Best Practices for Building a Successful Lead Generation Program: Marketing and communicating your reader response program

Last time we discussed branding your reader response program. Click here if you didn’t get a chance to read it. Branding is the first step in building a strong program, one that readers will come to recognize and use as a means to obtain information from your advertisers. A second phase to building a successful program is marketing and communicating your branded reader response program and its benefits.

We recommend the following:

• Placing house ads with your branded reader service logo throughout your magazine to inform and educate your readers about your lead generation program.


• Setting up a branded logo link on your main website and linking it to your reader service site.


• Printing strip-ins at the bottom of your ad pages to direct readers to your reader service site.


• Purchasing a web domain name that is the same as your brand name, and redirecting it to your ARGI Focus reader response website.

Following are links to some examples from our publishers:

• House Ads


• Branded Logos


• Advertisement Strip-ins


• Branded Website Domains

If you haven’t done so already, we encourage you to begin branding and marketing your reader response program today. Contact your ARGI Focus account manager at 1-201-391-1500, or email us at argifocussupport@callargi.com today to help you evaluate your reader response needs and offer you services to help you achieve your new goals.

Structure


Of the three – substance, structure, style – I believe the most important is structure. Organizing information for maximum learning effectiveness is what every great presenter strives for. You want your listeners to say, “Hey, you know what, I get it. I now understand why this product, or this company, or this idea is superior”. You want them to learn. It is, therefore, essential that you structure your information in a way that is most conducive to learning.

Get started by outlining. Outlines do three very important things, all of which are essential to learning. First, they determine sequence. A comes before B, D follows C. Second they illustrate priority. This point is really important, this point is not so important; this is a supporting point of importance. Third, they show relationship.


Sequence, priority and relationship, taken as a whole, constitutes the structure of a presentation. It is absolutely essential to learning and to solid understanding.

Remember the importance of taxonomy, as an orderly way of describing things. Everything living in nature can be classified by the binomial nomenclature system of taxonomy. Similarly, great presentations all provide the intellectual framework to allow the listener to easily understand how the point that you have just made fits into the entire proposition that you are presenting. Contrast that to the repetitive and endless series of bullet-points contained in so many Power Point presentations.

Equally important is the determination of the unifying theme. What do you want every visual, every paragraph, and every point to support? Decide on the key theme that you want to drive home. Every slide or visual used should be tested against the following question: does this support the proposition that I am making to my audience? If it doesn’t, remove it or revise it. Every visual should support the unifying theme.

It is a gross simplification to say, “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you told them” but it is abused and forgotten, as much as anything in teaching and presenting. It is rarely done and when it is done, it is rarely done well. The longer the presentation, the more important it is for your listeners to understand where you are taking them.

Remember that one of the ways that you can link back to that unifying theme is to make the transitions powerful. When you transition from one thought to the next, it ought to be done in such a manner that it sets the stage for the next point you are making or position that you are taking. It should be a mini-summary of the preceding point and it should provide the intellectual bridge to your next point and to the unifying theme.

Always try to be, (to use a buzz word phrase from the e-marketing industry), “contextually relevant”. Seek to present within the context of the listeners. Think about that great line in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, where Atticus and Scout are speaking and she asks Atticus, why people behave with such great hate and bigotry. Atticus replies, “You know Scout, you never really know a person, until you walk around in their shoes”. You must always remember to walk a mile in your listener’s shoes. Determine the issues that mater to them and why they should care about you are saying.

Nearly all average presentations answer the ‘what’ questions; excellent presentations always answer the ‘so what’. You must close the logic loop. You should take your listeners on a dialectic journey, that posits: if fact 1, 2 and 3 are true; then A, B and C must also be true. Some also call this the “if-then proposition”. The logic loop allows your listeners to draw their own conclusions with your guidance. This technique encourages listener involvement by intellectually engaging them and leading them to accept your conclusion. Listen to great speakers; it is a technique that is used often.




During your presentation, you should to be informed but don’t be presumptuous. Don’t take it upon yourself to define what your listeners ought to know. Allow them the flexibility to interpret. Guide them, help them, but give them flexibility and always watch out for assumptions. Assume sometimes if you must, but always try to verify when it is possible to do so.

Remember the universal selling proposition or USP; this is sometimes called the differential advantage. It is like the Seder question, ‘Why is this night different from any other?’ It is the ultimate distinction. You must be able to do the same thing. Why is your product, your capability, your company, your idea superior? Not, why is it pretty good, not why is it sort of OK, but why is it different? Why is it distinctive? You must answer that and to the extent that you can make it clear and simple, so much the better.

Think about Federal Express, when that brilliant notion was conceived our frame of reference was Parcel Post, with all the slowness and bureaucracy that came along with it.
Federal Express fundamentally changed an industry and told us about it in a very simple and memorable way. If you “absolutely, positively” need it over night, send Federal Express. Try to make a promise, it is not always possible of course, but try to present your USP in terms of a promise, because when you make a promise, it’s memorable and it’s simple.

Avoid throw away statements. Platitudes like “cutting edge technology” or “state of the art infrastructure” are nearly worthless, so don’t waste your time by including them in your presentation. If you are not clear on what that distinctive advantage is, or what your universal selling proposition is, take the time to work it out, because it is absolutely essential to having the presentation remembered and your proposition accepted.

Be aware of life of the presentation after the fact. A copy is left, another copy is made, it is sent to a boss; it is sent to a boss’s boss – you never know what is going to happen to presentation after you have given it. Therefore, be mindful of where it may go after it has been delivered. This places extra importance on items of convention such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, and pagination.

Finally as it relates to structure, make sure that you exercise basics in follow-up. It could be a courtesy call, it could be a follow-up email note, some presenters are great on this and others never do it. It sounds simple; many times it’s not done.



Next time we'll explore Style.



All the best,



Ray

What are your memories of Memorial Day? Are they long weekends? Are they a visits to the beach or barbecues? Perhaps watching the Indy 500? Did you know that the true date for Memorial Day was always May 30th?

Decoration Day was designated May 30th 1868, as day to decorate or strew flowers on the graves of comrades that had given their life to the service of the Union. The Civil War (or the War Between the States as it was known in the south) had ended in 1865 and the day was set aside to celebrate the lives lost during that war. By 1882, it became Memorial Day, to remember all of the war dead of the Union Army and the Southern Army. May 30th remained the date because there were no significant battles on the that day. In 1968 the Uniform Holidays bill moved 3 holidays now celebrated as President’s Day, Veterans Day and Memorial Day to a specified Monday to create a three day weekend. Memorial Day is the last Monday in May.

As a child my Memorial Day was always celebrated at my grandparents house. Mom always dressed my sister and I, in red, white and blue. My Grandfather was a doughboy who fought in France, my Dad was a GI Joe in the Philippines, my Uncle John was on the USS Montpellier and entered Hiroshima after the Japanese surrendered. But this day was always my Grandmothers day, she was a Gold Star Mother. Her oldest son, Jimmy, was killed in 1942, he was a pilot in the Army Air Corp. Every year she was picked up for the parade where she, and the other Gold Star Mothers would be escorted to the monument where remembrances were held for all the war dead. They would sit there with tears in their eyes and pride in their hearts, for there sons as the roll call was announced ending with a 21 gun salute. The day would always be full of stories of Uncle Jimmy as a child, as a youth full of life, and as six month newlywed to Eileen they were married the day after Jimmy got his wings. The day would always end with Kate Smith singing God Bless America on the turntable. This was a day Grandmother could remember without regret of her son's sacrifice.

Today, with Afghanistan and Iraq wars being fought, buy a poppy from a VFW volunteer, hang your flag, thank a vet for their service, but remember those Gold Star Mothers who's sons and daughters have given their lives in service to their country. Their loss is as immeasurable as their pride.

Among the tasks of the CEO to which I most look forward is the quarterly presentation of the ARGI Client Service Excellence Award. This award is presented to that person who best exemplifies the ARGI qualities of excellence and service.

This quarter's award goes to Manohar Reddy. Manohar has been the lead on a significant development project at ARGI and, as such, has contributed significantly to the soon-to-be announced new product. Always perseverant, always supportive of colleagues Manohar can be counted on to produce outstanding work with skill, good humor and grace.

Congratulations Manohar!

All the best,

Ray

Substance

Let’s start with substance or the guts of the presentation, and it begins with the assembling of facts. One of the best ways to do this is to engage others in the process. I’m not talking about Group Think, that much maligned condition were divergent ideas get swept away. I’m referring to collective engagement. I’m referring to a far simpler notion: two heads are always better than one; three heads are even better. Always try to get other people involved in the process of helping you, even when you know your stuff cold, they can offer you a perspective on how to present your material that can help your listeners understand it better, or be more convincing. Remember ‘e pluribus unum’, out of many, one. Use many sources and inputs for your pitch but have one story. This is very important in this era of cut and paste. How many times have you watched a presentation with multiple speakers and the various sections are in different fonts with different formats and totally different styles? It is clearly a cut and paste job. It has even entered the lexicon. That is not ‘e pluribus unum’. That is ‘e pluribus pluribus’. You should use many sources of data but you should have a single story.

You must also absolutely verify your accuracy. There is nothing that rattles a speaker more or degenerates a presentation faster, than having the audience challenge the facts. Verify the accuracy and always differentiate facts from opinion. Try using external subject matter expertise. Quote a pre-eminent source in the industry, use someone who has credibility and is a voice of distinction, and you will gain credibility from your listeners.


Excellent, top tier consulting firms like McKinsey are taught to present in a certain way. They are taught to make an assertion in the opening statement of presentation or the header of a visual, and then to validate it.

Anyone who is interested in giving a great presentation ought to read the Declaration of Independence. Really! It is a wonderful document that teaches salesmanship and teaches the fundamentals of great presentations. Everybody knows that Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, but it was actually drafted by a committee of five. Why a committee? Remember, collective engagement, two heads are better than one, three heads are even better, well they used five. What is the objective of Declaration of Independence? It tells you in the opening sentence why the document was written. It tells us that “when…it becomes necessary…to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation”. The first sentence of the first paragraph cites the objective, and then states the assertion. It then goes on to validate those reasons. As it turns out, it gives twenty seven reasons, twenty seven specific reasons why independency ought to be achieved by those united colonies.


After the assertion is stated you must substantiate your claims. If you are going to use charts or graphs, use them to validate your claim. Don’t make the listener figure out what the charts say. A visually appealing graph can be great presentation tool, but make it easy for the listener to understand what the charts are telling them.

Always tune the pitch to the audience. Make sure you know who is attending your presentation. What’s their title, what’s their reporting relationship, why are they there, what’s their role? Are they there as an ally? Are they there as an advisory? Are they there as a spectator?

Determine beforehand whether you are going to use a deck or a screen. Sometimes it is dependant on the size of the audience, other times it is dependant on the nature of the content. Financial people, regardless of size of audience, typically present with decks without projected visuals. They do that for a reason. They want their deck to be taken away and referred back to latter.

Open in Bangor, not on Broadway. This becomes much more significant as the degree of the importance of the presentation increases. If you were going to make a major presentation, it is essential that you conduct a rehearsal. Get a couple of allies or one or two of your of your advocates, and give them the opportunity to review your presentation. Pre-presentation feedback and commentary are essential to fine tuning an important pitch.

Finally as it relates to substance, figure out ahead of time what you are going to do about Questions and Answers. Don’t allow these to be ad-hoc. Are you going to ask that questions be held until the end? Are you going to encourage a fire at will approach? Both ways have advantages but they also have some real disadvantages. It is dependant upon the audience, it is dependant upon the subject matter being presented, and it is dependant upon the nature of the listeners and their degree of expertise.





Next time, we'll look at Structure.





All the best,





Ray

Twitter is an online social networking tool that helps you find out what your colleagues are doing.

Ever type an instant message? Sure.
Send an email lately? Yes.
How about a text? Of course!

You're all set, so let's start with a few terms.

In Twitter world:

1. The action of sending a message is called a "Tweet"
2. The action of sending a message to an individual is called a "Direct Message".
   
3. People can follow you. These are your "followers"
4. And you can follow back. These would be who you are "following".

That's it!

Enjoy the video below and anticipate the Twitter part towards the middle of the ad. Now you'll know what they're talking about. We'll talk strategies and marketing next time.

In the sales arena, success depends greatly upon the superior presentation of the facts. In a highly competitive market with an abundance of choice, winning is not simply about building the better mouse trap but about how well the marketplace understands and remembers the distinctiveness of your mousetrap versus all others. This phenomenon becomes ever more important as the similarities in products and as the pervasiveness of common technology, become more and more acute.

The ability to present a compelling depiction of the facts or the proposition, regardless of subject matter has common elements. These common elements are associated with skills that can be learned and can be perfected. This article is about those common three elements.

The first relates to substance, or the “what” of the presentation. This is the meat and the potatoes of the essence of what is being proposed and presented. Second is the structure, the “way” the meat and the potatoes are organized on the plate, so that it can be received in the most compelling and memorable fashion. Third is the style, the “how” of the presentation or the flavorings and spices that are added to the meat and potatoes.

Let’s begin with a simple question: of those three, which is the most important, substance, structure or style? Most reply: substance. It seems obvious that the answer is substance. But wait. Think back on your educational experience, be it grammar school, high school or college. Think about the teacher from whom you learned the most. Now think of one or two phrases that describe why you consider them to be your best teacher. Much research in pedagogy has been done over the years to understand why people learn the way they do. It turns out that when this question is asked in a free form, the answers are rarely: “they knew their subject matter”, “they were brilliant”, “they had command of the facts” or “they really knew their stuff”. Much more likely responses are: “made learning fun”, “made the class memorable”, “was highly organized in the way they presented things”, “I could always follow along”, or “made note taking easy”. What do all of those things have in common? Clearly, they all relate to structure and style. Even though, we all may believe that substance is the most important part of a presentation, I suggest that it is an important part, but it is not the only important part. If all you are doing is presenting the facts, then you are not doing everything that you can to be a compelling teacher from whom the listeners learn much and remember well.

Subsequent posts will explore each of the three elements.



All the best,



Ray

Niall Ferguson's new book, The Ascent of Money, is an excellent read for anyone interested in the origin, operation and inter-workings of money and banking. Ferguson, a distinguished British scholar and author, has produced a masterpiece that traces the history of finance from the ancient Babylonians, through the Medici's of the Italian Renaissance, through the emergence of "true" banks of 17th century London and Amsterdam to today's global, 24-hour, inter-related web of electronic transactions.

The book makes a compelling case that the development and evolution of ever-more sophisticated types of monetary concepts and transaction methods are as essential as raw materials and tehnology development for the advancement of civilization. Indeed, in the current era where banker bashing is trendy, Ferguson points out that this phenomenon is hardly new. Financiers seem to be frequently blamed for a nation's trouble from Shylock to Bernie Madoff. Yet, he cites compelling evidence that the absence of banking (and their associated instruments of credit) are much more likely to be the cause of society ills than an over-abundance.

It is especially note-worthy that the book was published in May of 2008, a full 4 months prior to the full extent of the current financial crisis becoming clear. Ferguson displays remarkable prescience in describing the risks of the increasing dependence of the world economy on credit-driven consumption fueled by rapidly escalating real estate markets linked to complex financial instruments. Anyone wanting a primer on the interlocked nature of banking, insurance and global monetary policy really should read this book.

Even though filled with detail, The Ascent of Money, is highly readable by the lay person not intimately familiar with derivatives, credit default swaps or other arcane financial properties. Ferguson's stated intention in writing the book is to educate. This he certainly achieves, but he also provokes thought into the nature of money and our relationship to it, and all those institutions and people that create it, manage it, save it and spend it.

All the best,

Ray

In this economy, a publisher’s ability to provide value to advertisers and subscribers is more important than ever. We at ARGI believe it is essential for surviving in these difficult times. ARGI Focus’s Lead Generation program is one of the few tools available to publishers for quantifying the value of advertisement placement, and for securing advertising placement in future editions. Your advertisers will thank you for it.

Coming up: Look for a new blog entry each week in our series entitled "Building a Successful Lead Generation Program", with tips gleaned from our many years in the reader response business.

Best Practices for Building a Successful Lead Generation Program: Branding


Branding your publication’s lead generation program is one of the best ways to build and enhance reader response and to increase lead volume. An increase in lead volume helps your publication:

• Gain a competitive advantage
• Gain and retain advertising
• Highlight the strength of your publication name/brand

Our vast experience in the reader response business tells us that branded reader response programs perform much better than those that aren’t. An ARGI Focus client, Edgell Communications is doing this. In branding their program, they developed a friendly, memorable character named Tia (Timely Information Available), who is placed throughout their magazines and on their websites to inform readers about their reader response programs and to encourage reader participation.

When creating your reader response brand name, keep in mind that the name should:

• Suggest something about the service (What is most important to your readership?)
• Be short and memorable (Remember the KISS principle)
• Be easy to spell (No supercalifragilisticexpialidocious)
• Translate well into other languages (Just say “No” to Nova and Evite)
• Have an available domain name (To use for the online reader response service)

If you haven’t done so already, we encourage you to begin branding your own Tia today. Contact your ARGI Focus account manager at 1-201-391-1500, or email us at argifocussupport@callargi.com today to help you evaluate your reader response needs and offer you services to help you achieve your new goals.