SAMPLE
CHAPTER
from
Best
of WordBiz Report Vol. I: Turning Clicks Into Customers:
one-stop
guide to copywriting for text ads, search engines, home
pages & e-newsletters
by Debbie Weil, Publisher
& Editor of award-winning WordBiz Report
From
Part II: EFFECTIVE COPY FOR EMAIL TEXT ADS
Five
tips for crafting successful e-newsletter text ads
Russell
Kern is a direct marketing expert, author and principal
of Kern Direct, a firm that specializes in sales lead
generation for clients such as Hewlett-Packard, 3Com and
Lucent. I asked him to reveal his formula for effective
online text ads.
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"Ask
the market and then listen," he says. One way
to do this is by drawing what he calls a "message
map." The map should be a summation of one-to-one
interviews with customers, prospects and salespeople.
By listening closely, you can pick out the key problems
(also called "pain points") as well as key benefits.
You'll
hear repeated words and phrases that describe the customer's
issues and how the product or service can address
them. You'll also pick up on both logical and emotional
responses.
Now,
says Kern, develop two or three copy angles and test
them. And, he says, a fast, efficient and low-cost
way to do this is with a sponsorship text ad in an email
newsletter.
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Importance
of the copy: Kern draws a clear link between
the planning and research that goes into a successful
lead-generation campaign and the development of
"the creative" (the copy).
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When
you use a text ad to generate leads, he says, "It's
putting your message directly in front of an audience
that is most interested in your product. It gives you
selectivity within the editorial environment."
In
other words you're putting your message in front of
a receptive audience and all they have to do is click.
We asked Kern to give us his ...
Top
Five Tips For E-Newsletter Text Ads:
1. Choose your words carefully, especially your headline.
Be specific and create curiosity.
2. Get to the point. Create a compelling reason to
respond, i.e., click through to your landing page.
3. Present your offer clearly.
4. Negotiate or invest in the top ad position in
the e-newsletter.
5. Test and track your copy variations.
The
biggest mistakes he sees B2B marketers make with text
ads:
-
Not understanding what an offer is.
(Compelling B2B offers are a white paper, an educational
Web site with unique and customized information, a sweepstakes
for a personal electronics item, etc.)
- Not knowing how to write to get a response
- Selecting the wrong email newsletter to advertise in
Kern's
Top Three Tips For Landing Pages:
1. The copy should remind you that you're in the right
place. It should have the same focus on the offer
and should resonate with the text ad.
2. The copy needs to be inviting, warm, interesting
and engaging (in other words, not just a fill-in form).
3. Be clear about the goal of your page. Offering
the visitor too many choices leads to inaction.
Kern is the author of S.U.R.E.-Fire Direct Response
Marketing (available through Amazon.com). It lays
out step-by-step how to capture and qualify sales leads
and convert them to revenue. The book is filled with charts,
tables and check lists to help you compute the important
stuff: the number of inquiries you need to make sales
goals, for example.
Useful
Links
Kern
Direct
http://www.kerndirect.com
S.U.R.E.-Fire
Direct Response Marketing
on Amazon.com
Excellent
definition of text ads plus links to other good articles:
http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/text_ad/
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This
is one example of the kind of useful information
you'll get in Turning Clicks Into Customers.
Click
here and scroll down to the Table of Contents.
You'll find chapters on writing text ads for Google,
how to optimize your home page copy, and content
for e-newsletters that generates leads.
Publisher
WordBiz Report and author, Turning Clicks Into Customers
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©
2003 WordBiz.com, Inc. and Debbie Weil.
