Filed In:
1. Marketing Plan and Strategy
2. > Strategy Tutorials
Do you have a call to action in your marketing materials?
Go ahead take a look. In your marketing materials do you tell them what to do next?
Let's consider that your potential customer has picked up a piece of your marketing collateral, perhaps it's that fantastic brochure you just had designed. They begin to read it and as they flip through the brochure they realize hey might be able to use your services, but they get to the end and they don't know what to do, because you presented them with no call to action.
You didn't tell them to call you. You didn't tell them to visit your website. They contemplate, they ponder and then they toss away your brochure without even contacting you.
Sound absurd? It happens all the time, that's why I want to talk to you about the importance of your call to action.
When it comes to marketing, your call to action is the most important part of your marketing campaign. It's truly amazing to me how many companies don't include a call to action on their marketing materials or their websites.
The best way that I've found to create an effective call to action is imagine the questions the consumer has when viewing your marketing information.
Let's just take a look at a few that come to mind immediately.
* How do I contact them? Are they available via telephone, internet, fax, or email?
* Why should I buy from them? What do they offer me? Will they save me money? Will they make my life easier? Are they better than their competition?
* Is there any immediacy? Are they running any promotions if I contact them before a deadline date? Will I receive a discount if I act now?
Does your marketing material answer all of those questions?
If you said yes, fantastic. Let's continue with ways to make sure our call to action is strong enough and if not how can we make it stronger?
Your call to action must include every way possible that they can contact you and buy from you. Include your telephone number, your address, your website address and of course your email. Share with them how your product will solve a problem they may be encountering. Solution-position your product so it touches the spot of pain your consumer is feeling and flesh out those benefits, now tell them how to get those benefits.
If you do these simple things you can create a strong call to action that will in fact increase the potential customers that contact you just from reading your marketing material.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Word of Mouth vs. Viral Marketing: What's the Difference? By Laura Lake, About.com
Filed In:
1. Marketing Methods
Word-of-mouth marketing or viral marketing? What's the difference?
Recently I shared with you a few tips on how to generate word-of-mouth marketing for your business. I received a few emails as well as comment post on the difference between word-of-mouth marketing and viral marketing, so I figured what better time to explore the differences in these two types of marketing.
Word-of-mouth marketing is when a business does something and their consumer tells five to ten friends. Word-of-mouth marketing has an echo affect. The initial sound is loud and then it fades into the background.
Viral marketing unlike word-of-mouth marketing has a compounding affect. A consumer tells five to ten people and then those five to ten people tell another five to ten people. The driving force behind most viral campaigns is the passion a consumer carries. It's like a virus that continuously infects more people and spreads without requiring anymore marketing effort.
While the two are similar as you can see they are not the same.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a key component to the growth of a small business. It's often word-of-mouth marketing that keeps small businesses running in the early days of operation when there is little to no marketing budget. The consumer shares their experience with your products or services and they share it with their family and friends. This increases your consumer base and increases your sales.
Viral marketing is more about reaching out and touching the passion point of your consumer, so that the passion drives the message and the message continues to reach the masses without assistance from you. You can orchestrate a viral campaign, but very seldom are viral campaigns that are orchestrated as successful as those that are just driven by the passion of a consumer. In order for it to reach a level of success your consumer must feel they have a personal stake and investment in the success of your campaign.
It's important to also realize that the success of a viral campaign depends on the vehicles use to transmit the message. There are companies that are more virally equipped than others. In order to create a strong viral link the message must be able to transport from television advertising, to radio and other extended means of broadcasting to the power of the Internet.
In conclusion the major different between word-of-mouth marketing and viral is that word-of-mouth is often driven by you the marketer or business owner and viral marketing driven by the passion of your consumers and it's success does not depend on you.
1. Marketing Methods
Word-of-mouth marketing or viral marketing? What's the difference?
Recently I shared with you a few tips on how to generate word-of-mouth marketing for your business. I received a few emails as well as comment post on the difference between word-of-mouth marketing and viral marketing, so I figured what better time to explore the differences in these two types of marketing.
Word-of-mouth marketing is when a business does something and their consumer tells five to ten friends. Word-of-mouth marketing has an echo affect. The initial sound is loud and then it fades into the background.
Viral marketing unlike word-of-mouth marketing has a compounding affect. A consumer tells five to ten people and then those five to ten people tell another five to ten people. The driving force behind most viral campaigns is the passion a consumer carries. It's like a virus that continuously infects more people and spreads without requiring anymore marketing effort.
While the two are similar as you can see they are not the same.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a key component to the growth of a small business. It's often word-of-mouth marketing that keeps small businesses running in the early days of operation when there is little to no marketing budget. The consumer shares their experience with your products or services and they share it with their family and friends. This increases your consumer base and increases your sales.
Viral marketing is more about reaching out and touching the passion point of your consumer, so that the passion drives the message and the message continues to reach the masses without assistance from you. You can orchestrate a viral campaign, but very seldom are viral campaigns that are orchestrated as successful as those that are just driven by the passion of a consumer. In order for it to reach a level of success your consumer must feel they have a personal stake and investment in the success of your campaign.
It's important to also realize that the success of a viral campaign depends on the vehicles use to transmit the message. There are companies that are more virally equipped than others. In order to create a strong viral link the message must be able to transport from television advertising, to radio and other extended means of broadcasting to the power of the Internet.
In conclusion the major different between word-of-mouth marketing and viral is that word-of-mouth is often driven by you the marketer or business owner and viral marketing driven by the passion of your consumers and it's success does not depend on you.
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