Don't Forget the Benefits of Tactile Marketing

I'm a big proponent of tactile marketing. 

Give customers something they can look at, feel, and keep. Every "touch point" gives your brand another impression, sinking the memorability hook deeper. 

Especially now that we have digital helpers to remember everything, we're not wired for recall. 

I used to know the phone number of every friend and relative, by heart. Now, I know my number, and my wife's number. Period. 

In this environment, then, if you can give your customers and prospects a little helping hand by putting something IN their hand, your chances of winning revenue down the line go up considerably.

I remembered the effectiveness of this approach the other day, while at a local steak house. 

We ordered a bottle of Molly Dooker Shiraz. The brand - like many Australian winemakers - has excellent packaging and a dollop of irreverence. My style!

As I enjoyed my glass, I thought "I do like this shiraz. I should buy some of this for home." 

Maybe you've had a similar experience?

And of course you can take a picture of the label. And I have done such a thing many times...and then promptly forgot all about it. 

According to my iPhone, I have 19,043 photos in my "Recents" folder. Seriously. So the chances I'm going to remember and act upon a lone wine label photo amidst that tsunami of circumstance are....limited.

Realizing this folly, Molly does something about it, and has a perforated stamp with the name of the wine built in to the label. So you just tear it off and put it in your pocket!

Genius! Found it in my pocket when I took out my wallet, and am now the proud owner of some Molly Dooker Shiraz at home. 

I like this idea of tactile marketing so much, I stole it for my book, Talk Triggers: The Complete Guide to Creating Customers with Word of Mouth

Daniel Lemin and I knew that if we were going to produce the definitive framework for word of mouth marketing, we had to build some word of mouth into the book itself. 

In every printed copy there are a set of perforated cards that reads rip out to give to friends and colleagues to spread the word about Talk Triggers. 

(If you don't have a copy of the book, that's a problem you could solve right now!) 

The idea of tactile marketing has been around forever. My family's furniture store gave out calendars as early as 1862. 

Matchbook collections used to be a real thing!

In this vaping era, not much point to matchbooks per se, but the benefits of giving customers something to remember you by that exists in three dimensions remains valid. 

Even if you only transact online, in many cases your customers still receive something from you, right?

One of my favorite examples is e-commerce furniture company Big Joe Beanbags. The giant cardboard box that the beanbags are shipped in? It becomes a play castle for the kids!

What could you give your customers that allows them to keep remembering you, long after the first impression fades?

Jay's Faves

So many tequilas, so little time! 

I just published my new, updated list of 75 recommended tequila brands.

To get the list for yourself, in a handy format to print or keep on your phone, just go here and drop in your email. 

Also, the list has links to buy online, because some of these gems are limited distribution. Salud! 

The Books Report

Since we were talking about cringe karaoke moments above, no better book to recommend to you than my pal Henna Pryor's terrific work, Good Awkward: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become the Bravest You

This is such a fresh premise, about how our fears of feeling awkward hold us back from taking risks and making progress. This book has won a ton of (deserved) awards, and Henna's new TED talk got about 325,000 views last week alone. Recommended!

Tell a Friend

That's it for now. Back in 2 weeks. 

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