What’s on the iPod: Fast As You by Dwight Yoakam
Oh, snow.
We had snow showers overnight — just an inch — and the snow right now is falling so softly. Such a pretty picture.
Until tonight. That’s when the big shit comes down. Our area is expected just 7 to 12 inches (“just”). Other areas closer to the coast are already rolling up sidewalks and telling people to stay the hell home.
I’m a little excited about the snow. I will get to use my new snowshoes. For that, I’m quite happy. After years of asking for them for Christmas, I finally got them this year. So at lunchtime today, I’ll be in Valley Forge Park giving them a go.
I had some cool marketing success last week, and as a result, work is lining up for the next month and beyond. I’m pretty excited to be starting something today, but glad the deadline is long. Trying to reach anyone on the East coast for interviews today and tomorrow is going to be impossible. So instead, I’m going to market some more, focusing west of the Mississippi for now.
Back when Twitter was taking baby steps, a popular sandwich shop, whose name escapes me, joined the tweeting ranks. So did a customer, who tweeted, “Hey, can I get a sandwich with …. for pickup?” And a trend was born.
That’s hyper marketing, or more specifically, hyper-local marketing. And despite the shop’s accidental discovery of the power of personal, it serves as a stellar example of how selling to exactly the right customer is good for business.
Just ask anyone from Pittsburgh, home of Primanti Brothers sandwiches. Fans (they’ve elevated beyond mere customers these days) have the famed sandwiches mailed across multiple state lines. What makes these sandwiches better than any other?
Hype. And the clever use of hyper marketing (note it’s no longer just local). The reputation of their “almost famous” sandwiches, which are meat, fries and coleslaw between two thick slices of bread, blossomed, at first, from word-of-mouth reputation, which probably started in the 1930s. Today, bolstered by social media tools, Primanti Brothers is so busy, they had to open more locations. Many more, including three locations in Florida to keep up with the demand.
Writers especially can get a lot of mileage from hyper marketing techniques. Hyper marketing doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have to have a specialty (although it helps), but rather you’re going to be more selective in whom you’ll send your message to. And how. How is a big part of it.
Here are some methods that can get you more face time with the right people:
Extremely relevant content. You’ve seen those ads on the side of each web article you read — they show that last thing you looked at on Amazon or those shoes you just bought. That’s hyper-target marketing. You’re being shown not just content, but content specifically intended for you. Yes, it’s a little Big Brother, but it works. While we writers don’t have to go to such extremes, we can deliver content that’s exactly what our clients/potential clients want. Think Twitter-conversation-turned-newsletter. Or questions in a forum answered on your blog.
Simplify the message. A recent Forbes magazine article suggests that all those splashy, overdone pages are overwhelming our audience because they’re competing with all the other splashy, overdone pages (no surprise there). If you want to get the attention of your customer, keep it simple. Tell them what they need to know (not what you think they need to know), give them your offer, and give them some breathing room.
Use a little conversational marketing. Probably not a real term, but it’s what I call giving people something to talk to you about. For example, my Twitter page description has netted a lot of notes from people. It’s a simple one — “Phenomenal writing power – itty bitty twitting space.” And it includes some of my specialties. But that line keeps them interested. You can start similar conversations with great forum posts, a thought-provoking question on social media, or a poll or quiz posted on your blog/website. Get a conversation going.
Use hashtags wisely. You can find any number of hyper-specific client prospects right there in Twitter. Just look for the hashtags. How do you find what hashtags are being used most often? Hashtags.org is a good place to start, as is looking at what a segment of your targeted customers are using regularly. If you don’t know what the hashtag means, look it up on tagdef.com.
2 responses to “4 Hyper Marketing Strategies for Writers”
The thing I've never understood about those "relevant" ads on the side of web articles? As my Grandma would have said, "They're a day late and a dollar short." If I just bought a pair of boots, I'm not about to buy another pair.
My town has Mrs. Fishers potato chips. They're only sold within maybe 50 miles of the teeny tiny plant. It's the same recipe since the company started in the 30s: a particular type of potato; vegetable oil; salt. Ordinary potato chips don't compare. I'm not a big chips person, but other brands don't even begin to tempt me. They ship orders around the world.
The most impressive part? I've never once seen an ad of any type for Mrs. Fishers.
A bag of chips typically has irregular shapes, air bubbles and occasional "potato pockets" (that's what I call them – my favorite), and random
"burnt" chips. Burnt as in dark, but not actually burnt. They've used customer feedback to make unsalted and lightly salted varieties, and now the "burnt" chips, none of which are sold in stores. You only find out by visiting the plant or hearing from someone else, which makes you feel like you're in the know….another shrewd form of personal marketing.
Paula, there's the thing that gets me about "relevant" ads, too. I don't need to see them three days later, especially if I already ordered whatever they're showing.
Sounds a lot like Starbucks. Until recently, you never saw an ad for Starbucks. And yet, everyone knew about it. I think their ads began sometime in June? It seemed weird that they'd even need it.