Promo Your Promo: Interest By Way of A ‘Countdown'

Do you remember the first time you saw astronaughts shot into space?  Whether it was on the space shuttle, Apollo Program or even all the way back to the Mercury NASA launches – did you see it on television or hear it on the radio.  Pretty exciting right?  (For me it was the space shuttle).  If you are anything like me, you can probably recall your anticipation building.  I saw the headline in the Detroit Free Press about a shuttle launch in 2 weeks time.  A week later there was a news report before the Friday evening movie on CBS.  Then over the next week, I would bet I saw something in the news about it ALMOST every day.  I had never seen a spaceship sent from earth into the heavens and at the time, I was only 7 so you can imagine I was very charged!

On the day of the launch April 12th, 1981- The First Flight of the Columbia, I remember watching the lead-up on television.  To a little kid, this was nerve racking, I wanted to see the launch!  It all came together at the T minus 60 mark.  I didn't know what the countdown was and when my Dad explained it to me I was on pins and needles.  I remember squirming around once the count was under 20 seconds.  And when they got to ZERO, good lord – my eyes were bugging out of my head!  I was astounded that anything that big would go straight up in the air!

Why am I telling you this?  I want you to have an understanding and appreciation for holding someone's attention.  The countdown can absolutely be applied to marketing strategy. You don't need to shoot a 2,000 ton rocket into space to accomplish that either.  The question is ‘Why was I even watching the launch'?  The Pre launch is where half the excitement was.  Sure it was exciting but as any parent knows, you could tell a kid one time that aliens were going to land on the front lawn in a month and while they might be excited for a few days, they will forget about it and their attention will get pulled in another direction.  I am sorry to say that the same is true for adults.

One of the most effective methods I have found for announcing ANYTHING – a new video, a big block of free information, an audio recording with a noted expert – is by way of a ‘countdown'.  How does it work in an advertisement?  Well first, you need to have something to count down to.  It can be a big sale, a new product line that you are going to start offering, a special giveaway – you name it!  Then, you build a mailing schedule around it well in advance.  If this is the first time you are going to try this, let me suggest you do three lead-up campaigns.

Here is how you start, If you have a circular or regular mailing you send out, devote a portion of the copy space to the event you want to promote and include the date of the event.  You can have additional ads around this one but be sure to highlight this date.  Then, the countdown begins!  Your next three mailings will only refer to this single event.  You can find sample copy online but it essentially works like this:

"Only 3 weeks until The ‘Multi-Millionaire Fortune Hunter Club' meets in Miami.  Have you reserved your seat?

"Only 2 weeks left!  Have you made your reservation!

"Time is almost up!  Registration closes in 1 week!  There are only 6 slots left!  You MUST reserve your IMMEDIATELY!

You accomplish 2 things with this type of campaign.  One, you stay on your prospect's radar.  And Two, you build urgency through each campaign.  And when you stack these mailings, you build that urgency FAST!

Tip:

Remember, you can manage this all at once easily.  Print your mailers all at once – not individually.  Then address and presort them all at once and tell your mailer IN ADVANCE what days you want each promotion dropped in the mail.  Bang!  You just saved 6 weeks worth of chasing each mailing around.  Put it on auto-pilot from the start!