Finding and sharing content from your supply chain can add credibility to your site, show support for your suppliers, and educate your website visitors.
How to Write Potent Headlines: A Lesson from David Ogilvy
I think advertising man David Ogilvy would have enjoyed online marketing for the instantaneous feedback it provides. His rules about advertising weren’t based on opinion, but years of research.
Ogilvy’s advice on headlines is as relevant today as in 1963, the year he published his book, “Confessions of an Advertising Man.” Ogilvy stresses the importance of the headline in a chapter on writing potent copy. “Five times as many people read the headline as the body copy. If you haven’t done some selling in your headline, you will have wasted 80 cents out of your client’s dollar.” For every ad he never wrote fewer than 16 headlines.
Rule No. 1: “The headline is the ticket on the meat.”
Ogilvy promoted the use of keywords in the headline, before keywords were keywords. “If you are selling a remedy for bladder weakness, display BLADDER WEAKNESS in the headline. If you want mothers to read your advertisement, display MOTHERS in your headline.”
Rule No. 2: “Every headline should appeal to the reader’s self-interest.”
Ogilvy insisted headlines provide a benefit to the reader. If your headlines aren’t offering a benefit, scrap them. A reader may not care that your machine has new engine (feature), what he cares about is five percent greater fuel efficiency (benefit).
Rule No. 3: Always try to inject news into your headlines.
“The two most powerful words you can use in headlines are FREE and NEW. You can seldom use FREE, but you can almost always use NEW – if you try hard enough.” With new technologies being developed faster than ever before in our markets, Ogilvy’s message stands the test of time. B2B buyers need to know about new products and services, so don’t leave it out of your headline.
Rule No. 4: Other words that work
“HOW TO, SUDDENLY, NOW, ANNOUNCING, INTRODUCING, IT’S HERE, JUST ARRIVED, IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT, IMPROVEMENT, AMAZING, SENSATIONAL, REMARKABLE, REVOLUTIONARY, STARTLING, MIRACLE, MAGIC, OFFER, EASY, WANTED, CHALLENGE, ADVICE TO , THE TRUTH ABOUT, COMPARE, BARGAIN, HURRY, LAST CHANCE.”
Look at your best read posts and pages. Do the headlines include any of these words? Ogilvy told writers,”They may be shipworn, but they work.”
Rule No. 5: Include the brand in the headline.
If they only read the headline, you want them to at least know the brand name.
Rule No. 6: Include the selling promise in your headline.
Ogilvy didn’t strive away from a longer headline if it included the selling promise. Over time I think headlines have gotten shorter, and perhaps less effective. According to Ogilvy his best headline was 18 words. At Sixty Miles an Hour the Loudest Noise in the Rolls Royce Comes from the Electric Clock.
Rule No. 7: Headlines should arouse curiosity.
Successful headlines lure a prospect to read on.
Rule No. 8: Avoid tricky headlines.
Ogilvy wasn’t a fan of puns, literary illusions or other obscurities. “This is a sin,” he said.
Rule No. 9: Avoid negatives in headlines.
Ogilvy felt it was too easy for readers to miss the negative and come away with a different meaning from the headline.
Rule No. 10: Avoid blind headlines.
Ogilvy didn’t like what he called “blind headlines.” These were headlines that required further reading to figure them out. “Most people don’t (read on),” said Ogilvy. With website visitors spending less than 20 seconds reading an average web page, this is probably good advice.
Traditional advertising may not be as effective as it once was, but Ogilvy’s headline rules have a lot of relevance for writers of blog posts, website pages, B2B articles and even social media posts. What types of headlines work best for your business? With website analytics you have more information than ever before to see what headlines engage readers. Use it to your advantage. I think Ogilvy would have.
Credible Content: Walmart Enlists Customers to Help Fellow Shoppers
I don’t know about you, but when I shop online, I gravitate toward reviews. They contain sweet bits of information that manufacturers sometimes forget, or would rather not disclose: like how many hours will it take me to put that stereo cabinet together, and what is the size of that center opening, because I need to fit a big fat stereo receiver in it.
Reviews are a reality for B2C marketers and the smart ones have embraced the opinions of the online public. They know they can give consumers the confidence to click on the “purchase” button or send them running to another product. Walmart takes reviews to the next level with its Customer Q&A Exchange. Who better to answer questions about its products than customers who have already purchased them? Credibility is powerful content.
I don’t want to know how long it takes a Walmart employee to put together this stereo cabinet. I want to know how long it will take someone like me. “About an hour,” said one of the reviewers. I can only hope.
B2B marketers need to recognize that reviews and customer-generated content are coming to websites near you. Bring your own credible content to your website.
B2B Content Doesn’t Have to Be About You
I just finished writing an article on “How to Get More Bang out of Your Internet Marketing Bucks,” for Construction Equipment Distribution magazine. It was a fun article to write because it gave me an opportunity to connect with some of my favorite marketers. John Jantsch, best-selling author and marketer whose blog and book, Duct Tape Marketing, is a favorite among small business owners, was one of my top picks.
When I found out Jantsch marketed a contractor association earlier in his career, I was pleasantly surprised. He already had a very good sense of the construction industry.
What content would John Jantsch recommend to a construction equipment dealer?
So I asked him, ‘If you were a construction equipment distributor, what would you do for content? I really liked his response:
“I would recommend holding a roundtable of five or six big contractors in their industry,” said Jantsch. “The dealer could facilitate a discussion about industry trends, which would be recorded and put online.”
It reminded me that the best content doesn’t have to be about your products and services. It’s about providing the customer something of value.“There are different ways to view content,” said Jantsch. “A dealer can produce content that will be far more useful than the traditional specs on the loader bucket.”
One of the most successful advertising salespeople I know was famous for attaching a hand-written note to each issue of the publications that he mailed to advertisers and prospects every month. He would mention different articles in the issue, or maybe just their ad, that he thought they would be interested in. You would not believe how this small personal gesture resonated with clients. People would meet him at trade shows and they would say, “You’re the guy who sends me the notes!”
Sharing valuable content, whether we create it, or curate it, adds value to a relationship. Chances are you already share content. Can you leverage this same idea for your business–using social networks and a blog?
B2B Content for Cyber Monday
Do B2B companies understand the importance of their content during the holidays? I didn't think about it until I read Steve Keifer's blog post on the GXS website. He's Vice President of Industry and Product Marketing for the company.