Friday Roundup — January 31st, 2020
Each and Every Friday — I outline a few of the articles and /or books that I have read over the last week or two that are worth taking a look at.
Positioning by: Jack Trout Al Ries
Positioning was written all the way back in 1981, but has remained relevant for decades because of the timeless advice inside. The purpose of the book is simple — to help you reach your target customers in a crowded marketplace. And if the marketplace was crowded in 1981, it’s even more crowded now.
Positioning might begin with a product, but the ultimate goal is to position that product in the mind of the customer. You’ve heard this many times before, but your customer is being bombarded with messages all day long by advertisers. That was the message back in 1981, when there was no Google, Facebook or Youtube.
Ries and Trout tell us that the consumer’s mind only accepts what is consistent with their prior knowledge or experience. In other words, it’s very hard to change their impression of something once it’s formed. That’s because our brains are wired to sort through information very quickly, and makes split second decisions on what to pay attention to and what to discard.
Because of that, the only way to get into your prospect’s mind is with a very simple message, consistent with what they already believe to be true.
Go here to grab a copy of the book: https://amzn.to/3aT9ln5
6 Strategies for Click-Worthy Instagram Carousel Ads
Instagram carousel ads are slide shows in ad format, which allows instagrammers to slide through multiple images or videos in one single post. Instagram carousel ads also allow the advertisers to add in clickable calls to action, change the text below for each image, and link to various web pages. They are perfect for any industry that has beautiful imagery and is looking to show different angles or multiple related products in one advertisement.
Why are Instagram carousel ads so wonderful?
“With more creative space within an ad, you can highlight different products, showcase specific details about one produce, service or promotion, or tell a story about your brand that develops across each carousel card,” says Instagram’s parent company, Facebook.
Go here to finishing reading the rest of the acticle: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2020/01/23/instagram-carousel-ads
Not Using Landing Pages in Your Ecommerce Email Marketing? Here’s Why You Should
We’ve all had it happen. You meticulously craft an ecommerce email campaign that’s gonna help you sell a ton of products. You build a beautiful HTML template, write engaging copy, and A/B test your subject line. You implement an obvious and compelling call to action.
And after all that work, the landing page that your email directs folks to has a high bounce rate — or worse, a low conversion rate.
What gives?
It could be that your emails are writing checks your click-through destination can’t cash. If you send out a 15% off promotion for dog treats and link your audience to someplace with no mention of the discount, visitors are gonna be confused — and they’ll lose interest in a hurry.
Bottom line: Failing to match the messaging in your email with the copy and visuals on your landing page will hurt your conversion rate.
Go here to finish reading the article: https://unbounce.com/email-marketing/match-ecommerce-offers-with-landing-pages/
Why procrastination is about managing emotions, not time
Address the real reasons you procrastinate and you’re more likely to start achieving your goals.
According to traditional thinking — still espoused by university counselling centres around the world, such as the University of Manchester in the UK and the University of Rochester in the US — I, along with my fellow procrastinators, have a time management problem. By this view, I haven’t fully appreciated how long my assignment is going to take and I’m not paying enough attention to how much time I’m currently wasting on ‘cyberloafing’. With better scheduling and a better grip on time, so the logic goes, I will stop procrastinating and get on with my work.
Increasingly, however, psychologists are realising this is wrong. Experts like Tim Pychyl at Carleton University in Canada and his collaborator Fuschia Sirois at the University of Sheffield in the UK have proposed that procrastination is an issue with managing our emotions, not our time. The task we’re putting off is making us feel bad — perhaps it’s boring, too difficult or we’re worried about failing — and to make ourselves feel better in the moment, we start doing something else, like watching videos.
Go here to finish reading the rest of the article: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200121-why-procrastination-is-about-managing-emotions-not-time
Enjoy the rest of your Friday and your Weekend!
