| Mitch McCasland The Dignity of Discount Want to bolster consumer confidence, increase purchases and foster loyalty? Retailers should provide consumers with the opportunity to practice frugality in a way that doesn’t seem frugal, while lifting the perception of their quality of life. There are some retailers out there providing consumers with a dignified shopping experience at a time when it is hard to be a consumer. Like who? Get the full story here.
|
Debbie Weil Top Tips for Taglines That Engage First-Time Visitors A Web tagline is a tiny but key piece of site usability. A good tag captures a visitor's attention and interest long enough for her to decide if she is in the right place. This makes it a first step in the sales process. An ineffective tag leaves your visitor guessing what you do. It makes work for him or her--not a good way to introduce how your product or service solves a problem. What makes for an effective and engaging tag?
|
![](https:////www.marketingprofs.com/newsimg/sep.gif)
Michael Fischler Re-Positioning Positioning The act of positioning is a core element of a successful marketing strategy. This is a change—a healthy one—from the days when it was considered simply a tactic: A means of deriving a slogan and providing some kind of fabricated difference between a product and its competitor. Today, handled correctly by smart strategic marketers, it informs, identifies and lays the foundation for the relationships with the multiple marketplaces a company serves. Get the full story.
|
|
![](https:////marketingprofs.com/newsimg/06_11.gif) | ![](https:////marketingprofs.com/newsimg/b.gif) | ![](https:////marketingprofs.com/newsimg/b.gif) | A Note to Readers Plain and Simple Greetings Discerning Readers! My college professor, Charlie Ball, had a saying he was fond of using on us first-year journalism students: “Never use a dollar word when a 10-cent word will do.” What he taught was to write in the simplest language we could muster — to state
facts plainly, without dressing them up in clever or pretty prose. For a bunch of journalism students full of themselves, that was no small task. This week, two of my favorite online marketing writers — Nick Usborne and Debbie Weil — underscore and update Prof. Ball’s classroom rule. Each has a distinctive take on why clear and simple win out over clever and cute. And each talks about why those clever copywriters down the hall might actually do your product or site a disservice. So after you read Debbie and Nick, drop me a line to let me know if you agree with Professor Ball: In most situations, 10-cent words really do give you more bang for your buck. Or as I put it to my own kids these days, it’s better to write simply than carry a big shtick. Until next week, Ann Handley ann@marketingprofs.com Chief Content Officer MarketingProfs.com
![](https:////marketingprofs.com/newsimg/b.gif) | ![](https:////marketingprofs.com/newsimg/b.gif) | ![](https:////marketingprofs.com/newsimg/b.gif) | ![](https:////marketingprofs.com/newsimg/06_19.gif) |
|
| David Klein The Soccer Marketing Syndrome Have you ever seen little kids playing organized youth soccer? Without fail, they swarm like bees to wherever the ball is--sideline to sideline, end to end. Then the ball gets kicked or squirts out and the swarm buzzes in a new direction. Some companies market this way--and not just young companies who don't know any better. Companies that aren't sure of their position in the market, or are constantly changing it, or believe their position is everywhere. Companies desperate to make a play. Companies that believe opportunism is the best strategy. The alternative is to play your position. Here's how.
|
![](https:////www.marketingprofs.com/newsimg/sep.gif)
Nick Usborne Tell Them What’s In the Can If your Web site were up on a shelf among tens of thousands of others (it is!), do you tell people what’s in the can? How quickly can a first-time visitor find out exactly what’s in your ‘can’? Nick thinks most Web sites do a horrible job in this regard. Here's how to pen clear copy that helps -- not hinders -- site visitors. |
Corey Rudl 10 Profit Boosting Holiday Tips The clock is ticking: Now IS NOT the time to start trying to do things like setting up an affiliate program or optimizing your search engine rankings. Instead, what many online businesses need right now are some quick and easy ways to get their sites ready for the holidays. Here are tips and techniques that will take you only a few hours to implement. |
![](https:////www.marketingprofs.com/newsimg/sep.gif)
Tig Tillinghast Dear Tig: The Difference Between Marketing and Branding, Product Managers Vs. Product Marketing Managers, and Grouping Brands This week, Tig describes the difference between marketing and branding, as well as the finer qualities of Product Managers vs. Product Marketing Managers. Read Tig's take. |
|
![](https:////www.marketingprofs.com/newsimg/fp_top.gif) | ![](https:////www.marketingprofs.com/newsimg/spacer.gif) | Contact Publisher:Allen Weiss amw@MarketingProfs.com
Content: Ann Handley ann@MarketingProfs.com
Partnerships: info@MarketingProfs.com
Ad/Sponsor Information: click here or contact jim@MarketingProfs.com | Subscribe to our Future Newsletters Not a subscriber? Get the latest web and off-line marketing know-how delivered weekly. Solid ideas backed by theory, experience and understanding. We give it to you free without the hype and self-promotion found elsewhere. | Advertising Info Reach a professional advertising and marketing audience. Click here to get our contact info. and our current media kit. | | Helping marketers from all industries succeed online through highly effective email technology and professional services. | You received this newsletter at this address (%%email%%) as part of your membership to MarketingProfs.com, or because you subscribed to our newsletter. You can easily change the newsletter format to text or html, change your email address by clicking here.
To leave our mailing list, please send us a blank e-mail here: mailto:%%remove%%
Copyright © 2002 MarketingProfs.com. All rights reserved. We protect your privacy All logos and names are the copyrights of the respective owners |
| ![](https:////www.marketingprofs.com/newsimg/spacer.gif) | ![](https:////www.marketingprofs.com/newsimg/spacer.gif) |
|