Selling Your Brand In 3D

In conversations about marketing well-crafted products, I invariably end up preaching to people about the need to put something tangible in the hands of the people they’re selling to. An instant way to create a powerful, tactile and ultimately irresistible connection.

Everyone agrees it’s a phenomenal idea, but the reason they give for not doing it is that it’s either “too time consuming”, “too expensive” or there’s “no budget.”

I started thinking. What if those excuses are a red herring for the real reasons people don’t want to do it? Reasons no one wants to talk about.

Before we go there, first let me explain why I keep coming back to this marketing tactic again and again.

A major differentiator for well-crafted products is in the experience of them.

The way they feel in your hand. The way they look. The way they sound. The way they smell. Perhaps, the way they taste in some cases.

The well-crafted product registers with at least three out of the five human senses. So doesn’t it just make sense that the best way to create a connection with someone who appreciates the well-crafted product is to get it into their hands?

For items that are too big, it could be a small object that represents all of the qualities of the bigger one. I outline some ideas of how to do that in the Manufacturing Marketing With a Touch post. Other ways to appeal to those senses are less resource intensive, but still very effective.

Today’s marketing strategies are composed primarily of digital tactics that have goals and outcomes that can be “measured” and that are “cheaper” than other more “traditional” methods. But is it really cheaper if it doesn’t work?

Consider your own experience with digital only marketing strategies. Raise your hand if your unread email has reached an all time high. Keep it up if you’ve said, “uncle” and just mass deleted them to clean up and start over (including the relevant marketing ones that you were planning to read as soon as you had a minute). If there is any time to divert resources back to leveraging the services of the good old USPS or a “face to face” demo, it is NOW.

But statistically, isn’t one better than the other? No, not exactly. In my opinion, you can’t have this debate without first discussing your content strategy and the relevancy of it to your prospects. Be careful, most of the stats you find online are void of this making it easy to spin the results in either direction. You can find more on this topic from a previous post, Beware of the Marketing Automation Mirror.

I am not down on digital marketing. I’m just saying that as a 2-D channel, it cannot possibly pack the punch that physical interaction with an actual object does. Digital marketing works great particularly when coupled with a relevant, tactile impression. If that tactile impression is what is standing between your brand and a lot more sales, it’s time to add a little dimension to your strategy.