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The MarCompass.com is a marketing blog created by me, Joyce Dierschke. I am a freelance copy writer with a passion for promoting conversations between companies and customers via blogs and social media. If you need help with an integrated marketing strategy, contact me. If you'd like me to write about a particular related topic on this blog, drop me a lineRead more...


Writing Tag Lines – An Effective Tag Line Clearly Conveys Value to Your Client

July 27th, 2010 · Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Success in Business, copywriting, marketing, power of words

Just read some tips on writing tag lines from Marcia Yudkin’s informative marketing newsletter The Marketing Minute.

Marcia hit it right on the head with these writing tag line tips that include 3 common detours – which I’ve seen lead many marketers astray, including myself. For me, this is a great reminder about writing effective, meaningful taglines and I thought I’d share them with you:

From The Marketing Minute, by Marcia Yudkin, Marketing Expert and Mentor

When thinking up a company slogan or tag line, you know it should say something significant. Watch out for three detours that may lead you to a weak or off-point message.

1. You fixate on what matters greatly to you. If your message doesn’t speak to customers, it represents a wasted opportunity.

Example: “Committed to quality, value and care.” Sincere, but commitments matter little to customers.

2. You focus on what the market wants to hear. When this doesn’t highlight what distinguishes you or your firm, there’s another missed connection.

Example: “Good fences make good neighbors.” Catchy, but it doesn’t provide a reason to choose you over another fence company.

3. You’ve formulated your distinctiveness in a long, clunky sentence. It lacks pizzazz. Because the words don’t dance, your motto fails to get readers excited.

Example: “We improve cardiovascular health through education, advanced diagnostic techniques and clinical research.” Literal and dull.

For a compelling, differentiating message, first define your best reasons why customers should choose you. Second, make sure those reasons matter to prospects. Then fiddle with the wording until it sings.

Writing tag lines isn’t easy. Putting together only a few words or one short sentance is actually more difficult than writing long copy. Words are a copywriter’s tools. Writing memorable, action-oriented, provacative tag lines should be done using as few of those tools as possible.

It’s a lot like writing interest-grabbing headlines, a topic I also covered in a recent post called: Is It Better To Open With A Question? How To Write Enticing Headlines & Subject Lines for Blogs, Emails and E-Newsletters.

And the same tips can carry over to writing your own elevator speech. The key? Never forget that your client wants to know what’s in it for them – not how wonderful you believe that you are. Approach marketing copy from your client’s point of view and you can’t lose!

Any examples or tips to add to this post? Please leave them in a comment below.

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What the Heck is a CMS Website, and Why Should I Have One?

July 12th, 2010 · Blogging, CMS Content Management System, Content Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Social Marketing, Success in Business, copywriting, customer service, marketing, web 2.0

Maybe you’ve heard the term “CMS” or “Content Management System” and maybe you haven’t. The important thing is to know what a CMS is and to determine whether or not your business should have one.

A CMS Web site is – well, should be – a really easy to use, easy to navigate site that offer lots of useful, relevant information for your clients and prospects. That pretty much describes any good web site though doesn’t it? The difference is that a CMS site is one where the layout, navigation and updating can be done by anyone – even with no knowledge of HTML. Truthfully, if you can use MS Word, you can manage a CMS web site.

The beauty of CMS sites is that they take the management of your web site and its information out of the hands of a web master and puts it into your hands. What’s the real upside? You can keep your site up-to-date and fresh without having to wait for a code writer to do it for you. You can add text and media – photos, audio, video, etc., upload documents and so much more – all without being a web designer. And you have the ability to add or change content from any computer or mobile device, anywhere in the world. All you need is Internet access, a user name and a password.

An additional plus to a CMS site is that because it is regularly updated, the search engines will love it. Fresh content is a big key to search engine optimization.

There are many CMS platforms, such as Joomla and Drupal, you can also buy CMS software (but why would you – there are so many free platforms!). I personally recommend and use WordPress. In fact, I’ve written a couple of blog posts about using WordPress as your CMS site engine.

Click to read:

WordPress 3.0 Version Released – Offering Even More Power and Customization Capabilities to WordPress CMS Websites

and

10 Functionality Plugins Your WordPress CMS Blog Must Have, Boost Blog and CMS Functionality, Improve Search Engine

If you’d like to learn more about CMS web sites, please let me know. I can help you set one up pretty quickly and you’ll be on your way. My web services include hosting, design and user tutorials. Click here to contact me.

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