Editor’s Note: SEJ is a sponsor of Authority Rainmaker 2015, and received press passes in exchange for event coverage.
Day one of Copyblogger’s Authority Rainmakers 2015 is over, and I have to say today included quite the impressive line up of speakers. All the presentations were really in-depth and offered good insights and useful, actionable tips. There was no fluff, no ‘best practices’ we’ve all heard hundreds of times. I had a great time and learned a lot!
The morning started with Copyblogger CEO Brian Clark’s opening statement, and he addressed the quality of presentations we could expect right away. Most conferences, he said, if you walk away with one idea, you’ve done well. Rainmaker aimed to do much better than that – and I think they succeeded.
Daniel Pink: “The ABC’s of Selling Your Product, Your Service, Your Self”
Dan was a fantastic first speaker of the morning: he had a lot of energy and a lot of great information. He promised one insight, three principles, and five takeaways. This style made the information he presented very easy to digest.
One Insight
We are all in sales now, either selling your product, your service, your content, your idea, and yourself. What most of us don’t realize is that sales has changed more in the last 10 years than the previous 100 – which means it is way past time to change how we sell and how we think about sales.
Three Principles
Dan started out by describing research that asked people what the first word they thought of when it comes to sales. The most popular answers? Pushy, hard, yuck, difficult, and manipulative. Not a good thing for sales.
Dan stated he believes these thoughts are more about information than sales. These feelings come from a time when sellers had more information, and there for a huge advantage over buyers. This information asymmetry, as Dan called it, created an era of “Buyer Beware.”
He then went on to describe how that asymmetry has shifted. Today, a customer on a car lot can pull up what other dealers are charging for the same model, they now have access to more information, more choices, which means they now have the ability to talk back to sales people. Yet, for all these changes, the conversation hasn’t changed much.
So, what do marketers need to do? Dan suggests it is time to change the way we sell, and the way we teach sales. This means shifting away from the “always be closing” mentality and focusing on new ABCs: attunement, buoyancy, and clarity. This means considering other views, staying afloat in a sea of rejections, and moving past being problem solvers to being problem finders.
Five Takeaways
- Extroverts are not always the best at sales: Research shows extroverts are more likely to get hired and promoted in sales job, but don’t necessarily make more actual sales. The truth? There is a clear, strong advantage for ambiverts, who know when to push and when to listen in order to make the sales. (And most of us are ambiverts.)
- Use questions to elicit an active response from yourself and your users: When people have their own reasons to agree with you, they believe those reasons more. BUT, this technique can backfire – if they disagree. When the facts are clearly on your side, use questions instead of statements.
- Use the contrast principle: Research shows adding a minor negative detail in an otherwise positive offering works to highlight the positive aspects.
- Cheesy can work: A study showed people believe, remember, and absorb information better when it rhymes, uses alliteration, or is repeated. These techniques enhance people’s processing fluency.
- Give people an off ramp: If you want people to do something, make it easy to do it.
Daniel’s clear, direct presentation style made him one of my favorite speakers of the day!
Scott Brinker: “Interactive Content Design: Moving Marketing from Communications to Experiences”
Scott Brinker is the Co-founder and CTO of ion interactive, and also the author of Chief Marketing Technologist. His presentation focused on a new type of content: interactive content.
With so much content, and so many competitors, how are we supposed to get noticed online? Scott introduced several different types of interactive content and discussed how marketers can use them – and use them well.
Scott started by discussing what interactive content is, and how we think about it. Interactive content includes quizzes, assessments, and other ways of re-imagining content. When most of us think of quizzes, we think of Buzzfeed, which is not real journalism, right? In fact, as Scott showed, even trusted news sources like the New York times use quizzes – just in different ways than Buzzfeed.
Why is interactive content so successful? Scott explained the process of learning isn’t done passively (which most of us know), and a big part of content marketing is educating buyers, which makes interactive content very useful and very effective.
Passive content, such as blogs and e-books, is old and stale, while interactive content is new, more interesting, and often more clever. In addition, people share interactive twice as much because this type of content is fun! As content marketers, we want our audience to have this feeling as often as possible, which is what makes interactive content so effective.
I will be interested to see how the field of interactive content grows over the next few years. Could it be the next ‘big’ thing?
Pamela Wilson: “Designing a Warm Customer Experience In a Cold Online World”
Pamela Wilson is Vice President of Educational Content at Copyblogger Media, and the host of a successful podcast called “Hit Publish.” She discussed how we can build a warm, personal relationship with our audience from behind a cold computer monitor, particularly in relation to landing pages, content, and e-commerce experiences.
Homepage
The customer wants to know “Where am I? Is this worth my time?” Pamela explains how, since we don’t have a receptionist to make them feel more comfortable, brands need to develop “C’mon in!” homepages. We can do this by having a clear site name, simple navigation (one single navigation w/drop downs), and a benefit driving tag line. All these pieces together help make users feel more empowered and comfortable.
Content
This is where users ask: “Who are you? Do you care?” And, unfortunately, we don’t have the opportunity to sit down and have a warm, human interaction with them face to face. According to Pamela, that is where content comes in. Content should be consistent, informative, and easy to consume. These approaches will help create a warm, welcoming area for you users where they begin to trust you.
E-Commerce Experience
Pamela states an e-commerce experience is in play any time there is an exchange of value, not just when someone makes a purchase. For example, when they opt in to email list or register for your website. During these interactions, users are asking “Can I trust you? Do I know what to do next?” Pamela suggests using trust symbols, SSL certificates, money back guarantees, and testimonials to offer a smooth experience.
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