HomePressing a customer’s ‘Go’ buttons
There is an art to good marketing. Entire library sections are filled with books on the subject. I’m just a learner . Accordingly, I like to try and notice when a marketing ploy has worked on me. The one described below did. It’s not very sophisticated. Probably the best ploys aren’t.
I received a simple email (see screenshot below). It wants me to read some handbook. I don’t really understand what it even is really. I know just enough to know that I probably am not going to be interested in it. But I filled in the form to receive it! Why?
They told me it was free They told me it was limited supply They required me to sign up for it.
Normally free is not a good enough reason for me to delve into some random thing that I probably don’t want (how many times have you received an unsolicited email hawking something you actually did want?). The thing that crushed my resistance was the “limited supply” line, combined with the fact that I couldn’t just download it immediately. Scarcity and exclusivity. Not just a regular download link on a website that any Tom, Dick, or Harry can click. Probably doesn’t hurt that it comes from a vendor I know and trust. Jeez, must be good, I got on it immediately.
Notice that it’s available as PDF. How can a PDF be scarce? Do they only have a certain amount of bytes available to send over the internet? So even though I am pretty sure I am being manipulated by a marketing ploy, I still can’t help myself. Interesting. Kind of like a $199.99 price tag. Rationally this is insignificantly different from $200, but somehow removing that 1 cent makes the price disproportionately more attractive.
You want your products to sell themselves. You want them to provide real value to customers. However, you still have to get your messages to customers. You must vie for their attention and pique their curiosity. Knowing a few good marketing ploys can’t hurt.
