Get the little things right and the rest will follow
Are you a Big Picture person?
I’m sure you are. So am I.
In fact, in this age of blue-sky thinking and outside-the-box paradigm shifts, it’s difficult when we see a passing bandwagon to resist the temptation to jump right on.
So Big Picture it is.
The trouble is, we often don’t zoom in and see the small details that make up the big picture. And the details are important.
Just recently I’ve been struck by how those small details really make a difference. But they’re so small, so obvious and so un-Big Picture-ish that we often forget them.
DIY SNAFU
Now that Easter has passed, the traditional DIY (do-it-yourself) season is upon us. Out come the Black & Decker Workmates, angle-grinders and power drills up and down the county.
And casualty departments steel themselves for an epidemic of self-inflicted wounds.
So it’s time for the big DIY stores to advertise.
As Homebase, the UK chain, did in the the UK’s most popular magazine, Radio Times.
15% off all products for 2 days, the white-0n-orange advert screamed at me. It was right in the middle of the mag.
And those two days?
Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May.
And the date of the page at the centre of the Radio Times?
Monday 9th May.
The magazine sells a million copies every week, so this insert wasn’t cheap. But one day late is one day too late.
Lesson 1: timing is everything. Get that wrong, and everything is wrong.
What were you saying again?
We have short attention spans, assaulted as we are every day by adverts, tweets, friend feeds and text messages.
Kate and Wills knew that. Which is why they delayed their honeymoon.
They got married in the glare of the world’s media, with 2 billion pairs of eyes glued to their every move.
So what did they do? They stopped, waited and let the hoopla die down. Because they, or their media-savvy advisers, knew that we’d quickly move on.
And so we did.
Bin Laden was taken out, Nick Clegg took a drubbing at the polls, AV was voted down in the UK’s first referendum in 36 years and Seve Ballesteros died.
Wedding? What wedding?
So this week the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge slipped quietly away to enjoy some quality time without the press pack snapping at their heels.
Lesson 2: when attention spans are short, get in early and often (regular mailshots, email newsletters, blog posts).
Or lie low let the storm pass (bad news, rumours, product recalls).
Slebgate
He should have known better. Famed for his brutally direct questions to ashen-faced guests, Andrew Marr really should have realised he was on thin ice.
And sooner or later, it would crack.
Which is exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago, when the TV presenter came clean and admitted that he’d tried to protect his privacy with a so-called ‘super injunction’ (aka gagging order).
His colleagues in the commentariat wasted no time in pointing out his hypocrisy. And the blogosphere was even less forgiving, tearing him to shreds with obvious relish.
In the wake of the super-injunction furore came a slew of claims and counter-claims on Twitter about who’s been sleeping with whom (and trying to hush it up).
Cue denials, embarrassment and outrage – and all in 140 characters.
Jemima Khan was splashed on all the front pages, as she denied being involved romantically with Jeremy Clarkson.
True of false? In the crazy, fast-paced world of social media, it almost doesn’t matter.
Lesson 3: suggestion is powerful, so use that to your advantage (to persuade, cajole, entice and convert – clients, I mean).
But don’t stretch the truth or deny too much (it’s counter-productive).
On rediscovering wonder and stepping outside ‘that tiny, terrified space of rightness’
Quick question: what’s the symbol above?
If like me, and like Kathyrn Schulz, you thought it was a Chinese character, think again.
Schulz is a journalist, author and public speaker, and the world’s leading ‘wrongologist’. She’s spent the last five years looking at why we misunderstand the signs around us (see above) and why we do everything we can to avoid thinking about being wrong.
Her TED talk ‘On being wrong’ will get you thinking about whether you’re on the right path, and whether you really know what you think you do.
It’s so easy, when you’re launching a campaign, weighing up options or analysing results, to see what you want to see.
We all do it.
Often, we’ve made up our minds before we even examine the evidence. We then fit the facts to our preconceptions. That’s why just this week, now that we’re back to the usual chilly April weather after last week’s unseasonal summer-like temperatures, people are still walking around in shorts and t-shirts.
Schulz’s thought-provoking presentation ranges from Wily E. Coyote (of Road Runner fame) to the surgeon at Beth Israel hospital in Boston who operated on the wrong leg, from Hosni Mubarak to St Augustine.
If, as I do, you like being right and hate being wrong (or rather, as Schulz correctly points out, realising you’re wrong) you have to watch this.
Trust me. I’m right on this one.
(If you’re reading this in an email, click here to see the video.)
Repeat frequently: repetition and frequency are my friends
“There’s no doubt about it,” said a marketer friend of mine a few years back, “quantity trumps quality.”
I remember at the time being taken slightly aback.
Here, after all, was a person who had the highest standards, who produced work of incredible creativity and originality. Somebody who always went the extra mile, who was never truly satisfied with his own work.
But over time, I’ve come to see what he meant.
He wasn’t saying that quality doesn’t matter. It does – to him, to me, and I’m sure to you.
It’s just that in today’s fast-paced world, with its endless demands on people’s time and attention, it’s often not the most striking, original and creative efforts that win through.
It’s the ones people see most often.
In a word, quantity.
Back to the drawing board
Have you ever sent out a direct-mail piece, an e-mailshot, or even a fax mailshot (remember those?) and been disappointed with the results?
I have.
The adrenaline high of getting your effort out the door is only matched by the nervous expectation of a surge of responses. And then by the bitter disappointment when that surge fails to materialise.
Was it the design? The copy? The offer? The price?
Or worse, was it me? Am I a horrible person? Are they trying to send me a message? Should I just head for the nearest beach, leave my clothes in a neat pile, and walk seawards, never to be seen again?
We’ve all been there.
And yet, time and again, there’s one thing we fail to take into account. The selling process – and thus the buying process – is not just related to the design, copy, offer and price.
It’s also related to chance.
Did it hit at the right time? Were your prospects in the right frame of mind? What day of the week was it? Was it before or after payday? Had they just had another similar offer?
And most importantly, were they ready to buy? Because that’s the most critical question.
Just last week, I was in a department store here in Cambridge, idly looking at DAB/FM/Internet radios.
“Can I help you sir?” said the wide-eyed salesman, in his most solicitous Are You Being Served? voice.
The answer was no. I was just twiddling the buttons, checking out the sound quality and comparing the features.
In other words, Not Ready To Buy.
Two days later, I bought. Nothing could have induced me not to buy, as I’d made up my mind. And it wasn’t Captain Peacock who got the commission, but another salesman, who had the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time.
Chance, in other words.
Spanning the divide
So if selling is so dependent on chance, luck and cycles, how do you know when to strike?
You don’t.
Apart from the obvious times (Christmas, New Year, Easter, Valentine’s Day, the end of the month and so on) there’s no certainty. It’s not predictable, so don’t bother trying.
Instead, remember my creative friend. Quantity trumps quality. So do it. Do it again. And again.
Eventually, you’ll hit at the right time, and they’ll buy.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that when it comes to the buying process:
Reassurance and confidence take time, and the more you show up, the more reassured and confident your prospects become. Or to coin a phrase, familiarity breeds content.
Memories are short. This week Japan, last week Libya, before then Bahrain, Egypt and Tunisia. Haiti anyone? Thought not. We humans can only take so much in, and retain it. News, products, special offers. We remember what we saw last. So make sure you’re what they saw last, by turning up often.
Does this mean you should just keep churning out the same material over and over again? No.
You can always get a bit more scientific:
Divide your prospects into groups and test different creative pieces on them.
Play with price, offers and inducements to see what works best.
Experiment with new channels, delivery methods and response mechanisms.
Over time, you can see what works best, and do it again and again. But if something doesn’t work first time, don’t immediately discount it.
It may not be the copy, the design, the price or the offer. It may simply be chance and the vagaries of people’s crazy schedules and overloaded memories.
If you’re convinced you’re on to a winner, stick with your gut feel and keep pushing it out. Make sure you’re happy with the quality, but never forget the quantity.
As my wise old (rich, successful) friend said, it wins hands down.
Venturing into enemy territory: risks, rewards and pitfalls
Many years ago, I worked for WordPerfect Corporation as a sales rep.
Day after day, I found myself talking to, presenting to and trying to convince large corporate customers that WP was the best choice for them.
And day after day, one question kept coming up: how it stacked up against Microsoft’s offerings.
The answer was pretty well.
This was before the days of suites, so it was WordPerfect going head to head with Word. And feature for feature, WordPerfect won hands down.
Except I wasn’t able to say that.
Head office had decreed that you couldn’t talk about the competition. Ever.
Partly, it was a psychology thing. Why bring them up if you don’t have to? And why get negative if you don’t have to?
And partly, it was a culture thing. WordPerfect was headquartered in Utah, and virtually everybody who worked there was a Mormon. So you rose above the fray, and turned the other cheek.
You may think it was a handicap. And sometimes, it was.
But on the whole, the approach worked well. We sales reps kept the moral high ground, showed our wares, always talked about the things we had that the competition didn’t (hint, hint) and left it at that.
And it worked – for a time.
Then, suites came onto the scene, WordPerfect was left behind, and the rest is history. Belatedly, they revoked the ban on mentioning the competition, but the company’s fate was sealed.
The future belonged to Microsoft. So I jumped ship and joined them.
“WordPerfect’s a bit of a religion,” I told the sales and marketing director at Microsoft who interviewed me.
“Don’t worry, ” he said. “We’re very good a converting people. And we burn the heretics…”
He broke off, paused for effect – and cracked a broad smile.
There and then, I embraced the faith.
Love thine enemy
So… mention or don’t mention? It’s something I’m often asked when I’m writing copy for clients.
It’s a simple enough question, but the answer is (you guessed it) complex.
Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of mentioning the competition.
First, the pros:
It shows you know who they are.
You send out a message that you’re not scared of them.
You let people know you realise they have a choice.
You take the initiative and set the terms of the debate.
You get there first – and first impressions count.
Now the cons:
People might not know who the competition is – until you tell them.
You might sound defensive – or worse, offensive.
You could be tempted to use negative tactics, doing the competition down. And often, that shows you in a bad light, not them.
So as with most things, it’s a finely balanced choice. And one I was faced with a while back, when I looked at putting Google AdSense on my site.
As you may know, AdSense is context-sensitive advertising, which appears in a box on a blog or website. The ads are tailored to the content of the page, so they’re directly relevant to what people are reading about.
And when they click the ads, you get a percentage of the revenue.
But just look at my site. How many times do you see the words copywriter and copywriting?
Lots. So all the ads were for other copywriters.
Now some people I know actually do this. They’ll happily have competitive adverts sitting on their site, knowing that if they don’t win the business, at least they’ll win the advertising revenue.
Fair enough. I thought exactly the same.
But I also thought:
The ads are distracting.
It could end up cheapening the site.
People might think I’m mercenary, trying to squeeze every last penny out of them.
I’m not selling directly on the site, so ‘selling’ other copywriters gives the site a different feel.
It could plant a thought that wasn’t already there, because suggestion is incredibly powerful. (Try not to think of a white horse. See what I mean?).
So on balance, I dropped the idea.
Horses for courses
So what should you do? The answer depends on the context.
Take Budgens, the UK convenience store chain. They know they can’t really compete with the giants (Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose, Asda). But equally, they can’t ignore them.
So they selectively mention them. Walk around the store, and you’ll see Tesco price match on certain products. They’re directly mentioning their biggest competitor – and consequently their biggest threat.
But they’re doing it in a positive way. And that’s the key.
Now of course they don’t match on every price, because they can’t. But if they plant enough of those little cards around the store, they create the impression that they’re as good value as Tesco.
And that’s enough.
So take a leaf out of Budgens’ book. And some of the other clever companies out there, who know who they’re up against, and always come out fighting.
Be positive. Don’t say ‘unlike some companies…’ as it’s a negative proposition. Don’t denigrate the competition – it always leaves a bad taste in the mouth
Don’t be mealy-mouthed. If you mention the competition, mention them. Don’t resort to indirect references like ‘the leading brand’. It’s coy, and creates the impression of timidity at best, and dishonesty at worst.
Lead from the front. Find your USPs and trumpet them from the rooftops. Mention them again and again. If you can’t compete on price (and that’s a zero-sum game) compete on service, attitude, attention to detail, speed, range or something else that really sets you apart.
Say it without saying it. When Monarch Airlines lets you choose your seat without having to endure the ‘unseemly scrum’ at the gate, they’re indirectly mentioning their cheaper rivals easyJet and Ryanair. Monarch are more expensive, but the scrum is stressful and people realise that. So maybe the extra is a price worth paying.
Be confident and assertive. If you talk consistently about your strengths, you show purpose, determination and single-mindedness. If you keep the moral high ground, you show people you’re not insecure. And confidence sells.
So there you have it. As I said, simple question, complex answer.
But if somebody put a gun to my head – or worse, threatened to make me eat toast liberally smeared with Marmite – and asked me to come down on one side or the other, what would I do?
I’d say don’t mention the competition. Or at least, nor directly. A positive sell is always a positive experience.
And you can always mention without mentioning. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)
The other day, on the treadmill at my local gym, while watching Sky News, I was struck by something.
No, not a dumbbell or a gym shoe. But a thought.
Am I the only person in the world not dyeing my hair?
Now of course I’m not, but watching the newreaders, sports reporters and correspondents, you could be forgiven for thinking that we live in a world where grey has been banished forever.
Salt and pepa (and more salt)
OK, time for a little test – on me.
Here’s the photo you’ll see popping up all over my site. It was taken a few months ago, and (if you get up close and squint) it shows some grey hair:
Let’s indulge in some time travel. Fast-forward and we get this:
Now I don’t know about you, but I think that looks pretty distinguished.
I’m thinking George Clooney, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, or even erstwhile Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling (minus the caterpillar eyebrows, obviously).
On the other hand, I could decide that grey was a bridge too far, and go for the raven’s wing look:
Hmm.
East End car salesman? Dodgy geezer at Newmarket offering odds on the gee-gees? Desperate-but-loveable on a dating site?
I don’t think so.
Maybe instead I’d go for a halfway house solution, the preferred choice of newsreaders everywhere.
The silver wingtips that they hope that will make people think He couldn’t be dyeing his hair. If he were, he wouldn’t have grey bits on the side.
Oh dear. Now that’s just sad.
And the problem is that the greyer – or whiter – the wingtips get, the bigger the difference between the sides and the unnaturally dark top.
Cruella de Vil here we come. Not for me, I think.
The colour of money
And the connection with copywriting, marketing and the world of business? I hear you ask, weary after last night’s office party and struggling to follow my seasonal meanderings.
It’s simple.
Everything you do sends out a signal – including trying to appear to be something you’re not. It speaks volumes about your honesty, integrity and credibility.
The business equivalent of a hint of a tint might be:
Pretending your company is bigger than it is (we, we, we).
Claiming the offer is free when it’s actually free*.
Talking about a product that’s worth X so that Y seems a really good deal by comparison.
Dodging responsibility for a problem that’s clearly of your making.
Talking in a language that overblown, larding it with marketing hype and a generous dollop of business buzzwords.
And the solution? Well you could try to:
Be yourself (people might just like you).
Humanise your company (people might just like it).
Admit your mistakes (the sky won’t fall in).
Not conceal yourself behind pompous circumlocutions and grandiloquent expressions (like those ones). Talk normal.
And remember, if everybody else is coming over all black-and-silver-wingtips, being different can set you apart. Keeping up appearances and doing a me-too means you blend in with the pack.
The bottom line? It’s OK to be grey (as long as you’re not dull, that is).
And if you’re still not convinced, here’s one last test. Santa A or Santa B?
Thought so.
Merry Christmas.
P.S. Is it just me, or do you start humming Nessun dorma when you look at B?
For a FREE, no-obligation chat, call me now on (01223) 241749.
Copywriter feedback
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inders and power drills up and down the county.
