20 Ways to Make Your Marketing More Likable3 min read
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Quick, what do people respond favorably to?
Simple, everyone responds favorably to stuff they like.
And conversely, people respond unfavorably to stuff they don’t like.
And that, dear reader, is the complete story of human psychology in a nutshell!
Just think of all the marketing stuff you are aware of every day.
We see commercials on TV, hear ads on the radio, see clickbait on websites, and get promotions via email.
Some articles I researched said the average person sees up to 5,000 ads per day! Cripes.*
And if you respond at all, you only respond to the stuff you like, something that offers you a clear benefit or advantage of some kind.
And also something that is pleasing to your senses.
Clearly, you wouldn’t respond to stuff you weren’t interested in or where you didn’t see a benefit or advantage.
Or ugly, boring, confusing stuff, right?
And, of course, even if you see or hear stuff that you like, that’s both beneficial and attractive, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll respond.
Since we’re bombarded with messages every day, we can’t respond to most of them, even the ones that are offering things we like.
No, we filter out all our messages almost all the time.
So what does that mean for you who are trying to get the attention of your prospective clients?
First, it means that if you’re not offering something that your prospects will like, that will be clearly beneficial, the chances of them responding are exactly zero.
And if your messages are not visually attractive and appealing and that grab their attention, your response will be even worse (less than zero?).
So what’s a poor self-employed professional to do?
Simple. Do everything in your power to make your marketing more likable.
In all your marketing communications, there are a number of ways you can do that:
1. Speak about your clients’ issues and challenges
2. Prove that you understand your clients’ needs
3. Make your service’s benefits as clear as possible
4. Emphasize results and outcomes, not your process
5. Be believable and credible without any hype
6. Employ big, descriptive, benefit-laden headlines
7. Write short paragraphs and punchy sentences
8. Include dynamic testimonials and case studies
9. Use interesting and unusual images and photos
10. Apply high-contrast, attention-getting design
11. Use type that’s large enough to be easily read
12. Make all your materials attractive on mobile
13. Leave enough white space for readability
14. Make it look fun and easy to do business with you
15. Apply humor for attention and engagement
16. Be authentic, unpretentious, and straight-forward
17. Offer a complimentary initial consultation
18. Give a compelling reason to respond now
19. Offer a clear, unambiguous call-to-action
20. Make it simple and easy to contact you
After reading this list, you may realize that your marketing is far from likable in the eyes of your prospective clients!
Use this as a simple checklist when creating any marketing message, whether it’s a web page, a sales letter, an email, a brochure, a presentation or a video.
Likable or unlikable? You can always make it better.
Commit to a long-term goal of making all of your marketing more likable, and it only follows that more people will respond favorably to your marketing.
Cheers, Robert
* Want to see fewer ads? I live in the country and only drive my dogs to the park three times a week. I watch no broadcast TV or listen to the radio. But I’m online all the time. And my once-weekly trip to Costco exposes me to a ton of advertising. So, no, it’s hopeless, we can’t escape advertising and promotion no matter where we live.
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