As the dust settles on another successful Rexall Edmonton Indy, its attendees are left to nurse hangovers and sunburns while its promoters are left to reflect on the successes and fallbacks of the event. While the race draws annual crowds of well over 150,000 people, the Edmonton portion of the Indy circuit continually reports losses. Why is this? The event is nearly sold out every year, corporate support is strong, thousands flock to the city to attend, yet the race is predicted to lose anywhere between 1-3 million dollars. With low sponsorship numbers and even lower television ratings, what can promoters do to ensure the race continues in Alberta’s capital city? I don’t know the answer (if I did I would have a drastically different job title) but I think a place they could start is by learning from their drivers.

Over the Indy weekend I had the pleasure to spend some time with Canadian driver Alex Tagliani behind the scenes while he prepared for the race and I was absolutely blown away by how hard these athletes work off the track to make sure they still have a ride on it. The economic downturn has hit auto racing, a sponsorship dependent activity, perhaps the hardest of any North American sport and with less money to go around, drivers that become complacent have found themselves without a team to race for. Tagliani, who drives for a small race team, has had to rethink the way he goes about securing sponsorship and think of new, more cost effective ways of drumming up publicity and funding. So much so, that in a July 20 Edmonton Journal article Tagliani “estimates he’s spending about 90 per cent of his time raising money, and just 10 per cent driving.”Be it utilizing social media to boost attention, tireless work with clients and sponsors, or spending weeks ahead attending local festivals and contests, Tagliani not only increased his chances of finding a full time racing team next season but also created new racing fans, which benefits the entire sport.

Like any business, the Indy’s success depends on the performance of the entire crew. With shrinking sponsorship streams the entire industry must enter the pits, get retuned, and strategize for the laps ahead. On that note, I’ll wave the checkered flag on this string of puns and leave the forum open for discussion. What else can the Indy, or any business for that matter, learn from the way drivers secure their own sponsorship and deal with partners, clients, and supporters?

Finally after weeks, perhaps even months, I can eat and sleep comfortably once more. Finally I can go throughout my day and not break down into a blubbering mess due to critical levels of mental anguish. Finally I can drive from point A to B without having to pull over on the side of the road and contemplate the meaning of my life. Finally… I know what the “August 5″ campaign in Edmonton signifies.

Metaphysical life-altering experiences aside, Edmonton’s Southgate mall recently finished an interesting marketing campaign to generate some buzz about their grand re-opening after substantial renovations. Featuring new stores, new physical outlay and a “new feel,” Southgate created a marketing plan to gain new shoppers and align itself as a legitimate competitor to the monolith that is West Edmonton Mall. How you ask? By simply posting signs around the city that said no more then “August 5″.

Southgate's re-opening campaign had Edmontonian's wondering: "What the heck is happening on August 5th?"

Teaser marketing campaigns (definitely not something new or indigenous to Edmontonians) play off of and manipulate the innate human characteristic of needing to understand what is going on. By strategically providing only small pieces of information regarding the actual event/product, advertisers hope to stir up the most powerful marketing tool: word of mouth. In this case, mission accomplished. After only weeks of seeing the signs around the city, I heard numerous mentions of the campaign from all kinds of sources, ranging from newspaper and radio to simple banter between friends. People were agitated by knowing absolutely nothing about something they drove past every day and as a result they spread the campaign around the city for Southgate (at no extra cost).

Probably the most documented case of teaser marketing in recent memory was the 2007-2008 campaign for the movie Cloverfield. Movie advertisements featuring only a shaky camera and a single passing glance of a gigantic monster attacking a city caught people’s attention, but by not mentioning a movie title, release date, or any sort of information that would help the viewers figure out what they just saw, the advertisements caused everyone in the theatre look at each other and wonder out loud “what was that?” They added to this fantastic viral campaign with a website that gave out almost less information then the movie previews but featured videos and puzzles alluding to a post-apocalyptic world, creating more hype towards whatever the hell it was that advertisers were planning on releasing.

The catch to teaser marketing is that with added hype comes higher expectations. After toying with their emotions (as my fragile psyche would suggest) the consumer expects to find a light at the end of the tunnel that really blows them away. Anything less than that and the promoter can face anything ranging from apathy to resentment, severely damaging any hype they had created. Cloverfield did amazing out of the gates, but kind of tapered off by leaving some people expecting more explanation from the promoters as the storyline didn’t finish on a solid note. Southgate attempted to add to their re-opening by hiring performers but, from what I’ve gathered, the event left a few people saying “that’s it?” The teaser campaign can be an incredibly effective tool at drumming up publicity, but due to the hightened expecations a promoter needs to sit down and determine if their product is worthy of the hype.

Tease me all you want, but you’d better have something that’s worth my

I recently came across an incredible set of articles about keyword maximization on Copyblogger.com. There is no way I can top Brian Clark’s summarization of why keywords are important, how you can discover what keywords can impact your blog, and what effects they have on your traffic, so I will refer you to his handiwork:

Click here for the Copyblogger.com tutorial on keyword research.

I think every blogger can learn a lot from Brian’s suggestions.

But one point that he doesn’t cover in his articles is the fine balance between too many and too few keywords. I’m also interested in keyword usage on webpages, where I think the frequency of keywords can just as easily break as make your browsing popularity.

You can request a free keyword ranking report from seo.com to see where you stand against search engine heavyweights.

For example, while the average web surfer will likely come across your homepage more easily with the help of keywords, if an excessive amount of marketing jargon awaits them they might be less inclined to stay and click around.

I doubt there are hard and fast rules for how much keywording you can get away with without your homepage sounding identical to the top ranked search result for your niche market.

Do you have a keyword strategy? Is there a magic formula for focusing on keywords while still maintaining your own unique marketing brand?

As someone who spends a lot of time trying to maximize the quality, clarity and relevance of my marketing copy, I’d like (read: I need) your input.

In light of the uproar (which, might I mention, isn’t actually stopping anyone from using FB), I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect upon the strengths of everyone’s favourite platform. Considering its undeniable successes and insurmountable membership, I am made to wonder: other than offering a tidy space for online networking and communication, FB must be doing something else right. Can small businesses learn from their example? I think so.

FB has always mastered a powerful and vital balance between local and global networks. By indicating to the system where you are from, and unless you play with your privacy settings, you open your profile to be surfed by individuals in your area, encouraging connections among people who share geographic commonality. At the same time, the diversity of the FB community and its thousands of interest-related groups allows users to reach out to potential friends and peers outside their local area. This collapse between communicating with friends about what you had for dinner last night at the same time that you discuss the global trade economy on a group forum, makes for a pretty great one-stop interface. Small businesses can provide a similar benefit to their customers or clients: as a relatively small group of professionals, smaller businesses offer an increasingly intimate and localized experience or product, while simultaneously offering a connection to the larger business community.

While we may hate to admit it, FB has mastered a unique loss-leader: by offering a free social networking service, FB entices thousands of individuals to sign up daily, which in turn makes FB easy and quick money through advertising. A lot of sites use this model, but I think FB demonstrates new initiative: by sharing their analytic data, ads can be tailored to the user and integrated seamlessly into their FB homepage. Many people complain about how manipulative this is. But do businesses really operate differently? By tailoring marketing and advertising campaigns to a target clientele, businesses are able to maximize the returns of their marketing dollars. Who has time to sell to an uninterested audience? Certainly not small businesses, that is for certain. And what consumer has the time to be sold stuff that has nothing to do with their interests? Not me!

What else do you think businesses might learn from Facebook? Aside from, that is, the timeless maxim: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I really wish they hadn’t changed their interface….

]]> http://plainpeak.com/blog/2009/03/26/facebook-lessons-for-small-businesses/feed/ 0 http://plainpeak.com/blog/2009/03/09/animated-origami-tells-a-corporate-story/ http://plainpeak.com/blog/2009/03/09/animated-origami-tells-a-corporate-story/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:29:42 +0000 Peter http://plainpeak.com/blog/?p=35 This video employs animated origami to tell the corporate story of asics , the sports shoe manufacturer, from its founders viewpoint. It seems like the founder himself is narrating it and the simple, almost black and white animation gives it a back to the basics kind of feel that underlines the message of focusing on what matters, providing athletes with the finest footwear possible. The piece was commissioned by Geraman ad agency Nordpol+Hamburg which seems to be winning tons of awards for their commercials. Interestingly the agency also has one of the most annoying agency websites I’ve ever encountered (the kind with micro font navigation that escapes when you try to click on it). Great work on the video, some work to do on the website. Enjoy the video.

Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.

The negative comment!

You know what I’m talking about. What a nightmare. You post something you really care about, and that you put spent some time thinking about, and someone shuts you down. It hurts! Well, it hurts me. But the fact is that no blogger can survive without them.

Don't Worry! The negative comment isn't out to get you.

More often than not, negative comments spur more interesting conversation. If you’ve written something provocative, something that you think will not only appeal to your audience but that will get them thinking in a new way, negative comments are testament that you’ve done it right! An interesting blog post will usually get an array of reactions.

The trick is, though, dealing with the negative comment properly.

For this I turn to Charlie Four Whisky’s blog on business communication (which, by the way, is great). He wrote about this very topic in his post A Corporate Blogger’s Worst Nightmare: Negative Comments and How to Handle Them.

I completely agree that negative comments provide a worthy invitation for conversation on your blog. A mature response, perhaps clarifying your position and taking the opportunity to get into the finer points of your opinion, can be helpful not only in response to your negative commenter, but also your general reading community.

He also reminds us that we can’t control what others think of us. Why would we want to? You couldn’t be you anymore if you let other’s opinions dictate your beliefs and actions. Negative comments are sometimes inevitable: not everyone will agree with you.

What do you think about the almighty negative comment? Friend, or foe?

PS. I invite you to check out Whisky’s post linked above. Its swing on this topic is geared towards corporate identity, and is definitely an interesting/useful read.

I got the idea from Chris Brogan’s blog post A Crash Course in Comments. Chris draws attention to the ways in which comments act like currency online: they are the central component of blogging conversation and community building. He provides tips both for commenters themselves, as well as for bloggers who are interested in generating discussion out of their daily content. This was especially interesting for me, as I am always trying to make the connection between what is interesting to me and what I think might be interesting to our readers.

I think one of the most important tips he provides is that bloggers need to consider how their content might relate to their target readership’s daily lives. At Plainpeak, the emphasis is always on Growing Smart, so I push myself to constantly expand my understanding of what business is and can be I am interested in sharing these experiences with you, but moreso in hearing what you have to say so that my own business practices can improve. That’s the beauty of blogging, I get as much as I give.

What do you think about comments? What makes you want to comment on someone’s blog post? Is there a commenting etiquette that you think Chris Brogan missed out on?

In the meantime, speaking of good blogging practices, I recommend Brogan’s blog to anyone. Its straight up smart.

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/

Writing non-profit copy is hardly straight-forward. It must carefully walk the line between polish and formality while setting itself apart from the doldrums of repetitive, tiresome catchphrases like “invaluable contribution” and “excellence in leadership” that seem endlessly interchangeable from organization to organization. It must celebrate the values of its organization without alienating the greater cause to which it is part. Good non-profit copy is the difference between an organization with goals and one who demonstrates unique ambition and drive towards achieving such goals.

All non-profit sectors come with a corresponding vernacular. If we consider environmentally conscious non-profits, words like “sustainability”,”preservation” and “quality” immediately come to mind. But are these words really different from say, a youth-focused group, with phrases like “happier, healthy futures”? All non-profits are united in the celebration of community and an improved global landscape for generations to come. Good non-profit copy highlights the key concerns of its organization whilst emphasizing the greater initiative shared among those who care about improving our world.

Indeed, marketing one’s organization whilst embracing the values of philanthropy requires a particular subtlety and balance. Be certain of your organization’s belief and value systems. If the Mission of your organization seems unclear, ask. Understand the assumptions that your organization makes in its understanding of the world, what the important factors are when your organization forms opinions, and what is at stake when they take action.

It goes without saying that the passion a writer has for their cause comes out in the felicity of their prose. Be clear, succinct, while graceful. Be persuasive, certain, while humble. This subtlety and balance comes with much trial and error, but it also comes with intuition, what do you expect from the writing that surrounds your life? Would you expect any less of your own writing? Hold it to a higher standard. Though deceivingly undervalued, your writing says much about what you, or your organization, are all about.

I think a lot of what I said applies directly to corporate copy. This notion of “knowing your business” is fundamental to marketing strategy, and building a vocabulary that fits your business model can be key to communicating the refined points of your mission to clients.

This equation works the other way around. Non-profits also have a lot to learn from marketing experts in the corporate sector. Check out these two websites, the first (obviously) corporate, the second non-profit.

http://www.apple.com/

http://www.housingworks.org/

(Thanks to Justin, a commenter on our blog, for pointing me in the direction of Housing Works!)

Aside from the obvious scheme differences, both of these sites are attractive, polished, and display information in a concise and orderly manner. Their design beckons further exploration. This type of design strategy has origins in the corporate sector, where the impetus is on selling commodities or services, and where the capability to attract the consumer’s eye and to fulfill their needs is the first necessary step in doing business with them. The non-profit site in this example, “Housing Works”, has clearly taken a cue from how the corporate sector effectively appeals to its target audience, it maximizes on visual appeal.

The non-profit site has also taken a corporate-cue in terms of copy. The tabs on the front page come with short and sweet descriptions of what the user can find through each link. Unlike many non-profit or government related sites where the copy is dense and hard to get through, “Housing Works” maximizes their user interface for friendly navigation. They optimize on fitting graphics and minimize on frustrating, jargon-filled language. In this way, the site appeals to users that might not yet be familiar with their mission and values, encouraging them to click around and become accustomed to the activist sentiments of the organization.

It would seem that the two sectors have a lot in common. Although they are selling different products to perhaps different target audiences, they are both selling in a fundamental way, and each can learn a lot from the other’s approach.

Image source: http://www.housingworks.org/services/

Great Web Copy is a Product of Teamwork

In the comment thread from my last post, Justin mentioned 37 Signals as a model for great web copy. I couldn’t agree more. For those of us looking to write smart, sharp marketing copy for the online software market, I think 37 Signals sets a high standard.

Consider this quote from their homepage:

Execution is everything.

We believe most software is too complex. Too many features, too many buttons, too much confusion. We build easy to use web-based products with elegant interfaces and thoughtful features. We’re focused on executing on the basics beautifully.

Source: http://www.37signals.com

Without getting too technical, I’d like to point out the consistent structural features of this snippet. The use of short sentences helps the copy pack a punch: each statement comes and says only what it needs to. Conventional grammar is abandoned in favour of information-stuffed fragments. The tone of the copy matches the mission of the company. Just like they want to simplify online software, 37 Signals accordingly communicates in a simple, no-nonsense fashion. Their software is friendly, so their copy is friendly.

Which brings me to what I believe to be the most important maxim of writing web copy: match your voice with your company. Short and sweet is nothing if your copy doesn’t have something more, its own unique voice. There is nothing that can improve your marketing better than a thorough understanding of your business’s mission and value system that goes for marketing in person, of course, as much as it does on the web.

My suggestion to web writers is to take the time to accustom yourself with the look and feel of your company, and this ranges from its webpage, to its physical office space, to the people who make the magic happen on a daily basis. Have a conversation with your coworkers about what your company means, what its ambitions are and what its core values boil down to. Write that stuff down, and highlight key words that come to mind. Here at Plainpeak, our philosophy always links back to “Grow Smart”. I find those two words surprisingly helpful when I’m struggling with marketing copy.

Justin also drew my attention to an incredible non-profit site called Housing Works. Next week I want to consider the differences and resonances between non-profit and corporate marketing copy: what can each of them learn from the other?

In the meantime, I am interested in more examples of great web copy. What are your favourites?

Image Source: http://www.avision2market.com/index.html

I figure, though, that there must be some basic know-how for web marketing copy that don’t come simply from practice and meticulous revision. Over the next few weeks I’d like to explore the web in search of online marketing copy dos and don’ts to share with you.

To begin, simply Google-ing “how to write web marketing copy” (yeah, I’m original) comes up with tons of great hits, both from blogs and from actual web-writing sites. One that caught my attention was the article “The Disgustingly Simple Rule for Web Writing That’s Awfully Hard to Swallow” that I found at www.copyblogger.com.

The point of the article is that web content needs to be “simple, succinct, and scannable,” because web browsers have high standards for use-ability and interface, and very little patience for clunky web design. The author encourages simplicity, arguing that web copywriters should economize on every word and phrase. No space or time can be wasted!

I completely agree, but part of the article’s reasoning for this emphasis on minimalism I take issue with: that online copy is somehow anti-intellectual. When it comes to web 2.0 marketing, I think “anti-intellectual” is an incredibly out-dated and unfitting sentiment. Many web 2.0 browsers are clever professionals with fast-paced jobs and, accordingly, fast-paced demands. I maintain that the “keep it simple” maxim stands for web copy, but this new body of online professionals demand something more from web copy. Its the something more I find difficult to describe, whether its a particularly well-tailored message, or perhaps even the voice of the copy (by which I mean, its personalized sound and feel).

So, I don’t think “clear and concise” is the whole story, nor would I agree that web copy is in any way “anti-intellectual.” Next week, I want to look at some successful web copy and try to pin down some more precise “dos.”

In the meantime, do you have any ideas about what the “magic formula” entails?