Snow…

Are you fed up of the fluffy white stuff yet?

It appears to have disappeared from most parts of the country. Maybe we have had the last of it until winter approaches again.

But who knows?

The weather in the UK is as fickle as the buyer’s mind.

Forecasts can only look so far ahead. And things can change very quickly.

One moment we are looking at the “Beast from the East” being with us for a few days. Next thing you know the nation is stuck in a week of blizzards, gales, sleet and icy snow.

People didn’t know what to do. Just questions of concern on their mind.

Is it safe to go out on the roads? Will I get stuck? Have we got enough food to last? Will school be open? Will the heating play ball or pack up? What about the water when frozen pipes begin to thaw? Have I got what I need in case of emergency?

What the next day, few days or week will bring is anyone’s guess.

That’s why us Brits rely so much on the meteorologists to tell us what’s going to (or at leas likely to) happen with the weather. They have the knowledge, skill, experience and technology to make much better guesses than the average person in the street.

Sure, they don’t always get it right, these weather people. But climate and weather are fluid. There are rules and exceptions to the rules.

Some years we bask in hot summers (remember ’76?).

Some years we get drenched in record rainfall.

Some years we get a giant dollop of snow.

Which brings us to marketing and copywriting.

Because it’s a lot like the weather. 

People like to think they know about the weather but most don’t have a clue how the skies will behave from one day to the next.

They just end up guessing (or follow the forecasts and simply repeat what the weather guys and gals say).

In the same fashion, many businesses out there are playing at marketing and simply guessing.

They have no real clue that what they are doing is right. They just think it’s right. Or someone told them it’s right. Or they simply copied what others were doing in blind faith.

There’s another way to describe this kind of approach.

It’s called guessing.

And as sure as there is snow in the picture with this post, there is a lot of guessing going on. You only have to look at the web pages, the landing pages, the sales pages, and the emails in your inbox to sense that.

Weak headlines.

Bland subject lines.

Waffle.

Cheesey sales talk.

‘Cold’, detached copy which, er, leaves you cold (it does me, anyway).

Weak offers.

Weak guarantees or no guarantee (and it doesn’t have to be ‘money back’).

Weak or no calls to action.

Confusing the reader.

Overwhelming the reader.

Boring the reader.

And a multitude of other ‘sins’ against copy and marketing common sense.

Why is that important?

Well, all that ‘guessing’ usually means there is a cost to the business.

Lack of lead generation.

Low conversions or lower conversions than hoped for.

Loss of potential sales.

Loss of additional sales (upsell or downsell).

People jumping off the marketing email list or mailing list (because they just got bored or found the content less and less relevant).

Some of that will be down to poor strategy.

Some of that will be down to poor research or knowledge of the market.

Some of that will be down to the copy – the words on the page.

Whatever the reason, it does not paint a pretty picture for that business.

Which reminds me…

How’s your marketing effort going?

Do you know what your copy is doing?

Or are you (like so many others) simply guessing?

Guessing is like walking in the snow, a blizzard or whiteout with no map and compass. You might be going in the right direction. But how do you know for sure?

I have my copywriting map and compass on standby.

Why not let me take a look and see if we can fix things before the next snow falls.