Banks, lawnmower companies, and real estate agents know direct marketing works. Nobody likes getting junk mail – credit card offers, Labor Day sales, the best local agent who can sell your home now – but you cannot win business without making an offer. In 2002, direct mail generated the majority of new credit card signups. In 2019, up to three quarters of new accounts still came from direct mail campaigns.
Today, the same story holds true for social media and digital content: those bold enough to make the offer make the sale. Point-of-sale content marketing, the writing and digital content designed to give your consumer the final push to purchase, may feel too salesy. That’s because everyone wants to buy, but no one wants to be sold to.
This makes point-of-sale content some of the trickiest to create. As with direct mail marketing, there is a risk of coming off as pushy instead of understanding. Empathy for your buyer is crucial for making an effective offer, whether taking advantage of Instagram’s in-built shopping features in a post, sending out email newsletters, or crafting written recommendations in a blog post. So how can you make your brand’s direct marketing feel less like advertising, and more like an empathetic offer?
Not all your consumers are the same. Understanding what matters to the different types of people that make up your audience allows for more tailored messaging, more resonant offers, and sales marketing that feels less pushy and more humble.
What works for selling coffee mugs to a literature-obsessed grandmother in the Pacific Northwest is likely very different from the messaging that sells that same mug to a teenage motorcycle enthusiast in Florida. Will they both buy the mug? Maybe, if you reach them with empathy and a segmented message.
Consumer segmentation is nothing new. Still many brands neglect to differentiate their strategies for different target groups. At Practical Effects, we work with our clients to build strategies that play into the unique experiences of different buyers. This sort of empathy drives sales now, and builds trusted brands for the long haul.
This offer is just for you. Yes, you. Thanks for opening this email. Sound familiar? Maybe it’s a bit cheesy and overought, and maybe it’s even common knowledge today, but personalized emails drive 139 percent higher clickthrough vs. static messages.
Empathy is about connecting with your consumer, and combining personal identifiers – name, location, and past engagement with your brand – with what you know about different audience segments leads to greater engagement and connection with your brand. Those of us well-versed in marketing playbooks may be tempted to say that feels too simple, too salesy, and too transparent.
As silly as it may sound, however, which reads better?
Sure, it’s salesy. Yes, it’s an advertisement. It also acknowledges the consumer – Emily – and presents the sales event offer in the context of her brand loyalty. At Practical Effects, we recommend strategies for our clients that prioritize empathy, because we know empathy creates loyalty. Combined with audience research and appropriate segmentations, customization is a powerful tool for creating differential value.
Selling with kindness is a principle. That means selling to your customers as you would like to be sold to.
At some point, all of us buy a product or contract a service because we saw an advertisement. If it is a good product, we appreciate the advertisement for bringing a valuable product to our attention and solving for a need. If it is a bad product, we resent the marketers behind the campaign for selling us something useless, defective, or unnecessary.
What’s the takeaway? Honest marketing creates brand evangelists, while dishonest marketing creates brand detractors. We end on this point because point of sale marketing is the trickiest of all content to produce: as the final argument in favor of purchase, it has to be the most honest, clear, and empathetic offer in the entire consumer journey.
Practical Effects operates on the principle of selling with kindness. Driving one-time sales at the expense of long-term evangelism is bad policy. Customizing your messaging at the group and individual level, and bringing your most honest offer to the point of sale creates gratitude, brand evangelism, and repeat customers.
Interested in talking about your brand’s approach to customer empathy and sales marketing with like-minded creatives and strategists? Email hello@practical.nyc or reach out to your account executive.
