Tug at the Heartstrings To Attract Customers

There’s a reason they keep running those really sad dog adoption commercials with Sarah McLachlan. Apparently, they work.

In the biz, they call this Content Marketing. Marketers are constantly looking for ways to grab your attention, and in the television media you are a captive audience. You have no choice but to watch it, and if the message speaks to you chances are you might bite at the product.

It’s a different story in the world of Email marketing, where you probably find yourself sending "spam" marketing emails you receive into the trash folder.

Guess what? So are your prospective customers if you aren't sending out targeted emails. A whole new marketing strategy has emerged around sending relevant information to consumers, getting them to spend more time on your website and ultimately buy your products.

Think of the sea of thousands of marketing messages sent out to consumers every day. With a well-designed marketing campaign, customers actually look forward to receiving marketing materials. It’s a genius trick of psychology.

How do we know it works? Consider the latest Nike ad campaign surrounding Colin Kaepernick and his sideline protests in the NFL. Sure, there are haters out there. But the latest numbers say Nike sales spiked by 61%, even while the company stopped offering online discounts.

Now, look at your own life. How many times have you clicked on a Facebook ad with a product that seems directly attached to your own interests? That’s not a mistake. It’s content marketing.

If you have customers, you want to reach them on a personal level. With a well-written and produced multi-media ad, instead of throwing it to the trash when they received it, they may spend 15, 30, 45 minutes with it. What if they anticipated it and shared it with their peers? That's a whole lot of potential customers for you. Learn how to use social media to market goods or services, target a certain audience, and influence buying through informative content. Consider the following:

• Search engines reward businesses that publish quality, consistent content. Take advantage of that power.

• Successful PR strategies address issues readers care about, not their business. Tug at the heartstrings and your customers will respond.

• Research shows that good content is key to driving inbound traffic and leads.

Happy Marketing!