First things first here: a big shout out to Frank Taylor for letting me borrow the book Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot. When Frank isn’t waxing poetic about how vampire movies give him ideas about economic policy, he’s usually doing some pretty useful thinking in the area of web marketing. He did very well in recommending this book. It is probably the best version of a manual for marketing online that I’ve ever seen. You have to read it.
With that said, there is one plea I have from the folks at Hubspot: Please make your acronyms better. Two of the best pieces of advice in the book are acronyms. However, they’re acronyms that I don’t think I’ll ever remember because they aren’t words …. but they could be. So here’s my suggestion for how these acronyms should be presented.
- PAVE – ing compelling calls to action. In the chapter titled Convert Visitors into Leads, the Hubspot boys offer up their VEPA formula. It goes something like this: make sure your calls to action are Valuable (what’s in it for me?), Easy to use (clear and simple, with few words), Prominent (clickable image, above the fold) and Action oriented (start with a verb – don’t be too cute). Awesome advice, but I’ll never remember it. I have no idea what a VEPA is. However, turn the letters around, and you get the word (an actual word) PAVE. And it even applies to what we’re talking about. PAVE the way to compelling calls to action. That I’ll remember.
- Be sure you’re hiring CARDs. A great chapter in the book for anyone heading up marketing efforts in a corporate setting focuses on how to hire the right people. The authors use the acronym DARC. This is to remind us that we need to hire a) Digital citizens (people who are already out there on the web), b) Analytics chops (people who know how to measure what’s going on, c) Web Reach (people with connections that mean something and that could possibly be leveraged, and d) Content creators. OK, this one at least sounds like a real word (dark). But why not switch it around and make it CARD. Again, it brings new meaning to the idea of someone being a real CARD (“that guy is such a card”). I’ll remember that I need to hire CARDs.
Hopefully it’s obvious that I love this book. The to-do lists throughout the book are invaluable, and they’ve thrown in a couple appendices that are just loaded with links and tips. Seriously, it’s a must-read for any marketer.
And who knows … maybe the next edition will incorporate some more memorable acronyms.
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Hi Brett,
Great review! It’s on my reading list. I always learn something from their RSS feed. The call to action at the end of each blog post seems obvious but most people kinda leave this out (including me at the beginning). Wondering how direct sellers would apply this book to their marketing efforts?
Janette
Learning the acronyms was killer. I took notes and they still didn’t help. Thanks for the tip.
Don’t forget that websitegrader.com was another great takeaway: a free way to grade the site’s marketability.
I guess my next post will have to be on werewolves and forecasting
Thanks for writing about the boook — glad that you enjoyed it and found it useful.
You are *totally* right about the acronyms. We could have done those much better. We’ll get that fixed in the 2nd edition of the book — and appreciate your suggestion.
Cheers,
Dharmesh Shah
Co-author, “Inbound Marketing”
Dharmesh – great job on the book, and thanks so much for the comment. Seriously, it’s the most well-rounded book I think I’ve read on marketing today, so kudos.
Frank – yep, websitegrader.com is an awesome tool. I had used it a few years ago and forgotten all about it. I’ll be using it all the time now, if for no other reason than tracking inbound links.
Janette – I think I may be guilty on the lack of a strong call to action at the end of every post. Gotta pay more attention. As for direct sellers, I actually think the book would apply pretty much directly to them just as it does any business person. Probably its best use would be a great introduction to all that’s possible on the web right now. I know many direct sellers struggle with knowing the basics, and may even feel forced to jump in. This book would be a good one to help put it all in perspective (along with GaryVee’s Crushin It, which is much more entrepreneurial focused).
bd
@bdunc1
Great review!
I totally agree about the acronyms.
We wrote a preview of the book on our blog (http://www.a2mg-blog.com)before we starting reading it and have so far really enjoyed it. But your suggested acronyms would make it a lot easier to internalize the valuable lessons in the book.
Thanks,
-AZ
So true about acronyms, they are great if the right audience is reading them….if not, it really alienates those who don’t.
[...] who gave a great insight into his world of inbound marketing and I loved the concept of VEPA to grab blog visitors by giving them something Valuable, Easy, Prominent, and Actionable. Amen. [...]
Dear Brett,
Great review, which (paradoxically considering what you said about it) I found by Googling VEPA. I’m in the process of writing my own review for Amazon in the UK.
I like the way that you reorder the two acronyms, but I think that the authors (Dharmesh, are you still foolowing) for the following reasons:
1.
Dear Brett,
(Sorry about previous half completed post – couldn’t see a way to delete it.)
Great review, which (paradoxically considering what you said about it) I found by Googling VEPA. I’m in the process of writing my own review for Amazon in the UK.
I like the way that you reorder the two acronyms, but I think that the authors (Dharmesh, are you still following? If so – I loved the book!) for the following reasons:
It avoids the suggestion that you’ve created a mere “backronym”, a concept I came across on wikipedia recently. My coaching organisation loves this sort of thing – e.g. and not their own work, TEAM = Together everyone achieves more, etc. Frankly, it can get a little tiresome. The best acronyms create new words – from NATO, UNESCO to scuba, laser and radar.
There is a degree of protectable intellectal property in creating a new word like this, and at the very least you have a term the origin of which can be traced back to a first publication.
So – and I admit that this is not based on any kind of market research – I’d stick, with, and claim, VEPA and DARC. Remarkable content!
Nick
Nick – OK, I see your point. We’re kinda taking this thing on from two different angles, and both make sense.
On the one hand, I’m suggesting using acronyms that are already words and therefore memorable. However, because they are already words, they may get lost in the mix.
To your point, invent new words with your acronyms, and hope it sticks. It may take more time, but it will at least be unique.
To-MAY-to, To-MAH-to ….
I like you’re thinking, though. I think I’ll stick with my PAVE and CARD for this one in particular.
bd
Hi Brett,
To-MAY-to, To-MAH – to
but let’s not call the whole thing off…
Nick
FORD – is that First on Race Day or Fix or Repair, Daily?