Various Forms of Marketing Continues into 2015.

A number of my colleagues have recently asked whether the pace of innovation driving the marketing technology boom is subsiding or showing signs of fatigue. My answer—not yet, and I don’t think we should expect it to in 2015.
By almost any measure—including the growth in the number of companies focused on selling to marketers and the number and size of investments flowing into this category—the story remains as it has been over the last several years…MarTech is hot. Organizations large and small are adopting more marketing technology to identify, engage, acquire and manage their prospects and customers.
For example, ChiefMarTech reported there was over $3.3B of new venture capital and private equity invested in marketing technology companies in the first three quarters of 2015 (excluding M&A activity). There were six investment firms identified as having at least 25 investments in MarTech alone!
Want a more public and visual display of the incredible resources and energy going into this marketplace? If you happen to be in Silicon Valley—take a look out the window and check out the billboards!
In the last year, there has been a swarm of marketing companies advertising their products and services to drivers and passengers. It’s been fun to see Marketo LaunchPoint partners prominently represented among the outdoor displays. Marketing categories that have been the most visible include:

Mobile Marketing

The consumption of content on mobile devices continues to skyrocket and this channel continues to gain interest from both business and consumer marketers. Tracking mobile in-application behavior and providing mobile notifications are a just a couple actions marketers can leverage to deliver more compelling experiences to their customers.
Marketers looking to market on every channel their customers use now leverage text messaging (SMS) applications for customer outreach, appointment reminders, and mobile marketing.
Example: Twilio—seen on Highway 101 in Silicon Valley.



Twilio SMS makes it easy to leverage text messaging applications for customer outreach, appointment reminders, and mobile marketing.

Lifecycle Marketing/Customer Success

Organizations now recognize that the customer journey doesn’t stop once your prospect signs the purchase order. Sure you’ve engaged your audience from awareness, through consideration to purchase…but now it’s time to build a great relationship, increase the likelihood to renew, and convert your customers into advocates.
Modern marketers can easily segment customers based on their likelihood to buy or cancel their subscription, and can group customers based on feature usage and then personalize engaging campaigns.
Example: Totango—seen on Highway 101 in Silicon Valley.



Totango is used to segment customers based on their likelihood to buy/cancel, or group customers based on feature usage, then personalize smart campaigns.

Content Management/Collaboration

How organizations consolidate, manage, present and collaborate across an organization can make a significant organizational impact. Sharing files and information impacts productivity and can simplify the life of marketers and customers.
Businesses can now improve their collaboration and share content, and ideas from anywhere and on any device.
Example: Box—seen on Highway 101 in Silicon Valley.



Box’s flexible content management solution helps users securely share and access content anywhere, with the ability to provide oversight into how content moves within their organizations.
The list of MarTech billboards along the Silicon Valley’s highway 101 goes on and on to include events/webinars (On24), big data/analytics (Birst) and many more.
While VCs are investing their time and money into emerging MarTech companies, marketers are investing more of their time determining how to build your marketing stack to take advantage of all this innovation. 2014 was exciting and full of innovation, and in 2015 I look forward to more of the same exponential growth.

Agility Will Rule in the Era of Engagement Marketing.

I’ve frequently said that marketing has changed more in the last five years than it has in the past 50. And, I think it is going to change even more in the next 5. Change has become the new normal, and as marketers, we need to adapt. Today’s customers have a 24/7 mentality. And our success is no longer just based on how clever we are, but how adept we are at connecting with customers at the speed of today’s digital world.
When I’m on stage, I sometimes tell the story of my most recent move. I had a long list of things to do—like everyone else. There I was—in the passenger seat while my wife was driving—and I thought I would knock off one item off of my to-do list by trying to secure a mover. I searched on my phone, landed on some broker page, filled out my information, and off it went to 52 different moving companies. I got a call back in 5 minutes from one company. Then, over the next 2 weeks, I got 51 other emails and/or phone calls from the other companies. Which one do you think I gave the business to? The game was over before the other 51 companies even got to the stadium.
The internet never sleeps. When we go to bed in California, people are eating breakfast in Norway. When Birdman won the Academy Award for Best Picture, everyone knew it within a matter of minutes. Trending hashtags, viral videos, SnapChat—all of these provide ways for people to relay information within seconds. We have entered into a real-time marketing environment. Keep up or perish.

Marketers Don’t Create Customer Journeys…Customers Do

This is the world I keep talking about—the Era of Engagement Marketing. When we are on the receiving end of real-time information from customers, and from events around the world, marketers can’t afford to be last. Marketers cannot be deluded into thinking that they “map out customer journeys” and that customers dutifully follow those paths—on the marketers’ timeline. Anyone suggesting that is doing marketers a great disservice. For one thing, the idea of mapping a journey is so 2000-and-late, and…slow. Marketers must be able to have a conversation in real-time. I often will describe it in talks as the equivalent of mapping out your conversation flow before you go to a cocktail party. Try sticking exactly to that script. How do you think your evening will go? Why would someone think it any different in interacting with customers?
For the second thing, and even more importantly, customers create and guide their journeys—they have access to so much information, in so many places, that they are self-directed. Marketers have to be able to move with the discussion whenever and wherever their customers are—in real-time. We, as marketers, have to be always on—anticipating the start of the race and pacing ourselves to guide and react throughout the journey.
In the Economic Intelligence Unit’s conversation with Jim Stengel, former CMO at P&G, a different metaphor came up. If marketing used to be an assembly line, with marketers coming in at the end to figure out how to sell a product, they are now in a trading room, he explained. Marketers need to be able to respond to events as they happen. A much discussed example is how Oreo responded during the blackout at the 2013 Super Bowl with “you can still dunk in the dark.” It was quick, witty, and memorable. It seized the correct moment. Even a day later, and that response would have been DOA and utterly forgettable.
If you take a look at data from “The rise of the Marketer,” a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Marketo, you can see these ideas emerge in the numbers.

New Skills and Structures are Vital

If you recall from my earlier post about the survey, more than 80% of marketing executives believe we will need to restructure marketing to better support business. Think about it—in an always-on, Marketing First world, how will our current marketing departments measure up? Most marketing teams aren’t equipped yet to respond to information 24/7, let alone proactively be communicating in an integrated way 24/7 When marketers need immediate responses, they won’t always be able to act based on a pre-established plan or journey that they dictated for their customers to follow. They will need to think quickly, and respond appropriately, in the right channel, at the right time and with the right message—at scale. Last week’s post highlighted salient statistics on this score—that when CMOs and other marketing leaders were asked what skills were the top areas they needed to develop, the #1 answer, at 40%,  was “digital engagement”, and the #2 answer, tied at 40%, was “marketing operations and technology.” Furthermore, 38% of marketing execs are looking for strategy and planning skills in the next 3-5 years. Among companies that see an urgent need for change, the number is even higher, climbing to 44%. Marketing leaders are recognizing that living in a real-time world requires much stronger strategic thinking as we all seek to adapt.
As the way customers prefer to communicate evolves, marketers need to respond with speed and agility. And to do this, we need to invest in skills and technology that allow us to meet customers on their level, in real-time. In the next era of marketing—Engagement Marketing—agility will rule.

Enterprise SEO Tools 2014: A Buyer’s Guide.

If you are considering licensing an SEO software tool, this report will help you decide whether or not you need to. The report has been updated since its last publication in May 2013 to include the latest industry statistics, developing market trends, and new vendor profiles and product updates.

The Benefits of Using SEO Software Platforms

With hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and even millions of pages, sites, and keywords to manage and optimize, enterprise SEO has become increasingly complicated and time-consuming. Using an enterprise SEO software platform can increase efficiency and productivity while reducing the time and errors involved in managing organic search campaigns. More specifically, automating SEO through a toolset or platform can provide the following benefits:

• Many tools, one interface. Enterprise SEO tools perform many tasks in one system. Integration of tasks, reporting, and user permissions offers substantial benefits to enterprise-level SEO operations compared to using single-function point solutions.
• More efficient management of global operations. Enterprise SEO tools have built-in diagnostics that can be invaluable on a global scale to identify site-wide issues across languages, countries or regions. These tools uncover macro and micro issues with pages, templates, and infrastructure.
• The ability to stay up-to-date with the search engines. SEO software vendors have dedicated teams and engineers to follow algorithm changes and their impact on ranking factors.
• Automated reporting to provide data in near real time. Many brands end up trying to put a lot of data in spreadsheets and manually update them. But that doesn’t provide a complete view of the data. Many enterprise SEO tools offer highly customized reporting capabilities that are widget- and wizard-driven to make reporting easy and fast.

Understanding your current marketing processes, knowing how to measure success, and being able to identify where you are looking for improvements, are all critical pieces of the SEO tool decision-making process.

Enterprise SEO Platform Capabilities

SEO software comes in many shapes and sizes, from rank-checking tools and keyword research toolsets to full-service solutions that manage keywords, links, competitive intelligence, international rankings, social signal integration, and workflow rights and roles. The majority of the SEO solutions profiled in this report offer the following core capabilities:

• Keyword research and rankings;
• Link (also called backlink) analysis and acquisition;
• Workflow and task management;
• Competitive intelligence; and
• International search tracking.

Enterprise-level solutions may also provide more extensive link and site analytics that include predictive scoring systems to identify the potential opportunities to improve brand websites or link authority. Vendors also begin to differentiate by offering more frequent data updates, or additional modules, such as local or mobile SEO, sometimes requiring additional investment.
Other more advanced capabilities may include, but are not limited to:

• ROI forecasting and/or predictive analytics;
• Key performance indicator (KPI) and management dashboards;
• Social signal publishing and/or tracking;
• Universal and/or blended search rankings;
• API for third-party data integration; and
• Scalability to manage thousands or millions of pages and keywords.

Does Your Company Need an Enterprise SEO Platform?

Deciding whether or not your company needs an enterprise-level SEO platform calls for the same evaluative steps involved in any software adoption, including a comprehensive self-assessment of your organization’s business needs, staff capabilities, management support, and financial resources. Use the following questions as a guideline to determine the answers.

1. Do we have the right human resources in place?
2. Do we have C-level buy-in?
3. Do we have the right technical resources?
4. Who will own enterprise SEO?
5. Can we invest in staff training?
6. Do we have realistic expectations?

Six Questions to Ask Potential SEO Platform Vendors

Ready to talk to SEO tools vendors? Here are six questions you should ask:

1. How is your search volume calculated?
2. Can this system track millions of searches, visits, site pages, etc?
3. Do you support international search?
4. How robust and flexible are your reporting options?
5. What other meta-information does your system collect that may be made available to me via API?
6. Is there a workflow built in that allows me to coordinate the work of my marketing, content, web development, social media and PR teams across the organization?
7. What new features are you considering?

5 Steps To Adjust To Google’s Latest Change To AdWords Matching Behavior.

Matching behavior for phrase and exact match keywords is changing in AdWords. What do you need to know about close keyword variations?

Google (my employer) recently announced a change to the matching behavior of your keywords — applying close variant keyword matching to all exact and phrase match keywords.
Since it was announced in 2012, close variant matching has been the default behavior for new campaigns; so for a majority of advertisers, nothing will change.
If you’ve been explicitly opting out of this setting, you’ll see differences in matching behavior starting in late September.
If you are already targeting close keyword variations, you might be following a lot of these steps already. But if this is new to you, here are some concrete actions you can take to help manage your close keyword variations.

1. Prepare For Additional Volume

As with most things in AdWords, this is going to vary by your account structure and what you’ve done in the past. If you have broad match keywords in your account alongside your exact/phrase keywords, you might have been getting coverage already on close variants.
However, if you rely on exact/phrase match exclusively, then you’ll probably see a slight bump in impressions (and clicks). Remember, broad match modifier already has this matching behavior, so you shouldn’t see any differences there.

Impression volume on an exact match keyword following the introduction of close keyword variations.

You know how big your keyword list is. You should be able to at least intuit how much additional volume you could get from people that have bad timing when hitting their space bar or misspelling their searches (we estimate at least 7% of Google searches contain a misspelling).
Generally, if you use more broad match keywords then you should see less of a bump from the change, so adjust that estimate down if you’re already using broad match to capture your potential impressions.
And remember that you could opt into this change right now to get a head start on that additional volume.

2. Stop Routinely Building Variants Into Your Keyword List

Our system will continue to prefer keywords that are identical to search queries, so existing misspellings, plurals and stemmings will receive impressions if they have a higher Ad Rank.
With that said, your close keyword variations will now be able to cover that traffic for you. When you’re working on keyword discovery, look for prominent, high-volume versions of the queries that you’re trying to target. Add in your highest volume terms first, then use query data to decide how you want to proceed once you see what close variations you’re triggering.
By and large, you’ll probably see similar performance across your close variations, and as a result, you shouldn’t have to add these to your account (and management overhead). But if you see performance differences, you can add those close variations as their own keywords to control their bidding and messaging.
A quick note about negatives: you can add them in for your close keyword variations if necessary.  Negative keywords don’t expand out to cover their close keyword variations, so you can control your traffic and eliminate poor performing queries without worrying that you’ll block out too many impressions on your main keywords.

3. Account For Traffic Redirection

As a result of this change, your exact/phrase keywords will now be eligible for more auctions, at times the same auction as one another. This behavior should be familiar to you if you’re using broad, modified broad or phrase match keywords already.
Remember that you aren’t going to be driving your CPCs up due to internal competition. The system decides which keyword enters the auction before it actually happens. Prior to entering each auction, the system chooses the single keyword in your account based on the following approximate order:

1. Use a keyword that matches the search term exactly (instead of one that doesn’t)
2. Use an exact match keyword when the keywords are the same
3. Use the keyword with the highest Ad Rank

Ad Rank may fluctuate across different keywords in your account, which means that the same query could trigger an ad for multiple keywords.
You’ll still show the most competitive keyword from your account, but you should know how that this new matching behavior could affect your account. This might change how you set your budgets depending on your account’s structure; for example, if you have campaigns split out by match type or a separate campaign for misspellings.

4. Just As Before, Know That Queries are King

A keyword is a tool that an advertiser uses; it isn’t the same thing as a user query. It’s always a good idea to understand which user queries are being matched to your keywords. By understanding queries, you can get insight into what your potential customers are doing when searching for your business.
Watch your search terms report to see the new queries that may be driving impressions for you. And remember to add the keyword column to those reports, especially as you get used to the new matching behavior in your account. See what counts as a close variant and use that new knowledge to better manage your account.

5. Don’t Sweat That These Changes Will Affect DKI

Close keyword variations shouldn’t affect your ads with Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI). Misspellings and incorrect grammar are prevented by our editorial standards. If you had any misspelled keywords that were utilizing DKI in the past, they should have been disapproved anyway.
Now, if your correctly-spelled keyword matches to a close misspelling, the correctly-spelled keyword will be inserted into the ad. If anything, this will make it easier to deploy DKI since you won’t need to worry about misspelling disapprovals.

Conclusion

This change will help give you more of the coverage that you want without the need to build exhaustive keyword lists. If this change will impact your account, know that your volume should go up in meaningful ways (and we’ve generally seen the additional traffic yield CTR and conversion rates comparable to the exact keywords, in accounts that are already using this matching behavior).

How To Write A Meta Description That Gets Click-Throughs.

I feel sorry for meta descriptions.
Google has long held that meta descriptions do not impact search engine rankings. From a 2007 post on the Google Webmaster Central Blog:

It's worth noting that while accurate meta descriptions can improve clickthrough, they won’t affect your ranking within search results.

Google reiterated this point yet again in 2009 in a post stating that the meta keywords tag was not used as a ranking signal:

Even though we sometimes use the description meta tag for the snippets we show, we still don’t use the description meta tag in our ranking.

Thus, people have long neglected meta descriptions, pushing them to the back burner or delegating their creation to the lowly intern. Once written, meta descriptions are scarcely given a second glance or further consideration.
Meta descriptions get short shrift because well-written descriptions won’t help your site rank.
Or will they?

Optimized Meta Descriptions ARE Important For SEO

I can make the case that meta descriptions are important for SEO. I’m taking some time to explain this, because my goal in this article is to help you write killer meta descriptions. Once you realize that meta descriptions do have an impact on search ranking, it may inspire you to write better meta descriptions.
The relationship between the meta description and search engine rankings can be described in four points:

1. The content in a meta description does not factor into the search ranking algorithm.
2. User behavior is factored into the search algorithm.
3. Specifically, click-through rate (CTR) is part of the algorithmic ranking process.
4. The meta description is the most important feature for improving click-through rate from search results pages.

1. The content in a meta description does not influence the search algorithm.
As far as we know – and we’re trusting Google on this one – their search engine ranking algorithm does not consider meta descriptions as a factor. Thus, from a strict algorithmic perspective, it’s not necessary to put your most important keywords in the meta description.

2. User behavior is factored in the search algorithm.
There are hundreds of algorithmic factors involved in ranking a site. It’s easy to forget that Google analyzes user behavior on a site as part of their ongoing ranking process.
But it does. As reflected in Google Analytics, Google is actively measuring user behavior – even demographic information – and factoring that into search results.
Think about this on the broadest level: location-based search. Search results based on location is a user-dependent metric. A user in South Carolina who types “weather” in Google is going to get this result, even if she’s not logged in to her Google account:

A user in Anchorage Alaska will see a very different result:

That much is obvious (and pretty basic).
But the algorithm is way more advanced than that. Not only does it factor user information/location, but it measures user behavior in the subsequent rank of a particular website.

3. Specifically, click-through rate (CTR) is part of the algorithmic ranking process.
Dr. Pete Meyers of Moz wrote an article back in 2012 that is still very relevant. His point in the article was that Google uses two user metrics in search ranking.
Those two metrics are: (1) search engine results page (SERP) click-through rate and (2) dwell time. Here’s how he explained it:

The first metric I think Google makes broad use of is direct Click-Through Rate (CTR) from the SERPs themselves. Whether or not a result gets clicked on is one of Google’s and Bing’s first clues about whether any given result is a good match to a query. We know Google and Bing both have this data, because they directly report it to us.

Indeed, both Google and Bing seem to make use of this metric, since both data points are available in their reporting platforms:

Bing Webmaster Tools (Image from Moz)

Meyers summed it up perfectly: “Relevant results drive more clicks.”
This is a key point, and it goes to prove my final point:
4. The meta description is the most important feature for improving click-through rate from search results pages
Google considers user behavior, specifically the click-through rate. So, how can we improve CTRs on our SERP entries?
By writing killer meta descriptions.
And the more people who click through those SERP entries, the better our site will rank in Google.
Take a look at an average SERP. Apart from Knowledge Graph information and rich snippets, there are three main features in a SERP entry: the page title, the page URL, and the page description.
All three of these factor into a user’s decision to click through. Of these three, the meta description takes up the most space — a full two lines. It has the most amount of information, and thus gets viewed longer and read more.
It follows that a great meta description actually does improve click-through, and thus site ranking. Sure enough, that makes the meta description an SEO factor after all!
But it’s one of those “fuzzy” SEO factors due to its indirect impact. Furthermore, improving meta descriptions doesn’t require SEO finesse as much as it does writing skill, which brings me to the main point of this article: how do you write a meta descriptions that get click-throughs?

Advanced Tips For Writing Killer Meta Descriptions

So, how do you unleash a click-through-compelling meta description?

Be Descriptive. The language in your meta description should introduce the user to what the page is about. In general terms, sketch out the page’s content. If the user is going to the trouble of clicking on it, he or she wants to make sure that the page really is about what they are interested in.

Be Persuasive. Great meta descriptions involve a touch of the persuasive. To get clicks, go ahead and tug a little bit. Some SEOs advocate using a call-to-action in the description. I’m not convinced that this is necessary; I do, however, recommend that you create a meta description that invites a response, even if it doesn’t directly call for it.

Inspire Curiosity. One of the most persuasive things you can do with your meta is to spark curiosity. This is particularly true for informational queries (as opposed to transactional queries). By the time a user finishes reading your description, they should be curious about what the page will say about the topic. You need to provide just enough information to explain what the page is about but not so much that it ruins the curiosity factor.

Use The Right Words. The keywords may not matter for search engines, but they do matter for users. In order to be compelled to click, the user needs to see relevant words. These words should be associated with his or her query. The right words in the right places make the difference between a SERP entry that gets overlooked, and a SERP entry that gets a click.

Make Them The Correct Length. If you write a meta description that is too long, Google will truncate it. The standard accepted length is 156 characters long. Unlike page titles, meta description cut-offs do not seem to be pixel-based in the same way that page titles are.

Do Not Use Quotation Marks. Google will cut them off.

Conclusion

In the end, meta descriptions are still a worthy thing to focus on in your overall SEO efforts. At the very least, you shouldn’t neglect them – your meta description is the only thing standing between a search result and a visitor.
What do you do to create great meta descriptions?

Swag, Tchotchke, Bauble: 7 Things To Consider For Event Giveaways.

Earlier this year I attended Content Marketing World in Cleveland, Ohio representing Curata as its CMO and hoping to learn best practices in content marketing from other marketers. That said, I also had a special mission assigned to me by three very important people–my children. I needed to bring back the best tchotchkes that the event had to offer.
In case you’re unfamiliar, a tchotchke (choch-key), according to Wikipedia, is “a small bauble or miscellaneous item. It can also refer to free promotional items dispensed at trade shows, conventions, and similar large events”.
Event tchotchkes are some of the most hotly contested items amongst marketers as part of the event planning process. Each company wants to stand out at events and have the best tchotchke can make a huge difference.
As a frequent attendee of marketing conferences, I’ve come across my fair share of these items; some are full of utility, while others inevitably find home in the nearest trash barrel after their receipt. In fact, there are several things that I consider in the three to five seconds between a vendor offering me a tchotchke, and when I politely respond with a “yes” or “no thanks” :

1. Utility:  What can I do with this item either now or when I get back home?  How much value will this item add to my existence?  (Yes, there’s some deep thought that goes into deciding whether you’ll need to “lug” an item 3,000 miles home and then spend the next 3 months trying to extract yourself from someone’s email database).

2. Financial Value: How much would this item cost me in a store? Perhaps it’s a pure impulse item that I would never buy for myself, but I would love to have it.

3. Uniqueness: Wow, not sure what I’d do with it or even what it is, but it is cool!

4. Business or Personal Use:  I could really use this as a gift for my kids!  Or, perhaps it’s something that can help improve my work productivity.

5. Size and Weight of Item: The older I get, the lighter I like to travel.  My days of dragging a suitcase filled with gifts and Sake from Japan are over, either because I can get almost everything at home or because I’m not interested in herniating a disc over it.  If it’s a book, make sure that it’s a paperback and, even better, signed by the author.

6. Opportunity Cost: There’s no doubt that I’ll be getting several calls and emails from vendors that get my information at conferences. As a marketer, I’m certainly ok with this process if I want to hear from this vendor and if they are sending me valuable information as part of their nurturing process. However, I consider this “cost” in my decision-making process.

7. Desire to Live a “Logo-Free” Life:  I don’t mind an occasional logo on my USB drive or my kids’ toys; however, the last thing I want to do on my day off is put on a vendor’s t-shirt, (i.e., unless it has something fun and witty to say such as groove’s shirt displayed below)
Over the years, I’ve noticed tchotchkes often fall into a few categories like business survival needs (iPhone charger, USB drive), personal hygiene (breath mints, hand sanitizer), home utility (a bottle opener, corkscrew or water bottle), fashion (good bags, t-shirts), and self-improvement (an inspirational book). And, brands will keep experimenting with their giveaways to see what makes the biggest impact.
While I was on the hunt for great tchotchkes for my kids, I was also  looking for a fun treat for myself. I’d put regular food and drink into this category, (e.g., freshly brewed coffee, berry-infused water) which can make a big difference during a long day at a conference.
Which brings me back to my Content Marketing World trip — as the show was closing, I scrambled to gather some final items to bring home to my kids. The first score? Cotton Candy–I was in luck, they had a lot left over from the event and were happy give a bag or two to me. Unfortunately, there’s no way I would have been able to get it home without crushing it, so I had no choice but to eat it myself.


As a content marketer and curator, I’ve created an infographic about the tchotchkes referenced in this post.  I’d love to know what your favorite tchotchke is and why? How do you think about creating tchotchkes for your events?

10 Things Master Salespeople Do to Sweep Away Skepticism and Close Sales.

To close a sale, a prospect needs to commit to buy (plus a few other steps, but that commitment is crucial). What transforms someone from a cynical prospect into a customer? What factors contribute to commitment?
In short, presentations must be loaded with convincing evidence to prove your product is reliable. The principle is simple: If a company incorporates trust and credibility in its marketing, skepticism naturally fades. Read on for 10 essential principles to build belief, sweep aside distrust, and close sales.

1. Demonstrate

The first mention of an elevator traces back to around 236 A.D. It was nearly 1,700 hundred years later before the first working models were actually installed (in English and French palaces, no less).
There was just one problem. If the lift cable broke, the cab dropped, wounding or killing everyone inside. In 1852, Elisha Otis hoped to save lives (and make money) by introducing his safety elevator. And he did it with a very dramatic demonstration. In 1853 in front of a crowd of onlookers at the Crystal Palace, Otis raised his safety elevator three stories high and cut the cable while he was still inside. 
Everyone gasped. Instead of plunging to the ground below, the elevator stopped when knurled rollers engaged. Otis was shaken up but unhurt. As you can imagine, orders came in hot and heavy. Otis’ demonstration proves our first principle of belief: If you want people to believe in the hard to believe, simply demonstrate what your product does. 
A major blender company, for instance, employs attention-getting “Will It Blend?” YouTube videos as a dramatic form of demonstration. To dismiss any skepticism over the claim these blenders can grind anything and still remain sharp, the company blended iPhones and tablets. Views of the videos, and sales of the product, blew through the roof.
Of course car salespeople rely heavily on this principle. Rather than waste hours talking about a car, they simply hand the keys over to a prospective customer so they can experience the car first hand. All companies should do the same. Find a way to demonstrate your product, whether it’s software or a service. Be creative and don’t forget: the more dramatic, the better. But keep in mind, it’s important not to overpromise. There’s nothing worse than claiming a product can do something it can’t. 

2. Explain the Reason Why

While Enlightenment-era thinkers would like you to believe otherwise, we are not as rational as we think we are. Books like Irrational Exuberance, Emotional Intelligence, and Descartes’ Error teach us that even the most analytical among us make decisions with emotions. Furthermore, we learn that without emotions we can’t make a decision in the first place. 
In the sales context, this means people buy based on desire. Whether someone wants a promotion at work or a healthier lifestyle, those decisions are eventually justified with logic. That’s where “reason why” advertising comes in.
Here’s how to use “reason why” effectively. If you make an offer or claim, expect your prospect to wonder why you are making that claim. Explain why you are giving away a free sample of your product and why you are throwing in a free 30-minute consultation with every contract. It could be as simple as “I’m just a generous person.” Whatever it is make it clear; otherwise people will wonder if there’s a catch and remain skeptical.

3. Lay on the Details

In what’s known as the strategic use of evidence, lawyers and criminal investigators can often discover if a suspect is lying. Here’s how it works.
During interrogation the investigator asks the suspect a general question. If the suspect replies with a fuzzy answer that contradicts what the investigators already know to be true, then the suspect is probably lying. However if the suspect shares details that match what the investigator already knows, then the suspect is probably telling the truth. This is the power of details.
In the world of sales and marketing, numerous studies have demonstrated more specifics will drive up conversion. In sales presentations, the trick is to build in specificity. Add facts, research, quotes, and numbers. Be clear and concise. If there are vague or estimated numbers, you’ll look suspect or like you’re fudging. Steer clear of ambiguity.

4. Describe the Mechanism

Another way to get people to buy into your claim is to explain the mechanism behind it. For example, let’s say a fitness trainer makes the claim that in just 14 minutes a day, customers can add muscle to every inch of their body.
Notice what is not suggested: that these will be particularly big muscles. The implication is, at the very least, customers can achieve a toned body. That’s still a big claim, but the trainer can bring it into the realm of believability by explaining how this can happen. 
In this case, let’s say the fitness program involves a chair. The value proposition can be summed up like this: a 14-minute chair routine that builds muscle on every inch of your body.
Notice, too, the trainer used several of the above tips to accomplish this. One, the claim is very specific about the amount of time it takes and the equipment necessary. In other words, it’s heavy with details.
In addition, as part of the live presentation the trainer could demonstrate the exercises or create a video. All of these factors help sweep aside skepticism. Finally, he could add a creative guarantee (see number nine), and his close rates are sure to go up. 

5. Acknowledge Objections 

Objections are a simple fact of the sales life. They’re like octopus tentacles—everyone has at least eight of them. Of course this is perfectly natural. Most potential customers are primed not to spend money and stiff-arm sales presentations (think of how you feel about people who staff mall kiosks). 
And the reasons why they may object are just as numerous:

• They don’t like to make decisions.
• They hate change.
• They are busy.
• They don’t have the buying power (and don’t want to admit it).
• They are afraid.
• They didn’t sleep much last night.

Learning how to counter objections is a priority for salespeople. The best way to do that is to simply come out and acknowledge the objection. The conventional advice is to use the Feel-Felt-Found formula: “I know how you feel. This one guy felt the same way. Here’s what he found out.”
But make sure you get the real objection. Often people will object for one reason—to cover up for the real reason. It’s a red herring. With extra digging and through calculated questions, salespeople can surface the real objection and adjust the presentation.
For example, if you discover a prospect is playing hardball simply because he was up all night with his sick child, acknowledge it and say something like, “Totally understand. Why don’t we re-schedule at a better time.” That gesture will go a long way.

6. Provide Expert Opinions

The Stanley Milgram shock study is an age-old experiment that demonstrates our habitual response to authority. We, by instinct, obey authority even if the orders from that authority appear unethical. In 2009, nearly 50 years later, Jerry M. Burger repeated the experiment and discovered “people are still just as willing to administer what they believe are painful electric shocks to others when urged on by an authority figure.”
It is human nature to trust authority. We trust those in uniform and people with big titles or degrees. These people have authority and appear to communicate results, wisdom, and trust.
Mentioning a product was designed by a distinguished Ph.D. or endorsed by a blue chip media company can build credibility. Also consider co-opting expertise. For example, pharmaceutical companies recognize the influence generated when doctors talked to other doctors about drugs. They lower their defenses when someone they can relate to as an authority is talking to them. A sales rep is not a credible authority in this circumstance.
In the course of a presentation, fall back on the results of experts and critical studies. And don’t forget to include mentions from big media like Time or the New York Times. These endorsements pack a punch in a presentation.

7. Sprinkle in Testimonials

A testimonial is an unbiased recommendation of a product or service. It is a recommendation in a satisfied customer’s voice, which builds trust, and more importantly, isn’t saturated with sales language. It’s a great tool to get through to tough prospects. 

8. Abide by the Law of Candour

The law of candour says when you give a negative, your prospect will return with a positive. This concept is not unlike number five above (acknowledging objections), except there’s a twist.
Beginning in 1959, the ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach used candour with great impact on a product that would make any ad agency groan: the Volkswagen Bug. What could you say about a lemon of a car?
Bernbach simply told the truth:

• “This car is ugly. It looks like a bug. A beetle.”
• “This car is slow. You’ll be lucky if you ever get a ticket.”

People loved it. They didn’t feel like they were being hoodwinked. The honesty was refreshing, even humorous. So when VW trotted out the exceptional features about the car—including high mileage and dependability—people didn’t bat an eye.
The closer your claim is to hype, the less your prospect is going to believe you. On the other hand, the farther away your claim is from hype, the more your prospect will believe you. In fact, telling the ugly truth can disarm a prospect. It’s a voluntary move, a gesture that says a company isn’t going to hide anything. Opening with the ugly truth will build a bridge between the company and the prospect. Don’t be afraid to tell the truth.

9. Offer a Creative Guarantee

In 1817, poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined the phrase “suspension of disbelief.” He argued a writer could get a reader to believe his fantastic tale if he added an element of “human interest and a semblance of truth.”
A creative guarantee performs the same function in the sales presentation: It suspends skepticism. Guarantees are everywhere. “Pay nothing for 30 days,” or “full refund if you aren’t satisfied” are just two routine examples. Unfortunately, they are not all that creative. To the casual observer simple guarantees don’t stand out.
Take this ad for instance. A fitness company claims its DVD program will build muscle in 30 days. To suspend any disbelief, the company offers a 14-day trial.
Fourteen days isn’t so creative. What makes this guarantee creative and compelling is that 14 days is nearly half of the 30 days, which means users could and should see results before paying any money. And once consumers see results, they figure it’s worth the money.

Rolling out the creative guarantee when resistance pops up is a perfect antidote for keeping belief alive. A brand can say, “Listen, give it a shot for 14 days and pay nothing. If it doesn’t do X, Y, and Z, then you can walk away.” This move builds trust. It’s a security net. If buyers don’t like the product they can return it and not worry about losing money.

10. Differentiate Your Product

Last but not least, when standing before a prospect it’s crucial to declare strongly and clearly how and why your product is the best in the market.
Remember, the market is loaded with “me-too” products—simple derivatives of existing products. Customers think, “Why your product and not Brand X?” If you can’t answer that question, you’ll lose credibility.
Take wine for example. There are hundreds of different brands of wine on the market. How does one differentiate from another? How does the brand’s offerings measure up to other flavours and styles? Moreover, how does one brand of wine compete against other adult beverages? These are questions the company must be able to answer, but a tough prospect will ask the questions. 
Whatever the distinction about your product—proprietary code, production method, people, worldview, award-winning designs, customer service, and so on—it’s critical to spell out that distinction.
This starts with an intense study of the customer—her hopes and fears, her goals and desires. Next comes a deep understanding of the product and how it satisfies those hopes and fears. It’s this kind of intimacy with both product and consumer that will help determine a strong, meaningful differentiation.
As Theodore Levitt, a prominent American economist and professor said, “To the potential buyer, a product is a complex cluster of value satisfactions. The generic thing is not itself the product; it is merely, as in poker, table stakes—the minimum that is necessary at the outset to give its producer a chance to play.”
Furthermore, pricing is the worst distinction because everyone can go a penny lower. That’s a war you don’t want to get into.

Conclusion

Inferior salespeople ignore all of the above principles. They think a product should sell itself and require no demonstration or testimonials. Or they rely on heavy-handed tactics. Of course bad salespeople don’t last long in the business.

If you want to close more sales, do the long work of building credibility through your presentation by systematically laying out and piling on compelling proof upon compelling proof. Know who your customer is, and what she or he wants and needs. It’s the only way to transform a cynical prospect into a believing customer.