Looking for practical, timeless tips to creating high-value marketing campaigns? Look no further than this series on Secrets of Great Marketing. If you haven’t seen Part 1 yet, click here. If you’re ready for secrets 6–10, read on!
6. Put a face on it.
The old adage says a picture is worth a thousand words. In marketing, however, the right picture can snag you thousands of extra dollars. And that picture almost always includes a face. So if you want to boost responses to your campaign, put a face on it.
The reason? Humans are biologically wired to notice faces. (Some of us even perceive faces in inanimate objects!) Faces help us connect with each other. They tell us what other people are thinking and feeling. Our eyes are automatically drawn to them, and we unconsciously spend large amounts of time studying them. So when you use a face to illustrate your marketing, you are guaranteeing that people will pay more attention to it.
The key, here, is to use the right face. In other words, don’t use a sad face to illustrate a happy message, or a confused face to illustrate a problem solved. People will associate the facial expression with whatever message appears in context with it. A mismatch will kill your results. But a good match will boost them greatly!
7. Move the CTA button higher.
Here’s the easiest way in the world to boost responses on your website. Take that call-to-action (CTA) button that’s been lingering at the bottom of your website’s homepage and move it to the top. Make sure it’s one of the first things your audience sees. Most site visitors never scroll to the bottom of webpages anymore, so if your button is down there, you’re missing out on potential clicks.
8. Put your content in the right place.
You don’t need to be on every social media platform that exists; you only need to be where your audience is. Do some research to discover where they hang out and run your campaign there. Anything more than that will yield diminishing returns. Put your effort into maximizing ROI. (This includes using the right SEO and simplifying your response forms!)
9. Make it accessible!
I used an exclamation point for a reason. Did you know that 25 percent of Americans has some kind of visual impairment? And that doesn’t include all the people with other processing issues such as ADHD, dyslexia, chronic migraines, and brain fog. So what do you think happens when you use tiny, thin, or cursive fonts; colors with low contrast; big blocks of text; or text over busy backgrounds? Answer: You alienate a lot of potential customers.
For social media posts, I’ve used the 6-foot rule: if you can read it from six feet away, you’re doing ok. Also, 14-pt font should be the minimum text size for most print and email marketing. Black text on a white background still provides the highest contrast for readability, and I avoid green text like the devil (for colorblind folks). Video and animations should move at a reasonable pace and not flash (for photosensitive and epileptic folks), images should have alt text and captions (for blind people using screen readers), and normal-speed audio with captions aids those with auditory processing disorder.
In the wake of COVID-19, accessibility in marketing has become more critical than ever. If you’re not implementing best practices now, you’re wrecking your revenue. Accessibility improves the experience for everyone.
10. Be bold.
This last secret comes with a caveat. Sometimes, riding the trend or running the same old campaign is the right, money-making decision. But what I often encounter are companies too afraid to try something new. Instead, they want to “play it safe” by copying their competitors or doing what they’ve always done.
Sadly, “playing it safe” is not a strategy for success. To reach the next level in an extremely crowded marketplace, companies have to differentiate themselves. They have to establish a recognizable brand, define their unique value, be transparent in their offering, ask confidently, and create campaigns that get attention. All of that involves smart risk-taking—in other words, being bold.
Don’t be afraid to be bold. It feels good and pays dividends.
Want some bold copy to win over your customers? Talk to me.