Because, usually, the copy doesn’t answer the basic question: “Which means?” And it never drills down far enough to touch the heart of the customer.

Allow me to illustrate.

One of my clients is New Balance San Antonio, a highly successful chain of shoe stores in San Antonio.  Even when the economy tanked in 2008, owner Rob Kaufman still grew his business by double digits.

How?

By never cutting back on advertising, even when things were bad (a very important factor), and (even more importantly), by delivering a message that is relevant to the customer.

New Balance San Antonio can talk all day long about their 88 points of fit and 40 different shoe models that are created to fit the needs of every foot, but the business won’t sell a single pair of shoes until it can translate its competitive edge into language that means something to the customer.

Example: NBSA wanted to air a radio ad that addressed how “overpronation” of the foot can lead to pain in the body, emphasizing the power of New Balance shoes to correct the problem.

For nearly every phrase I wrote in the ad, I had to remind myself to listen to the customer’s voice in my head, asking “Which means?”

Even the simplest fitness regimens can cause knee pain.

Which means?

You may be wearing a shoe that doesn’t fit the shape of your foot.

Which means?

You may suffer from overpronation.

Which means?

Your foot is rolling inward more than it should.

Which means?

Your knees are vulnerable to injury.

Which means?

You’ll get hurt and you won’t get to enjoy the pleasure of being active.

Which means?

You need shoes that fit, and New Balance has the shoe for you.

The final 60-second radio script looked like this:

Sometimes, life just isn’t fair.  Why should working so hard to get healthy hurt so much?  Well, it shouldn’t! Hi, this is Rob Kaufman from New Balance San Antonio.  Walking, jogging, running – even the simplest fitness regimens can cause pain.  Why?  Because you’re probably wearing a shoe that wasn’t made for your foot.

You may be suffering from overpronation, which is just a fancy way of saying that each time you take a step, your foot rolls in more than it should.  That forces your big toe to handle most of the work needed to push off the ground for your next step.  And THAT means your shins, ankles, and knees are vulnerable to injury.  Let New Balance San Antonio make the hurt go away, with a pair of motion control or stability fitness shoes.  Crafted according to 88 points of designated fit, and with more than 40 models to choose from, you’ll find the shoe that will make getting healthy feel great!

Roll in to New Balance San Antonio today and make your hurt go away. Visit us at the Strand at I-10 and Huebner, at The Forum at I-35 and Loop 1604, or our newest store at Quarry Village.

Remember: when your feet feel good, your whole body feels good!

You can listen to the final product here: New Balance San Antonio – “Overpronation”

Granted, this ad won’t win any creative copywriting awards, but that’s not the goal – persuading the customer and growing your business is.

The next time you’re writing copy for an ad, a brochure, or a website, keep the “Which means?” question in your head at all times.  Answer the customer’s question, and keep answering it till you’ve translated your competitive edge into a language that will have customers knocking on your door.

“It didn’t happen every time for every movie. Ruthless People was a good movie, but we didn’t get a good release or marketing. They completely blew the opening.”
- David Zucker

When I first wrote this post, Husband was at the piano working on a tune that bubbled up from the recesses of his right brain.  Too irresistible to ignore, he sat down one morning after breakfast and started playing.  It was a beautiful, haunting melody with the lush harmonies Husband is so well known for, making it heartbreakingly bittersweet.

He often builds entire compositions around thoughts like this.  We were discussing it over lunch one day, when he said, “You know, this reminds me of something I wish I’d told Holly a few weeks ago when she was here for dinner.  I should have told her, ‘opening gestures.’”

He was referring to a conversation we’d had in which we were comparing the speaking styles of presenters we often see at conferences and conventions.  Obviously, some are better than others.  As we tried to dissect the style of a number of different authors and speakers, Holly wondered about the “common element” - what was the one thing they all had in common, no matter how varied the topic?

Opening Gestures:

the element with which every great composer, author and artist is familiar.  No matter how great the creation, the opening gesture is what grabs a person by the nape of the neck and shoots an electric charge down their spine. It is the director of attention; it sets the tone for everything that will follow.

As Husband would tell you (and has told others numerous times through his lectures), “Everyone has to deal with opening gestures in one way or another.  Whether it’s  meeting someone for the first time, tweaking someone’s interest,  engaging their attention or provoking some thought.  Politicians do it, clergy do it, teachers do it. We do it all the time.  How to begin a term paper, a letter of introduction, an application for graduate school or for a job.”

When husband gives this lecture, he cites great opening gestures of all kinds.  Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5; Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man;  The Who’s Baba O’Riley.

Opening lines of books set the stage for greatness:

“A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs a deep green.  The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.”
-John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.”
- Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice — not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.”
- John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”
- J. D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye

“I was trapped in a house with a lawyer, a bare-breasted woman and a dead man. The rattlesnake in the paper bag only complicated matters.”
- Earl Emerson, Fat Tuesday

“It was a pleasure to burn.”
- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Grand opening gestures surround you.  Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water.  John Portman’s lobby of the New York Marriott Marquis.  The paintings of Picasso and Caravaggio.

The blow-your-hair-back, going-a-hundred-while-standing-still design of the Ferrari Daytona.

And of course the mother of all opening gestures – the Big Bang.

Great brands calculate and create opening gestures that stem from a passion for the business.  Starbucks did it with the European cafe storefront.  Krispy Kreme did it with warm doughnuts plucked right off the conveyor belt.  Google does it by customizing their homepage logo to honor a holiday, historic event or person.  Apple did it with the iPod using sleek minimalist design – who would have thought pure white could be so colorful?

These brands also realize that they have hundreds of opening gestures to contend with everyday, since customers arrive via different avenues and with different mindsets.  Just to tick off a few miniature opening gestures, you have:

• store location
• signage
• parking lot
• physical entrance
• store atmosphere (lighting, cleanliness, smell, etc.)
• greeting by staff members
• how the phone is answered
• delivery & content of outgoing voicemail message
• headlines in ads
• homepage on the website

I’m sure you can think of a few more.  This may even be the first time you’re thinking about it at all.

What are your opening gestures?

Are they remarkable enough to get the attention of customers?  Take five minutes to jot down a list of your opening gestures, then give them a rating from 1 to 10.  How’s it going?  What could be improved?  Are you brave enough to have some of your customers rate your opening gestures?  It could be an eye opener.

Improve your opening gestures and you’ll improve your bottom line.  Ah, the ka-ching of the cash register… now that’s music to the ears.

Glenn is the salesman who sold me my first Acura.  Then he sold me my second Acura.

He treated me with respect, talked to me like an adult, and never once tried to scam me.  And every time I took the car in for service (twice a year, at the most), Glenn came looking for me to say hello and see if I was still happy with the vehicle.

A couple of years ago, Glenn called to say thanks for the past business, and to let us know that he’d moved on to a new sales job with Mercedes.  About six months later, he was named one of the top salespeople for Mercedes in the region.

When it came time for my husband to purchase a new car, you can guess which brand he chose. He also drove 20 miles out of his way to buy the car from Glenn, when he could have easily dealt with the dealership in our neck of the woods.

Now Glenn has moved once again, to our neighborhood dealership.  We expect to receive the next edition of the dealership’s quarterly newsletter and see that Glenn has been named the #1 salesperson for the entire autopark.

Glenn could sell a bottle of water to a drowning man.

Is your salesperson better than your product?

If your revenue has taken a dip, it could be because that salesperson you didn’t fight to keep has moved on, taking customers with her.

The relationship a customer has with an outstanding salesperson will outlast any product, any day.

Loyalty is a tricky issue, and personal connections are embedded in ways no product can achieve.  Especially in the right brain of the female consumer.

I’ll be buying a new vehicle in the not-so-distant future.  Let’s just hope that by then, Glenn hasn’t moved on to selling Winnebagos.

Men and women will now pay equal premiums for equal coverage.

Now, if I could just get my dry cleaner and hair stylist to do the same.  Maybe I should call my Congress person…

Judging by the number of people waiting to board, I could tell it was a full flight.  I took my window seat and was soon joined by an older woman, probably in her early 70’s, on the aisle. Silver hair, huge gold hoop earrings, wearing jeans and a T-shirt that said “I Love Las Vegas.”

Shortly after that, a girl of about 15 squeezed into the middle seat.  She was definitely an East Coast native — long dark hair, bold makeup… dressed in a black leather bomber jacket over a skirt that resembled a ballerina’s tutu, psychedelic tights, and combat boots.   She sat down, stuck the earbuds from her iPod into her ears, and with a sullen look stared straight ahead.

About halfway through the trip, the captain made one of his usual announcements about the weather.  When he had finished, the girl removed the earbuds and turned to the older woman to ask what the captain had said.  At first, I didn’t pay any attention, but I soon realized that the two were engaged in a highly animated conversation.  I eavesdropped with fascination for the rest of the trip (I’m good at pretending to read business magazines), as they discussed everything from where they were headed, books they were reading, fashion, makeup, and politics to where the best skateboarding parks are located in San Diego.

I thought it was interesting that the young girl had turned to the older woman to talk rather than me.  After all, I am closer to the age of her mother, I mused.  Then it hit me – that’s exactly why she turned to the grandmotherly figure.  These two generations have many more things in common than most people realize.  A woman from the Baby Boomer generation who could very well have marched for women’s lib and peace in Vietnam, and a girl of the Millennium, the generation increasingly concerned with how to make a difference and preserve the future of the world.

Experts like David Wolfe and Ken Dychtwald have been raising the flag of marketing to boomers for some time now and rightly so, as boomers hold the purchasing power of today and tomorrow.  But how about thinking ahead?  What are some ways that you can appeal to the lifestyle and core values of Boomer women and, at the same time, resonate with those same core values within the younger generation?  What a way to cultivate your customer of the future!

Don’t discount the teenage and college-aged women of today, and don’t be fooled by the language they use, the color of their hair, or the style of their dress.  After all, it seems like only yesterday that society was up in arms over those damned hippies.

They didn’t wear tie-dyed peasant blouses forever… now they wear T-shirts that read, “I Love Las Vegas.”

They also carry big, fat wallets.

Stop thinking about marketing to women as a “universal” theory and screw those stereotypical categories like “Soccer Moms.”  It ain’t that easy.  But… if you start viewing female customers as individuals and members of a generation with shared values, you’re halfway there.

I’m not structured enough as a person to follow the Getting Things Done model.  I honestly don’t believe in the Four Hour Work Week.  But I do have my own simple system that not only keeps me on track, it prevents me from letting the day get away from me.  Which, in turn, wards off anxiety and (yes), sometimes, depression.

1. Prioritize The Quarter

I divide the year into four quarters and focus on one quarter at a time.  I draw up a chart with the big categories of my life, and list the top things I want to achieve in that quarter.  Here, for instance, is the chart for the first quarter of 2010 – it hangs next to my computer screen for easy reference.  Anything due beyond April 1^st?  I’ll worry about it next quarter. (Click on photos to enlarge)

2. Schedule The Week

Every weekend (usually late Sunday afternoon), I grab my spiral notebook (sometimes it’s a Moleskine) and take ten minutes to schedule “what’s due” for the week.  That includes business operations, client needs, special projects, and writing.  It also includes to-do’s in my personal life, which should ALWAYS carry as much weight, if not more, than the work list.  At the bottom of the list, I write out my appointments for each day of the week.  Anything due beyond that week?  I’ll worry about it next week. (Click on photo to enlarge)

3. Schedule The Day

I have a daily to-do list.  For me, it’s the difference between frittering the day away and achieving something of worth.  I take two minutes each morning to look over my list and see what needs to get done.  I note the biggest priority of the day and make sure it gets done.

At the end of each day (usually late afternoon/early evening) I spend five minutes writing out my to-do list for the next day.  Reviewing my weekly priorities and appointments, I can plug in the highest priority and make sure it gets the attention it deserves.  Sometimes, I don’t get everything done and have to move a couple of items to the next day’s list, but that’s OK – it not so much about getting everything done in a panic as ensuring that you completed the highest priority of the day.  Anything due beyond that day? I’ll worry about it tomorrow. (Click on photo to enlarge)

Things To Remember

1) Don’t make the list too big – you must make sure you are leaving time for yourself and your loved ones each and every day.  Following this system, I’m able to (usually) turn the computer off at 5 p.m. and spend a worry-free evening with my husband.  If you work on your own and like to work in the evening, take a chunk of time off during the day, just for you.