Message from Michelle

Welcome to this issue of Sumèr’s Secrets. Thanks again to all of you who were on the call Tuesday night. I’m excited about the number of people who’ve already signed up for my four-week bootcamp, “The Secrets to Influencing Your Online Market,” which begins October 27th.

This issue of Sumèr’s Secrets focuses on the common mistakes businesses make with their website copy. It’s often easier to write about something or someone else than it is to write about yourself. It’s no different when writing your company’s marketing materials. When you’re too close to something, it can be difficult to see what isn’t clear and needs revising. What you think makes sense may not make sense to your intended audience.

I’d encourage you to read the article below and take action. Go back over your website copy and see how you can better connect with your target audience.

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Connect With Me Online at:
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Blog: writtenbysumer.com/articles

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Feature Article: Four Common Mistakes Businesses Make with Their Web Copy

1) Is your website too self-centered?

“We’re so great at this, so great at that. Want to see all the awards we’ve won? No? Well we’re going to tell you about them anyway.” This might seem over-the-top, but too many business websites do just this. I’m sure businesses that do this haven’t stopped caring about the prospective customers and started caring only about how they look to others—it’s human nature to want to showcase strengths and people are attracted to it—but it won’t work on a website.

The key to influencing your market and attracting clients is all in how your website copy speaks to your customers and how it illustrates your company’s goals, values, and, obviously, products and services. Your web copy should work to build relationships with your prospective customers and illustrate a transparent business message.

2) Do prospects understand what services / products you offer?

How many times have you stumbled across a website that describes its services / products and you have no clue what they’re talking about? While many businesses have the intention of trying to stand out and be completely unique from the competition, all they end up doing is stringing together a bunch of fancy words that have no meaning. It’s nearly impossible to express your uniqueness when you say that your “creative services are unique.” (What does that even mean?)

The key is not about saying you’re different from the competition, but rather, it’s about showing your prospective clients that you offer something different from the competition. This is expressed in a clear, result-driven brand message. When you become clear on your brand message, your target audience becomes clear on what you sell.

3) Do you even know what products / services you offer and to whom?

You may think you know what products / services you offer, but how clear are you? Businesses evolve. Services change. And so does the market. Often, what happens is companies add information to their website over a period of time. The result is a smorgasbord of information that can easily confuse prospects.

If you aren’t specific about the product / services you offer and how they benefit your target market, it is extremely difficult for you to convert prospects into customers. Similarly, if you don’t follow shifting markets, how can you expect to sell products to a customer you no longer know?

4) Are you speaking “Greek” to your prospects?

Your business is unique, and this uniqueness sets it apart from the competition. But, there’s a difference between expressing that uniqueness in industry terms, and illustrating it in layman terms. You understand the industry jargon, but do your prospective customers? Probably not, which is why you need to understand who your target market is and how your brand message and language can be written to connect with them. Remember, it’s important to speak to your prospects and not at them because, many times, they are your peers, not others in your industry.

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Tip of the Month

According to the new FTC guidelines, which came out Monday, October 5, 2009, “The post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.” And according to WebProNews, bloggers who do not respect these new guidelines can be fined up to $11,000.

It seems today that websites have either photographic elements or graphic design elements, but not necessarily an integration of the two. Jennifer Huffman Photography is making its mark in the website design and photography industry, incorporating photographic elements with graphic design elements for a creative and humanistic approach to online marketing.

Jennifer Huffman, photographer and owner of Jennifer Huffman Photography, brings the personal sides of businesses to life through her photographic and design elements. In an exclusive interview with Jennifer, she shares the secrets that make her designs work to facilitate a connection between the customer and the business, while expressing a clear brand message and personality.

S?mèr: Some of your sample postcard designs and brochures are absolutely stunning. How do you so seamlessly incorporate photography with design?

Jennifer: What a nice compliment, and thank you! I’ve only just launched my new business after working in corporate communications for several years, so what you’re seeing is a giant burst of creative energy applied to new clients, purposes, and projects. I’m having a blast, and I am delighted that it translates into designs that some call stunning!

My designs are usually inspired by a photograph or collection of photographs. I try to build the design around the photos, keeping it simple while showcasing the photos. I want the images I choose to convey meaning. I aim for tight, articulate, and fresh copy, for streamlined designs that complement my photography. Ideally, all of these elements come together in marketing pieces that are memorable and hard to throw away. So far, I’m finding this is a strategy that works well for me and, hopefully, for my clients.

S?mèr: What’s the importance of good photography on a website or print collateral?

Jennifer: With “good” photography, you can achieve, in a single photograph, what it may take a combination of fonts, symbols, and graphics to communicate. Busy consumers appreciate that, especially in the current marketplace where they are literally ducking from the barrage of images coming at them from every direction. And businesses can reap the benefits of that appreciation.

S?mèr: What do companies need to consider before hiring a photographer to take pictures for their marketing materials?

Jennifer: Just as one would want a teacher to know his / her students or a doctor to sit and listen to a patient, great marketing starts with great conversation. When I meet with my clients, I try to find out as much as I can about their image, their mission, their vision, and their passion about their work. I need to be inspired by them—for them. Uninspired marketing pieces get thrown away, which breaks my heart a bit. But, if I can see the company as special and can communicate that through my designs, consumers will pick up on that, too. It’s a more nuanced, more human approach to marketing. I believe consumers want to know that real people, real ideas, and real exchanges are still at the foundation of every business, despite what anonymous online retailers and standardized, commercialized wholesalers may have us think. Photography can capture those nuances. 

S?mèr: What advice would you give companies who are looking to add photography to their website—whether it be product photography for eCommerce sites, headshots for bio pages, or just anywhere on their site?

Jennifer: I don’t think you can go wrong with paying the utmost attention to detail. That single element, applied to anything but especially to marketing and photography, is key to conveying a polished, thoughtful image to clients or potential customers, regardless of the size of the company or business.

Ideally, a company would use photographs taken expressly for them, with their needs and marketing goals in mind. Anytime a company runs a photo, it is a chance to convey a thousand words in a 480×360 block of webspace. With that opportunity, it’s important to be thoughtful. Photos aren’t fillers; they are communication tools. In every way, those photos should represent the essence of your company, perhaps even more so than the text that the photos are only meant to supplement.

S?mèr: What are the benefits of incorporating photography with design? How does it project a different brand message than a site with just photography or just design elements?

Jennifer: A single photograph can really be quite powerful. It can evoke emotions, tell a story, and reconnect the viewer with the human elements of business. That is so important today, especially for small businesses competing against the big dogs.

Another benefit to incorporating photos into design is that it can be a fairly inexpensive way to build a marketing product. My designs are simple and are meant to enhance the photography and communicate information about a business. If I were to design, from scratch, trying to create graphic elements that convey the same meaning of photographs, it would take me twice as long and cost the client twice as much.

S?mèr: What is your favorite thing to photograph and why?

Jennifer: I don’t think there is just one thing; that’s why photography is so exciting! I adore photographing kiddos and faces. I love to shoot interactions—moments between people when they don’t think I’m watching. One of my favorite photographs is of a mother who was trying to console her newborn boy. He wasn’t excited about having his picture taken. She picked him up and started shushing him in his ear, cheek to cheek. It turned out to be a beautiful photograph, an authentic moment.

There is definitely beauty in artistically arranged photographs, the kind taken after a great deal of time spent preparing for the shoot. And there is definitely a place for that, including in my own work. But what I love the most is when life brings that same kind of beauty to me, during moments of time you can only catch by paying attention. Usually, this happens when people care for each other, and you can’t create or arrange anything for that.

About Jennifer: Jennifer Huffman Photography and Creative Services launched earlier this year after I quit my job last July as communications director for a large nonprofit in Iowa. Before that, I spent eight years in radio and television news as a reporter and writer. Two small kiddos provide me with daily inspiration and laughter, and I currently live in Des Moines, Iowa, with my incredibly supportive husband. We travel back and forth to Kansas City and St. Louis, both for my business and to see family. I’m also working toward an MFA in writing at Hamline University.

Contact Jennifer today via phone at 515.988.0646 or email her at .

What do you represent to your clients? The answer has been sitting right under your nose, but perhaps you have been too busy trying to sell to actually see it or think about it. For many business owners who haven’t been seeing the results they desire, they have not truly discovered how their clients and prospective clients perceive them.

For example, if you own a travel company that specializes in family vacations, you may think that your clients view you as simply a family vacation provider. Au contraire.

When people are looking for a family vacation, they don’t view a travel company as simply a vacation provider. They view the travel company as a facilitator. In the clients’ mind, a travel company has the ability to provide their family with a time and place to spend quality time together, on a safe and fun vacation, as well as a great price for their trip. See the difference?

Your target audience isn’t coming to you because you provide family vacations—they’re coming to you because they believe you will fulfill their family bonding needs, provide them with a happy and stress-free experience, and meet their vacation standards and criteria. The more specific you are with what you are actually providing for your clients, the easier it will be to connect with them.

Here’s a challenge for you:

1. Analyze your website copy, social media site profiles, past press releases, blog posts, and print marketing materials. Are you speaking to the needs and desires of your target audience? Are you reaching deep down into what you are truly providing them? Remember that you may perceive yourself as a travel company, but that’s not necessarily how you want your prospective clients to see your company—if this is how you’re projecting your company to your target audience, you may find you have no clients.

2. If it appears you’re simply trying to make the sale and not hitting your target market’s sweet spot with your marketing materials, you may be spending tons of precious time with no results—running yourself into the ground.

3. Step back, take a deep breath, and start brainstorming. What exactly do you provide to your audience? How do you satisfy their needs?

4. Now, the trick is to touch your prospective clients with the right marketing strategies and materials. Once you’ve hit the sweet spot, you’ll start to attract more clients, build online exposure, and have a clear brand message that speaks volumes to prospective clients.

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If you’re having trouble cutting down the hodgepodge of keywords you have for your website, WordStream might just be the solution for you. In the video below, WebProNews conducts an exclusive interview with Rob Adler, CEO of WordStream, a company specializing in keyword organization and discovery. In the video, Rob analyzes the affects keywords have on your search engine rankings and illustrates how having a niche-oriented group of keywords is highly beneficial for your website’s online exposure.

You’re hiring quite the team when you choose Hoppmann Creative for your web design and print collateral needs. With their cheeky saying, “Two Hoppmanns are better than one,” this husband and wife duo are two of the most creative minds out there, designing one-of-a-kind logos, web designs, and print collateral pieces.

In this exclusive interview with Becky and Carl Hoppmann, designers, developers, and owners of Hoppmann Creative, Becky and Carl share their secrets on building relationships with clients, the elements that make a great design, and why their job is the best in the world.

S?mèr: What are the benefits of a husband and wife team?

Hoppmann Creative: I think that it gives our clients peace-of-mind 24 hours a day. Our minds don’t operate only from 9 – 5. We will discuss new ideas over coffee, during a walk or brushing our teeth. We’re not afraid to argue over what’s best either. Sigh. 

S?mèr: Who are your favorite types of clients?

Hoppmann Creative: Our favorite type of client is anyone with an open mind and is passionate about making their project the best it can be, not one industry or another. The kind of work we like the best is a collaboration with our client to come up with a solution together, not just painting by numbers.”A food-for-design barter with a South Carolina BBQ shack.”

S?mèr: How does color play a role in your designs? How do you decide what colors you want to use for each design?

Hoppmann Creative: To be honest . . . despite our training and years of experience:  For me, it’s often a gut instinct.  I really know what I like, and it almost always translates into something the client loves!  With that, we also do a lot of research, look at our clients’ competitors and create something far better.

S?mèr: What is your unique selling point?

Hoppmann Creative: We do the work. A project doesn’t get filtered down through account handlers, executives, junior art directors and college interns. When you speak with us, we are the ones who follow your project from start to finish.

S?mèr: Anything else you’d like to mention about Hoppmann Creative?

Hoppmann Creative: Confucius says, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” We really do love our jobs, and it’s impossible for that to not come through in our work.

Visit Hoppmann Creative’s website at https://www.hoppmanncreative.com/ and contact them today at 843.801.4893 or via email at .