Business would be a lot easier if there was a GPS or some app that would show us where is that thin, invisible border between being relevant and totally annoying to our customers. How many of you would buy it?
SOLD OUT. Sorry, we are out of stock.
Just imagine having Siri or Alexa giving you a brief report like:
Hi Steve, your in-store campaign is going perfectly fine. However, it seems that the tall lady with the two screaming children is 2 seconds away from bursting out because she had a terrible day at work, her children won’t stop fighting over a stupid doll, and the last thing she needs right now is some fake smiling sales rep asking if she wants to try the new chocolate peanut butter with pistachio flakes and cherry mousse flavored biscuits.
Honestly, we’ve all been there, we can relate. So how do you create a campaign that doesn’t cross the subtle privacy line with your customers? Do you train your sales promoters to be empathic, yet persuasive, but not invasive?
Because, let’s face it, nowadays there’s not much you can do to escape ads. Whether you’re scrolling on Facebook, Instagram, browsing some articles, checking out a new app or just trying to watch an apple pie recipe on YouTube for crying out loud, ads are EVERYWHERE. It's almost like they're waiting to catch you online. Just like mosquitoes in a hot summer evening by the lake. No matter how much lotion you put on, one of them still hopes to suck the blood out of you. And it probably will.
Speaking about anti-ad lotions, YouTube did what we were all expecting for a very long time: it went ad-free for premium accounts. Will this happen to Facebook also? Who knows, time will tell. Meanwhile, we should think about our strategies. People are more and more bothered by ads, and we shouldn't ignore that.
Believe it or not, this applies to brick and mortar too. With all the ads out there bombing your customers from everywhere, how do you know you’re being relevant and not irritating or even worse…ignored? The banner blindness is real and you can't ignore that.
It’s just the reality we live in and we have to find ways to reach our customers without stepping on their nerves. This is actually GOOD. Advertising is changing and the increasing selectivity of customers make us strive for greatness.
With so much information out there, I’m thinking that maybe, for the first time, less is actually more. Maybe the key to getting the attention of your customers in-store is not trying so hard to get it. In short, reverse psychology techniques.
Maybe you should let the customers decide to cross the privacy line, engage with your product at the shelf and take it home. Let them come towards you, let them make the first step, while you’re just waving gently from across the street (aka the aisles).
With this idea on our minds, we created Tokinomo, a device that brings the products to life at the shelf and engages with the shoppers without crossing the invisible yet very important privacy line.
Tokinomo makes your product speak, sing, move or dance. Tokinomo makes your product talk to the customers and invites them closer, but it doesn’t invade their personal space. It leaves them with the option of ignoring it, while giving them a good reason to stop and engage with the product.
There’s a saying that you cannot convince a skeptic of anything, you have to let them convince themselves. It’s the same with in-store advertising. You cannot persuade customers to buy your product by shoving it in their face. You have to let them convince themselves. And if the decision is ultimately their own (and not because the sales promoter was very hot or because they were ashamed to refuse the offer) then this will positively impact brand awareness and loyalty in the long term.
"There’s a saying that you cannot convince a skeptic of anything, you have to let them convince themselves. It’s the same with in-store advertising."
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When we’re asked why is Tokinomo so effective, I truly believe this the above is one of the reasons. Sometimes it’s important to know how NOT to do something, in order to figure out WHAT to do properly. And we have learned that NOT crossing the privacy line is what gets us in fact closer to the customers.
Give it a try, see for yourselves.
Or find something even better and tell us about it. After all, we’re all a big team of professionals sharing the passion for success and innovations.
Cheers!