My friend and brilliant copywriter, Chris Maddock, frequently exhorts his writing students to “Just say the thing.”  This advice is based upon Chris’s extensive experience in what’s working right now for radio ads – and just as importantly,  what’s no longer working for any type of copywriting.

Google and the Internet have trained us to ruthlessly sort for relevance, and we now demand messaging formatted for, and adapted to, rapid sorting.  If visitors can’t get on your website,…

...continue to read "Just Say The Thing – Why Relevance Always Wins"

In part one, I shared my sordid story of buying a battery for my MacBook Pro from a third-party. In short, I went to Fastmac.com and bought a battery on a recommendation from a colleague. Impatient to receive the battery for an upcoming business trip, I learned (only after the purchase) that the product was on back order.

I asked the question: did Fastmac.com bury this information on its site to increase conversion? Well, the folks at Fastmac.com read my story and…

...continue to read "To Be or Not to Be Transparent, Part 2"

Salesmanship is about transferring confidence, and you can’t inspire confidence without first establishing your credibility. So when it comes to Landing Page copy, credibility is truly Job #1.Here are five must-haves for building that credibility where it often counts the most: 1. Scent They’re called landing pages because they’re where you plan for visitors to “land” after clicking through on PPC and targeted search terms. So before you do anything else, convince those visitors they’ve come to the right place by…

...continue to read "5 Copywriting Keys to Landing Page Credibility"

One might think that’s an obvious “yes,” but not necessarily, according to Advertising Age. In fact, there’s a good deal of confusion as to what online privacy actually means.

“Consumers fundamentally misunderstand the rules of the marketplace,” said Chris Hoofnagle, senior staff attorney at the Samuelson Clinic at UC-Berkley’s Boalt School of Law, addressing a perceived apathy toward the subject. He cites studies in which up to 75% of consumers think as long as a site has a privacy policy it…

...continue to read "“Do Consumers Care About Online Privacy?”"

Since writing on “about us” pages a few months back, I’ve received several inquiries like this one:

Thank you for a very valuable information on the “About Us” page, good examples.

How about new companies or companies that are being created? Customers are skeptical to engage with new companies. What would be your advice in terms of what is the best content to put in it, what to highlight, if you do not have history and you are staring from the “garage” location?

What…

...continue to read "How Start-Ups Can Build Effective “About Us” Pages"

It all seemed so innocent at first. A few weeks ago, when Wal-Mart announced it would market to college students on Facebook, the idea seemed simple enough: Allow students to use their Roommate Style Match group (Facebook subscription required) so they could coordinate their dorm room shopping. Now that it’s been up for awhile, though, Wal-Mart’s getting grilled by detractors.

BusinessWeek’s Burt Helm noticed this gem of a Facebook comment:

“do people realize WHY prices are so low at Wal-Mart? cause THEY DO NO…

...continue to read "Can Wal-Mart’s Facebook Campaign Survive Transparency?"

Last week, Wired reported on a program that allows us to see who’s editing Wikipedia. Invented by Virgil Griffith, a graduate student at Cal Tech, the WikiScanner has finally brought transparency to the encyclopedia that considers us all to be experts.

A few of my favorite revelations:

BBC censors excerpt from BBC-commissioned report criticizing the BBC’s tendency to self-censor. There may be some irony here.

Nortel – Accounting scandal, what accounting scandal?? This sweeping rewrite of Nortel’s page removes all mention of the 2000-2004 accounting…

...continue to read "Wikipedia and the Wisdumb of Crowds"

Nothing tells you more about a company than how it handles a crisis.

Recently, Mattel (MAT) has had two product recalls; one for toys with lead paint, and another for toys with powerful small magnets.

Mattel chose the usual large company route: Have your CEO do a public apology, looking serious and sincere, outlining the problem and emphasizing the steps you’re taking to deal with it.

Has this approach ever worked? I’m not being cynical here, I really want to know.

Here’s why, in this…

...continue to read "Do You Believe Mattel’s CEO?"

Corporate transparency is fickle these days. Of course, companies are still expected to be transparent with shareholders. But interactive media have changed the game, or at least distorted it. The mass marketing days are over and, today, public relations happens in real time.

In a mass market world, it’s easy to hide behind corporate spin because, hey, everyone’s doing it. In a world driven by interactive media and niche markets, though, not everyone can withstand transparency.

The Buzz Bin’s Geoff Livingston wrote…

...continue to read "Not Everyone Can Withstand Transparency"

Retail giant Wal-Mart announced today that it will allow customer reviews on Walmart.com for the first time. The move may be a small step e-commerce, but it’s a giant leap for corporate transparency and the growing popularity of word-of-mouth marketing.

The New York Times (Reuters) has the scoop:

[...] Chief Marketing Officer Cathy Halligan said in an interview the retailer decided to launch the new feature quickly following a three-week testing phase in which it received more than twice the number of reviews…

...continue to read "Say What You Will About Wal-Mart — Seriously"