- Heather Ciere, On3 Communication Design

The 173% figure comes from an experiment carried out by Dustin Curtis, who played with the language that directed his website visitors to his Twitter account. He took his existing call to action: “I’m on Twitter” and played with the wording of the link, resulting in some extraordinary insights.

Dustin Curtis experiment

Through trial and error, he discovered that a move from “I’m on Twitter” to “You should follow me on Twitter here” resulted in the whopping increase in clicks. In his words:

As the forcefulness and personal identifiability of the phrase increased, the number of clicks likewise increased. “You” identifies the reader directly, “should” implies an obligation, and “follow me on twitter” is a direct command. Moving the link to a literal callout “here” provides a clear location for clicking. I tried other permutations that dulled the command, used the word “please” in place of “should” and made the whole sentence a link. None of them performed as well as the final sentence.

At the very least, the data show that users seem to have less control over their actions than they might think, and that web designers and developers have huge leeway for using language to nudge users through an experience.

Too often, we add words and images to something without a second thought about whether they are the right words and images. There’s only one way to find out, and that’s through testing. If the experiment above doesn’t convince you that it can be extremely worthwhile, then I don’t know what will.

Ask yourself: What are you trying to accomplish with your website or email campaign? Sign-ups? Click-throughs? Social media followers? Play with the variables around your particular call to action and see how a small change can score big results.

To get started, I’d highly recommend Smashing Magazine’s definitive guide to A/B Testing. It offers an excellent primer and practical advice, as well as top-notch tools, resources and examples, all in one spot. (It’s where I found this experiment.) Check out some of the other great case studies there too, like how 37 Signals increased sign-ups by 30% with a new headline or how Jason Thompson doubled the number of people contacting him by using his photo instead of a telephone icon.

Research shows that companies that consistently advertise even during more conservative economic times perform better in the long run. A McGraw-Hill Research study looking at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985 found that those businesses which chose to maintain or raise their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981 and 1982 recession had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. Specifically, companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than those that did not continue to advertise.

Further, this is a unique opportunity that is not available in a healthier economy:  As reflected in a Kellogg School of Management study, increasing advertising spending during economic expansion often yields no improvement in market share, because 80% of your competitors are also increasing their spending. Conversely, the Association of National Advertisers found that at least half of businesses reduce their adverting spend during an economic downturn.

When it comes to the Canadian economic development profession, a recent survey found a widening gap between EDOs that chose to increase or decrease marketing spending during the economically tumultuous conditions of 2009. According to the study, 62% of those that increased their marketing spending in 2009 planned to continue increased spending in 2010. In contrast, only 25% of those that cut back in 2009 planned to increase 2010 spending. Almost 30% of 2009 decreasers planned to further decrease budgets in 2010.

According to the Place Marketing Group:

“While some EDOs see little choice but to slash marketing spending, it is a step that risks a loss of future growth opportunities. Experts agree that those who maintain spending often emerge the strongest when things pick up. Cuts in marketing will show the most and help the least.”

The reality is that even under the bleakest economic conditions, clients and customers don’t stop making decisions. Given their own budget challenges, these decisions are likely being made with greater discernment and consideration. For economic developers, this means that dropping out of the race of promoting your municipality to save money in the short term puts you at a disadvantage compared to peers who choose to maintain marketing and communication efforts.

So what about your community? Are you spending for long-term success or cutting for short-term savings?

SUMMERSIDE, April 19, 2010 – On Three Communication Design Inc. recently announced the expansion of its operations to Summerside, Prince Edward Island. The marketing company, headquartered in Hamilton, Ontario, is currently exploring office space options in the city, and hopes to open its doors in June 2010.

“The growth and opportunity in Atlantic Canada is what motivated our decision to come to Summerside,” explains Jim McGimpsey, partner at On Three. “We have enjoyed our work on the Island immensely, and it’s time to hang out our shingle and continue to grow our business here.”

Although its Summerside location is new, On Three is no stranger to the Island. “We have been working on marketing initiatives in Summerside for years,” says On Three’s Heather Ciere. “We’ve come to love it here, so opening a Summerside location feels a little bit overdue actually. Once the decision was made we knew it was the right one.”

Ciere and McGimpsey are the minds behind projects like the Summerside commercials that aired during the Canada Games, the “Brick” Health IT business investment campaign, and the Summerside branding initiative that won national acclaim from the Economic Developers Association of Canada. On Three hopes to build on this portfolio with a larger group of clients as a result of their Atlantic Canada expansion.

Click here to view our Media Release and announcement of a Youth Business Contest.

At first glance, it makes sense: use a firm that lives and works here already and benefit from the expertise of someone who understands our city. But what if hiring someone who lives in, works in and knows your city is actually a bad thing when it comes to marketing it?

I just read a great post by Dave Trott that got me thinking about ignorance and why it’s important to marketing. Trott recounts the first time he and his grandmother encountered bags of tea, having used only loose tea before. They couldn’t figure out why people would wrap tea in tiny packages. Assuming it must be pre-measured into spoonfuls, Granny would cut the bags open and dump the tea into the pot to steep. Trott writes:

How can anyone not know what a teabag is?
But that’s humans.
We can’t believe the world isn’t exactly the same way for everyone else, as it is for us.
But the truth is, you only know what you know.
Until anyone tells you about something, it doesn’t even exist as a possibility.
After you find out about it, the possibility of anyone not knowing doesn’t exist.
And then you can’t go back.

Trott goes on to say that this is why it’s critical to capture everything you can from your initial ignorance if you are going to successfully market to your audience. In the case of place marketing, only an outsider can see your city through this critical lens. The more marketing agency starts to become a part of your city – with its challenges, its opportunities and its attitudes – the less they are able to maintain their initial ignorance.

As soon as we started to find things out, we moved away from the consumer’s state of knowledge.
And towards the client’s state of knowledge.
And the more we do that, the less use we are to them.
Clients don’t need someone who knows everything they know.
They need someone who knows what they don’t know.

It’s a pretty compelling argument for considering that an outside perspective might be just what your community needs to sell itself.

You can read the whole thing here.

And 2009 has been QUITE the year for economic developers.

We’ve done our best to chronicle some of the challenges, showcase best practices and to examine what a tough economic climate means for marketing and communication design. Based on traffic, these are our most popular blog posts from 2009. Enjoy!

1. How the Toronto Star lost my business for good… and what economic development marketers can learn from it.
2. $75,000 for THAT?
3. “Quality of life” becoming more important for relocation… but what does the term really mean?
4. The role of ambassador programs in economic development marketing
5. Tell the truth in city marketing
6. Oh General Motors, you didn’t. Wait. You did.
7. White Paper: Has branding become a dirty word?
8. Eleven myths of economic development.
9. Alberta rebrands itself
10. Alberta branding campaign gets caught in a major blunder.

This blog will keep trying making sense of marketing and communication for economic developers in 2010. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as we’ve enjoyed writing it.

So if we don’t even notice when one person suddenly turns into someone else, why are we so confident someone is going to notice our ads?

This little glimpse into human perception and behavior gives us all the more reason to make the investment in something that stands out. If Guy #2 had purple hair, I bet the 75% who failed to notice would have dropped to almost zero.

The lesson for marketing? Don’t settle for safe, average advertising. Instead, take a few risks and embrace the advertising equivalent of a purple mohawk. It’s the only way to get noticed.

Via Boing Boing.

1. January 2010: Hands off my marketing budget! – How to fight for your economic development marketing program
2. March 2010: Email marketing for economic developers
3. June 2010: Selling small: Marketing strategies for smaller communities
4. September 2010: So, did it work? – How to measure marketing effectiveness
5. November 2010: The future of social media for economic development

To give us feedback, or to suggest future topics, get in touch with us here. Happy reading!

• Place Branding in Practice
• Has Branding Become a Dirty Word?
• Economic Development Marketing in a Recession
• Buy-In Begins At Home
• Ambassadors: Your Secret Weapon
• The New Communication Tools for Economic Developers

We’re working on our next set of white papers and will be releasing one more in 2009 and another four are planned for 2009. You can view all our economic development publications at any time in our downloads section.

“Instead of just nattering on about features, gimmicks, and deals (like everyone else is) you might be better off to tap into a wave. This isn’t really such a groundbreaking notion. Big companies do it all the time! Think about it:

Apple doesn’t really sell computers or music players. They ride the design wave. They make it easy for us to access well designed objects and experiences, relatively affordably. This also comes with the promise of making our lives easier, simpler, or better. Apple’s promise has much more to do with functional beauty than with what’s in their devices.

Nike doesn’t really sell shoes or gear. They ride the sports wave. They hitch everything they do to the possibility of something epic. Sure, they could talk about materials, stitching, value, or some other thing. Instead, they concentrate on the joy of achievement, the camaraderie in sport, and discipline.

Harley Davidson doesn’t really sell motorcycles, handlebars, leather jackets, or branded hoodies. They ride the escape wave. Even if you don’t want a bike, most can appreciate the thrill of “leaving it all behind” and embracing the open road. Their wave brings with it the possibility of tapping something true, real, and free.

Look at almost every successful company out there, and you’ll see that they’re riding a wave. Eventually they might speak of specifications, value, or details, but most don’t do so until you’re interested enough to ask.”

So what “wave” can you tap into? Worth a read, the whole article is here.