In the movie "Case Study: LSD," a hot dog turns into an angry troll. Now that's an arc.

I’ve been wondering this for years, because as I explained to a client recently, while I think case studies are valuable, I think the case study format is tired. And I see a lot of tired writing plugged into case studies.

I like Jack Price‘s answer to this question on Quora. He writes:

“A common mistake is to describe the benefit in such glowing terms that it strains credibility. A better strategy is to describe the arc.

Definition: The arc is the range of change from beginning to end.

How much did the hero (client) change from the beginning of the story (before engagement) to the end of the story (after engagement)? That’s the arc.

Rule: It’s not the size of the arc that matters, it’s the amount of change that creates the emotional impact.

For example: you figure out a way for Bill Gates to earn a million dollars. It’s a lot of money, but he already has billions. Not so impressive. If you figure out a way for an unemployed factory worker to make a million, that’s impressive. There’s a big arc to talk about.

Rule: The greater the arc (amount of change) the greater the emotional impact.

The mistake writers make when they try to maximize the size of the arc is to concentrate on how impressive the benefit is at the end. It tends to sound like an exaggeration.

A better strategy is to concentrate on the beginning. What weakness was the client experiencing? What was the depth of the need? What did the client desperately want? What naive plans had they pursued and abandoned?

You can go just about as deeply as you wish in dramatizing the “before”, and it doesn’t sound exaggerated. In fact, it sounds empathetic.

Then when you describe the “after” picture, the reader perceives a greater arc and experiences a greater depth of emotional engagement.”

The problem I see here, however, is that not everyone has a case study story with a big enough amount of change to be, er, game-changing. Sure, the client may have suffered some unmet need, some strategic problem that they really had to overcome in their business. But all too often, the case studies I see out there show a result that is similar in nature to results achieved by competitors serving similar clients.

That said, considering the arc and degree of change is a very good idea. But I’d like to see clients invest in case studies that go beyond copywriting and a few screen shots. I’d like to see interviews in video, animation, motion graphics. You know, the kind of stuff we’re readily using these days to create dynamic and superior content. Those would be case studies worth engaging with.

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Instead, I’m going to give you a quick peek into the (potentially alarming) psyche of your DM copywriter:

1. We study you. Constantly. Always. Looking for what makes you tick, what it takes to get you to do what “we” (aka, our clients) want. In the nicest possible, most constructive way, of course. And you means you. Because everyone is our target audience, some way, somehow. Including you.
2. We crave offers. Not just those you make to us (although those are fantastic), but those we can make to your audience. Because a good offer makes it about 80 trillion times easier to get them to take the action you want them to take. Which makes our job 80 trillion times easier. Period.
3. We’re always selling. Selling is in a DM copywriter’s blood. We’re always looking at the angles, figuring out the opportunities. In every brainstorm session, every meeting, on the phone, and in day-to-day life. Doesn’t matter where or when. In fact, if I truly billed you for all the time I think about your business, you wouldn’t be able to afford me. Because I’m always thinking about your business, and how to get you more. A DM copywriter can’t help it.
4. We can be pushy. I recently wrote a direct email for a client that got a 6% open rate (hooray!) but a .2% conversion (sadness!). The client asked me for a rewrite and I wrote not one, not two, but three distinctly new drafts, then pushed them to test at least two, which they’re doing. We will push you to test. Why? See #5.
5. We see it all as a game. Which is a good thing, because people who like to play games like to win. Any DM copywriter worth her salt wants to get or beat the metrics you set. We want to win. Which means you win.

If you’re looking for a DM copywriter and can live with these peculiarities, you’ll find yourself in good company. Or at least, in the company of someone who can help you get success.

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It’s not copywriting. Or art direction. Or social media, video, or SEO strategy. (Although all those things can help.)

Ready?

It’s the offer.

Offer something of value to your customers, something they really want, and they will buy it. Simple marketing strategy. Works every time.

Case in point.

I just helped Mountain Travel Sobek, a leading adventure travel client “get the phones ringing off the hook” with a good, old-fashioned offer.

Normally, this travel company mails one big, 200-page catalog of all their trips, once a year, along with a handful of smaller books. It’s an expensive proposition. Now, especially because of the economy, their business was down a significant percentage, as was the rest of the industry. And this was after continuing growth over the past few years. They were ripe for something new and ready to try it.

When they brought me in, they were planning to mail one of their regular mini-catalogs and thinking about testing different creative approaches—tone of voice and visual style. Despite the economy, there was a chance that it would bring in some business. After all, getting out there with some frequency can be better than not at all.

But times are tough right now. Travel is particularly down. And my client’s in the high-end. Their trips start in the $2,000 range, without air travel.

The better marketing strategy, I suggested to them, was to include a compelling offer.

If you know direct marketing, you’ve heard that a successful campaign is something like 40% offer, 40% list, and 20% creative.

They already had a plan to test a rented list against their own house list. And a good idea. Why not see if going out to some new names can bring in business if you can rent a good-quality list? (BTW, I know the person in charge of their list management and there’s no way it wasn’t going to be a good list. If you need list help, I’ll give you her info.)

So we talked long and hard about offers. Especially about what kind of offer wouldn’t diminish their brand, since they’re known for quality.

Fortunately, as it happens, they’re celebrating their 40th year in business. So I suggested an offer that’s easy to understand and had a lot of punch. 40th anniversary, 40 free trips. I mean, who doesn’t like to travel for free?

They decided to go for it. We structured the giveaway as a buy-one, get-one free. When you purchased one trip at the full price, you got a free companion ticket.

There was no social networking. No blogging. All promotion was done with direct mail via an 8-page catalog. Plus a restatement of the offer on their website, where a ticker counted down the number of trips remaining vs. the number of days left.

To meet their lead-time for July 1st bookings, we had to move fast. The catalog was at the printer just 10 business days after our first conversation, then out into the mail soon after.

We crossed our fingers.

Then, something amazing happened. After less than one week in people’s homes, the catalog was not only selling trips, it was selling A LOT of trips. In fact, they sold out of all 40 within two weeks of the mail drop.

How did this happen?

A great offer. One that’s easy to understand. One that people want to buy. That’s it. Simple marketing strategy.

Want more proof?

Take a look at Restaurant.com’s recent, ongoing promotions. Normally, they let you buy meals at participating restaurants for 50% off. So you pay $25 and get a certificate worth $50 at the restaurant.

For weeks, they’ve been sending me offers for 50%, 60%, even 70% off their certificates. So I was able to snag $25 certificates for my favorite restaurants for just $3 each. Which I did. And no doubt, other people did, too.

Restaurant.com has been sending me these offers every week for a month. In my experience, that may be a little too frequent. But if it’s working, why not? After all, the restaurant industry is also down. If this is getting people in the doors, do it.

Hopefully, Restaurant.com is doing the smart thing and tracking each of these offers. And even better, sending different ones out simultaneously to really test which work. That’s another key marketing strategy–always test your offers.

Intuit had a similar idea. On April 1st, they offered 50% off all their major QuickBooks and Quicken products, just for the day–and just in time for Tax Day, when accounting is top-of-mind. That’s a great deal, easy to understand, great timing. Did it work? Wish I could tell you. I can say, if it comes up again, we’ll have our answer. (They won’t do it again if it didn’t generate revenue. Or, at the very least, they’ll change the discount.)

So yes, the economy’s difficult. And yes, there are a lot of new tools for reaching people. Lots of new techniques to engage them. And lots of ways to track what they’re doing and where they’re going.

But the fact is, if you have customers, you already know you have something someone wants. The power to drive more business is in your hands. Give your customers and prospects a deal they can’t resist.

You can do it, no matter which industry you’re in, whether you’re B2B or B2C, or what size your business.

Email me and let’s talk about what you have to offer.

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For one, there’s certainly a lot of mythology about them. After all, do these creatures really exist?

The answer is yes, some of them do. Leviathan may have been a blue whale. The Kraken is what we now know as the giant squid. The Devil Fish came to be known as the manta ray.

Of course, it’s easy to mistake the myth for the real thing. You see a lot of commotion in the waters these days. Surely, like sea monsters, your leads are out there. But where? And how do you cast a net that pulls them in?

Studies show that advertising still motivates half of all purchasing decisions. Advertising is one of the best tactics for generating leads that you can deploy–even now, when the market is down. Because while it seems like there are fewer fish, there are also fewer competitors casting their nets.

Advertising can also get you word of mouth. You’ve probably seen ancient mariner maps with ominous drawings of sea monsters in the open ocean. Interestingly, ocean exploring began in earnest in the 15th century. A mere 100 years later, all marine maps depicted these terrifying sea creatures. That’s a short time for word of mouth to spread in a world without email. So imagine what advertising using today’s techniques, such as direct marketing, advertising, and social networking can do to generate leads for your business.

So, when you’re fishing for leads, here are a few tips for creating an advertising campaign that brings you a return on investment:

•Place ads in the most targeted publications that your target market reads.
•Consider inexpensive ads in email newsletters and web sites that your target market reads.
•Use direct response advertising techniques. ALWAYS ask the reader to respond for more information by phone, mail or via your website.
•Be proactive. Know your sales cycle and create a system of follow-up to get maximum results from your advertising dollar.
•Use compelling headlines that highlight the biggest benefit your product or service offers.
•Make them an offer that they can’t refuse so they’ll take the action you want them to take.

Good fishing. And if you see Nessie, let us know whether she’s a plesiosaur or a basking shark. Those are the two main contenders.

Need help casting your net? Email me and we’ll venture out onto the waves together.

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It goes something like this.

You’ve isolated the keywords your potential customers are most likely to use. You’ve put them in your meta tags, your copywriting, maybe even in the text wrapper around your videos. So when a prospect types in “mousetraps”, your extermination company ranks pretty well in Google.

Then one of a number of things goes wrong.

You take these potential customers to your home page, which talks about everything you do, including termite control, wasp nest removal, snail abatement, plus your green story, pictures of your trucks, and, and…

Or you give them a little bit of copywriting about your years in the extermination business, maybe a sentence or two about your mousetraps and then ask them for their email address.

Or you give them some decent copywriting about your mousetraps, show a few pictures, and the conversation stops.

See the problem?

The person who typed in “mousetraps”, in all likelihood, wants mousetraps. Now’s your chance to use a little basic marketing strategy to give them—wait for it—targeted copywriting about mousetraps. Stuff like the benefits of the mousetraps you use, your fast mousetrap delivery process, your cruelty-free catch-and-release traps that don’t harm Mr. Rodent, your money-back guarantee if your mousetraps don’t catch the little guy within 48 hours. Get the picture?

Now that your prospect is excited about you, that’s when you ask them to take the next step. Invite them to buy. Ask for their email address so you can follow up. Whatever the next logical step in your sales cycle is, this is the time.

This kind of marketing strategy holds true no matter what type of medium you’re using. Twitter. Social networking. Online video. Direct mail. Direct TV. It doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you understand your sales process and think about where anyone coming into it is in that cycle.

This is why so many people writing about social networking talk about being relevant, friendly, “paying it forward” with useful tips and advice. This is, after all, networking. When you’re just putting your shingle out there, you’re trying to get noticed for being good at what you do and who you are. You’re casting a wide net with a view to the long term. That’s personal branding. The chances of getting a sale right away are much lower. They happen but not as often.

It’s also why your list and offer count so much when you’re sending a printed direct marketing piece. You’re relying entirely on the quality of the list (right people), your offer (right thing) and your timing (right time). The rest is up to them.

But when someone knocks on your Internet advertising door asking for mousetraps, they’re right there, asking for what you have. You’ve got a unique opportunity to guide them into a decision right there. But you still must guide them. Don’t distract them with everything else you sell. Don’t ask them to decide without paying off your promise.

One great way to do improve your sales cycle is to write it down where you can see it. Get a bird’s eye view by diagramming out all the possible places your suspects and prospects come to you. Then you can determine each point where you should take them. Look at the actual moments when a sale happens. Then look at your follow-up once they become customers. Once you’ve done that, you can compare your ideal sales cycle with your actual process and make refinements where needed.

Need help? Email me and together, we’ll build a better, er, you know the rest.

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