Tried & True: Product Demonstration Works (Action Wednesday/Promotion)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing.  Today is Action Wednesday and we are going to look at an easy method to move more product, and that is the classic promotion of demonstration.

As a society in general, we are very visual and emotional people.  We like to see and experience things hands on.  I imagine the very first item ever sold back in the caveman days was demonstrated by once caveman to another.

Consider the infomercial.  Infomercials may not normally hold your attention, however, if you happen upon one that is demonstrating a product to improve your golf swing, and you were out golfing that day, all of a sudden you’re paying attention and emotionally involved because you want to improve your game.  Perhaps on impulse you buy the device sold through the infomercial.

I know firsthand that demonstrations work.  I had the opportunity to collaborate with a toy maker who made wooden, hand-held puzzles and sold them at the Laguna Beach Sawdust Art Festival, which is a seasonal summer festival.  He was making about $10,000 a summer.

When I looked at his booth all the puzzles were displayed but they weren’t doing anything.  We created a way to put the puzzles in the hands of people walking by the booth.  Before long we had crowds standing in front of the booth trying to solve the puzzles.  By the end of the summer sales rose from $10,000 to $80,000 through allowing people to have a hands-on experience and see how these products worked.

In my opinion, demonstrations are an effective way to create interest in a product and drive sales.  For a physical product, consider where you can hold a demonstration so people can actually see your product being used.  For a service based product such as software, your sales people should be trained to focus on the features and capabilities of the software when they are demonstrating to potential customers.

A consultant, I show off what I do when I give lectures about marketing and branding.  The audience learns about my ideas via a PowerPoint presentation that conveys my abilities in the marketing and branding areas.  That is my way of demonstrating.

Additionally, social media / inbound marketing can be leveraged to provide demonstrations.  When potential customers visit your website because they are interested in what you have to sell, provide a demonstration video so they can see how your product works.  I’m amazed that more companies don’t have demonstration videos online.  Demonstration is the most powerful way to sell a product.

Your Action Wednesday task is simple.  Identify what you can demonstrate about your product and where you can demonstrate and then start demonstrating.  Monitor sales as you are doing demonstrations to determine if in fact you are creating more interest and increased sales because of those demonstrations.

Thank you joining us for Action Wednesday.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow for Recon Thursday.  To discuss an online or face-to-face service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing and we’ll see you next time.