Comments on: 6 Ways to Bait People Into Doing Stuff

By: Kathryn Cicoletti

Kathryn Cicoletti — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 06:00:11 +0000

“Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all” – Eisenhower

By: bijuterii argint

bijuterii argint — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:48:37 +0000

people have the fault for beliving in texts not in their instincts… if something appears on TV or on a poster they take it for granted. for example if a company says it’s the best in the industry they just believe it and buy whatever it sells.

By: George Zarogiannis

George Zarogiannis — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:47:07 +0000

I did make it to the end of the post.
….I was also goint to Staples this morning

By: Jason Acidre

Jason Acidre — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:33:36 +0000

Psyching people out is one of the most evil effect of getting into marketing.

I’m thinking of getting into a more prestige or antagonist approach in marketing, I think that’s smart, and that could make people take action, but not really sure if it will be as effective as to what you’ve listed here.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 06:13:32 +0000

Agree with Paul (as usual). Time limited offers are *very* compelling. Most things we can “look at tomorrow”. While I don’t endorse it, I’ve seen lots of landing pages where the offer always expires tomorrow – no matter when you look. It probably works, although a tad unethical for my liking.

By: Todd Mintz

Todd Mintz — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:17:44 +0000

Playing to people’s good nature. Any person in our industry that’s well thought of and has a cause they are passionate about (think Matt Cutts & Project:Water) will invariably get donations from others to show allegiance with either the spokesperson or the cause (or both).

By: Paul May

Paul May — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:14:12 +0000

Nice list, Lisa. Two more methods I think are worth adding are time-bombs and creating a sense of scarcity. You can see both in the SEOmoz promotion…their email message led with “Hurry, you can enter only through Tuesday, February 15″ and they placed a limit to the “first 10,000 trial customers.”

By: Ed.T

Ed.T — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:08:17 +0000

Engagement Rings??? Yes I am a man who read the whole post. Boy did you disappoint me. Not the topic, great as usual. The “Sex Appeal” picture – way off the mark. I was scrolling down slowly wondering if I should even steal a glance while in the office. No worries, it was not sexy.

By: bluephoenixnyc

bluephoenixnyc — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:38:12 +0000

Yes! This is a great post. Social media, if we’re to look at it from a step back, is just a very elaborate and sophisticated mechanism for holding someone’s hand while you whisper into their ear, “Yes, you do want to buy my product.”

Which is also why I think the hard sell via Twitter or Facebook is next to impossible unless you’re a brand like Starbucks or (yikes!) Taco Bell.

Customers have become very picky and highly-evolved over time and the first step in any sales process is acclimatization. Social media and the vanity mentions are all great ways of making a customer hesitant about working with a smaller brand more comfortable with your name and identity. Or in your words, “baiting them into doing stuff.” Ha.

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:32:07 +0000

Great quote. And if that aint marketing, I don’t know what is. ;)