Every commercial I hear (mostly on podcasts) wraps with “Contact us now to receive your <discount> <bonus> <special offer> which is available for a limited time only.“
I remember TV Commercials from back in the day would end with the announcer saying “Act now…supplies are limited…offer valid for the first 100 callers only…”
Does any really believe this works?
I doubt it.
My guess is that nobody is thinking at all. They add a “call to action” because that’s what everybody does. As if a listener who wasn’t prompted, but wanted to buy, would do nothing because they are too stupid.
I worked for a marketing company earlier in my tech career. Half of my job was to support the IT systems. The other half was to develop and sell “high tech” marketing solutions which at the time was website development, CD-ROMs and computer programs.
The tech stuff was a blast. I liked the challenge of making systems better. The development of new tech solutions was cool too. I learned about digital film production, print press, selling to executive teams and communication.
But as for marketing, even back then I could see how much of it was bullshit. Every project I sold had to include a minimum number of weekly billable “consulting” hours for our Senior Directors who usually did nothing but sign off on my estimates and tweak a few words on my proposals.
In marketing meetings, I couldn’t believe the bullshit that our Account Execs would pitch to clients. And, how the clients went right along with it dedicating large budgets to vanity projects, lame ad campaigns, PR work and other marketing schemes that had no way of being linked to actual sales.
You now what? Nothing has changed. Sure, Google says that its ads can be directly linked to purchases. Algorithms promise to place ads in front of exactly the right people at the right time who will buy. CRM software, tracking apps and marketing apps all promise customer conversions, better filtering and more profitable sales funnels.
It’s still bullshit, as far as I’m concerned.
People buy when they want to buy, on their own timetable, for reasons often unknown to marketing and sales people.
So act now, before it’s too late, and stop responding to ads.