The problem: content isn’t copy

First of all, this is why most websites end up being a waste of money.

Which is a shame because there is no more powerful marketing technology, strategy, whatever you want to call it, than a website with compelling copy – copy that sparks a conversation with your customers.

Second of all, don’t hire a digital strategist who can’t write. If you can’t write out a strategy in copy that inspires action, is it really a strategy?

Same goes for positioning statements. You do “[X thing] for [Y type of customer]”. OK, sounds like you just checked a couple boxes. Not compelling, not interesting. Your positioning statement itself need to inspire action.

But let me back up. Most of my career I’ve been at agencies; that’s put me on over 200 large digital projects.

The agency world is full of talent, but the work it does usually lacks something:

1. Effective copy (#1 for a reason: it’s rare)
2. Market/keyword research
3. Precise analytics

I’ve seen this lack in many businesses: SaaS and app startups, coaching/management consultancies, nonprofits & NGOs, UX and web design firms, dev shops, technology/IT consultants – and yes, even ad agencies and marketing firms!

Where marketing projects fail

Here’s how projects get sidetracked:

● First, someone says, “let’s redesign the website”
● OR, a new Director of Marketing is hired. Who says, “let’s redesign the website”
● Tons of time and money wasted in discovery/planning meetings
● Over-focus on the web, at the expense of other marketing channels

And so on. Lots of talk, no action. Days debating color choices: “But I don’t like green!”

The end result? A site redesign, instead of a *lead generation* redesign.

So the site becomes unimportant. It rusts.

Then 3 years later someone says, “I don’t like the website. Let’s redesign the website”.

The cycle repeats.

How do we break this cycle?

We start with inserting positioning-based messaging into your site. We transform your business strategy into a market-ready copy. Is your offer worth it? Let’s tell your customer why.

Not that we neglect UX design and technology. We just don’t let it DRIVE your marketing strategy. Web design is not a strategy.

Copywriting by itself isn’t either, but it’s the essential mechanism for (a) communicating your strategic value as a business and (b) putting a business strategy into action.

So what’s the magic bullet? The secret recipe? Is it a this “funnel” thing you might have heard of – or is it a special combination of this technology plus that ad channel?

Of course not.

Your entire digital presence is a conversion funnel

In 1999, Seth Godin was the first to define inbound funnel marketing, in his book Permission Marketing.

Here’s how that concept is usually defined today, thanks in part to the “Hubspot” jargon:

(1) Attract strangers (SEO, blogging, ad copy)
(2) Convert visitors (Search and social ads, landing page copy, UX)
(3) Close leads (Web sales copy, UX)
(4) Delight customers (Email marketing copy, CRM, social re-engagement)

By the way, notice a pattern? COPY is everywhere.

But here’s the point: it’s not that funnels are bad or superfluous; there may be a use case for them. It’s that your core need isn’t a system, or a technique, or a trick. Your core need is good copy, throughout your digital presence.

And there’s something else ties it all together:

Technology, data, and metrics

That’s right: technology. The bigger your enterprise the more important it gets, especially the beating heart of a sales and marketing technology stack, CRM, and the primary mechanism for delivering copy, CMS. Just think, our ancestors in the Olduvai Gorge were crafting “sales” technology 1.7 billion years ago, in the form of handaxes.

But data and metrics always matter. I read the masters of copy: David Ogilvy, Rubicam, Caples. I’ve studied their methods too, like long-copy (still reading?), but what stands out is their focus on data. They’ve been metrics-focused for 100 years.

Digital marketing has no excuse not to be.

Measurement is part of everything I do from customer and competitor research to SEO analysis, to measuring ad performance, to every part of the lead and sales generation funnel.

So if you want sales-focused* digital copywriting with MEASURABLE results, let’s talk..