Speaking the Customer’s Language

I was browsing through a local magazine this weekend and stumbled across an ad for a local chiropractor. It was a half page ad with a series of bulleted, bold words at the top reading “Herniated Disks, Degenerated Discs, Sciatica, Spinal Stenosis, Failed Surgery”. In a different colored font and slightly bigger, “Spinal Decompression at Affordable Cost! Free Consultation!”. I don’t know about you, but I have no idea what Sciatica is. Sometimes my back hurts, but I never say, “Wow, I must be in need of some spinal decompression today”.

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One Size Fits All Marketing?

Levi Strauss has announced that it is going to go against conventional wisdom and run with a one size fits all product and ad campaign.  They are no longer going to alter the way their jeans fit and the way they are marketed based on the region.  Instead they are keeping the same fit and running the same ad campaign regardless of locale.  There are a number of speculations as to why they are doing this but the Wall Street Journal quotes Levi Strauss CEO John Anderson as saying that “the company is going with both a global fit and global campaign because it believes straight-leg jeans are a global fashion trend, and now is the time to establish the 501 as the obvious option for shoppers around the world.”  Traditional advertising rules state that you should tailor your product and marketing to fit your target market and that the more the audience relates to your message the better your ad campaign will be.  Maybe by using the global fit concept Levi will write some new rules.  It will be interesting to see how it works out for them.  In the meantime, I think it is still better to target your markets with a specific message tailored just for them.

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5 Ways To Annoy The Crap Out Of Your Visitors

Making visitors to your website feel comfortable and welcome is crucial to online success.  It is much easier for people to click the back button than it is for them to walk out of an actual store or brick and mortar office.  After all, they didn’t spend the time and $5.00/per gallon in gas to get to your website like they would have if they had travelled to your physical location.  The only thing they have invested is the minuscule amount of energy it took to click the mouse a few times - no big deal to back out and pretend they were never there.

The best way to make sure they bail out of your site without ever acting on your call to action (buying something, contacting you, downloading your free report, signing up for a newsletter, etc..) is to annoy the crap out of them.  Here are 5 sure fire ways to do that… 

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Driving Offline Traffic To Your Online Presence

For a small business that has always been brick and mortar only, the transition to the online world can be a difficult one.  A business owner that has always done offline advertising and networking may feel that they are at a disadvantage when it comes to marketing their business online.  However, that is not necessarily the case.  In fact, these business owners may actually have an advantage in that they already know what kind of marketing materials and messages work for their business offline, and they can use those advertising pieces and marketing activities to begin to drive traffic to their online destinations.

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