May 10
21

Be specific, really specific

22 Comments

I guess you could consider this a “sister” post to one from a few weeks ago titled Why you should KISS much more often (worth reading).

To me, being specific in marketing has a direct correlation with the profitably of a marketing strategy. Isn’t this a good enough reason to be specific?

As a marketing company here in Boise we are always consulting our clients to do this more in their advertising, collateral, web pages and other company materials.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about overloading prospects and customers with too much information. I’m saying just be more concise with what you say… get to the point.

Take a retail shoe store as an example. In their advertising, a typical shoe store might say something like this…

“We have a wide selection of shoes for the entire family.”

Now, let’s try it in a way that’s not so vague…

“We offer 68 styles for women, 35 for men, including dress and casual, and 27 different pairs of shoes for children.”

Being specific in your marketing is more appealing to your prospects and can boost response rates. And of course, the more people calling your business, the more products and services you can sell.

Just the other day we were creating a new ad for a client. The ad was promoting a service of theirs and offering a free gift for anyone that purchased the service.

We were trying to determine how to create urgency in the ad without giving it an expiration date. Finally, we decided to limit the number of free gifts that were available. Here’s how we did it…

Instead of “Hurry while supplies last” we went with the more specific wording of “Hurry, only 100 free gifts available.” But then we took it a bit further and said “Hurry, only 78 free gifts available.”

Think about it… If I told you I’ve been to Disneyland 30 times, would it be believable? Maybe. But what if I said I’ve been to Disneyland 31 times? See how more honest and less-exaggerating I sound? And it’s just a difference of one number!

Like I said, be specific, really specific.

~Brodie

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Posted by Small Business Marketing Ideas 22 Comments

22 Responses to "Be specific, really specific"

  • Lucy from Prince William County Virginia says:
    May 21, 2010 at 7:12 pm
    Reply

    This is such a basic element in marketing, but I think so many overlook it. Credibility is super important to consumers, and when you are specific they are so much more likely to believe what you have to say.

  • Nick from Mortgage Broker Perth WA says:
    May 22, 2010 at 1:10 pm
    Reply

    Very specific numbers are used a lot by various internet marketers, such as when they say, “hurry, only 21 copies of this course remains!” etc. It definitely increases the perception that you are being honest about your offer.

  • Millard Clark says:
    May 23, 2010 at 10:42 pm
    Reply

    Well said Brodie. Calls to action like “best prices in town” don’t move people like “today only – everything half off”.

  • Camille says:
    May 24, 2010 at 6:51 pm
    Reply

    I couldn’t agree with this post more. I also read the sister post to this article, “Why you should KISS more often” and loved them both. It is such great advice that too many firms do not abide by. It is way too often that I walk by ads that are overly wordy and vague. If I see too many words, I don’t wast my time, I’m a busy person after all. And if the ad is vague, well there is no attraction. We live in a fast paced society where you need to attract people’s attention quickly — which is done through simple advertising — and hook them — which is done through being specific. Thanks for reiterating the importance of these two marketing techniques!

    Camille

  • Hosting says:
    May 25, 2010 at 8:14 pm
    Reply

    It is also good to be very specific in your SEO campaign. E. g. when you sell web hosting you should optimize your website for more specific keywords describing your business like “small business web hosting service”. This way leads to higher conversions and it is easier to rank well for these so-called long tail keywords.

    Bedrich

  • Steven says:
    May 26, 2010 at 10:24 am
    Reply

    My life and work approach revolves around “Keep It Simple, Stupid” and its been rewarding

  • Kirk at Net Lease says:
    May 27, 2010 at 8:50 pm
    Reply

    You are right, get to the point, don’t throw too much at the customer/client at once. Give valid information, clearly. The “only 78 left” is a great idea. Limited supplies could be 100 or 1000.

  • Cash Loans says:
    May 28, 2010 at 6:23 am
    Reply

    Your strategy sounds great. I like the idea of creating urgency in the ad without giving it an expiration date.

    John

  • Tyler "Height" Davis says:
    May 29, 2010 at 3:43 am
    Reply

    What if you really had been to Disneyland 30 times? Would you say 31 just because?

    I firmly believe in the KICK principle(Keep it Complicated Kiddo). I like the 100 free gifts available thing. Maybe a countdown would work :)

    • Boise Marketing says:
      June 1, 2010 at 5:28 pm
      Reply

      You don’t want to lie. If you’ve been to Disneyland 30 times, then that’s what you should say. It was simply an example of the difference 1 number can make.

      Explain to me your KICK principle! Have you read my other recent post Why you should KISS much more often?

      By the way, I also like your idea of a “countdown” – creates urgency like crazy. Thanks for your post Tyler!

      ~Brodie

  • Meta Data says:
    May 31, 2010 at 12:13 am
    Reply

    I definitely agree with you about increasing urgency by using an “off-beat” number for believability. I will definitely have to use this technique in the future. Thank you for sharing this idea! I will definitely be back to read more!

    Melanie

  • Jay-R says:
    June 1, 2010 at 7:34 am
    Reply

    Hi I am a new to internet marketing and SEO but as I go through website/blog to another seeking for more information one thing I have observed that they say that to market your website/blog you must have proper SEO technique. And one of the important key in SEO is your keyword, you must have a specific keyword to target so that the search engines will rank you higher. I agree with you that in marketing being specific is very important.

  • Anonymous says:
    June 3, 2010 at 5:50 am
    Reply

    Most of the people are fast talkers and others can’t understand what they are meaning.

  • SEO Detroit says:
    June 5, 2010 at 11:26 pm
    Reply

    I couldn’t agree with you more.
    Being specific in your marketing separates you from the competition.
    You’re right, though. Most marketing that you see is all the same. You see slogans like:
    We’ve been in business for x many years or, Customer service guaranteed.

    Who believes that stuff, anyway?

    It sounds like you have been studying marketing masters like Halbert and Kennedy.

    Cheers!
    Leo

  • yournight.com says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:50 pm
    Reply

    This is a basic fact of marketing online which is often overlooked by the starters. Fine details like this differentiates the success and failure of any aspiring online marketer .Couldn’t agree more with you on this topic

    —Patrick

  • Daniel Sharkov says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:45 pm
    Reply

    Being specific in my opinion is really one of the most important factors in all kind of businesses. When you are saying everything straight to the point, people will look more seriously on you and gaining their trust will become much easier. I am can’t help but wonder why so many people are missing that element.

  • Plastic Signs says:
    June 10, 2010 at 3:02 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for the ideas Brodie – I love the idea of rushing people to the call to action without using a deadline. That way, your efforts are more long lasting!

    -Kara

  • Anonymous says:
    August 18, 2010 at 3:22 am
    Reply

    Great tips but you really need a lot of time to do at least half of these. Not impossible though but quite hard :)

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