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Some rules that I live by when it comes time to write a white paper title.

1. Never use a company’s brand anywhere in the title. This includes company name, product/service name, or any branded approach’s name.

2. Titles should speak directly to (a) the customer’s pain point and (b) cover the gap in your sales process. For example, you may be having trouble getting customers to the close, and their main paint point is ATM security (they’re a banking client). You want to create a benefits-laden headline that addresses both.

3. Here’s a benefits-laden headline: “Improving Bank ATM Security in 6 Simple Steps.” Much much better than: “Bank Security Procedural Steps.”

3. A helpful pattern to use is “X things you should Y about Z”. For example, “11 things you should know about ATM security.”

4. Another helpful pattern is “How to.” For example, “How to increase your bank’s ATM Security.”

5. Yet another helpful pattern is the “Clever Colon Explain” pattern. For example, “Easy, but not Cheap: Creating Vastly Improved ATM Security Procedures.”

6. Use a subtitle to buttress your case, slip in the name of your product space, or whatever. For example, a good subtitle for the above might be: “A JavaEE Approach to Security” or somesuch.

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Join Pete Monfre and Tom Myer on November 9th for a half-day workshop. The goal of the program is to teach you how to create repeatable marketing systems! Should be a blast!

Only come if you’re ready to truly evaluate your processes and want to commit to positive changes in the way you work!

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Back in February of 2006, Verizon Wireless CMO John Stratton showed up to the Hollywood & Vine Conference put on by Ad Age and basically roasted the entire industry for being the out-of-touch, exorbitant-amounts-of-money-spending, clueless little creatives that they are. It makes for quite a read, and is happily summarized at manhattan marketing maven.

It starts off like this:

1. Your clients are absolutely in trouble and they are looking for you to save them.
2. What you’ve been selling for the last fifty years no longer works.
3. Major marketing money is going to be in motion in the next decade and no one really yet understands exactly where it will land, if it even will land, or if it will just disappear altogether.

And just goes downhill from there, with lots of scenic stops along the way.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

PS. I don’t understand how these agencies have won the trust of corporate america. Why they’re still in the conversation is just so bizarre to me. They don’t know how to sell, they only have a vague notion of figuring out what a customer is or how to fashion a product, nor do they have any sense of accountability. They essentially get paid to spin a good line of bullshit and package it up as ideas. Well, whooppeeee, I have about 350 ideas an hour on my good days. Maybe I too could go sell my dreams to corporations.

No thanks, I’d rather just stick with things that are doable and actually bring in revenue to my clients’ coffers. And I don’t have to dress like Dieter from Sprockets, either.

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Too often, I see companies put together lead generation efforts that concentrate on the product or service, and not on the offer. What am I talking about?

Well, let’s say the company in question is selling a $10,000 piece of software. They put together a great plan to interest people in the product by first getting them to sign up for a webinar or white paper. Instead of concentrating on the offer (which would be a free webinar or a free white paper) they talk all about the benefits of their product. Or worse, they concentrate on the features of their product.

Remember my dating metaphor. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You just want a phone number, maybe an exchange of pleasantries at first, not a marriage proposal (ie., a sale). If you concentrate on the offer, you’ll get them interested in that first step. And yes, you can talk about the benefits of your product while you drive interest in the offer–but only if you keep it all in context.

For example, let’s say that you’re particular piece of software helps companies identify stale content on their web site, thereby saving them 50-200 hours a month in manually going through and updating the site. You can talk about this significant cost savings while talking about the free webinar:

Join us for a free Webinar on Thursday November blah and learn how to save $2000-$5000 a month and 50-200 man-hours per month when you update your corporate web site!

If you attract a prospect that’s interested in doing just that, you’re not only putting a lead in your pipeline, but you’re learning some crucial about each and every one of those leads: that they have this problem and are interested in solving it! Instant segmentation!

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If any of you want any inspiration on how to create really great marketing assets, go over to trendwatching.com and sign up for their newsletter. You’ll get really attractive emails on a great topic (upcoming trends that entrepreneurs have taken advantage of). If you’re like me, you’ll be inspired by the great work they do.

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