How To Make Good Ideas Stronger

How To Make Good Ideas Better

In marketing, everyone LOVES to be in the creative process.

Good brainstorming sessions are invigorating.

It’s amazing when there is a swell of energy and the ideas are flowing.

Even if nothing workable comes out of these meetings, everyone is still encouraged.

After developing campaigns for years, here’s something I picked up.

After the initial idea is developed, few groups go back and try to make it better.

In this post, I’ve listed a few key things you can do to strengthen your marketing campaigns.

You’ll find eight ideas below, each with a short description.

They all work. Use one or use them all.

Just make sure you use them.

Here’s the 8 things you can do to make your good ideas better.

Let’s go!

Add Specifics – When you write, the reader’s brain is craving specific details. When you include concrete information in your copy, your credibility is turned up to 10. Superlatives and generalizations are used so often today, simply including a small number of details improves your believability.

Here are some simple ways to add specific to your messages:

Do you return calls quickly? If you do, then what’s the average response time?

Is your physical store popular? If so, then how many people come through the door each year?

Do you have a best selling item? If you do, then how many do you sell a month?

Be concrete. Be specific. Be precise.

When you use this technique, the reader assumes you are telling the truth. (You should be.)

For example, the difference between a restaurant serving ‘lots’ of customers and ‘serving 76,658 people last year’, is the difference between ho-hum and believability.

Further, when you write with concrete details, your reader bestows upon you the greatest gift of all – they trust what you are telling them. This gift is worth more than gold when speaking with skeptical prospect and cynical consumers.

You don’t need to go overboard. It is up to you to decide how many or how few details to include, but think of it as salt on your food. Your tastes may vary, but too much of it and you’ll ruin the dish.

Use concrete language and not only will your copy be more effective, but your copy will have a bigger impact upon your reader. In most markets, this step alone will boost response rates and conversions.

What happens next

When your prospect reaches the end of your message, what do you want them to do next?

Whatever this action is, add a call to action to all of your materials. Tell them what to do next.

Do you want them to sign up to a list? Join your newsletter? Buy a product? Come to an event? Call you on the phone? Reserve a ticket?

Tell them so. And be specific.

Always put a call to action at the end of whatever message you put in front of an audience, regardless of the media.

Write To Your Readers, Not Your Ego –

Don’t write about yourself.

If you can count more instances of “I” and “me” than “you”in your copy, then start again and rewrite from the beginning. Every sentence should be about your customer, not about you. Give them benefits, not your ego.

All of your messaging should be written so your customers see the benefit of your service. This applies to print ads, emails, websites, etc. Use the word “you”. Extol your benefits.

If you’re writing for your ego, the customer sees you as a blowhard. Humans have a sixth sense about detecting and avoiding egomaniacs

I was once stuck in a conversation with a guy who claimed he used to run a restaurant that ‘made millions.’ Every other phrase was “When I ran my restaurant” or “We did this.”

I remember thinking during this conversation that this guy was either Gordon Ramsey’s long lost redneck cousin or the guy was full of hot air.

It later came out that it wasn’t him, but his family who ran the restaurant. He was a teenager at the time and his parents were in charge, not to mention an older brother with a degree in hotel management. I didn’t know this during the conversation, but by the way he talked, I knew something wasn’t truthful.

Your customers won’t give you the leeway I did with this guy. As soon as you start talking too much about yourself, they’ll disappear with a click.

Ignoring competition –

“They copied us!”

I have never been in a situation where there were NO competitors. Maybe those markets actually exist, but I don’t know about them.

Yet every time we launch a product and the competition follows, I’m always on the receiving end of emails stating, “They copied us!”

If you are seeking strategic marketing techniques to serve you throughout your career, here’s one to burn into your brain: Plan your reaction when your competitors copy you.

Adding this in your toolbox does a few things.

First, it lessens the sting when it inevitably happens. You see, in business, your competitors will follow you. It’s just what happens. Don’t get mad, it’s just part of the game. For more on this, see Aesop’s fable: The Scorpion And The Frog.

The second reason is more practical.

It warms up your team to the cold hard fact that you’re going to be copied. You may think this is demotivating. I’ve found that there’s always a few people who get jazzed up about the idea and come up with some great counter-ideas.

Obviously, the more unique your idea, the harder it will be to copy. In every good marketing and advertising book, there are two reasons for being unique. Preventing your competition from copying you is the second one.

I’m not advocating you make decisions based on your competition. Success favors the bold!

But you should at least have a conversation about this topic in your planning meetings. Here are some questions to start the conversation – Can a competitor copy you? Will they copy you? If they copy you, how long until you see a sales drop?

To slow down copying, come up with unique idea that only you can pull off.

Here’s how to tell if your idea is unique. If you remove your logo and drop in the competitor’s mark, will the customer be able to tell the difference? If they answer is ‘no’, then go back and find a unique angle that can only be said about you.

Not Letting Your Idea Grow –

I’m a disciple of speed. Make a decision and move on it. After years of suffering from analysis paralysis, today I know that you make a decision and get to execution. A good idea that’s finished and launched is better than a perfect idea still in development. Money is attracted to speed.

However, don’t swing too far to the other side. Ideas need time to grow. To incubate. To develop.

Sleeping on an idea clarifies your thinking. It brings related, but better ideas. Ask any copywriter or ad man about this. They’ll also tell you that after you’ve finished your copy or ad, to put it aside for a few days and come back with fresh eyes.

The brain is an amazing piece of nature, and giving it a rest after creating something new is an easy way to multiply it’s power.

Giving The Ideas Time To Work

Have you ever listened to a joke that you didn’t quite get?

Then later that week the punchline flashes in your head and you chuckle like a crazy person.

Sometimes marketing ideas need time to start working. It takes between 7 and 13 impressions before a person starts to recall your advertising.

It takes that long to take root in a person’s brain. During that time, you may jump to the conclusion that it’s a flop. Give it time. Watch your data. If clicks are going up, then just be patient.

Sometimes the idea is good but the execution needs tweaking.

For one client we launched a new campaign to bring customers to his store. It worked, but I thought the results were too low. For 6 weeks, we tested different versions and variations.

When the sweet spot was found, the response was a 2x improvement over the previous high. The staff was so overwhelmed that one of them went to the back and had a minor breakdown. She started crying because she had never been so busy before and had a hard time handling the pressure.

Since then the ads have been a strong performer. The staff has adjusted to the new volume.

No other breakdowns have been reported.

Starting with media first

This next one is the most common problem I encounter with media.

And it’s a very difficult one to talk about.

Here’s the lesson – don’t choose the media first.

Here’s what that means.

In many cases, a CEO will make a media decision first. For example, she might say, “We need to run a radio ad” or “We need a new website.”

Then they run an ad and it bombs.

The challenge is that when you start with the media first, you’re starting at the wrong end.

For example, I’ve had one CEO tell me that ‘he needs to do radio.”

And 6 months later, he’s dumped $10,000 down the drain and his sales went DOWN.

Oops.

We don’t speak of that anymore.

Instead, start at the other end. Who are you trying to reach? Then ask what offer will get them to buy.

After those two, then you choose media.

The order is:

Find the WHO

Create your OFFER

Choose your MEDIA

This is the right order to get the maximum results in minimum time.

For years, I wondered why owners started with media.

It never made any sense to me to just wake up one day and say ‘let’s do radio.’

It finally hit me.

There are guys and gals out in the world actively selling radio spots, tv commercials, and new websites.

And if a good sales person gets the right CEO on the phone at the right time, then BAM, you have a media decision made.

Don’t get sold on a poor media choice. All media works if the economics are right. For any new media decision, start with the who, then the offer, and then choose your media mix last.

Test Out Ideas Before Launching Them

If there’s one thing that’s changed with digital media, it’s that small companies can now test more options to bring in money from customers.

Testing used to be only for big companies.

You see, when rolling out a campaign, a big company will run a test first.

Even the big agencies back in the 30’s did this. After a new client signed on they’d run a regional test to try out ideas.

Claude Hopkins mentions this in one of his books… written way back in 1932.

Back then it was easier for big companies to test because they have the resources and cash flow to wait 6 months for research and testing.

Companies today don’t need to wait. Digital tools allow you to test your idea almost instantly and see what’s working in day and weeks, instead of months and years.

I could write two or three hundred pages on testing, so instead let me give you an example.

Tim Ferris, when he was first publishing the book, 4 Hour Work Week, was having a discussion with his publisher about the title of the book.

They needed to find a good title. So Ferris used Google Adwords to test different titles and see which one got the most clicks.

Brilliant idea at the time.

The winning ad turned out the title of the book , 4 Hour Work Week, which has since gone on sell 1.5 million books.

This is not just for books. Use testing in your business to find out what customers respond to.

– – –

There you go!

8 ideas for you to use to make your good ideas better.

And as you’re going through these, remember this one important point.

A good idea that is DONE is better than a great idea that’s unfinished.

So while you’re working on improving ideas, set a date for release, make it as good as it can get, then release it into the market.