The Conversion Scientist ARCHIVE™

What is a Conversion Scientist? (Video)

“Conversion is a science and an art. If you get the science right, you get to have fun with the art.”

Jonas Lamis at Tech Ranch invited me to sit down with him and talk about my favorite topic: conversion.

For some unknown reason, I was succinct and somewhat articulate. Go figger.

Watch the video to find out why you might need a Conversion Scientist in your business. I also give my best advice to any entrepreneur who wants to make the Web a key strategy in their business.

Register for BYOContent: The Extreme Conversion Makeover and see for yourself how to turn content into leads and sales.

Is it smart to advertise free stuff?

Why would I pay to advertise free information? Does it make sense?

The answer is, “Yes.” On December 10, I’m going to show you the techniques marketers use to make it pay, and I’m going to do it with your content.

Why, you might ask, does it make sense to use your scarce marketing dollars to advertise free information? The answer is this:

At any given time, more people are considering a product or service like yours than are ready to buy a product or service like yours.

Many more.

Thus, if you can get the attention of someone while they’re still thinking about how to solve a problem, you can expect more of them to visit you when they ARE ready to buy.

The key is content that converts, the kind of educational, helpful, informative content that your business generates all of the time. You may say, “My business doesn’t generate any online information.” Oh, but it does.

It’s hiding in plain site. It’s in the product specifications you write. It’s in the sales presentations you’ve created. It’s in the blog posts that you’ve written. It’s in the emails that your most grateful customers have written you.

It’s not actually free if you’re generating leads

If you are doing lead generation, your information isn’t free. The consumer of this helpful and informative knowledge pays with their attention, with a little information about themselves and by extending you some permission – on credit – to continue conversing with them.

The results may well be better than your benefit-oriented ad copy

If I have decided to solve my problem with a product or service like yours, a benefit- or discount-oriented ad will do the trick. However, if I am part of the much larger audience that is still “in the question,” I won’t even know how to process your offer.

Content can help me decide. It can help me make cost tradeoffs. It can help me sell a solution to my boss. It can help me understand the real cost of not solving the problem. It can help me rationalize a purchase.

Which desk drawer is your gold hiding in?

You’re invited to spend a day with me and a panel of smart marketers as we transform plain, everyday information into content that sells.

Join us on December 10 in Austin, Texas for BYOContent: The Extreme Conversion Makeover Workshop.

By the time you leave, you will know:

• How to identify ordinary content that your visitors will find extraordinary
• How to present it in ads and on your Web site so that visitors can’t miss it
• How to use it to generate leads with it
• How to use it to entice prospects to buy
• Where to find the free and inexpensive tools needed to transform and deliver your content

Join me, Apogee Search’s Alissa Ruehl, online marketing expert Jane Dueease and a room full of smart people like you as we turn ordinary information into online content that will grow our businesses.

Act before Thanksgiving, and we’ll knock $50 off the price. Breakfast, lunch, and a snack are on us.

If the Web is important to your business, this will be one of the most eye-opening events of the year.

Of course, I’d appreciate you sharing this email with other businesses, but don’t send it on until you’ve secured your own seat. I like to keep my workshops somewhat intimate.

Get the details and reserve your place in the room. This is going to be a fun one.

Best regards,

Brian Massey

The First Thing Your Customers Buy From You Isn’t Your Product

They buy your "communication product" first

Look at any product description on any Web site. Peruse any brochure. You will find a list of features designed to tell you why the product will do the things you need it to do to solve your problem.

They will probably have a check mark next to them.

What you will not find on these lists are features like these:

• A helpful Web site so you make the right decision
• Informative reports and white papers offered free of charge
• An active Facebook page full of the opinions of our users
• A well-labeled box placed in the right part of the store so you can easily find it

How a product or service communicates is not considered an important feature. This is why marketers — who develop the communication features — struggle to keep their staff and budgets during a downturn. This is why Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) don’t have a seat at the executive table with the CEO, President, COO and CFO.

To the executives, marketing doesn’t create products or sales. Marketing is a cost.

Prospects actually become customers when they buy your communication products

The first purchase a prospect makes from your company is a communication product. It is the flyer, brochure, Web site, report, article, press announcement, blog post, Webinar, etc. that you provide, ostensibly to help them understand how your product will help them solve a problem or entertain them.

They only occasionally pay with money. More often, they pay with their time, their attention, or their contact information to continue the conversation. Since they don’t pay with money, marketing never shows up on the bottom line. It’s always seen as a cost.

Now, if a customer is satisfied with their "purchase," they become a repeat customer taking more communication products. They also buy your company’s offering — for real money. Sales will get credit for the latter.

The mistake marketers make is creating communication products that are only focused on persuading prospects to buy the money-based products. How would things change if they focused on building great communication products instead?

The New Marketing Department

Imagine a marketing department run like a product development department. How would that change the focus?

This list could go on. What would you add? Tell us in the comments.

I’ll be talking about how buyer personas drive bigger marketing budgets at ProductCamp Austin on Saturday, August 15. Come out and let’s talk about great communications products.

Photo courtesy http://www.sxc.hu/profile/lusi