I know instantly whether a potential copywriting client and I are
\nsimpatico just by the marketing terms he or she uses.<\/p>\n
For instance, when I hear a client use words like “response” …
\n“conversion” … “click-through rates” … “break-even” … “results” …
\n“leads” … “sales” … “selling” … “offer” … “closing” … “call to
\naction” … or “profits” …<\/p>\n
… I know we pray from the same hymnal of direct response.<\/p>\n
It’s only when clients use other marketing words that my radar
\nsignals we might not be a good fit.<\/p>\n
For instance, it was trendy for a time to say that marketing is
\nhaving “conversations” and not selling.<\/p>\n
When I wrote about conversations in this e-newsletter, subscriber
\nWM replied:<\/p>\n
“I am a salesman. At the end of the month, my sales manager asks
\nme how much I sold. If I was to reply, ‘I didn’t sell anything,
\nbut I had a lot of conversations’ — I’d be out on the street.”<\/p>\n
I’m not saying conversations are not a valid part of the sales
\nand marketing process.<\/p>\n
But marketers who focus on “conversation” sometimes do so to
\navoid revealing that they do not know how to sell.<\/p>\n
“Branding” always makes me a bit wary. Yes, it’s also a valid and
\noften important part of marketing.<\/p>\n
But in marketing speak, it’s often code for, “We just position
\nour product in the marketplace but don’t know how to sell.”<\/p>\n
And “brand awareness” is sometimes code for, “I talk about
\nawareness because it can’t really be measured and therefore I am
\nshielded from having to produce a result that can be measured,
\nwhich would reveal whether my ad is working and profitable.”<\/p>\n
For many years, “content” didn’t sit well with me, as I thought
\nit devalued and positioned writing as a commodity — just as
\ncalling a writer a “word smith” did back in the day.<\/p>\n
But content has become an accepted term, and I am good with it
\nnow.<\/p>\n
Same with “content marketing,” which we used to call “getting
\nmore leads and sales by giving away free information.”<\/p>\n
The title “content marketing strategist” though is a bit
\noverblown to me, as many (not all) people who call themselves
\nthat essentially just write online articles for clients.<\/p>\n
“Impressions” is another term I shy away from. I am not trying to
\nimpress anyone. I am trying to sell them a product or service.<\/p>\n
“Likes,” “followers,” and “connections” in social media. Well,
\nthey are valid and measurable, and have some value.<\/p>\n
But they are nothing to get excited about, if they are not
\ndriving traffic, converting, and filling up your PayPal or bank
\naccount with money from customer orders.<\/p>\n
Any particular marketing terms you like or don’t like? And do you
\nagree or disagree with my assessment of marketing lingo here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I know instantly whether a potential copywriting client and I are simpatico just by the marketing terms he or she uses. For instance, when I hear a client use words like “response” … “conversion” … “click-through rates” … “break-even” … “results” … “leads” … “sales” … “selling” … “offer” … “closing” … “call to action” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}