Response Boosting Tip for Digital Marketers

Here’s a potentially powerful way to boost eyeballs and click-throughs on your internet advertising. Create a teaser that capitalizes on a popular current news or social interests story. It must be something you can connect to your product or service. But there are many more such opportunities than you may think. Here’s an example: An estate planning attorney that put out a video connected to the hugely popular Netflix series “Tiger King.”   I like the idea of producing a “Famous Estates” series. And although it was clear to me that the video would link me to a pitch, I couldn’t resist clicking on it to see how the transition was managed.To do this properly, the transition must be smooth on both an emotional and intellectual level. You can’t allow the viewer to feel like he’s been suckered into a bait and switch. In this case, the gimmick is unlikely to result in sales because the video itself is as bad as it could possibly be. The connection with “Tiger King” and titling the video as part of a Famous Estates series evokes the expectation of tabloid-like sensationalism with the appropriate visual effects. Instead, you have this static presentation of an attorney reading obviously and poorly from a very amateurish script. Had it been done properly, the viewer would have been entertained – both in his emotional satisfaction of the drama and the urgency of the claims about the danger of bad estate planning – and a confirming click-through to a landing page would have been almost impossible to resist. Nevertheless, the core idea is very good. I’ve suggested this approach many times to marketers that I consult with. More often than not, they don’t understand how important it is to make an emotionally and intellectually consistent transition. But those that have done it right have gotten tremendous results. Give it a try, and let me know if it works.  

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