How to Impress the Hard to Impress

One of the challenges in today’s marketing world is there is just TOO MUCH WHITE NOISE! In addition, we are only just beginning to realise the power of big data in helping us to understand what impact all of our marketing efforts are actually having on our target audiences. Furthermore, this can be a complex task when trying to fuse the connectivity between the physical and digital worlds. Nevertheless, marketers are wise and quick to realise their main objective is to make an impact.

So, the question is, how do marketers get through to those smart, seen-it-all before audiences, who are just not so easy to please?

Given the findings of direct response researchers, (from Market Reach Mailmen Report, ‘Discover why People Value Mail’) that well-crafted mail shots are able to create positive responses, regardless of sector or type of content, being creative and original in approaching your target audience is essential to engage and interact with media savvy audiences and be remembered. Particularly when they are hard to impress. Standard run of the mill direct mail pieces can fail to make an impression; whilst more relevant postal communications can evoke responses, although proof of their value is not always measurable.

However more innovative, multi-sensory communications, such as VideoPak, Digital Key and Live Beacon can add that vital power to evoke feelings of being special, cared about, intrigued and happy. Evoking emotions using creative packaging combined with digital technology to relay a powerful message can ensure that your message stands out amongst all the other white noise. Making an impression is not just important for its immediate impact, it can transform perceptions of your brand with lasting effects, generating loyalty in clients who never understood your relevance to them before.

Not only does creative engagement and interaction benefit the minds of your customer base, there are also tangible benefits for your company in terms of getting to know and understand your audience better and demonstrable ROI.

When your marketing-weary direct mail recipient receives an engaging and interactive marketing tool, a more sophisticated, sleek multi-media communication piece in creative packaging, delivering them your message, you are ensuring you’re standing out from the crowd, being memorable and leaving that lasting impression.

Innovative marketing products such as VideoPak, a video play back device in printed packaging fuses physical and digital technologies together creating a multisensory experience engaging senses of sight, touch and hearing.

Multi-sensory experiences are proven to have lasting impacts on memory, so you stay uppermost in the mind of your recipient. Often valued mail was found in research commissioned by the Royal Mail to have changed perceptions of the sender, amongst 2000 surveyed mail recipients, keeping them “…uppermost in mind”.

What is important is to generate a range of emotions, to make people feel they are special, together with other emotions, such as having been valued enough to have been thought about. Researchers on valued mail recommended marketers should: “Show how you see customers as individuals by making your mail personal and relevant. Mail that does this will create both short- and longer-term value.”

For instance relevant, targeted promotions, such as loyalty rewards and vouchers were found to have the following feelings: “ ‘better/ more informed’ (56%), ‘rewarded’ (78%), ‘happy’ (66%) and ‘pleasantly surprised’ (65%).”

Inparticular, the researchers identified four “closely connected” feelings generated by valued mail.

• A sense of feeling special
• A sense of excitement
• A sense of being rewarded
• The experience of bringing back a happy memory

The power of a creative promotional marketing tools can generate real engagement and interaction, and in combining the two can create a rich emotional impact and memorable experience that can invade even the most cynical of mind-set.

Successfully using these creative marketing tools can enhance your audiences marketing experience and help you feel good by delivering a positive impact on previously hard to please customers.