The Top 3 Reason Sales Campaigns Fail

The worst feeling in the world, as a marketer, is launching a campaign you're thrilled about, and watching it bomb worse than anything you ever imagined in your worst nightmares. It's like throwing a party, and nobody shows up. Heck, it might actually be more like driving up your home after a long day's work, and your home's... gone.

The point is, there's an emotionally crippling feeling of devastation whenever a campaign you're excited about... never finds traction. When you spend months, or even years, building something that you pour your dreams into... only to watch everything you've developed... instantly crumble to the ground; well, it's devastating. The good entrepreneurs adjust, pivot, and try again... until they succeed (if they have the budget to keep moving forward with creative... until their conversions are scalable).

Here's my stance:

Campaigns that bomb aren't something that just happen. All it takes is doing a few things wrong to develop a campaign that doesn't connect with anyone. And no, that's not a put down to anyone. I've had my fair share of bombs in my 13 years as a copywriter. And the truth is, I'm infinitely better because of them.

So, don't fear failure; embrace it. Because everyone in their digital marketing journey WILL bomb. It's how YOU respond to the failed creative that determines how you'll look back at the experience... years down the road.

You can give up, and move on... or you can double down. You see, when your creative bombs, it's giving you a wealth of feedback and data to leverage for your re-launch.

The question is, are you "listening"?

Because... as we all know... there's no such thing as failure, unless you simply give up. So, let me rename the title of this piece. Let's call it The Top 3 Reasons Entrepreneurs Ultimately Succeed. Because a campaign that bombs - brings with it invaluable information you can use to adjust, and in the end, find that critical emotional connection with your audience... so they CARE.

But what are you "listening"... for?

Well, there are 3 elements in your copy that you NEED to always look at... when things aren't working... and quite frankly... even when they are.

These elements are:

1. Positioning
2. Mechanism (I'll explain.)
3. And "Self-identification" (Again, I'll explain.)

Oh, there's a 4th element too, but I'll get to that at the end.

Now, for the sake of getting how these three sales elements work, I'm going to focus on just one part of a funnel, the money page. This is the sales letter, VSL, or webinar that pitches your main front end product.

That said...

What's the very first thing you're strategizing about - when starting any sales letter or VSL? How you're going to start your copy, right? In other words, how are you going to "enter the conversation"? How are you (hopefully) going to produce that instant emotional connection... your campaign needs to thrive?

This is Positioning.

Let me give you an example:

"What if there was a brand-new, scientifically-proven solution to put an end to your premature-looking, rapid aging?"

Or...

"What if you could look sexier and more radiant than you ever have in your entire life... just 10 days from today... guaranteed?"

Do you see how I'm entering the conversation in totally different ways? That's a simplified example of how you could sell an anti-aging peptide serum. I could come up with a hundred more of these, and build a campaign around any one of them. But that's not the point. The purpose of demonstrating this is to trigger a question like: "What aspects of my solution's benefits will draw people in the most? And how should I frame these aspects - so the emotion comes through the most?"

Now, the reason I put Positioning first is how the 2nd and 3rd elements are naturally integrated. For instance, look at that first "what if" example. Do you see the "scientifically-proven" part? That's where I hid the Mechanism.

Now, the Mechanism is critical in virtually any campaign... in any marketing space. It's the bridge that takes your agitation about my problem, and makes the solution FEEL believable to me. After all, if I think, "Sure, it'll work for Jenny, but I seriously doubt it'll do anything for me. I have way worse problems than her", I won't likely buy it, whatever IT... is. And boom, you got a bomb on your hands.

And it's the same with your Identification Factors. You have to give me a reason to "see myself" in that very first line of copy. It has to instantly inspire me to give you my full and undivided attention. (Which isn't nearly as hard as it sounds.)

Now, Identification Factors are the parts of your copy and campaign that get me to "raise my hand" and say, "Yeah, that's me. You get me!" And this goes way further than simply asking the audience, "Do you look old for your age"? It's about diving into the STORY people are telling ABOUT feeling too old for their age. Stuff like, "I look so tired and old. Nobody will ever find me attractive again. I guess I'm just not meant to find love."

That's HOW you get people to "see themselves" in your advertising. That's HOW you to get people to identify with your campaign. When you DO get people to "see themselves" in your advertising, it means you're guessing right about the stories that are constantly streaming through the minds of your avatar.

The bottom line is...

When you can get these 3 critical elements in your copy working in synergy... you're much more likely to convert right out of the gate.

Of course, I did promise a 4th element.

So here it is:

The face and voice of your company can make all three of these main elements either work, and your campaigns flourishes... or prospects instantly condemn your creative. They simply don't believe, "This person couldn't possibly be someone I need to listen to." And they click away.

That's why it's so important to make sure the face and voice of your campaign is a person your audience will trust and believe. (No more of that average Joe who accidentally discovered stuff.) You need a REAL authority speaking your messaging, or you will very likely struggle beyond belief.

Mark