Fill In The Blanks
In this recent post, The theater of the mind, Seth Godin advises marketers: “The most effective marketing story isn’t the one you tell to someone in your audience, it’s the one the person tells himself.”
In Godin’s view good marketing opens the door to the prospect having a conversation with himself.
He concludes: “Too often, we don’t give people a chance to fill in the blanks.”
Probably a lot of fundraisers struggle with this proposition.
We tend to want to plant a definite image, make a clear ask (not too many choices) … and repeat several times.
We don’t want the prospect to have to work too hard, to reflect too much, to guess or interpret our intention, to sort through too many choices. [One exception I can think of is perhaps a teaser on a direct mail package.]
Sure, strong brands — in the conduct of branding campaigns — can engage more deeply by putting the consumer’s imagination to work, effectively inviting the consumer to pour themselves into a pre-defined glass. So Nike might mean something a bit different to each of us … but not so different that the brand has no essence.
But I’m not sure fundraising — especially direct response fundraising — works that way.
Fundraisers are generally looking for immediate action — 1 … 2 … 3 … Give! No distractions or wandering imaginations along the way.
Might too much imagination undermine action? How do you see it?
Tom
Behavioral Science Q & A
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