You already know that the “build it, and they will come” mind set doesn’t work online.
Yet, that’s what many businesses do anyway. Hopefully, you’re different…
- You realize that you need an overall internet marketing strategy…
- You know that search engine traffic is good…
- You’re open to using paid search engine marketing…
- You understand that lead generation is critical…
- And you know that moving your visitors to action is of utmost importance.
But where to start?
Begin with Being “Datable”…
My client Carlos Dias, a senior business consultant, says most companies fail because their strategies are based on selling their products. Instead, he suggest that you focus on your “Customer Value Proposition.”
Understand how you can add the highest PERCEIVED VALUE to your customers. A major part of my job as a web copywriter is to help you understand and articulate this perceived value.
First Comes Love…
We explore you, your products and your services. Who are you? What do you offer?
Then, we dig deeply into your target market – your customers. What are their perceptions of you and your products?
More importantly, what are their deepest needs and desires as they relate to your offerings?
We look for the connection between what they want and what you have – at a purely emotional level. Then, we amplify their desire with valuable online content… “twittering” their fancy until they beg you to let them buy from you.
When we truly nail this perceived value / product relationship, we have a love at first sight phenomena. They’ll gladly pay more to buy from you… like MAC users or Nike’s old Air Jordan shoes.
We discover the EMOTIONAL reasons for your customer’s buying habits. Is it the “cool factor?” Or, does it make them feel successful (Lexus, Rolex), eco-friendly (Ode Magazine), or hip (iPhone)?
Since we all buy with our emotions first and our rational minds second, you’ve got to uncover the emotional reasons for buying your products and services, or you’ll just be competing on price – a bad place to be.
Next Comes Marriage…
Next, we hunt down the “Big Idea.” In copywriting circles, this is the holy grail of effective copy. The Big Idea is based on your customer value proposition. According to copywriter John Forde, the Big Idea is “an idea that can be sorted, absorbed, and understood instantaneously.”
The Big Idea is hard to come by, but when you get it right, you’ll see your sales and profits soar. And, the foundation of the big idea is your customer value proposition.
If the Customer Value Proposition is the foundation for your internet marketing strategy, then the Big Idea is the structure around which you build your internet marketing home. It’s what your web site visitors first see, and it gives them that INSTANT feeling of familiarity and comfort with you.
They “get it” and they “get you.” In a sense, the Big Idea is your brand image. It’s how you want your customers to perceive you when they see your name. It creates an emotional impact on their psyche that equates your products or services with quality, style, grace, sexiness, or intelligence.
How THEY feel when they read your web copy, and how they feel when they subsequently buy and use your products or services is ALL that matters.
Then Comes Baby in the Baby Carriage…
Many internet marketing “strategies” focus solely around getting traffic. Traffic generation is important, but without the Big Idea threaded throughout your internet marketing system, you confuse your visitor.
What you want are more leads and more sales. What THEY want is for you to make them famous, heal their illness, save them time, or get rid of their anxiety. A strategy built around satisfying your customer’s emotional needs works far better than one focused solely on lead generation “tactics.”
Once you have your Big Idea… THEN you implement the appropriate tactics, such as search engine optimization, link generation, social networking, and content syndication.
The Big Idea is also our focus when we write the copy for your web pages. The “idea” that they can become famous, rich, or stress-free weaves its way throughout the copy on your pages.
That’s what creates customers and helps you to generate leads and make sales online.
Call me for a free consultation and review of your web strategy:
503-287-0246
