Marketing,Messages,That,Work,T marketing Marketing Messages That Work -- Three Tips for Using Deadlin
Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie
A number of years ago, I consulted for a well-known charity, writingand designing fund raising emails. This organization had a strongmarketing program and a loyal base of supporters. We were alwaysracking our brains to come up with some new and clever way to ask thegroup's donors to make one more contribution. Donations tothis charity are tax-deductible, and every year, one of our topperformers was this: In late December, we'd send an email with a simpleheadline along the lines of "Only 48 hours left to claim a taxdeduction on this year's tax return." It never failed to bring thedonations rolling in.So here's the interesting thing. Insurveys, the group's donors told us they didn't actually care muchabout that tax deduction. The moral of this story is thatdeadlines deliver dollars. You see, the tax deduction didn't motivatepeople to make their donation -- but the deadline did motivate them todo it today!When you're in the marketing business,procrastination is one of the big reasons that campaigns fail. Foreverybody who responds to your message and whips out their checkbook,you can be sure there are others who mean to, but just never get aroundto it. Once you tune in to how much money you're losing todonors and customers who procrastinate, you'll understand why marketersacross the spectrum are always urging you to "act now" before you misssome deadline. Here are three tips for making the most of deadlines toovercome this human habit of procrastination:Deadlines usually mean "deal."You have to give your audience a reason not to miss the deadline, andmost of the time that means getting more for their money somehow. Twofor one if you act before Valentine's Day. Our anonymous donor willmatch any gift you make until his birthday next Thursday. Free shippingfor the first 100 customers. The deadline must seem real. Deadlineshave much less punch if your audience senses that you made them upyourself. They have more punch if somebody else imposed the deadline.For example, Uncle Sam gives you until Midnight on December 31 to claimthat tax deduction. Valentine's Day is February 14. We've only got 10widgets left and when they're gone, they're gone. You get the picture.The deadline must be coming up fast. Inyour marketing campaign, you want to give people enough time to meetthe deadline -- but just barely. For an electronic donation orpurchase, two days is a good amount of time. If it's an impulse itemand they're already in your store ("Attention K-Mart shoppers"), theyou can give them just a few minutes. But if you want to sell them on abig ticket item (that involves negotiation with the spouse), then youbetter give them a week or two. But however long the deadline it is, itshould seem like it's coming up fast. Any longer defeats the purpose ofhaving one in the first place. It's strange but it's true --one way to make more money is to give people less time to spend it! Sothe next time you are planning an advertising or fundraising effort,give some thought to how you create some kind of deadline, a sense ofurgency of that helps helps your audience stop thinking "I'll do itsomeday" and start thinking "I'll do it today."
Marketing,Messages,That,Work,T