The Kiss Of Death For Marketers

22 replies
I wrote an article years ago with that title. It was my "most viewed" back when Ezine articles was hot. What's it about?

It's simple. It's marketing the way you like it. What does that mean? It's a short sighted method of presenting your sales message in a way that appeals only to you.

It's common.

We think that because we're in love with video or short copy or long copy or whatever it might be that every one else is as well. But this is a major mistake. It's the kiss of death.

I've been looking at a lot of paid advertising venues lately and man, I'm seeing people flushing money straight down the toilet.

Take the Warrior Forum for example. I've clicked on quite a few of the banners lately and have actually been keeping tabs on them.

Ten of the last 13 ads I've clicked on over the last month have pointed directly to auto start video. Bang! I'm gone immediately. And so are a lot of other people.

There was an exception and it was to an offer I was seriously interested in. And when I clicked away a popup appeared offering the presentation in text format. I read it and will eventually buy it. It's more than $200 and the seller almost missed the sale.

But I would never have known about the thing at all without offering text. The ideal thing would have been to have text and video. How much are you leaving on the table by insisting on doing it only one way?

There are a couple of other things I want to mention. Second in laziness or ignorance to presenting only video is a lame optin box with no teaser copy. Ugh.

The ad leads with an okay headline and goes directly to a signup box, nothing else. Click bang, visitor is gone.

I've been marketing online for a long time. I've looked at thousands of sales presentations. The thing most common to all of them is a lack of information.

People don't do a compelling job of telling their visitors what they're offering. This doesn't have to be long copy but it does need to SHOUT benefits. Without that, you're dead. Peace.
#death #kiss #marketers
  • Profile picture of the author beasty513
    Very well stated OP.

    I can relate to this and I'm

    glad I've cleaned up my act when marketing online.
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  • Profile picture of the author vedremo
    Banned
    I absolutely agree with what you've written. Every sales presentation needs to present the benefits that potential customers/clients will get. Also, it doesn't have to be information overload that it bores any potential customer in availing a product or service being offered. Balance is highly needed.

    Thanks for sharing your best practices!
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  • Profile picture of the author bluebrain
    Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

    People don't do a compelling job of telling their visitors what they're offering. This doesn't have to be long copy but it does need to SHOUT benefits. Without that, you're dead. Peace.
    True, people are only interested in what's in it for them, that's the question that pops into their mind while they click your ad. So you need to make that really clear in your copy message!
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

    I wrote an article years ago with that title. It was my "most viewed" back when Ezine articles was hot. What's it about?

    It's simple. It's marketing the way you like it. What does that mean? It's a short sighted method of presenting your sales message in a way that appeals only to you.

    It's common.

    We think that because we're in love with video or short copy or long copy or whatever it might be that every one else is as well. But this is a major mistake. It's the kiss of death.

    I've been looking at a lot of paid advertising venues lately and man, I'm seeing people flushing money straight down the toilet.

    Take the Warrior Forum for example. I've clicked on quite a few of the banners lately and have actually been keeping tabs on them.

    Ten of the last 13 ads I've clicked on over the last month have pointed directly to auto start video. Bang! I'm gone immediately. And so are a lot of other people.

    There was an exception and it was to an offer I was seriously interested in. And when I clicked away a popup appeared offering the presentation in text format. I read it and will eventually buy it. It's more than $200 and the seller almost missed the sale.

    But I would never have know about the thing at all without offering text. The ideal thing would have been to have text and video. How much are you leaving on the table by insisting on doing it only one way?

    There are a couple of other things I want to mention. Second in laziness or ignorance to presenting only video is a lame optin box with no teaser copy. Ugh.

    The ad leads with an okay headline and goes directly to a signup box, nothing else. Click bang, visitor is gone.

    I've been marketing online for a long time. I've looked at thousands of sales presentations. The thing most common to all of them is a lack of information.

    People don't do a compelling job of telling their visitors what they're offering. This doesn't have to be long copy but it does need to SHOUT benefits. Without that, you're dead. Peace.
    Yes, excellent post.

    Just to add.........
    Remember, 'You are NOT Your Market' !!
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Langham
      Great post Traveling Guy.

      One thing I don't like about auto play videos is the simple fact you can't stop them where you want.

      I'm not some jump from one thing to another type of guy, but i do sometimes need to stop doing something to fix or sort out another issue - when this happens I want to be able to stop viewing what I am currently viewing and come back to the same place later.

      Why people don't get it beats me.
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      • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
        Originally Posted by Paul Langham View Post

        Great post Traveling Guy.

        One thing I don't like about auto play videos is the simple fact you can't stop them where you want.

        I'm not some jump from one thing to another type of guy, but i do sometimes need to stop doing something to fix or sort out another issue - when this happens I want to be able to stop viewing what I am currently viewing and come back to the same place later.

        Why people don't get it beats me.
        Yeah, I've mentioned autostart videos plenty of times before. You bring up an excellent point. It's hard to gather information watching a video especially when you've got this feeling like you're on Beat The Clock. A lot of marketers are posting video where the watcher doesn't have access to advancing the thing. I like to be able to look at all the info and take time to think about it. A lot of people do. The answer's simple. Offer text and video.

        Here's a thread started last year. It might surprise some of the video cowboys and girls how many people won't look at videos:

        http://www.warriorforum.com/off-topi...o-content.html
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        • Profile picture of the author discrat
          Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

          Yeah, I've mentioned autostart videos plenty of times before. You bring up an excellent point. It's hard to gather information watching a video especially when you've got this feeling like you're on Beat The Clock. A lot of marketers are posting video where the watcher doesn't have access to advancing the thing. I like to be able to look at all the info and take time to think about it. A lot of people do. The answer's simple. Offer text and video.

          Here's a thread started last year. It might surprise some of the video cowboys and girls how many people won't look at videos:

          http://www.warriorforum.com/off-topi...o-content.html
          Honestly, I have never been fond of video. When I buy a product I very much want a Text based one. If it is video then I must see some transcript to read.
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  • Profile picture of the author Meharis
    Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

    I wrote an article years ago with that title. It was my "most viewed" back when Ezine articles was hot. What's it about?

    It's simple. It's marketing the way you like it. What does that mean? It's a short sighted method of presenting your sales message in a way that appeals only to you.

    It's common.

    We think that because we're in love with video or short copy or long copy or whatever it might be that every one else is as well. But this is a major mistake. It's the kiss of death.

    I've been looking at a lot of paid advertising venues lately and man, I'm seeing people flushing money straight down the toilet.

    Take the Warrior Forum for example. I've clicked on quite a few of the banners lately and have actually been keeping tabs on them.

    Ten of the last 13 ads I've clicked on over the last month have pointed directly to auto start video. Bang! I'm gone immediately. And so are a lot of other people.

    There was an exception and it was to an offer I was seriously interested in. And when I clicked away a popup appeared offering the presentation in text format. I read it and will eventually buy it. It's more than $200 and the seller almost missed the sale.

    But I would never have know about the thing at all without offering text. The ideal thing would have been to have text and video. How much are you leaving on the table by insisting on doing it only one way?

    There are a couple of other things I want to mention. Second in laziness or ignorance to presenting only video is a lame optin box with no teaser copy. Ugh.

    The ad leads with an okay headline and goes directly to a signup box, nothing else. Click bang, visitor is gone.

    I've been marketing online for a long time. I've looked at thousands of sales presentations. The thing most common to all of them is a lack of information.

    People don't do a compelling job of telling their visitors what they're offering. This doesn't have to be long copy but it does need to SHOUT benefits. Without that, you're dead. Peace.


    travlinguy,

    "The ad leads with an okay headline and goes directly to a signup box, nothing else. Click bang, visitor is gone."

    That's my Favorite to click away.

    Like you mentioned, Shout benefits and the order will come.

    Meharis
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  • Profile picture of the author kencalhn
    i hate autoplay videos, in fact I often just let my internetdownloadmanager.com auto-download them and I click off the page; just keeping the video to look at later (With scrub bars since using media player), without any sales page, in my swipe file subdirectory I keep videos in for study
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    It comes down to having a balance between:

    a. Conversions
    b. The customer's experience from beginning to end (or the prospect).

    A TON of marketer's don't test. Even though it's hammered all over the place, it's EASY to set up a squeeze page, content page, blog, whatever, and start sending traffic to it. What's simple, but not easy, is to test and tweak and keep on doing it until you have optimal conversions.

    I see sloppy marketing every single day, even from large corporations.

    And I hear you on the autoplay videos, meh.

    RoD
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    Everybody lives in a hurry. I agree that it’s better to give all options to your visitors, and that you have to do something to hold them and make them care about learning more.







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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    This is something many people have trouble accepting: you are not your target market.

    I've went round and round with people who chose "I like this" over "this is what's best for my business."
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    Get Off The Warrior Forum Now & Don't Come Back If You Want To Succeed!
    All The Real Marketers Are Gone. There's Nothing Left But Weak, Sniveling Wanna-Bees!
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  • Profile picture of the author wolfe655
    I don't care for videos much. I will watch them but would also like to have it in print. A lot of marketers are putting it out on video because it it quick and they can move on to the next thing but then someone is trying to learn from that video and a lot can be missed.

    I do a few things not related to IM at all where I am always looking for tutorials and I find it very hard to find anything in PDF anymore and believe it or not quite a few people out there prefer written over video. Anything I do will have more than one option. If I do a video a PDF will go along with it.
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by wolfe655 View Post

      I don't care for videos much. I will watch them but would also like to have it in print. A lot of marketers are putting it out on video because it it quick and they can move on to the next thing but then someone is trying to learn from that video and a lot can be missed.

      I do a few things not related to IM at all where I am always looking for tutorials and I find it very hard to find anything in PDF anymore and believe it or not quite a few people out there prefer written over video. Anything I do will have more than one option. If I do a video a PDF will go along with it.
      I don't want to come across as bashing video. It's definitely an excellent way to present a sales pitch. The thing is, anyone can make videos. I see so many that are just thrown together. The individual rambles on and on or tries to be clever while never making his point. I've seen discussions here where people tell others to make a video long to give the illusion of "more content." :rolleyes:

      Actually, most often just the opposite is true. Video as well as audio and text should be as short as possible while getting the point across. As mentioned in the OP many marketers don't even deliver enough useful information for people to make a decision.

      It's not just video. The same thing happens with textual presell landing pages, optin pages and sales pages. Buying ads is expensive. I think people need to think hard about what they want their message to convey. And if they're not up to the task of producing a decent video (many aren't) they should cut loose with the money to have one done professionally.
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  • Profile picture of the author BigMike56
    I just learned a friggin' lot reading this post. Thanks alot guys.
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  • Profile picture of the author BigMike56
    Quick question:

    I have a squeeze page which clearly states "enter your email address for a free video presentation". I also have a 'magic buy button' that appears halfway through the video, with the video controls disabled. Now, most people HATE exit popups, but in this case, would adding a text salespage for those who decide they don't want to watch the video work here? I mean, they are leaving anyway... When i encounter an exit popup, I never return to that site.....Please help.
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    • Profile picture of the author smjconet
      There are a couple of other things I want to mention. Second in laziness or ignorance to presenting only video is a lame optin box with no teaser copy. Ugh.

      The ad leads with an okay headline and goes directly to a signup box, nothing else. Click bang, visitor is gone.
      Yeah, When this happens, I feel used and abused. I mean I feel like they should at least offer to buy me dinner first (figuratively speaking), before trying to get in my pocket. :rolleyes:
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by BigMike56 View Post

      Quick question:

      I have a squeeze page which clearly states "enter your email address for a free video presentation". I also have a 'magic buy button' that appears halfway through the video, with the video controls disabled. Now, most people HATE exit popups, but in this case, would adding a text salespage for those who decide they don't want to watch the video work here? I mean, they are leaving anyway... When i encounter an exit popup, I never return to that site.....Please help.
      Hard to comment without seeing what you've got. The short answer would be, in my opinion, to put the sales pitch right below the video. If that doesn't work for you, then yeah, go with the exit popup alternative. As mentioned in the OP, it was offering the text version of a particular presentation in an exit popup that got me interested.

      There's something else needs to be said here too. No text, video or audio is going to work unless it's targeted and well presented.
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  • Profile picture of the author workoutstuff1
    Good point. While an auto-starting video can bring in sales, it does turn some people off, so it would be best to have a pop up box with the text version of the ad for those who get annoyed with auto-playing video ads.
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  • Profile picture of the author BigMike56
    What about a link under the video that leads to the text version, therefore no popups either? I'm in the skin care niche, so I really want then to take in all the information before they see the price or decide to come back to it later - i never realized that all of this could be annoying.

    Most people, on a sales letter, will scroll down and look at the price, and THEN decide if they want to read. I really want them to digest the content.
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by BigMike56 View Post

      What about a link under the video that leads to the text version, therefore no popups either? I'm in the skin care niche, so I really want then to take in all the information before they see the price or decide to come back to it later - i never realized that all of this could be annoying.

      Most people, on a sales letter, will scroll down and look at the price, and THEN decide if they want to read. I really want them to digest the content.
      You should try to minimize the number of clicks a visitor needs to make. But if you can't get the text on the video page then a well labeled link would be better than nothing.
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