Online Marketing Blog from Radical

Interactive Return knows that a great idea is not guaranteed to give great results; and so it is important to consider a few things when trying to increase traffic and conversions. Eric Enge of Search Engine Watch gave a great report on Dan Heath’s discussion at SES San Jose about keeping your ideas simple and “sticky,” drawing inspiration from Heath’s book, Made to Stick.

I read Made to Stick a couple years ago in a Persuasive Speaking class in University, completely unrelated to Search Engine Marketing; but the book provided great techniques for creating ideas that will resonate well with your desired target audience.

So how do I remember what to do when implementing a new idea? Whether it be for creating a new Ad or putting together a presentation for a pitch…just think SUCCES.

Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories

One of the most valuable lessons learned from reading Dan and Chip Heath’s book was to keep it simple. Simplicity lowers the chance that a user will be put off by too many choices; and therefore increases your response rate.

For example, if you are writing a search ad for a client that has two offers running, your search ad should be focused around just one of them. The simplicity will make the Ad easier to remember, and therefore more “sticky.”

Enge did his own experiment to prove this technique true, and found that by offering only Resume Writing from a 2-part promotion for a Career Advisor, the response rate doubled from when two offers were being advertised together.

Next, always think concrete. People are best able to remember things when relevant and concrete examples are provided for whatever point they are trying to make. If you’re giving a pitch to a potential client, are you using the right examples? Give them facts that are, of course, simple, but also real and concrete.

For example, if you are trying to tell a potential client the need for using search engine marketing based on the behaviours of the people they are targeting, give them one hard example of the number of people that searched for a certain keyword last year. You make the example “concrete” and real by using a number; but also simple by only using one keyword and one target. As long as the fact is relevant to the client, you will be better off using one simple idea; then spouting off a bunch of numbers that they may not understand.

The “stickiness” factor can be applied to so many factors within in a business, and remembering the SUCCES acronym outlined by Chip and Dan Heath is great way to remind ourselves. Write yourself a note and stick it to your computer. When you can’t figure out why your search ad isn’t getting any clicks or why your sales pitches aren’t going very well, ask yourself, am I keeping it Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and with Stories? Chances are making improvements to your search campaigns based on one of these factors is bound to increase your conversions and traffic.

So make it “sticky” and you’ll see results.

Emer Lawn, Online Marketing Executive, Interactive Return