“Free Gift”, and other poor grammar that boosts your sales

Copywriter Bob Bly refers in this post to a debate he’s been having with one of his newsletter subscribers about the phrase “Free Gift”. Although a gift is necessarily free, many direct response ads and sales letters feature this phrase, along with many other instances of poor grammar, like:

• Excessive… use… of… elipsis and other punctuation marks
• “Use of quotation marks around headlines”
• Phrases like, “return the product for a prompt and courteous refund” – what exactly is a “courteous” refund?
• Lots Of Headlines Printed In Sentence Case
• Sentences that begin with “and”, “but” and “so”.

Mr Bly’s correspondent argues that “Free gift” is bad writing, whereas Mr Bly’s position is that you should do what works. Including “Free” has been proven to outsell the alternative – so why not use it?

I’ve conducted tests in the past that use “unconventional” English, and where these outperform the control, it’s not uncommon for a client to argue for staying with the less effective version that features “correct” grammar.

While typos and sloppy punctuation are unacceptable in marketing materials, isn’t this all about greater response for less marketing spend? Whadayareckon?

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New Blog Design Launched…Finally

It’s been a loooooong time coming, but I’ve finally launched the new Marketing Results blog design – a big thanks to my designer Phil! There’s some new functionality in place as well, including:

• Featured article links (hard coded)
• Newsletter signup
• More intuitive commenting
• Related posts
• Social bookmarketing
• Recent comments
• Add-to-RSS buttons
• Internal tags

Any comments on how the design could be further improved? I’d love to hear them.

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Google Maps Launched In Australia

Google launched Google Maps in Australia this week and I went over to check out the functionality – from the perspectives of both a consumer and a marketer. While Google Maps has been viewable in Australia for some time, the latest updates have fully localised the service and provided additional features such as more detailed topographical images, driving directions and business listings.

That puts Google Maps in direct competition with the Yellow Pages, and the YP people must be none too pleased, because Google Maps is, well, a lot better.

The Consumer’s Perspective

Mmmm…..mappy goodness. Google Maps has gone straight into my favourites. One of the reasons why I like it is that it combines some of the best features of Google Search, whereis (direction finder) and the Yellow Pages into one site.

I’m having a smash with a friend at the golf driving range tonight so I did a search for “oxley golf course oxley rd oxley brisbane”, which returned the following results:

I was impressed by the variety and depth of info returned, including:

• Addresses, phone numbers and websites
• Other related businesses in the area
• Driving directions
• “Golf” and “Oxley” related contextual ads
• Links to related categories

Enough said – give Google maps a try.

The Marketer’s Perspective

From a marketing perspective, I believe that Google Maps is significant because it more deeply integrates search with purchasing context. Let me explain…

One reason why Google Adwords produces such a solid ROI is that the ad appears exactly when a user is searching for a product or service – the search and the solution (ad) are closely connected in time.

Now, Google Maps results enable searches and solutions to be more closely connected in time and space. For local businesses, this should mean an even higher return from Google Adwords.

Obviously, any effect will be proportional to the number of people who use Google Maps, so it will be interesting to see how quickly Google Maps is adopted in Australia.

This comparison of searches for “Google Maps” vs “Yellow Pages” reveals that in Australia at least, the YP has a solid lead [note that the data are around 3 months old at the time of writing] – it will be interesting to see what happens over the coming months.

Other services just round the corner

Google Maps is the first of the Google “local” services to reach Australia – others are no doubt in the pipeline (e.g Google Local integrated with Mobile services). I believe these will have a significant impact on the Internet search space when they arrive.

Looking out for them and thinking about how you will use them before they arrive is an excellent way to get the jump on your competition.

Will Swayne
Internet Optimiser

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