Blog to Give Them a Taste

“New Garfield Park business Skosh seeks both coffee fans and home décor shoppers,” the IBJ reported last week, looking for customers “who appreciate a pour-over coffee while in the mood to buy a couch, lamp, or piece of art”.

Appealing to one or more of a prospect’s five senses is a great way to increase sales, Tru Vue marketing analyst Audel Ortega believes.

• Sight – a well-structured layout of a store will guide customers, and showcase the most creative aspects of the merchandise.
• Hearing – music should fit the brand identity.
• Taste – offer finger food and drinks during events and sales.
• Smell – candles, flowers, and fragrance oils can enhance the visitor experience.
• Touch – It’s very important for buyers to feel the texture of a product.

The Skosh store gets all that and then some. “Skosh encourages you to embrace the art of slowing down, presenting an authentic blend of craft beverages and lifestyle furnishings for a unique experience.”

Product demos are a great way to give prospects a taste of what your product or service can do for them by showing them how it works and what benefits they can expect, Anibal Mijangos writes in LinkedIn. Similarly, we teach at Say It For You, think about how online visitors are going to experience your blog posts, and how your content can offer a “taste” of the benefits they stand to enjoy when using your products and/or services.

Just as visitors to a coffee shop need an “experience” – crackle, aroma,and  color, (and as visitors to a furniture store experience plushness, dimension, design, and color), online visitors to your blog need to get a sense of what they are likely to experience as a customer of yours. Word tidbits, unique points of view, special how-to tips, links to unusual resources, humorous touches, and particularly success stories –combine to make a blog post visit an “experience” for readers..

Coffee and lamps? For Skosh, that works. Can a similar tactic work for your blog marketing? In his book, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, Gary Vaynerchuk points out that content writing doesn’t always need to be about your brand, but can explore other topics, making unlikely, but interesting and memorable connections.

To give a blog that needed extra boost, for example, the content can reflect topics trending on social media, using marketing touches, or “jabs” to establish connection between entrepreneur and reader, giving them a taste of the relationship to come.