Message & Media : Positive Anticipation

13 tips on how to include the emotion of anticipation in your marketing messages

• Familiarity feeds expectation. It makes my day to see the familiar words Robert Genn Twice-Weekly Letter in the from line in my e-mail inbox. I always look forward to reading what artist Genn has to say. Likewise, your customers, donors and members look forward to receiving mail, e-mail and phone calls from people and entities they know and trust. Use this to your advantage when writing from lines and corner card copy.

• Celebrate! We all love a good celebration; especially when it recognizes a personal achievement or milestone. Thanks to America's greeting card manufacturers, we learned at an early age good things arrive in 5" x 7" envelopes. Consequently, this size envelope is almost guaranteed to get opened with anticipation. Take the opportunity to build relationships by celebrating customer birthdays and anniversaries.

• Helpful hints. These are what made Heloise famous and her column highly successful. So take this tip and create a regular feature in your e-newsletter that offers helpful hints. Tease with a single tip, then link to your website for more. You'll delight your reader and increase site traffic.

• Enticing tabs. While recently browsing TitleNine.com for workout clothes, I came across a menu tab that intrigued me. It was labeled ((BOUNCE)). Guess what dropped down when I ran my cursor over it? A menu for the company's flagship product category—sports bras. I give this tab an A+ for being mysterious, cleverly descriptive and highly effective.

• Pre-announcements. Tests show tag-teaming multichannel messages significantly increases response, as much as 30 percent to 40 percent. See for yourself by testing a pre-announcement e-mail that leaves your customers or members watching their traditional mail for your catalog or solo package.

• Looking for resolution. When you do an Internet search and land on a website, what are you anticipating? Nine times out of 10, you're looking for the answer to a question or solution to a problem. In other words, you are anticipating resolution. The same applies to visitors to your own website. Make the first few seconds count by quickly giving them what they're look for or pointing them in the right direction.

• The name says it all. Which would you rather receive, a fundraising mailing or a Donor Kit? A subscription mailing or a New Subscriber Kit? A lawn service sales letter or a Free Lawn Analysis Kit? The word "kit" is magical. It increases perceived value and openability even when all the components in the mailing remain the same.

• Sell 'em with a series. My last tip is to use a series of messages to build anticipation and pent-up demand. Here's an example. Every week, I drive through the Flint Hills of Kansas. Just outside Lehigh, there's a sign at a farm that changes daily. The copy is always short—just two words. Early in the season it changes from Just Planted to Now Sprouting, then Not Yet. After that, it shifts to one of these: None Today, Ready Now, Darn Rabbits or Bumper Crop. I've only stopped once to buy this farmer's sweet corn. Just as I did, they changed the sign. It read, Sold Out.

For more ideas about how to generate response by tapping emotional triggers, I suggest looking at Denny Hatch's latest book, "The Secrets of Emotional, Hot-Button Copywriting." It's filled with great observations and examples.

Pat Friesen is a direct response copywriter and creative strategist writing for online and traditional media. She can be reached at (913) 341-1211, pat@patfriesen.com or by visiting www.patfriesen.com. Also find her at www.linkedin.com/in/patfriesen.

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