Presented by web word merc Chris Haddad and roving web dev Daniel Talsky.
Stumped by the web? Wondering what you really need a website for anyway? Still think frames, flash and splash pages are a good idea? Join us on April 17th, 7PM (Location TBA) for a frank look the whacky world of the web and what it means to small business today.
This class has space for up to 20 members – rsvp required to into@biznik.com. Location TBA.
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It’s a dictator. And a cigar chomping one at that. Copy strides confidently through its fortified villa, cagily avoiding the Wile E. Coyote-like assasination attempts of naysayers and flash programmers. Viva la copy!
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HWW #14 has shot like a rocket out there into the world. Want to read it NOW? Well, you’d best go subscribe. Otherwise you’ll have to wait until next week when it appears in the archive.
So what are you waiting for? Go subscribe. I’ll still be here when you finish.
Have you gone yet?
If you answer, I know you’re lying.
It’s a good one. I promise.
Ok, fine, I’m done.
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This landed in my inbox this morning:
Guy calls a plumber because he can’t figure out why his pipes are making
noise. Plumber comes in, inspects a few things, twists a knob and hands him
a bill for $300.
“Hey!” The guy’s incensed. “How can you charge me $300 for twisting a knob?”
“I’m not charging you for my time. I’m charging for knowing which knob and
what to do with it.”
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Not to get too Bizniky here in HWW, but Dan McComb posted the Biznik Manifesto today. It’s a doc I had a large hand in (as in I wrote the damn thing) and is worth a read.
Karma is going to get you. Karma will hunt you down.
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Dan McComb over at Biznik has asked me to pitch in with posts on the Biznik Blog.
While Dan will keep on posting interviews with Biznik members, bits of Biznik news and whatever else he feels like, I’ll be chiming in with the occasional entry about small business building, what makes a Biznik a Biznik and, well, who the heck knows what else?
Anyway, check it out.
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I’m a big fan of Glaceau’s Vitamin Water. In fact, I hand over two of my hard earned dollars every day at my yoga class just so I can quench my thirst on their “Essential Orange” mix.
What I’m not a fan of is the copy on the Glaceau fridge case. Why? Because it uses math to lie to you.
Or, well, if not lie, at least to obscure the truth.
Here’s what the case says:
“Smart Water: No Water Hydrates Faster. No Water Hydrates Better.”
Let’s parse this clever bit of ad copy, shall we? What is it really saying? To find out, we’re going to have to do a little math (yay, variables!)
“No Water” basically means every other brand and kind of water in the world. So let’s say that “No Water” is “W.”
Glaceau is saying that “No Water” Hydrates faster or better than their Smart Water, so let’s say that Smart Water is “S.”
Taking that first sentence, we can lay it out as “No Water hydrates faster than Smart Water Does.”
Which translates to:
S (is equal to or greater than) W when it comes to speed of hydration.
So where’s the problem?
Well, S (is equal to or greater than) W, basically means that Vitamin water is just like, err, water.
Without the magic of a clever copywriter, Glaceau is basically saying “Our water is just as good as other waters out there and maybe better than others.”
Why? Well, because water is water. And because they aren’t able to say they’re the best.
Anyway. It’s an old trick and a lame one. I say avoid it and shame on you Glaceau. Shame on you.
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Dominic Canterbury and I are teaching a Class tonight. We’re all full up, but if you ask very, very nicely we might have room for one or two more.
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The thirteenth issue of Hard Working Words, the newsletter was sent out just moments ago. If you didn’t get it, maybe you should sign up.
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There was a time that the surest way to sell to the masses was to hype the heck out of your product; to say every possible (and a few impossible) good thing about what you were selling in order to pry money from your prospect and to position it as God’s own shampoo.
But what about today? What about 2006? What about selling to a buying public who, quite frankly, is suffering from Hype Fatigue?
In my opinion (and why the heck are you here if you don’t want my opinion) marketers who are hype dependent today are shooting themselves in the foot. Can they make a sale once? Sure. Maybe. If they do it right and sell to an easily manipulated audience. But hype is a dangerous thing: if you don’t live up to it, people notice. And once they notice that your shampoo does not, as advertised, give your hair an angelic sheen, improve your sex life and infuse your scalp with a pleasant vibrating sensation, well, you can count the odds of that customer coming back to you again on 0 fingers.
Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to SELL your product, just that there’s a difference between selling and hyping. Selling is taking honest benefits and presenting them to the customer in a compelling way. Hyping is . . .well, often times hyping is lying.
So, what do you think? Is hype dead?
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