WHAT I WISH I WOULD’VE SAID DURING MY BREAKOUT SESSION…
Firstly, a big shout-out to everyone who came to my breakout session. You gave me some great feedback and many of you found the examples and ideas to be very valuable! Woot!
However, since I’m not a professional speaker (I’m putting that on my bucket list though) my nervousness up there caused me to forget several critical points. So I’m sending you this important followup to make sure you add them to your “Very Valuable Examples and Ideas from Kia” list.
1 – FAILED MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Remember the marketing pieces that failed? Some had a weak headline (or no headline). Some had confusing call-to-actions. Others had a convoluted message (no singular focus) and others were just plain dull or unremarkable.
But what if you hit all the important principles I talked about, have a pretty good message, but STILL get no response? What then? As Ben likes to say, ZERO is a result. The proper response is to go back to the drawing board, make tweaks, and try again.
The problem is you won’t always know why the piece failed. So what do you do? You test a different version! Tweak the headline, tweak the offer, or change up the design. It’s best if you stick to one variable at a time so you can pinpoint what works and what doesn’t.
You can also split test in a single campaign. For example, say you are mailing 5000 postcards. Split them in 2 or 3 groups and test different headlines. Or test different messages, or offers.
This is exactly how the pros do it. Even with years of experience, they are never too proud to split test to see what message/media/market combination works best. Market conditions are fickle. You have to test the waters every time.
2 – A BEHIND-THE-SCENES REALITY I DIDN’T TELL YOU ABOUT
Successful people rarely broadcast their failures. I’ve worked behind the scenes with many big name players in the marketing world, and believe me when I say they experience many more fails than they do successes. This includes Ben, this includes myself. So, don’t think it out of the ordinary when your campaign fails. The important thing is to not give up, not think you suck at this, and not feel discouraged.
Here’s another thing successful people don’t alway broadcast–they surround themselves with other successful people to get insight and feedback on how to do it better. That’s why you have GLM. Use it, get on the calls, get connected. Don’t be an island. You don’t have all the answers.
3 – MY CHAPTER IN BEN’S BOOK
For newsletter advice, I referred you to page 139 of Ben’s Renegade Lawyer Marketing book While you’re doing that, check out the next chapter on page 149. That’s me giving you a rundown of everything a strong print marketing ad should have. It’s the Cliff Notes version of my presentation.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback at the live presentation. I asked you, “If you could ask the GLM experts one question, what would it be?” You asked some great questions which I plan on sharing with the GLM team. I will also address them in the coming issues of my newsletter.