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As a New Business Director, much of my outreach to prospects is a combination of e-mail and letters mailed along with collateral pieces.
Most marketers with whom I speak receive literally hundreds of communications weekly from other agencies.
Think about how many e-mails you receive during a week. It’s 3:15 PM, and I’ve already received more than 100 emails today.
I’ve read about 10 of those.
I’ve replied to about five of those, the five from my boss.
Do people even read anymore?
The Internet, WiFi and hand-held devices, such as smart phones and tablets, give consumers unprecedented access to consume all types of media, but have our attention spans become shorter as a result?
If so, how can we create collateral, letters and emails that will make people read them or at least notice them?
As marketers, we struggle every day to break through the noise and make our voice heard. So what is the answer?
I think we need to take a page from Dorothy Kunhardt, author of “Pat the Bunny.”
Yes it’s a children’s book and yes its old enough that even I owned one as a small child.
It was my favorite book as a toddler and what this book understood and what we as marketers need to understand, is how to engage our audience and spark that connection.
It’s About Engagement People
Published in 1940, this book is still being sold today because it encourages small children to touch different textures.
This is what toddlers do – they touch and feel everything. If it feels different, they are fascinated by it.
Who cares what the storyline is – what kids like is they get to touch things along with the story.
They touch the soft (fake) bunny fur. They touch Daddy’s rough beard (sandpaper).
This book has such great staying power because of its ability to appeal to childrens’ primary sense at this age – touch.
So the next time you’re trying to capture someone’s attention, whether it’s a potential client or even your coworker, try to appeal to his/her senses.
Instead of just sending an email with a link, send an email with a picture or graphic element – visual.
Even better, send an email that has embedded video – visual and sound.
Best yet, have a colorful template for your email and embed a video in that – so your prospect or coworker doesn’t even have to open a web browser to view your message. It’s right there in the email. One click and done.
The more we can make our outreach appeal to someone’s senses, the stronger the emotional connection they will feel to your agency and the more likely they will be to remember you when that branding project comes up.
