That’s the reason I should hire this guy instead of the other ten thousand realtors who want my business? Because he’s up all night, ever night, singing “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and “Faith of the Heart”?

Yes, I know; the point was to get across that he’s available for his clients when they need him… in which case, how about this slogan? “I’m here for you.”

That way, he gets across that he’s available and will probably have to take fewer drunk-dialing home-selling clients at 3 am.

The ad is an utter failure.

The advertisement is for a course that will get students thinking about God, spirituality and the meaning of life.

The problem is that the photo in the advertisement doesn’t match the content. I look at the image of the guy embracing the awe-inspiring sight of nature unbound.

Based on that, my immediate answer to the question in the ad is “No. There’s nothing more to life than this. Clearly, this beautiful material world is what it’s all about. I have nothing to learn from a course on spirituality or religion because the meaning of life is all around me.”

Just to clarify, that answer above is not my usual view of religion and spirituality. The ad persuaded me to respond in this way. So, how to fix it so that it will actually work?

The fix is simple, actually. Change the line from “Is there more to life than this?” to “Is there more to life?”, cutting out the last two words. The person looking at the ad suddenly conflates spirituality and religion with the wonders of the world.

On the other hand, you could make the ad way better by changing it to something like this:

I took the liberty of checking out the speaker bios and realized I also had the chance to provide a bit of a teaching moment. To wit, How To (And How Not To) Promote Yourself In A Bio On A Website:

First, showing how not to do it, we have Dave McClure of 500 Startups. Dave decided to take the quick attention-getting route of making himself out to be kind of a weirdo. I’m not sure it paid off for him, unless you subscribe to the idea that all publicity is good publicity — which hasn’t really worked out that well for BP, Conrad Black or the junta in Burma.

(And before any of Dave’s friends start talking about stones and glass houses, I know very well that I’ve crossed the line on a number of occasions using this very strategy [examples here and here]. So yes, I’m a hypocrite. Such is life.)

I’ve highlighted the, uh, best bits:

Dave McClure is a greedy, blood-sucking venture capitalist & founding general partner at 500 Startups, an internet startup seed fund and incubator program in Mountain View, CA. He likes to hang out with entrepreneurs, and occasionally help or invest in their startups if they are foolish enough to let him. Dave has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years, and has worked with companies such as PayPal, Mint, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Twilio, Simply Hired, O’Reilly Media, Intel, & Microsoft. Years ago he used to do real work like coding or marketing or running conferences, but these days he mostly does useless stuff like sending lots of email, blogging, and hanging out on Facebook and Twitter.  Dave also likes to play ultimate frisbee when his knees don’t hurt

As I said, I’m not too fond of the above. But what do I know? I just put words together for a living.

Next, to show what I think is a good example. To compare, I’ll use Clarity Digital President Leonard Brody’s bio. It’s a bit long, but it works. Again, I’ve highlighted the parts I like — phrases that focus not so much on who he is as what he does and why he appears to rock the flock:

Leonard has been called “a controversial leader of the new world order”. He is a highly respected entrepreneur, venture capitalist, best-selling author and a 2 time Emmy nominated media visionary. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of five companies to date. In 2004, Leonard co-founded, and was CEO of, NowPublic.comnamed by Time Magazine as one of the top 50 websites in the world, was inducted into the Newseum in Washington and was recently acquired by the Anschutz Corporation. Currently Leonard sits as the President of the Clarity Digital Group responsible for overseeing one of the largest online news conglomerates in the world including Examiner.com and NowPublic, which between them, share over 20 million unique visitors a month and over 200,000 contributors. which is a pioneer in the field of citizen journalism. The company was

I see the difference. Can you see the difference?

About a third of my work is helping develop a “big picture” communications strategy for clients. For local businesses, this usually starts with a conversation in a café.

That’s where I ask questions to get answers that will help guide the strategy. The process of answering these questions often has a spin-off benefit; it helps the business owner re-assess their business model and objectives.

What do businesses need to think about before proceeding with a communications strategy? Here’s a quick list (and you’ll notice that a lot of these points will come up when developing or adapting a business plan):

1. What does your business want to promote?
A communications strategy typically operates through campaigns. Businesses may offer a wide range of products or services. Non-profit organizations may support a variety of related causes. Focus your campaigns according to your priority objectives.

An obvious example: if you sell seasonal services like lawn care at this time of year, develop your campaign around that. You don’t need to focus resources and budget right now on marketing your snow clearing services.

2. Who is your target audience?
This is sort of a refined version of your target market. For instance, if you are selling business software, is it better to produce marketing materials addressed to the owner of the company or the head of their IT department? For your gaming company, do you want to reach out to the players directly, or to the game reviewers who are going to influence the players?

3. How do you want your brand to be seen?
It can be confusing to the consumer if your communications materials lack a consistent style. As well, “formal and dignified” may work for a bank or a law firm, but what if your company is Chucky Cheese or Skull Skates? And if you’re going to run a social media campaign, how do you want the voice on your blog or Twitter account to reflect your company’s core values? A communications specialist will be able to provide recommendations, but you may have some ideas of your own to provide guidance.

These are some of the key considerations for developing a big picture communications strategy. It’s a lot to think about. You won’t get through it all while watching the waves come in at a day at the beach. But when you’re feeling recharged and your mind is clear, that’s not a bad time to get started.

If you’re in Vancouver this summer and just want to bounce a few strategy ideas off of a communications expert over an iced cappuccino, we’ll be around (If you’re not in the city, no worries – Skype and email work just fine).

And if you need more intensive help in developing your organization’s long-term communications strategy, we’re around for that as well (We take our vacation in the winter).

To get a free initial consultation to learn more, contact WRITEIMAGE today at (604) 230-2638 or email info [AT] writeimage [DOT] ca

As a website copywriter, I use information like key phrases and popular search terms to refine content and make it more SEO-friendly. Basically, I use the info to make your website easier for your customers to find.

But for my clients, business owners and managers, tracking clicks can help refine entire marketing campaigns or even help guide key business decisions. You track where your sales are coming from offline, right? So why wouldn’t you do the same for your online marketing, when you can do so fairly easily and scientifically, with minimum effort?

I’ve heard from several clients that Google Analytics just seems complicated. I sympathize. It can seem a bit overwhelming.

Have your webmaster sit down with you for an hour or so and go over the metrics. If you’re running your business site off of WordPress or similar software, you can use a site stats plugin that provide only basic information you want to track.

Unlike print marketing, online marketing tools make it a lot easier to track results. Business owners, marketing executives and advertisers would have killed to have these tools even a few years ago. Now you can use them, and they don’t cost you a thing. Take advantage.

How Google Analytics Works

Read my post on the Lift Strategies website to learn more about how to get the customer to take action

For example, the owner of a Vancouver-based financial planning services business might tell me their target market is any type of small-to-medium sized enterprise that needs any kind of financial consulting. But when I ask them about their “ideal client”, they might say that they really prefer working with tech start-ups that need to manage multiple rounds of angel and VC funding going forward. Ideally, their client would also have a contact person on their management team who already had a healthy understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a financial consultant, some key management processes in place and a capacity to really listen and act on the consultant’s recommendations.

This kind of information makes a huge difference when it comes to developing the key messaging on their website and in their marketing campaigns. When you really know who you’re going after, you can refine your keywords and content better to get better results.

Of course, website copywriters have their own ideal clients. What do mine look like?

Continued in My Ideal Web Copywriting Client

This Business Owner Needs to Figure Out His Ideal Client

There’s certainly something to be said for fine-tuning and adapting your messaging for different markets if you are targeting distinct niches. That said, a coherent marketing and communication strategy will typically involve some key language that is repeated again and again and… you get the idea.

Read the full article, Use Consistent Messaging

On your “Contact Us” page, at a minimum, you need to have a phone number and email address. Not everybody wants to fill in a form.

Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about. Below, you can see a “Contact” page with no phone number.


For this site, I clicked on a link that said “Phone us” and got sent to the page below. They won’t be getting my business.

Just to compare, here’s our contact page. Really simple: phone or email.

I’ve often heard local marketing experts like Liz Gaige (Market Navigators) or Jen De Tracey (Lift Strategies) point out exactly the same thing. I heard Dave Thomas of Rocket Builders say the same thing last night at a seminar. Make it as easy as possible for your customers to contact you. It’s not rocket science. Publish a phone number! Otherwise, your message to customers is “Don’t Contact Us”.

Worst case scenario — you’re phone will start ringing off the hook from new customers and you’ll have to put some time and effort into hiring people.