Archive for Online Marketing – Page 5

“WIIFM”? Neuromarketing Improves Your Odds

Every time I read about a new neuromarketing study, it seems they’re only confirming what copywriters and marketers knew all along: to get readers to take action, you must address the “what’s in it for me” filter in consumers’ minds.  Easy, right?  Well…

Although we can’t directly cause people to do something, we can use knowledge of the brain to improve our chances of influencing their buying decisions. We can write better content because we understand how consumers make decisions.

We know more about the subconscious functions than ever before. We know what kinds of messages reach the emotional brain and the old brain, even though consumers aren’t aware of their influence. More importantly, we now understand that much of our decision making goes on in the old brain, out of conscious awareness.

Neuromarketing and science can help improve your content writing so that it has more of an impact on people in your target audience.

I just love this site: SalesBrain, a neuromarketing company. Founded by Christophe Morin and Patrick Renvoise, authors of Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Button Inside Your Customers’ Brains. The company does sales training using neuroscience as it applies to what influences buying decisions.

I recommend you visit the site, as it is clear and easy to navigate to find great information about buying decisions. I found the page on 6 ways to stimulate the old brain especially illuminating.

Here’s an excerpt from www.SalesBrain.net:

The ‘Old Brain’ is Self-Centered

The ‘Old Brain’ is a very self-centered entity and general considerations about others do not reach it. Think of it as the center of ME. Do not assume that it has any patience or empathy for anything that does not immediately concern its survival and well-being.

The ‘Old Brain’ Seeks Contrast

Before/after, with/without, slow/fast all allow the Old Brain to decide. Contrast is a safe decision engine. It allows quick and safe decisions. Without contrast, it enters a state of confusion, which ultimately results in delaying decision.

The ‘Old Brain’ is Tangible

Numbers work for the neo-cortex, but the ‘Old Brain’ won’t decide based on numbers alone! It is constantly scanning for what is familiar and friendly, what can be recognized quickly, what is tangible and immutable. It cannot process concepts like “flexible solution”, “integrated approach”, or “scalable architecture” without efforts and doubts.

The ‘Old Brain’ Remembers Beginning and End

It forgets most everything in the middle. This short attention span has huge implications on how to construct and deliver powerful messages. Placing the most important content at the beginning is a must, and repeating it at the end an imperative. Keep in mind that anything you say in the middle of your delivery will be mostly overlooked.

The ‘Old Brain’ is Visual

Neuroscience demonstrates that when you see something that looks like a snake, you react even before the conscious mind physically recognizes it’s a snake. This implies that visual processing enters the ‘Old Brain’ first which can lead to very fast and effective connection to the true decision-maker.

The ‘Old Brain’ Responds to Emotion

Neuroscience has clearly demonstrated that ’emotional cocktails’ create chemical reactions that directly impact the way we memorize and act.

What do you think about this? Makes sense to me.

How will you apply it to your content marketing?

 

5 Reasons Content Marketing is Getting Harder

I hate to be a purveyor of gloom, there’s too much of that around these days. But I’ve been thinking about this and want to share my thoughts with you.

Here are some reasons content marketing is getting more challenging. There exists:

  1. A shift away from focusing on your products and services (what you know well)
  2. A shift towards the reader/customer and their needs (what you may not know very well)
  3. A business environment that is changing rapidly (what is unknown)
  4. More people online in your field writing about the same things (some better, some worse)
  5. A huge volume of content about everything possible, creating information overload for readers

This makes it harder for you to grab readers’ attention and get through to them. However, readers are still hungry for solutions and are looking for trustworthy professionals to work with.

I know this because I’ve experienced it personally. In spite of the recession, people are still hiring consultants to help them with their content marketing strategies and with writing quality content for business marketing.

As marketing guru Seth Godin writes:

“With 80 million other blogs to choose from, I know you could leave at any moment (see, there goes someone now). So that makes blog writing shorter and faster and more exciting.” Read More→

Writing Compelling Content:
What Drives Your Readers?

In a recent blog post, Compelling Content:  What Are Your Readers’ Hot Buttons?, we explored the top 10 hot buttons and the use of emotional words and phrases to tap into these issues.  Here’s another model based on only 4 drivers.

4 Drives in a Nutshell

Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices (Jossey Bass, 2001), by Harvard professors Paul R. Lawrence and Nitin Nohria.

Based on evolutionary science, our drives can be categorized into four basic motivations:

  1. The drive to acquire
  2. The drive to bond
  3. The drive to learn
  4. The drive to defend

This is subtle and important. Let’s imagine you run an executive coaching business. You provide professional services to leaders in organizations. Since you work one-on-one with your clients, you probably have a pretty good idea of which of the above four motivators frequently come into play.

If your clients are results-driven competitive executives, you can’t assume that they’re motivated by the drive to acquire, but it’s a good bet. They may just as well be driven to succeed by the desire to form successful relationships with others, or to learn everything there is to know, or to defend their territory.

But one drive will probably be more motivating than the others, and it will be evident in your client’s priorities. Assuming your client is driven by the drive to acquire and to have more, you’ll need to write content to appeal to this need.

What is the fear associated with each drive? Read More→

5 Blog Writing Lessons from the U.S. Open Tennis Championships

Every time I watch top tennis players compete, I learn something about blog writing.

The US Open is on right now, through next weekend. (Seriously, I think about tennis when I’m blogging.) Here are five blog writing tips.

  1. You’ve got to keep moving. When a topic is hot, you see a few hundred other posts about it, and you realize it’s time to move on to something else.
  2. Keep your eye on the ball. Never forget why people read your blog and why you started your blog in the first place. Stay on topic, deliver the winning shots.
  3. Start strong with a fierce serve. Your first sentence may be the only thing a reader sees in a feed. Make it compelling.
  4. Mix it up. If you’re always being positive and cheery, write a few negative posts and criticize some commonly held practices or beliefs. People won’t keep reading if you don’t surprise them.
  5. Never give up, stay in the game. Success is half persistence, half sweat. Your ability to refocus your writing and get back on track even when you don’t feel like it, will pay off in the long run.

Persistence and control is the name of the game. With me, I get impatient in a rally, and with a burst of aggression I’ll end the point with a whopping drive… clear out of the court.

Blog writing doesn’t work that way.  Steady as you go, writing at least twice a week, at least 300 words, focusing on the key words that drive results for your business, mixing information with stories, always keeping the reader in mind.

Bottom line: you want to keep the ball in play. The “ball” is the conversation you have with your ideal clients, your readers.

Are you writing posts that are clear winners for your readers? Are you steadily delivering valuable, relevant content within the lines of your readers’ needs?

Game anyone?

 

Say NO to Auto-Feeds:
Your Blog & Facebook, Social Sites

Today’s guest post is written by Christine Buffaloe, of Serenity Virtual Assistant Services, a great resource for social media know-how, for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Many people who think they don’t have time for social media use applications that automatically feed their blogs into Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Although this seems like a good idea, it may do you more harm than good.

Here are 5 reasons why you should NOT automatically feed your blog into these social media sites:

  1. You cannot personalize the content.  If you want to make your status updates more appealing,  post it in the form of a question and ask others to comment. You are more likely to get fans to “like” your post, comment and share.
  2. The inability to “tag” others in your status updates. This goes hand-in-hand with personalizing your status update, but it is important to “tag” either your friends or pages if the content is appropriate for them or their pages. This will not only show on your feed, but theirs as well.
  3. The content you feed into Facebook may not be appropriate for Twitter and LinkedIn. These social media sites are all different in as much as you are appealing to a different audience in each of these.
  4. Those that use the auto-feed are re-hashing material to all of the social media sites. If you have folks that are following you on all three, they will see the same materials and are likely to become annoyed and stop following you. Keep it fresh.
  5. Remember, keywords are essential when posting to your status update to your Facebook business page. On Twitter hash tags (#) are key.

Now, if you are gung-ho about the auto-feed I found a couple of ways in which to do this, but only feed to one network. Read More→

Landing Pages: Get Readers to Take Action

How do you get readers to take action? Short answer: a landing page. (Also known as a sales page, squeeze page)

You can’t get results from all the content you’re creating and publishing on your blog, e-newsletter, social media sites, unless eventually you send people to a landing page and ask them to take action.

Otherwise, you may be creating a great brand, great thought leadership, great content… and so what? Sooner or later, you need to ask your readers to actually do something. You need a landing page to do that.

Landing page definition: An attractive, compelling page:

  • Published on the Internet that is
  • Optimized for search engines and
  • Designed to persuade a defined group of readers
  • To take one specific action

Here’s what I created (yes, again with the Smart Draw) to illustrate:

Read More→

Tips on Blog Post Optimization

What are the steps you need to follow to ensure each blog post is optimized for search engines as well as well-written for your readers’ interests? Oh my… there are a lot. But to keep me out of overwhelm, I wrote them down, and put them into a flow chart.

This is good for days when I’m brain dead and likely to forget something important. But it’s also a good chart for anyone working with a V.A. or assistant who needs to take over some of the tasks for you.

After I decide what it is I want to write about (see my earlier post, Blogger’s Block: Writing Tips to Get “Unstuck), I follow these steps for posting on my blog:

Flow chart, continued: Read More→

If Your Blog Writing Still Stinks…

Your blog writing can improve. I’ve talked about this before:  here’s a secret formula you can use to grab people’s attention, stimulate their desire, and trigger action. Ba-da-boom, instant sales and subscriptions!

Don’t be silly, there are no easy formulas, of course not. But just follow along with me here. I’ve been reading several neuroscience and communications books that say the same things in different ways, and I think these persuasion tips can easily apply to better blog writing.

Take a look at this diagram I whipped up with SmartDraw:

Grabbing readers’ attention is the first step, of course. (By the way, this doesn’t only apply to blog writing, but to other content marketing pieces and in general for other things you write for the web.)

Attention is generally done more effectively by negative content. That’s because negative stories wake us up. They activate the more primitive centers of the brain, especially the centers for fight or flight.

Negative stories start us thinking. For example, a reader might jolt up in their chair and think, “Oh dear, this could happen to me…” Like watching a car accident, we’re drawn into a story that is full of danger or fear.

But negative stories generate worry and anxiety, as well as caution. (You may be one of those cool dudes with an Alfred E. Neuman attitude, “What? Me Worry?!” but even cool dudes feel the fear subconsciously. Oh yes you do, you just don’t admit it…)

Here’s the secret key to getting readers to act: negative stories get our attention, but they don’t stimulate us to action. To get readers to act, they have to want something different. So to stimulate a desire for change, you must switch your writing to positive stories.

In this part of your blog post, you start describing a better future. You enable the reader to see possibilities they have missed. Once their negativity buttons are triggered, you’ve got their attention, now do something with that.

When your blog writing includes positive stories, for example, how a client’s life changed when they started using your product, readers start seeing themselves in the picture.

Readers can see themselves in your story, and begin to imagine doing something new and different. This is how you stimulate desire for change. It is how you get readers primed to take the next step, to take the action you are going to suggest to them.

Let me tell you a personal story.

I grew up with less than ideal parenting. Before the age of 8, I had experienced 4 different parental figures. That created a little confusion and a heck of a lot of insecurity in my young world, but it also created a strong sense of determination, perseverance, and resilience.

Although often insecure, my sense of curiosity and will to survive is world-class. I have used my strengths to land on my feet in precarious situations, and I have managed to soar to achievements in spite of never being completely sure of myself.

I write an award-winning blog that is on several best blog lists and have helped countless clients become better blog writers. I’ve made my living online for over ten years.  I’m probably doing something right.

You may have heard my story before, or similar ones (a good example of this is Tony Robbins, who loves to say he was a bum living in his car, now he’s a success because he mastered certain tips for living, etc. etc.)  but I tell you this for several reasons. First, to demonstrate use of negative and positive stories. I also want to impart a lesson for blog writing.

Knowing yourself well, both the weak and strong sides, is a key to writing well. If I hadn’t experienced a confusing childhood, I might not be as curious. I might not try to seek out answers and solutions. I might not be so driven to succeed.

You may have similar or much worse experiences in your background. The key is to look at how they contribute to your passions, your desires, to what you really value. Unlock those things and set them to work in your favor.

When you can connect your personal story to what you do and what you write about, you will connect with readers. And I believe that will help your writing, and ultimately your business success.

Negative stories will grab your readers attention, positive stories will help them to see themselves in a better future, and neutral stories will give them the steps and show them how.

Does this make sense to you? (I’m feeling a little insecure right now, of course…;-) !

6 Writing Tips for SEO Friendly Content Marketing

Do you know how to write SEO-friendly content your readers will love? This week’s guest post by Christian Arno of Lingo24 shares 6 writing tips for writing online content that works for both readers and search engines.

Writing for the web can be like walking on a tightrope. Do you litter your blog writing and web pages with keywords so the search engine spiders can find you? Or do you make the copy interesting so people will be eager to read it and pass it on? Both, of course. And here’s how:

  1. Choose your keywords wisely

Make sure you’re aware of your essential keywords before you start writing on your blog, as trying to slot them neatly into finished copy could prove to be a tricky task. Use a handy tool like Google AdWords to work out which keywords are going to be best for you.

Make sure you know which keywords will both attract readers and be SEO friendly.

(Note: Not sure how keywords work? Try a subscription service to ScribeSEO Tool. It not only analyzes your blog writing for keywords and SEO-friendly content, but makes suggestions on how to maximize keyword usage. For more info: Scribe SEO Tool click here.)

2. Know where to place your keywords

Your keywords are important, but where you put them will have a significant impact on your SEO efforts. It’s essential to place a couple of keywords at the very beginning of your writing—the title is a great place to start. But be careful not to overuse them—it’ll be obvious to your readers what you’re trying to do.

3. Know the tricks of the trade Read More→

Facebook Fan Page: Top 5 Reasons to Have One

As some of you know, I’m not an avid Facebook fan, but as a business owner, I don’t ignore the fact that so many people use it daily. There are certain pitfalls with it, like with any social networking site. You don’t want to get caught up wasting time if you’re running a business. But you can’t ignore the numbers of people there everyday.

The biggest issue is whether or not YOUR clients are using it, and are they seeking information there in your core expertise? Just by sheer numbers, you’ve got to believe they are. Unless your core audience isn’t web savvy, but again, just about every demographic is using FB now.

Unlike a Facebook personal profile, Facebook Fan Pages allow you to:

  1. Get to know your clients – FB Fan pages track some demographics of your Fans
  2. Get found – Fan Pages are public so they get indexed and are included in external search engines
  3. Get known – Fan Pages allow you to customize the landing page and offer real value to your clients and future clients
  4. Get found and get known by millions- Fan Pages have no limit to the number of fans you can have, and your fans are your centers of influence and referral sources
  5. Get new clients – Fan Pages allow you to engage people on a personal level via polls, contests, dialog… and create credibility and trust

Drum roll, please. I’ve got a new Fan Page for my business Content for Coaches and Consultants: You’re invited to come see what’s there, what’s new in leadership concepts, brain science, and personal development:

Patsi’s Facebook Fan page

If you’re interested in learning, hit the “Like” button and become a regular reader/fan. I’ll be posting some of the best tid-bits from all the books I read. It’s like an open buffet for people who like learning. Hope you “like” it!