Dear {FirstName},

We hope you've been enjoying your Monday Morning Motivator. If you've received this issue for the first time - welcome aboard! It only takes a couple of minutes to start your week off right with the MMM! Be encouraged by the success or great ideas of others in your business community.

Is Your Web Site Worth Viewing?

This week Jerry Bader shares seven words with us that will help answer that question.

Seven. A number like any other. But it does seem to come up on a fairly regular basis: the Seven Wonders of the World, the Seven Deadly Sins, and the Seven Dwarfs: Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Doc, Dopey, and (my favorite) Grumpy.

Phone numbers have seven digits. And may say the optimum brand name should be no more than seven letters long. Seven, it seems, is a magical number, because the human brain can grasp only seven things at a time (on average).

So I've been thinking, What are the seven most important words associated with Web-marketing? I'll give you a hint: Search, engine, and optimization don't make the cut.

So what words do make the list? What are the seven words that will make your Web site worth viewing?

1. Communication

People are always asking us what's wrong with their Web sites, and the answer in the vast majority of cases can be summed-up in a quote from the movie Cool Hand Luke (1967): "What we have here is a failure to communicate." Communication is the key to success, and that doesn't just apply to your Web site—it applies to almost everything you do both inside and outside your business life.

If your Web site isn't communicating on both a rational and an emotional level, if it doesn't provide the psychological and emotional context of your marketing message, then exactly what is it doing?

2. Audience

I can't think of too many people who actually like being sold to. In fact, sometimes customers get so irritated by sales tactics that they end up not buying the thing they came specifically to your Web site to buy. Solving the problem is merely a question of altering your perspective. The average buyer is predisposed to dismiss and ignore high-pressure tactics and meaningless sales pitches. So instead of treating customers like customers, try treating them like an audience. Audiences want to be engaged, enlightened, and entertained. And that is the most effective way to make a sales impact.

3. Focus

All too often, Web sites inundate their Web audiences with facts, figures, statistics, and an endless list of features, benefits, options, and whatever else the sales department can think of throwing in. But all that stuff just confuses people. Focus your message on the most important elements of what you have to say. If your Web site can embed that single idea in an audience's mind, then it has done its job.

4. Language

The words used, and how they are put together, provide meaning; they inform personality; they provide mental sound bites; and they turn whatever you are saying into something worth remembering. Language is one of the critical elements of "voice," the ability to convey personality. Writing that doesn't have "voice" is instantly forgettable.

5. Performance

Even the most articulate prose can be lost in befuddled delivery. Communication is more than words; it's a combination of language, style, personality, and performance. Things are rarely what they seem. Even our memories are a stylized versions of what we've actually experienced. Creating a memorable impression is about managing the viewer experience and providing the right verbal and non-verbal cues that make what is being said memorable.

6. Personality

Every business has a personality. The first problem is that few midsize companies ever attempt to manage that persona, and as a consequence the buying public forms its own opinion. And that opinion is often not the way you want to be regarded. The second problem is that companies either don't have a firm grasp of who they really are or, if they know, they are afraid to promote it. If your company's identity isn't worth promoting, it is time to think why that is... and change it.The bottom line is that a company without a personality is a company without an image, and that makes you instantly forgettable.

7. Psychology

The most important feature you can offer your audience is psychological fulfillment, not deep discounts, fast service, or more bells and whistles. The real reason people buy stuff is that it makes them feel something. Cosmetics make women feel attractive or sexy, while cars make men feel they've achieved some level of status. Even services make people feel important, as in "I've got a guy who does that for me." Finding the psychological hotspot in your marketing, and promoting the heck out of it consistently and continually, should be your primary marketing goal. All those features and benefits are merely the excuse for a purchase, not the reason.

The Web Is Fast Becoming a Video Environment

Web sites are not just marketing collateral; they are not just digital brochures. They are a new presentation medium that requires specialized communication skills, and knowledge of how best to use the medium. You may be a great salesperson and nobody knows your business like you do... and you may even be skilled at delivering speeches at conventions and seminars... but performing effectively in front of a camera is a whole different ball game. And for most people it's way out of their comfort zone, let alone their skill level.

The same old methods that used to work won't work any more. You're no longer competing with just the company down the street; you're competing with the entire world. Web-based businesses may never actually meet their customers face to face or even talk to them on the phone, so it is imperative that they use marketing presentation methods that deliver an experience worth remembering.

If you need help delivering an experience worth remembering, give us a call. We're here to help!

Have a great day unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

PS - We created an interesting character for The West Coast Express named "Chuck The Cell Phone Kid". To meet Chuck and his band of commuting outlaws please Click Here! 

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Success Profile

This week we profile Carissa Reiniger and her company Silver Lining LTD. Silver Lining helps entrepreneurs create and execute one year growth plans for their small businesses using their Silver Lining Action Plan (SLAP) model. The (SLAP) is made up of three sections:

- One-Year Goal
- Target Market
- 12 Month Action Plan

To find out how Carissa and her team help small businesses and entrepreneurs achieve success go to www.silverlininglimited.com

Also you can join us in Vancouver, Wednesday, April 22 /2009 from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm for a FREE Seminar where Carissa will guide you through practical strategies for growing your business that have been used by hundreds of successful entrepreneurs.

During the seminar, you will create and complete your own one-year action plan for growth that you can take home and begin to execute in your business. This seminar is regularly $1000.00 but Carissa is generously offering up this seminar FREE OF CHARGE!

Space is limited so be sure to register today! To RSVP, email committedtour@silverlining.com

For more information about the tour, dates and other cities please Click Here!

The Adam Advertising Group is proud to play a small role in the on-going success of many of the companies featured in the MMM.

Can The Adam Advertising Group help your business, or do you have a success story we should hear about?
Contact Drago Adam at drago@AdamAdGroup.com
or call 604 937 -8886 or 1 866 923 - 6477

PS : We wanted to say Thank You for sharing your Monday Mornings with us. The MMM started three years ago with 35 subscribers, today's issue is going out to over 18,708 Weekly Subscribers.

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