Normally lists count down to the number one thing, but today, I’m going to start with the top thing.
Like them or not, the number one thing we can all learn from infomercials is…they work!
And that one is my limited time bonus offer!
Now here are 5 more things we can all learn from infomercials.
Product Demonstrations
If you sell just one product, then demonstrating its benefits is a perfect way to gain some belief in its capabilities.
If you sell a wide range of products from a variety of providers, showing potential customers what they can each do will help them decide which one will work best for them.
One fantastic cost-effective way to provide these to your customers is to set up a Youtube channel for your business. If you haven’t seen it, check out Will it Blend on Youtube. It is a fantastic way that the owner of Blendtec came up with to show why his blenders cost upwards of $700 each!
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
The memory is a funny thing, the more it hears something, the quicker it remembers it. This is why infomercials repeat the phone number multiple times, and continually mention the key phrases (usually a product benefit) they want you to remember (anyone remember “Just Set It, and Forget It!”)
How can you incorporate this? Use the same phrasing in all of your marketing. Taglines are a great thing to use, again, it should be a product or service benefit. Like a Good Neighbour, Have it Your Way, Eat Fresh; repeated taglines are a fantastic way to get your product benefit remembered. Use it when you answer the telephone, use it on your website, in all of your ads, in-store displays.
Remember, repeating your key phrasing is a great way to get your prospects to remember the benefits of doing business with you!
Limited Time Offers
The reason limited time offers work is because it forces people to act now before they get doing other things and forget.
“If you don’t act now, you’ll miss out!” – and who likes being left out? Nobody, that’s who!
I would caution you from giving deadlines on your limited time offers if they’re more than a few hours out, because people are born to procrastinate, and if given the choice, they will put it off until later, and will forget!
I always tell my clients to use “ends soon” rather than “ends Saturday” or “March 31st”, because specific deadlines allow people to tell themselves that they’ve got lots of time and they’ll forget.
Testimonials
Testimonials are fantastic! If they sound natural. People all have pretty good bologna meters and can spot a sales pitch from a mile away, so I caution you from “tweaking the script” or just flat-out writing it for them. Let testimonials come naturally and capture them to use on your websites, in brochures and I’ve even had some great response from a unique way we did radio testimonials simply by asking questions and recording the answers.
Catchy – Easy to Remember – Phrases
Just set it and forget it, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up, It Slices, It Dices, But that’s not all, But Wait, there’s More!
The reason they’re called “catch phrases” is because they’re catchy, or easy to remember.
What ways can your business create catch phrases from your unique benefits?
Most of these are exceptionally cost-effective ways to make your company’s benefits easily memorable and will probably work much better than those highly priced ad campaigns you’ve considered!
What ways can you incorporate these simple techniques into your marketing?
What other lessons can we learn from infomercials that I haven’t listed here?
And now…