About Grant Johnson

Grant Johnson
A prominent marketing strategist and nationally recognized thought leader, Grant is President and CEO of Johnson Direct. He is a sought-after public speaker, direct marketing trainer, copywriter, award-winning author and the creator of Direct Branding™, Johnson Direct’s multichannel and measurable strategic process.

Grant Johnson’s Articles

StorySelling as an Effective Sales Closing Technique (Part 1)

In Advertising
On

Does the name Dick Fosbury sound familiar?

If you are a sports fan, a tad bit older and follow the Olympics, his name will be instantly recognizable. If not, here’s the background: Prior to Mr. Fosbury, most elite high-jumpers used the Straddle technique, Western Roll, Eastern cut-off or even Scissors-Jump to clear the bar. Everyone did the high jump the same way; they ran to the bar and rolled over the bar, face forward. Not Dick. He ran full steam ahead, contorted his body, turned and jumped backward at the bar just prior to take off, arching his back and lifting his legs over him. Everyone laughed. Until he broke all the records. He won the gold medal in the 1968 Summer Olympicsusing his technique.

Everyone was doing the high jump the perceived correct way; but Dick Fosbury and his “Fosbury Flop” showed everyone the right way to do it. The moral: the popular way is not necessarily the correct way. Every high-jumper today uses the “Fosbury Flop.”

It’s the same with StoryTelling. Lots of folks do it, but they could be doing it better by changing to StorySelling. This applies both to firms that use it and to any full service marketing agency that is hired to implement it on behalf of their clients.

This is the first of a three (3) part series on StorySelling: What, Why and How to do it correctly. When used properly, it’s an effective sales closing technique that will aid in soft selling your prospects. This first article will deal with WHAT StorySelling is and what makes it different from regular StoryTelling.

“StorySelling,” as I call it, is the art of telling an emotional and compelling story, regardless of medium, to effectively convey a call to action that sells a product or service, or gains a donation from the recipient.

A good story is something the recipient can read easily, relates with and which effectively touches that something inside of them but does not often urge them to take action. The key to your success is to go beyond the story and to think about your call to action, from the prospective audience(s) vantage point. It’s really more about gentle persuasion than overt selling when done correctly. That makes StoryTelling, StorySelling.

Here are some great StoryTellers:

  • Music: Gordon Lightfoot, Harry Chapin, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan
  • Books: John Grisham, Shel Silverstein, James Patterson, Steven King
  • Movies: James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, Oliver Stone
  • Plays: Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Neil Simon

All great indeed but not StorySellers, any of them. If you look at Anthony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, most seasoned politicians and legendary pitchmen, you’ll discover it.

It’s what made Billy Mays rich and Oxy Clean famous.

StorySelling is similar to full circle branding in that the story ends with a meaningful conclusion; in the case of measurable marketing a call to action to purchase or give. When done correctly both the advertiser and the responder win because ultimately they feel good, oftentimes excited about the action they just took. When done well, they go on to tell friends and they do the additional StorySelling for you.

Remember: People hate to be sold, but those same people love to buy, give or lend a hand. Great StorySelling then gives reasons for the recipient to take action. It incorporates purchasing options. In order to get to the call to action, it’s best to explain how the product or donation will help them or those who receive it. You need to lead with emotion and justify with logic. It’s the logic that takes the emotional StoryTelling to the next level of StorySelling.

Simply spend some time analyzing great infomercials and you’ll see what great StorySelling is about. Or, read ads from Oreck, Harry & David or Bose. They understand StorySelling. And, they are very successful.

We work with an important non-profit agency in southeastern Wisconsin that provides multiple social services to a wide variety of people. When we first became partners in direct mail campaigns with them, they were spending $25,000 per year on direct mail, and receiving about the same amount in return. Not-with-standing the potential lifetime value of the donors who made the gifts, this is still not the kind of return an agency executive wants to see.

We have been working with them for eight years now, and each of the direct mail pieces we have done for them has focused on an emotional, factual story of one element of their program. Of course, we have done considerable work in finding the right lists to target.

In those eight years, they have increased their annual direct mail expenditure to about $185,000 … with an annual return of more than $1 million! Now that’s a return a non-profit exec can get behind! That’s the power of StorySelling.

In the next article we’ll cover the reason WHY you need to be StorySelling today, right now.

Sincerely,

Grant Johnson
Founder, Johnson Direct
grant.johnson@johnsondirect.com

Revisiting Clear and Simple Copywriting

In Multichannel & Integrated
On

Kids and great copywriters have something in common: they both understand the power of clear and simple communication. Getting their point across loud and clear is a definite skill that kids possess when they want something “right now!” For a more effective message, apply some of these same principles to your next marketing campaign.

I recall a family vacation in Florida where I listened as my two eldest children were bickering. My oldest child, Morgan, kept telling my second oldest, Mason, “Stop copying everything I say!” (You know how kids play this “game” to annoy each other.)

Mason chimed back, “Stop mimicking everything I say.”

Morgan responded back, “Huh, mimicking is not the same as copying.”

I interrupted, “Yes, in this case it is.”

Upon which Mason said, “See Morgan, it IS the same. ‘Mimicking’ is just an adult word that they say instead of ‘copying.'”

Selecting Just the Right Words
Which brings me to the subject at hand, the power of words, specifically, the right words and how they can profoundly impact your marketing success.

For instance, there is a big difference in the following phrases:

Learn how to become wealthy beyond your dreams.

Or…

Discover how to become wealthy beyond your dreams.

Learning implies work and a degree of difficulty. To discover is to come upon something by accident, to be lucky, and implies ease and no work at all.

And that’s just a single word. Great communicators understand and know that even changing one word can strengthen your prose dramatically, and have a positive impact on results. They understand the power of compelling, benefit driven headlines and how to craft copy that stops you and gets you to read on and—more importantly—respond and act quickly. This is especially critical with e-communications where attention spans are short at best.

A great writer understands that today, more than ever, you sell the offer, not the product or service while simultaneously building credibility and asking for the order. They understand that their job is to sell and understand the psychology of human behavior.

Consider the following headlines:

Protect your family for $25 yearly.
(This is not a mistake, read on to find out how.)

Or…

Protect your family for $25 yearly.

While both are compelling, the first headline addresses the question in our prospects mind “This sounds too good to be true,” eliminating doubt and reinforcing that it is indeed true, establishing credibility and subconsciously getting the reader to read on further for more information.

More readers will want to know “how can I protect my family for such a small amount of money.” In this case, adding a simple phrase makes a big difference. A logolept (word maniac) knows the power of clear and simple communication.

They do not tire of words like “free”, “new”, “now” or “you.” They wield this clout in each piece of mail they write to grab new leads…every site they help build to get hits on the Web…each ad they send to pull in new sales. Read these words over, and you should know what we mean when we say that they like to put their skill to the test.

In fact, the paragraph you just read is created from single syllable words. (Is that cool or what?). Clear communication should not be complex.

They know and understand that we need to tell the prospects/customers what to do:

Respond by June 13th
by completing the enclosed reply card
or dialing, toll-free, 1-800-YOU-RULE
to receive your 10% discount.

Professional communicators also know the power of testing and analyzing results. Make no mistake, you can be a great writer, but that does not make you a great direct response writer. And today, those who can get results are in even higher demand. By combining the right offer, with the right words, adding some psychological principles, and understanding selling and the sales process, you can help your clients and companies succeed.

So, the next time you’re out and about town, listen to the kids as they talk to each other.

We’d be wise to copy – that is, mimic the way they interact from time to time.

You can read the full article by clicking here.

Does Your Company Have a Social Media Plan?

In Interactive & Social
On

Integrate Social Media to Grow Your Online Presence

It seems that everywhere you go today companies are implementing social media campaigns to reach out to customers and increase name recognition.  Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube have all become household names, and even the Oxford dictionary added “unfriend”, a popular term for removing someone from your social network contact list, as the 2009 word of the year.  With all the hype and emergence of social media “gurus”, it is important to take a step back and stick with what matters the most: achieving measurable results.

Social media success can come in many forms. Whether it’s achieving greater brand awareness, improving marks on your customer relations scorecard or even increasing sales, social media provides a cost effective way to broaden your online presence.  While most social media networks are free to use, creating a winning strategy takes time, personnel and resources that you might otherwise allocate to another area of operations.  To justify the shift to social media, Johnson Direct works with clients to define and implement strategy using the below model to achieve a return on investment and ensure future success.

Identify Target Audience

The first step to creating your social media campaign is to define your target audience.  Who are you trying to reach?  Going through this process allows us to match target demographics to their most commonly used network.  For example, you might have a son or daughter that spends most of their time on Facebook leading you to believe that only teens use the site.  A July 2009 study by iStrategyLabs showed a 190% growth rate in the age bracket of 35-54 and a 513% increase in 55+ compared to a nominal 4.8% growth rate for users between 18 and 24 since the beginning of the year.  What does this mean for your brand?  Facebook isn’t just for kids anymore.

Define “Success”

In new media, success can mean positive feedback on goods and services, a higher amount of online sales or even a higher volume of “buzz” on your brand.  Social media services like Twitter and Facebook can be used to engage your customer and support them for the duration of the relationship.  An increasing number of companies are employing social networks as a method of client relationship management for sales or technical support.  A case in point is back in September I was looking for a car at a local dealership and felt uncomfortable with the amount of pressure I was receiving from the sales force.  I turned to my social network of choice, Twitter, and warned anyone that would listen of my experience.  Within three hours, I received a direct message from the car dealership apologizing for their actions and requesting a sit down to smooth things over.  At the time I vowed never again to go to that place, but after their unique (at the time) use of social media, I gave them another shot.

Launch, Integrate and Adapt

Planning is the key to success not only in social media but in your interactive strategy as a whole.  All of your research and analysis has led to the launch of your campaign- how will you announce it to your audience?  Johnson Direct recommends a “two way” relationship between your social media and traditional interactive campaigns.  Use your current interactive channels (web site, newsletter, email list, etc.) to launch the social campaign and use the social campaign to support your interactive efforts.    Integrating the various online channels is key to the success of both – social media cannot be used as a replacement to a traditional online presence.  We hear way too often about the company that cuts their interactive budget and opts to go the “free” social media route and ends up losing a big part of their customer base.

When your campaign is officially off the ground, it’s time to take a look at how you are performing week to week.  One thing to keep in mind is that seeing success, however you define it, takes time and patience.  With that being said, monitoring your campaign and adapting to current trends can make or break its success.  If you notice, for example, that the vast majority of your fans, followers or friends are in the 35-54 demographic, consider tailoring your content to the younger generation and testing the results.

Analysis

A campaign cannot be deemed a failure or success if there is no logical form of reasoning behind your analysis.  Traditional interactive channels have a large selection of analytical resources to measure your results, including Google Analytics for websites and ExactTarget for email distribution lists.  Since social media is still a relatively new phenomenon, and there is no current “industry standard” of measurement.  At Johnson Direct, we suggest not relying on just one analytics suite to measure, but utilizing a vast array of network specific features relevant to the medium most used by your target audience.  Blog platforms like WordPress and Blogger have “plug-ins” you can use that link to Google Analytics, and micro blogging platforms like Twitter have both third party enterprise software and link services.

Cornering your market online has changed in the last couple of years.  Simply throwing together a low budget website and expecting customers to find you is no longer common practice.  A multi-channel strategy is needed for the long term success of your brand or organization and Johnson Directs method of campaign creation and analysis will take you to the next level.  To read more about how Johnson Direct can help you deliver measurable results, visit johnsondirect.com today.

Quick Thoughts on Your Marketing Copy…

In Multichannel & Integrated, Uncategorized
On

Bad copy is bad copy; great copy is great copy. What’s the secret? Relevance. Regardless of old or new media, if the copy, offer and messaging resonate with the intended segment(s), success will be yours.

What’s the key to relevancy? Usually it’s the offers/messaging you make/use.

My experience in not either/or, it’s using the right channel with the right message and usually involves adjusting such to each segment based on THEIR channel preference, not mine as a marketer.

Both old and new media need to apply correct testing — sadly that’s still done infrequently.

Grant A. Johnson