Attract More Customers

Talk about a hot and sexy USP (Unique Selling Proposition): Reebok says their new EasyTone walking shoe will firm up your butt and sculpt your legs so well, “your boobs will be jealous.”

That’s according to one of their ads. I haven’t seen that particular ad, but I read about it in the NY Times, so it might be true.

I did see one TV ad claiming the new sneakers tone leg and buttock muscles better than regular walking shoes. Is it just marketing BS, or could it be true? A lot of people seem to think (or at least hope) so. Sales are smoking hot, just like your legs will be.

Reebok says the EasyTone is their biggest hit in five years. And no wonder. They were designed by a real rocket scientist, former NASA engineer Bill McInnis, now Reebok’s head of advanced innovation.

But what about the controversial claim? Can the shoes live up to the boast? According to the Times,

“The claim is backed by a single study involving just five women, walking on a treadmill for only 500 steps. Some wore the EasyTone or another Reebok walking shoe, some were barefoot. Sensors indicated that the EasyTone worked glutes 28% more than regular walking shoes. Hamstring and calf muscles worked 11% harder.” (Edited slightly for length, clarity and emphasis.)

Wait — who cares if your leg and butt muscles work a little bit harder? All we want to know is, do boobs really get jealous?

What happens to a company’s image, brand and stock price when the news gets out that it foreclosed on a farm, evicted the owner, and made no provisions for taking care of the animals?

That’s what Wells Fargo did in Rhode Island, according to the the Providence (RI) Journal (via Consumerist, who incorrectly reported that it was an animal shelter rather than a farm).

Wells Fargo claims it arranged for the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals take care of the 130+ cats, dogs, chickens, pigs, horses, sheep, goats. Not so, says RISPCA. According to its president Ernest Finocchio, the bank said it didn’t want RISPCA’s help.

An inspection yesterday revealed that some animals had no food or water. Others had been carted off by strangers – hopefully for humanitarian reasons.

“Two llamas are gone. A turkey is gone. Some waterfowl have left, as well as a number of pot-bellied pigs. I don’t know where the animals went, or who took them. I saw people walking around the farm yesterday and have no idea who they were,” said Finocchio.

But wait a minute. The bank isn’t the only bad guy here. Foreclosure laws require multiple eviction notices, so the farmer himself knew a long time ago that trouble was brewing, yet made no plans for taking care of his animals. Mucho bad karma for him.

UPDATE: Wells Fargo says hey, it wasn’t us who foreclosed– it was them, that mortgage company. But we’ll do the right thing and take care of the animals. Actually, it’s the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that’s assuming care, according to the Los Angeles Times.

James at Men with Pens has a great post today. He asks, “Are Bloggers Creating Their Own Sweatshop?” and wonders aloud why bloggers give away so much good stuff for free.

“Can you walk into your local garage and ask them to teach you mechanics for nothing? Can you go to a lawyer’s office and become his apprentice without paying a dime? Could you walk into any business in your town and say, ‘Hey, will you teach me what you know for free? So I can do it myself and not have to pay you to do it for me?’ Of course not. Yet blogs do just that.”

I posted this response in a comment:

This is exactly why I’ve been reluctant to embrace blogging, James. My entire career has been spent in writing, broadcasting, advertising — the whole communications field. After 30 years, suddenly I’m supposed to work for free? Forever, with no end in sight? Gee, what an appealing proposition.

I agree with Michael Martine’s wise comment: blogging IS marketing. Just like handing out free samples of your latest candy or cookie. I view my own blogging as (1) a demonstration of my ability, and (2) a free sample of my paid info-products.

Marketing is necessary and good. But there are limits. Even television restricts the number of commercials you can broadcast per hour.

This constant firehose of free content — good and bad — has increased the noise, the static. The good stuff gets harder and harder to find, while the “same old stuff” is repeated, in slightly different form, ad nauseum.

A big part of the problem, I think, is the blog format itself. First, it’s a crappy way to organize content. Reverse order by date? Huh? Imagine if your library organized its books that way. Good luck finding anything…

Second, the blog format subtly increases the pressure to produce frequently – even if your content is lame. “Gee, James posts 3X per week, maybe I better do that, too.” NO! Please don’t –  unless you have something new and/or worthwhile to contribute. If you do, fine. Go for it. Otherwise, please sit down.

Maybe we should impose limits — like hunters and fishermen have– on how many posts a blogger can add per week. (High-value contributors like James and Remarkablogger and Seth get a pass, natch.)

For the rest of us, once we’ve “bagged our limit” of, let’s say, one really great, thoughtful post per week, we should shut up and let others have the floor.

What an idea! I think I’ll go blog about it right away.  /irony

[And now I have, thus doing my small part to keep the noise pollution high.]

The word “You” has always been the Alladin’s Lamp of good communications. Using it opens the door to a real connection with the people reading your blog or brochure. Whoever you’re writing or talking to, make sure they know you mean THEM. And the best way to do that is with the magic three-letter word: YOU.

“Start your email, start your phone call, start your tweet with “You.” As in “You are,” or “you need,” or “you want…” Call it empathy. Understanding what the other person wants. You’re selling, they’re not; so put it in their terms. In letters, emails, phone calls, whatever, start with benefits. Not benefits for you, but benefits for the other person across the table. How is this going to be good for the person you’re addressing?” Tim Berry of Palo Alto Software wrote.

Tell them how you’re going to help them, in other words.

The biggest mistake in marketing is getting it backwards. A brochure, ad, Web page or whatever starts with “We are… we do… we have…” Who cares? Not your prospect. She doesn’t know if you’re talking to her or why she should care. And you only have a few micro-seconds to get their attention.

Imagine you’re at a cocktail party and some obnoxious boor rushes up and starts talking all about himself. Now compare that with someone who comes up and listens, asks questions about you, what you do, what you like and dislike.

It’s the same in marketing. Resist the urge to begin by talking about yourself, your widget, your company. There’s time for all that later. Instead, tell your prospective customer how you’re going to help her. In your headline and 1st paragraph, demonstrate that you know who she is and understand her pain.

But don’t just tell her you’re going to help. Show her. Paint a vivid word-picture of how much better her life will be once she becomes a customer.

My friend Robert Monteux commented yesterday, pointing out another common website annoyance:

“… Sites with so many ads that have to load, including flash. Sloooow loading = bad!”

Not only are they slow to load, but the ads distract you from what you actually came to see. Web pages crammed full of animated ads, blinking logos, spinning graphics that shoot sparks out their butts? They’re like listening to talk radio, at the same time that the TV is playing infomercials full volume.

Readability is a near-perfect solution to website clutter. (And it’s free, so it’s the perfect Christmas gift.)

Readability is a simple browser plugin* that strips away everything — except what you came to read. You know, the content.

It couldn’t be simpler to install. On Readability’s home page, select your desired style, font size and column width, then drag the icon to your browser’s toolbar. That’s it, you’re finished. One click to install, one click to use.

By default, Readability is turned off. Whenever you come across a Web page that makes your eyes cross and your head throb, just click the Readability button on your toolbar and voila, all distractions disappear — the same way David Copperfield “vanished” the Statue of Liberty.

To return to a page’s original look, just click refresh. Readability isn’t perfect, but in my experience it successfully cleaned up 95% of the offending pages.

Major props to its developer, lab.arc90.com, who have some other interesting projects. Like TBuzz, a bookmarklet that lets you update twitter while you browse the Web. I’ll be checking that out soon.

Anybody else like Readability? Anybody used TBuzz? Love to get your feedback in the comments. And any other major website irritants you’d like to bellyache about? Have at it.

Or tweet me: @tom_mckay

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* Note #1: Yes, I know technically they’re both bookmarklets, not plugins. Let’s just keep things simple, shall we?
** Note #2: No, those aren’t affiliate links. Both products are free, for cryin’ out loud.