Ken Eldridge
By: Ken Eldridge – Bayshore Solutions’ Senior Programmer
As a web developer, I visit a lot of websites for work; like, a metric ton of websites. And, they all have something in common: they contain a lot of “Business speak” generalities and jargon extoling the virtues of their product or service. So much so that the website content and words become “noise” and render the company indistinguishable from the sea of competition they are floating in. Take the terms “Quality, “Integrity,” “Innovation,” for example. One could literally design a beverage-game out of encountering these words on most any company websites’ “About us” or description of services pages. Emails that firms send to market to me usually fall into this same mode.
As a frequent website visitor, I have never understood the concept of writing about something, especially a company’s life blood product or service in a way that makes my user experience, well, boring. If anything, they should try ten times harder to make things actually interesting. Even though my specialty is programming and development, I get the “Marketing 101” concept that job #1 to know who your customer is when you’re speaking to them. I’ll admit there are products and services where “Stoic professionalism” is the appropriate choice, but in today’s digital interaction arena of words and images, distinguishing yourself with humor or interest-provoking website content.
There are a couple companies that actually make we want to be sold to, two companies that do it so right that I actually look forward to their emails. Woot.com and AppSumo are two great examples.
Here how Woot.com nails the interest provoking challenge with their creative product copyrighting when selling something as unsexy as a vacuum cleaner:
Do you want to live in a hut made of mud? NO! You want to live in a fine home with carpets and televisions and a complete lack of tiger traps and wild boar! Get something now, clear your home later, and live like a human, instead of some kind of cave ape.
Already in the first few lines, I want to read more. I’m captivated. I already have a vacuum cleaner that I like. But, I am now looking forward to spending the next few minutes reading about how fabulously epic THIS vacuum cleaner is. And you know what? I may buy it. With their presentation, they could sell a hamster ball and I would be totally riveted.
This retail products company understands that the people who come to their site are people, with emotions and a sense of humor. We don’t want to be sold to through jargon and generalities, as much as we want to be entertained, maybe even “edu-tained.” The more our interest is piqued, the more we will poke around the site. The more we will poke around, the more likely we will find something that we will buy.
Another B-to-B example of web and email campaigning done right is AppSumo, a company that specializes in products supporting entrepreneurs (probably younger, tech savvy entrepreneurs in the psychographic profile that I am a member of). Their content presentation strategy is describing their products in such a way that their target is totally entertained, all the while being marketed. I would argue that an apt measure of their marketing success is that not only do I subscribe to their emails, I look forward to getting them.
I believe that this is the holy grail of email marketing: messages that people want to read. Even if people aren’t interested in the product featured in this week’s email, they are intrigued as to what the next email will contain and won’t unsubscribe. Even richer is sending emails that get opened more than once, get forwarded and even get printed and posted on cubical walls.
My point is this, specific to your audience, don’t be afraid to show some personality in your website and marketing materials. You can sell something as seemingly bland as insurance and still do it in such a manner that people will be glad they bought YOUR insurance. Your visitors aren’t a number, they are human beings with many of the same feelings you have. Feel free to embrace that.
Here at Bayshore Solutions, we want to make sure that you are accurately represented in your website, that your site design, functionality of user experience, as well as your marketing content are not only professional, but consistent with who you are as a company. Every company and company culture is unique. We can help you project that with your online presence, in a way that not just speaks to your target customer but captivates their attention and interest.
Now I’ve got to get back to discovering how that hamster ball can right all that is awry in my life…
Ken Eldridge is a Senior Programmerat Bayshore Solutions- An Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Website Optimization company.