Funmarketer Tip of the Week

Years ago when I was new in direct mail I toured Metromail’s old lettershop. The place held some of the most amazing inserting and affixing equipment on the planet. The mechanics at this cavernous mail center had jury-rigged several machines that could affix nearly any small object to paper. Pennies, stamps, cards; these folks could stick it on a piece of paper and get it in the mail to you.

But why go to the hassle? Why increase in-the-mail production costs by creating a more complex mail piece? The answer was simple — the longer you could keep the mail respondent involved with the direct mail piece, the greater your response rate.

The lesson for any marketer is simple: Get the hands involved. How often do you walk into your grocery store on a weekend and are offered a free sample of juice or sausage? Does your favorite local coffee shop offer to give you a free taste of the flavor of the day to help you decide what to drink? You know car dealers nearly wet their pants in anticipation of getting you in the car so you can take a test drive.

There is no substitute for putting a person’s hands in touch with an object; not only does touching get them involved plus it opens their minds to the possibilities. There is a feedback from the brain to the touch mechanisms in our fingers. We are tool users, and the hands are the manipulators of the tools…the hands are the brain’s number one tool, actually. It is just so incredibly vital to get the person’s hands involved.

But what about engaging the intellect…overcoming objections with logical sales presentations and expressions of the facts?

Sure, that’s great and necessary. People don’t buy on either emotions or reason alone. Go ahead and answer the objection in your marketing…but at the same time get their hands involved and engage their brains on another level. While their hands explore their imaginations kick in. They imagine how good that coffee will taste; they imagine how good they will look driving that car around….they imagine what they can do with your product.

Now, how do you do that on the web? You have to get their hands involved with the keyboard… give them a chance to interact with your product as much as possible. Allow them to comment on your blog or rate your product or customer service. The more you can entice people to become involved with your site and hold their interest, the more you will sell them. Try and integrate involvement in your next promotional marketing.

Funmarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

This photo is great for anything related to a business-education seminar, training or higher-education. The model suggests a nice balance of professionalism and friendliness.

Headline: When You’re Ready to Take Your Life to the Next Level, Acme School of Business is There For You
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