Sense of Urgency

Time is of the essence when it comes to successful marketing ads.  The decision-making process of the consumer is done in a matter of seconds after seeing your ad.  You have to instill a sense of urgency and force the customer to act before they run out of time.  This also accomplishes another psychological feat of forcing the person to make choices that they normally wouldn’t make if not under pressure.  Here’s the most effective, tried and true ways of injecting a sense of urgency in your ad campaign.

Limited Time Sales

The yard sale, the limited-time sale in its rawest form.  People can’t resist a good sale, even if they have no real use for the stuff that they buy.  Businesses can utilize the limited-time urgency to sell products that they technically don’t need to get rid of, but want to increase their sales.  The key to creating an effective sense of urgency in the limited-time sales is to launch an all-out marketing blitz to gain as much exposure as possible.  Running a limited-time sale should put a virtual clock in the consumer’s mind that, optimally, should continue to tick as they see the initial ad and are reminded about it again as the deadline approaches.

Limited Quantities

This marketing strategy is one that is a lot slower to pick-up on for the average consumer.  The most blatant abuse of this idea occurs in the electronics industries, where manufacturing capabilities often outpace the perceived demand.  Apple achieves long-winding lines on the launch of their phones, but it’s almost comical at this point with how successful they are at creating the artificial launch shortages.  The majority of the holiday success for businesses is reliant on this sense of urgency, that can be a combination of real and fabricated limited quantities and, of course, last-minute deals.

A great way to express your limited-quantities is to give the consumer a number to force them to take immediate action.  You could also limit the amount of purchases per-customer, even if it sounds silly, people take notice of these things as a demonstration of increased value.

Bonus Buys

People love free stuff; who doesn’t, really?  Incentivizing your product should be a way to add a sense of urgency, not necessarily to value because that would mean your product is lacking.  Pair this idea with the whole “limited-time“ buzz to make for the best results.  Adding an “Order now” bonus gift is a great way to reward returning customers as well as those who can’t resist a good deal.  Adding free swag, like mugs and apparel, is a simple, yet effective way to get people to close-in on that purchase.  It feels good to be rewarded for our actions.  This sense of urgency is usually one that comes with little opportunity for regrets.