Sharon's Marketing Missive

Driving down the freeway yesterday, I saw a van for Insite Inspection with the question “What’s in your crawl space?” stenciled on the back window right above the Web site address (www.terrisinspect.com).

This is a fabulous example of asking the right question!

All marketers and copywriters know asking questions is a great way to get people’s attention, to engage them so they read your ad, Web site, brochure, email, etc. But those questions often miss the mark because people can just answer them without really thinking and move on.

Asking me what’s in my crawl space gets right to a fear factor and therefore gets my attention. Plus it’s a question I can’t easily answer! It makes me think of that dark, dank place full of countless spiders and other creepy things (so Halloween-y) and yes, I do wonder what’s going on in there: Termites? Carpenter ants? Rotten wood? Is there a leaky pipe perhaps? But I certainly don’t want to crawl in there and find out!

Another favorite example of mine is the huge banner hanging by the side of the freeway asking “Are your trees safe?” as an attempt to market the tree-topping company located there. The thousands of drivers passing by that banner each day no doubt think to themselves “Of course they are.” Imagine the reaction if the banner said “Are your trees dangerous?” Now that would make people stop and think! “I don’t know, are they?”

Questions are a great way to engage and to show people right from the start that you’re familiar with their pains and can relate to them. But make the questions—and all your copywriting—relevant to the customer to make them work.

P.s. I checked out the inspection company’s Web writing. Sadly, it slips right back into that writing for the Web that is so common, the “let me tell you all about me” copywriting instead of the customer-centric copywriting that can be so much more effective.