Yesterday’s post talked about piquing your reader’s interest by offering them a little information up front and then coaxing them into another channel. The title of today’s post is a mini-ode to Paul Harvey the original for offering a little nugget of information that built up to the rest of the story…
Here’s remainder of our story, in the form of a few examples that you can draw from:
A flour company lists a recipe on a small bag of flour; they also list a second, partial recipe with a web address taking buyers to their blog. To learn more, users visit the site. The company doesn’t sell on the blog, they simply engage – so well that after a few interactions the user becomes an online customer.
My bank leaves me a voicemail, a quick update of how the market did that day. They also offer general advice for the days ahead; this voicemail is a reminder to visit my online banking profile (and it works.)
A gardening company offers tips in their printed mailing – an article listing 10 tips to build a victory garden, but the article only includes seven of the ten with a reminder that the other three will be included in next week’s email. It makes me look for their message.
Your Offer Follows Later is the subject line employed by a travel company; they sent an email survey to their customer base. Recipients who took the survey received custom trip coupons in the print piece that followed, it was a non-traditional way to engage the recipient and deliver exactly what they wanted.
Remember, multi-channel doesn’t have to lead with email or always include a web component; mix things up to foster engagement and make multi-channel work.
