Writing for the market.. or the client...?
I had a interesting ( 
) conversation with a client the other day. He wanted a sales letter. I know his biz and product so I said sure and we decided to do 2 letters for him angled at different segments of the market he targets.
The product this client pushes is sort of a clone of a existing popular concept. Educating the buyer on the merits of his version is essential and proven to boost sales. Since his product is almost 5x more expensive than the competition the buyers are somewhat more savvy and demanding and providing factual information to them has been beneficial to sale stats on earlier tests.
But.. the client is so enamored with his own invention (and colorful packaging...) that he fails to see why anyone would not understand the fantastic benefits of buying his product more or less by simply looking at it. Based on this, he wants a more graphical style which lacks fundamental information since it should be common sense to understand how good it is :p
This is a client I know well and I ultimately got most of my angle on the letters, even though I had to cut and trim and bend and twist to incorporate unwanted parts to satisfy the client... who in the end is paying for it. Had I not known this client personally and lacked the leverage of friendship, I may have been inclined to accept more of the client's wishes even though it may have impacted on the quality of the letter. Or walked away from the assignment perhaps. :rolleyes:
The balance between doing a good job, building rep, getting more jobs, etc. is not a exact science - but as with everything in marketing (as I see it) - it is heavily dependent on psychology and understanding the emotional needs of your counterpart.
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Anyway, I would like to hear your experiences on projects where you had to balance between being creative towards the market (as in creating a letter maxed for conversion) and giving the client what they want (often with less results).
) conversation with a client the other day. He wanted a sales letter. I know his biz and product so I said sure and we decided to do 2 letters for him angled at different segments of the market he targets.The product this client pushes is sort of a clone of a existing popular concept. Educating the buyer on the merits of his version is essential and proven to boost sales. Since his product is almost 5x more expensive than the competition the buyers are somewhat more savvy and demanding and providing factual information to them has been beneficial to sale stats on earlier tests.
But.. the client is so enamored with his own invention (and colorful packaging...) that he fails to see why anyone would not understand the fantastic benefits of buying his product more or less by simply looking at it. Based on this, he wants a more graphical style which lacks fundamental information since it should be common sense to understand how good it is :p
This is a client I know well and I ultimately got most of my angle on the letters, even though I had to cut and trim and bend and twist to incorporate unwanted parts to satisfy the client... who in the end is paying for it. Had I not known this client personally and lacked the leverage of friendship, I may have been inclined to accept more of the client's wishes even though it may have impacted on the quality of the letter. Or walked away from the assignment perhaps. :rolleyes:
The balance between doing a good job, building rep, getting more jobs, etc. is not a exact science - but as with everything in marketing (as I see it) - it is heavily dependent on psychology and understanding the emotional needs of your counterpart.
---
Anyway, I would like to hear your experiences on projects where you had to balance between being creative towards the market (as in creating a letter maxed for conversion) and giving the client what they want (often with less results).
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