Clicks 'n Conversions Blog

This article was first published  May 5, 2009  on the Tatum Marketing blog

Continuing with the blog entry I started on April 21st, here are  3 more “How to Invoke Response” tips.

How to Invoke Response Tip #4: Include a P.S.
Believe it or not, studies have shown that the P.S. portion of a message is the most read and recalled.

I understand this can be an especially hard concept to grasp, but here’s a case where I suggest you abandon what you “think you know,” relying instead on the marketing experts who have proven out this theory time and again.

To maximize response, use the P.S. in your promotional copy to reiterate the primary action you want the reader to take.

How to Invoke Response Tip #5: One call to action, please.
We all like options because it allows us to pick what’s “just right” for our situation, but sometimes when we give the reader too many choices, they don’t know which way to turn.

When we try to promote too many items within one single message, each item essentially competes for mindshare with the audience. As they dive deeper into their choices, they tend to forget earlier options.

Of course that’s not to say you should never promote more than one item in a message, but in these cases, make sure the list of items share a common thread, e.g. a holiday theme, special discounts for sales/marketing CDs, membership drive, etc.

A second, less obvious problem, can occur even when you’re promoting a single item. In this particular case, we give the reader too many choices (e.g. download this brochure, view this video, try our ROI calculator) that we distract the reader from the real action we want them to take.

Before creating promotional material, ask yourself, ‘What single goal do I want the reader to take?’ If the goal is to get them to “buy now,” everything in your promotional message should drive the reader to that one specific action.

How to Invoke Response Tip #6: Eliminate distractions.
This advice is a slight twist to tip #5.

Let’s say, for example, you’re tasked with promoting a webinar with a featured guest presenter. Your ultimate goal is to get the person to sign up for your event, but in order to do so, you need to sell the reader on the worth of this speaker. Redirecting readers to the presenter’s website might be easy, but what you’re doing is leading people away from your message.

Not the best idea. I prefer to use the copy within my own promotional message to sell the value of the speaker, highlighting what makes this person “the one expert” readers should listen to, and backing up my claims with a list of prior clients and/or a few testimonials. Sometimes I’ll link to a website page which lists testimonials, but more often than not I prefer to embed the testimonials in my own copy.

Sue Anderson
Marketing Lure, Inc.