A Day in the Life of a Persuasion Architect

What Does Green Mean?

I posted a rant over on my own site today regarding the illogical use of 'green' by a petroleum company. It got me thinking about web sites.

There's a great chapter in Call to Action about the use of color on your site and Jeffrey and Bryan are always talking about people using the wrong color for the right message. For example, which of the following statements delivers conflicting information because of the color and which delivers confirming information?

     This item is in stock and is ready to ship!

     This item is in stock and is ready to ship!

What other inconsistent or downright conflicting messages have you found on your own site? Those are the easiest to fix and not fixing them could be costing you a lot of money.

Following on the heels of PAPR

PRWeb, our partner in applying Persuasion Architecture specifically to the world of Public Relations announced it was acquired yesterday.  We couldn't be happier for PRWeb founder David McInnis.  Not only is David an incredibly nice guy, he's one of the smartest guys around, and I'm not just saying that because he's a partner.  He's revolutionized the PR game, giving a direct-to-consumer angle that didn't previously exist, and tying it into search engine optimization better than virtually any SE "expert" in the space today.  Congrats Dave, you deserve it!

Stay tuned, for more PAPR news...

Today's leading story on ClickZ:

http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623082

Anyone doing PR just may want to take 5 and read the article.

Maybe it wasn't Al Gore...

perhaps it was Elmer's who invented the internet.  The web as glue is in full swing.  Observe, just this week alone:

1. For the second consecutive night, on a two separate networks, a tv show I was watching ended with a URL, and some additional, only-available-online, content.  We're not talking rehashed, repurposed, repeated highlights either- we're talking genuine, 100%, never-before-seen, FRESH CONTENT... completely free.  You think that traffic source comes any more highly qualified?   
   
   [Note: Sadly, in both cases the networks utterly failed to follow up the successful driving point (i.e. tv show) with a funnel point that leads the visitor into a scenario where some interaction can take place.  That sound you hear is the cash register signaling yet another squandered opportunity, the likes of which becoming even more critical with continual traffic cost inflation.]
2. FX unleashes a contest which collects CGM.  What type of consumer generated media, you ask?- the type that got Chevy in such hot water a few months back.  This one incentivizes submissions with a $50,000 check.  Oh yeah, and one more thing worth noting, they only accept submissions through myspace! 
   
   [Note: Sadly, because their site is 100% designed in Flash, linking to it, creating a buzz, and sharing the viral WOM becomes far more difficult than it should be.  Oops.]
3. Our copy of Strategy + Business arrived at the office offering a field guide for the new Marketer (yes, I did wonder if they'd include a reading list, and if Waiting For Your Cat to Bark would top the list.) and a cover story entitled "The Future of Advertising Is Now" (free registration required).  It's well worth the read, and a harbinger of things to come.  They predict marketing excellence in organizations who:
   
   
   • "Shift spending and management attention to digital media, and use those media to more effectively influence consumer purchase behavior.
   • Develop formats to promote interaction with audiences, especially their most likely consumers.
   • Create new research approaches and metrics that measure outcomes, not inputs.
   • Combine “above-the-line” advertising (TV, radio, and print) and “below-the-line” marketing (promotions, sponsorships, events, public relations) in new two-way, integrated campaigns.
   • Create their own branded entertainment assets and appeal to customers directly through them."
   
   [Note: As far as I know, they weren't intentionally referring to the results of planning marketing strategy with Persuasion Architecture, but it sure sounds like they were.]
   
   Did I mention, it's only Wednesday? 

Where is the FUNNNN?

What do you do if you are in a dog munch dog, hyper competitive industry?  What do you do if you are in an industry whose reputation is collectively toilet bound?  What do you do if everyone in America is conditioned to mistrust you?  How do you sell successfully in a hostile environment like that?

Answer:  Have fun.

I've been watching the new A&E reality show "King of Cars" featuring a loudmouth rapper type car dealer named Chop who runs Towbin Dodge in Las Vegas.  80% of their business is a direct result of a weekly informmercial Chop produces himself .  The TV informmercial is one of the single best persuasion scenario driving points I have ever seen, it drives offline traffic like crazy. (Yeah yeah, the website needs work but that's another post)

Be warned, the infommercial is obnoxious, juvenile, blue, and a general train wreck.  But, it is FUN, magnetic, and hugely successful.

Towbin Dodge is the #1 single point dealership in the nation. 

Instead of trying to market credibility, or change the public's perception of car salesmen, Chop just decided to make everything fun.  To be himself. 

Turns out people love him.  Turns out people love having fun.  Who woulda thunk?

I have to wonder how many companys can benefit from unclenching their rear ends and being a bit real. Or are you gonna make me and the public endure yet another cloned, canned, polished, boring and safe message that no one is gonna believe anyway?

Re-Tales: Jos. A. Bank

File under: When will they ever learn

I'm at home visiting my parents this weekend, and to meet with clients in Boston early next week.  I unpacked my bag and found my jacket to be overwhelmingly wrinkled.  Getting it pressed in time for Monday AM is probably an option... but so is simply buying a new jacket, and that has much greater value to me!  Luckily, there's a new Jos. A. Bank that opened down the street from my mom.  A few hundred dollars later, I'm checking out and flipping through the catalog while Anthony, the salesman, is packaging up my purchases.  He returns and asks if I'd like to take the catalog with me.  I remark offhand, I'd love to, as I'll probably make another order online.  To which he replies:

Do NOT do that... They kill you with service fees.  Take my card, if you ever need anything just come back and ask for me and I'll make sure we take great care of you.

His sales trainer would be quite proud of his attention to service, but that wasn't what stopped me  in my tracks.  Come back and ask for him?  His store is 500 miles from my living room, which is conveniently where josbank.com is located.  The odds of making a repeat purchase from Anthony are slim, but unfortunately for the retailer, now my odds of making a purchase at josbank.com are probably even slimmer.  People largely will do what they're incentivized to do.  If I buy online, Anthony loses.  Who else loses here?  The retailer, as well as the customer.  My guess is, this losing scenario is happening at retailers near you.

In scenario parlance, we talk about Driving Points; the point at which the potential customer was driven to engage with company's communication.  We often cite advertising as examples of driving points- online, a search engine results page (an adword, or organic result), or offline, a magazine placement, tv ad, etc.  Here's one more for you- completed purchases can be driving points for future purchases. 

Here's a thought.  What would happen if Anthony handed me a different card from his business card.  This card had a repeat customer code, which tied back to his employee id.  This card allowed me to shop online, and waived the additional service fees.  The retailer tracks which storefronts are providing the most selfless service, those which promote the global organization over their own interests, and rewards them accordinly.

The customer can now shop through whichever channel is most convenient.  The salesman can now earn commissions on all sales in which his fine service played a part in.  The retailer capitalizes on future revenues.  Sounds like a win-win-win situation to me...