There’s so much emphasis on content generation in marketing today that three giant facts get tossed aside.  First, the content has to be something the prospect wants.  Too many marketers focus on what they need the prospect to know, and not on what the prospect wants to know.  Second, it has to be well-executed.  Even…

Ever watch a movie and you realize that you don’t really care what happens to the characters in it?  That movie breaks the first rule of film-making — and of marketing, too.  If you don’t make people care, your message falls on deaf ears.  When marketing just becomes a volley of facts and features lobbed…

Here’s a quick and easy way to undermine the effectiveness of all your copy.  Just refer to the reader in the most distant possible way — the student, the patient, the user, the customer — rather than the simpler, more direct and more persuasive “you.”  There’s a person reading your copy.  When you use descriptors…

Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart started out as a stand-up comic.  And his memory of that experience is revealing: “I learned how bad I was and how good I was.”  Putting himself out there let him understand his strengths and weaknesses really quickly.  Only then was he able to build on his strengths and…

It’s safe to say that the Mayo Clinic is known for assessing and solving some pretty complex medical conditions.  But read their website.  Even though they could go on forever about what they do, they tend to keep it short, sweet and clear.  That’s because they understand that their customers aren’t doctors.  They’re us.  So…

You have car trouble.  Which of these is the quickest way to help a good mechanic figure out what’s wrong?  Explaining the problem?  Letting him ride along while you drive?  Or letting him drive it?  The closer he can get to your experience, the quicker he (or she) can solve your problem.  Selling is the…

You’ve seen it dozens of times.  It’s often a banner in front of a dentist’s office, but it could be a billboard, a web banner or a print ad.  “We cater to cowards.”  And there are a couple of big problems with it.  First, it’s been used to death.  So instead of helping a practice…

We all know that if you want a little love from the search engines, content is king.  (Of course, the goal should be getting the love — and the loot — from your prospects, but that’s a different discussion.)  Many companies struggle to come up with new content.  But there’s a good chance you already…

There’s a lot of data collected in marketing to help us understand what people do, and why.  Not all of it is trustworthy.  In fact, based on a mountain of research, it’s safe to say that the only data you can trust is data gathered by observing actual behavior.  Data gathered by asking people what…

Think about your customer for a minute.  What is his or her scarcest commodity?  There’s a good chance it’s time.  So here are three big questions for your business.  First, is there any part of your process that costs your customer too much time?  (Hint: the answer is almost always “yes.”)  If so, how can…