Pictures are all that matter

The written word is irrelevant. The picture is all that matters. Is this a bit of an overstatement? Yes, but I contend it’s not nearly as much so as you might think.
To sell someone on an idea and have them take action, two pictures are critical:
1) the literal picture taken with a camera
2) the mental picture that captures the benefit of your product, service or idea

In the world of event marketing, I believe pictures are essential. You have literally a second to grab the ad viewer’s attention and perhaps three more to make the sale. Dense ad copy won’t cut it. Your ad will be ignored by all but your diehard fans if you have no picture. If you do have a picture, it should be compelling and tell the key story all by itself to make the sale.

Jumping over to social networking sites, consider this statistic from Harvard Business School researcher Mikolaj Jan Piskorski in Understanding Users of Social Networks: “Seventy percent of all actions [on social networking sites] are related to viewing pictures or viewing other people’s profiles.” For websites in general, research has shown that people make their initial assessment in less than half a second. All subsequent judgments on relevance, credibility and usability are based off of that initial assessment. In either case, I believe the essential point is the same: people want a mental snapshot that conveys both emotion and substances in three seconds or less.

So what exactly do I mean by a mental picture? It’s that image people create—usually subconsciously—that captures the main characters, the mood, and the main action or outcome of any event in their lives. You might think of it as the movie poster. Try asking your sales team, project member or customer sometime if they were to create a movie poster describing product/project “x” who would be on it and what it would look like. If they can’t create a vivid scene, you haven’t made the sale. If you can’t do the same at the outset, I contend you shouldn’t move ahead with your marketing.

The bottom line is this: we’re now in an age where “purchases”—whether literal or figurative—are visually driven. Creating pictures is an underutilized opportunity that I believe is absolutely critical to success.

A comma can cost a million dollars

Readers can afford to breeze through your content. Can you afford to do the same? The obvious answer is “no,” but even the best writer or marketer does it sooner or later. So, what’s the real line in the sand?

Guiding principle: any time you make an explicit promise it pays to use an expert writer and have it reviewed by qualified legal counsel.

A case in point: A 2006 contract dispute between Canadian cable company Rogers Communications and telephone company Bell Aliant hinged on how the placement of a comma was interpreted. Read one way it meant a contract could be ended with one year’s notice. Read the other way it meant the contract could be ended with five year’s notice. At stake: approximately $2 million.

Here’s the actual contract language in question:
"This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party."

How it turned out
On appeal the court ruled that Bell Aliant could not terminate the contract early. Bell Aliant would have saved $2 million if they had been able to terminate early. Regardless of who won the case everyone involved lost. They lost in time, legal fees, and good will. Can you afford to do any of the same with your clients or prospects?

Sources
The New York Times

Slaw—a cooperative Canadian weblog on all things legal

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