio. He is in a meeting with his client.  Let’s say the client is a furniture dealer.  Somehow, the subject of radio has come up and the furniture guy says something like… Nah, I’m not big on radio.  People need to see [...]

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Drilling Down into Dental Practice Marketing

May 3, 2011

Dental practice marketing seems to be caught in a bit of a trap.  That “one size fits all” trap. The problem is usually time.  It’s all too easy for the time-pressured dentist to go with pre-packaged postcard mailings and pre-produced, fill in the blank web sites. The more strategic dentist is committed to driving practice [...]

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Landing Page Copy… Long, Short or Something Else?

May 2, 2011

Landing page copy… long or short?  It doesn’t really matter. What matters is getting the action, the desired result.  The route to this landing page result can wind and weave across a bunch of marketing terrains but a few basics come into play. Here are three essentials for landing page copy that works. Remember where [...]

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Writing for People Who Don’t Quite Read

April 29, 2011

A web copywriter can’t escape this disturbing fact. Nobody reads his or her stuff. The web copywriter creates content for an audience that flits from headline to subhead, from deck copy to the PS, always skimming, always scanning, and never quite reading. That’s why we love bullets That’s why you can never have too many [...]

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Why 2011 Looks Like 1926

April 25, 2011

ShoeDazzle and JewelMint are two of the emerging 2011 versions of the Book of the Month Club, the mother of all continuity programs, which was launched in 1926. Nowadays, this brand of marketing is referred to as push shopping or social commerce.  But the concept is rooted in 1926.  Sign up and get something every [...]

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How to Improve Landing Page Optimization

April 23, 2011

Sometimes, landing page optimization overlooks a powerful tool.  In all the rigors of split testing headlines, layouts and offer copy, a highly effective way of helping prospects transition from the headline to the body is often lost. Copywriters call this content deck copy.  Think of it as an expanded subhead. There are two tasks good [...]

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A Scary Batch of Numbers

April 19, 2011

This is not pretty. It’s the kind of data that drives stakes into the hearts of copywriters and our clients. Average clickthrough rate of .09% for online display ads. This includes banners, expandable units, video and rich media. It excludes search and Facebook. The source of the research is a study from AdKeeper and 24/7 [...]

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Where is the Sale Really Made?

April 18, 2011

The copywriter knows exactly where the sale is made.  How to make the sale happen and how to weave together all of the elements that will prod the prospect to take action.  And the copywriter knows something else. That the sale is not made… With pretty words With clever turns of phrase With a well-crafted [...]

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