Some marketers will do anything to make a point, even resorting to very, VERY disturbing things with their dogs:
And here’s my point for today:
The real-estate directly underneath every picture
on your site is extremely valuable… people can’t
help but read what you put there, so use it
to drive home benefit rich statements
and critical take-away-points
One really simple way to engineer a conversion bump on your site is to go through the “eye pathway” that takes people from picture to picture, and ask yourself if you’re driving home the key points, claims, etc. that you really want people to take-away in sequential order…
I find this is a pretty rare technique on most of my student’s sites, however. They pay a lot of attention to headlines, subheads, offers, and guarantees. Excellent… attention well spent!
But as more and more people become time pressured and attention becomes harder and harder to get from your prospect, it becomes progressively more critical to ensure the “quick scan” elements convey benefits in seconds.
For example, this picture appears close to the top of my coach certification and training academy letter. The purpose of the picture is immediately transport the prospect into the lifestyle they COULD have, and to get them to identify with yours truly (who has it already).
But I don’t assume the picture will do the whole job. I know most readers will quickly glance below the picture for a “caption”… something to orient them to what they’re looking at and TELL THEM HOW TO PERCEIVE IT. Have a look:
Just a little farther down the page I have a picture intended to portray the step by step, simple nature of the COACHING SYSTEM I’m going to teach them. Of course, I don’t let the picture do all the work, I explain it immediately below (and use the opportunity to present some additional PROOF elements since I know I’ve got their attention)…
And then, after some scan-able copy which clearly links a coach’s income to their CONFIDENCE and ABILITY TO PRODUCE RESULTS for their clients (and the ability to produce results to their ability to keep clients long enough to accomplish their goals)… I present this picture to convey this in human form:
But again, notice I took the time to TELL THEM HOW TO PERCEIVE the picture, I didn’t let the picture do it on it’s own.
I think the reason so many marketers skip this step is because they’ve heard “A picture is worth 1,000 words” so many times they believe the picture should speak for itself. But my experience suggests that a picture PLUS a little bit of benefit-laden guidance underneath it multiples those thousand words by quite a bit.
Anyway, that’s my valuable marketing lesson, derived from the most disturbing things I’ve done with my dog to date! (By the way, when you come across attention getting pictures you just can’t ignore, put them in a folder and save them. It’s not unusual to collect such pictures without any idea how to use them in your marketing immediately, but over time some situation inevitably comes up and you’ll be thrilled to have them at the ready!)
Onwards,
Dr. Glenn 🙂
PS – The first, foundational class for my new Coach Training and Marketing Academy sold out before the early bird deadline last week, so if you’d like to get into the August class, please register now! You’ll save $500 if you sign up before July 24th: (In just 12 weeks, you can become a certified professional coach, confident in your abilities, and fully equipped to grow a thriving practice from anywhere, or your money back!)
