Start with a unique selling proposition to create differentiation for new memory. It begins in the hippocampus region of the brain. Use stories to reinforce your USP and solidify your message, leading to a deepened memory groove. Interpret your offer for the metaphorical left-brain. And take your prospect to an emotional right-brain place where they give themselves permission to take action.
How can you accomplish all of those steps? Often it takes a combination of channels. Unlike only a couple of decades ago, people consume information in a wide swath of channels. Channel choice options distract us now to the point that the average attention span has dropped to just eight seconds. We’re multitasking like crazy (and losing the brain’s gray matter) while bouncing from a text on a mobile device to a computer to television to what just arrived in the email inbox.
Even with all of these channels, I still believe direct mail won’t die. It’s tactile. Reading comprehension is higher. It is, in my opinion, one the strongest — if not the strongest — channels a marketer can use to get to the valuable depths of long-term memory.
On the other side of this thinking is from marketers who only use digital. They, in my opinion, are on shaky long-term ground. That probably explains why marketing strategy and creative firms, like my own, are hearing more and more from digital firms who want to use direct mail. They now realize that an online-only play may reach a prospect in a glance-and-forget stage and only creates enough short-term memory to snag conversions. But for stronger sales that don’t result in cart abandonment, poorly understood product benefits, and fewer cancellations, direct mail is still what creates the status of coveted long-term memory.
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