The other day I was asked to recast a broadcast email campaign (outbound email and landing page), created to target Audience A, to fit Audience B. For the sake of illustration, let's call Audience A real estate developers and Audience B architects (though that's not who these folks are). And our client sells ... roofs.
Our architects serve in a consulting/advisory role for for our developers, and would likely be making recommendations to them about what kind of roofs to use The idea behind the copy rework was to let the architects know how they could help the developers by making the "right" recommendation (my client's roofs, of course!).
The copy rework went reasonably well, and the client will get some extra return on its initial creative investment. But doing the work reminded me of a critical direct response maxim: the offer and the benefit must appear to be personally rewarding to the audience.
It wasn't enough to tell architects "You can help the real estate developers.. This free info will show you how." Being helpful is fine, but it as a benefit it's not powerful enough to evoke a click or a BRC. There has to be something "in it" -- and probably more immediately personal and less altruistic -- for the reader.
In this case, we decided to claim that the free information would enable architects to
- Grow their practice by giving great advice and getting more referrals. Still a bit of a stretch.
- Avoid hassles by getting fewer complaints about roofs
- Save time by being armed with tools to quickly and easily recommend the right roof for each client of their customers.
Legitimate benefits? Sure. Compelling? Maybe not but probably the best we can do given no change in offer -- just a change in audience.
Ideally, though, the best offers and messaging will save the audience time, money, grief, hassle, etc. -- or bring fortune, fame, admiration, promotion, or some other wondrous condition -- and will do so quickly and obviously.
Recent Comments