Multichannel Design Strategy from the BEHIND THE SCENES eBook - Part 3 of 10

quotWe have a very simple creative mantra that we borrowed from David Ogilvy who believed that 39it39s not creative unless it sells39 Most everything we do is designed to motivate the consumer to take an action usually make a purchase or request more information or an appointment To that mantra we layer in 39enhance the brand39 because brands take decades to build and must be protected That39s our starting pointquot Marc Lalosh Creative DirectorWhat is the overriding principle that you follow when developing creative and writing copy whether it be for the DRTV commercial web site collateral materials etcThe single most important guiding principle in developing direct response creative is efficacy amp8211 doing what39s necessary to produce a desired result Without it nothing else matters Beautiful design is useless if it doesn39t drive a response eloquent copy is meaningless if it doesn39t persuade consumers to act In everything we do we keep that topofmindAlthough the creative process is organic and each project is unique in terms of design message channel strategy target audience etc The one constant is that efficacy needs to govern every creative decision throughout the processHow important is it that web sites have the same look and feel as DRTV commercialsConsistency is absolutely critical At first glance it might seem harmless and maybe even more dynamic to vary the look and feel of creative from a DRTV spot to a landing page That seemingly innocuous assumption is capable of significant damage to a campaignPeople have a natural gravitation to consistency As consumers this includes our responses to marketing that lead to purchasing decisions We find inconsistency to be disconcerting or worse aggravating like when a large group of files are labeled inconsistently Inconsistency acts like a stop sign in our consciousness When we approach any kind of inconsistency we naturally pause and whether we can put our finger on it or not feel as if something is not quite right It39s that kind of pause that can be deadly in direct responseThis is the innate principle that can lead consumers to abandon landing pages that aren39t consistent with the referring creative whether display ad DRTV or any other medium Once the consumer has paused there39s a very good chance they will not continue down the conversion path whether due to the feeling that something is not quite right or simply by some other distraction coming along and derailing their attention interest or even intent to purchaseHow often do you make quotrealtimequot changes to the web site based on results from the commercialsThe answer is quotwhenever necessary or potentially beneficialquot There39s no absolute numerical system for landing page revisions The important steps are a identifying a need or an opportunity for improvement b determining the most appropriate and effective change or correction and c executing the revision while tracking and comparing the results to the original landing page Having said that the ability to make realtime changes in the commercial on the web site and everywhere else is necessary in this day and age where optimization takes places every dayWhat are the three most important elements of a successful landing pageIt39s nearly impossible to pick only three but again consistency with the referring creative in terms of look and feel as well as messaging is absolutely essentialClarity is also critical in terms of messaging CTA and user interaction First the messaging should be so clear and concise that even at first glance there39s no question about what the landing page is for what the offer is or what39s in it for the visitor Secondly the call to action should be clear obvious and engaging to the visitor Third visitors must never feel confused or distracted by any elements on a page and should be presented with unequivocal and understandable interaction and flowAnother important element involves attention to the conversion pathA strategically designed landing page makes it fast easy and intuitive for a visitor to convert One important way of achieving this is to reduce and eliminate any potential obstacles in the path including redundant copy images and especially navigationA landing page should have one single purpose and in most cases navigation is unnecessary and even antithetical to accomplishing that purpose Obstacles ultimately distract visitors from the conversion long enough to result in lost conversions and poor campaign results A streamlined conversion path on the other hand is essential to maximizing resultsWhat was the most innovative online creative you developedOne of my favorites was a lead gen campaign for PowerSaveamp8482 a manufacturer of consumer solar energy products The client requested that we develop the campaign around a sweepstakes or giveaway concept We created a campaign called the quotGo Solar Giveawayquot in which visitors to the landing page were presented with an engaging interactive game similar to quotPress Your LuckquotMultiple prizes including coupons and solar products of varying values were presented in a grid To the right was a control panel with large glowing START and STOP buttons Visitors were asked to provide a valid email address in order to play Once they provided their email they were able to push the START button which caused all the prizes to cycle in a random pattern to music Visitors could then hit the STOP button whenever they liked and instantly win whichever prize was selectedThe key to the success of the landing page was using a tremendously fun engagement device to capture leads Consumers were thrilled to play and win and the client was thrilled by the number of leads we generatedYou can download the entire eBook at any time at httpBS123acquirgynetIrv Brechner has written over 100 published direct marketing articles and 13 books on a variety of topics He39s been a pioneer in online customer acquisition since 1996 and offline for his 35year career He has developed Acquirgycom39s quotCustomer Acquisition Intel Centerquot acquirgycomintel he evangelizes bestofbreed tactics to help companies acquire customers in the digital age He can be reached at irvacquirgycom Read all Irv39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Customer Acquisition IntelCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentariesamp160

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Multichannel Design Strategy from the BEHIND THE SCENES eBook - Part 3 of 10

Publish date

Channel

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

More Videos:

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Multichannel Design Strategy from the BEHIND THE SCENES eBook - Part 3 of 10

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

The payment was successful

Cookies