Be honest. Did that title arouse at least some curiosity in you? If you're like most people, the answer is yes.
Philosopher René Descartes said:
"So blind is the curiosity by which mortals are possessed, that they often conduct their minds along unexplored routes ... being willing to risk the experiment of finding whether the truth they seek lies there."
Descartes was right. People are curious by nature, and that tendency can be a very effective weapon in digital marketing.
Here are four examples of how you can start using curiosity effectively today:
The Coming Soon Tease
This technique works extremely well on social media. By enticing your customers with the unknown, they're more likely to take part in your marketing efforts. Plan an event or a new product launch, but don't divulge the details. Instead, build anticipation for the date by posting on social media regarding a big announcement. You can also promote it with paid ads on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. Create a landing page that gathers emails and other contact information so that you can alert those that are interested when the event has arrived. This is a great way to build a contact list as well as promoting your event or product.
The Unbranded Banner
Whether you're using banner ads on your own website or blog to promote your products, or you buy banner ad space on other sites and blogs, the unbranded banner can be a very effective tool. By creating a banner that has an enticing message about the product you're promoting, but doesn't actually mention it by name, you're creating curiosity in the mind of the visitor. They'll click on the banner just to see where it leads.
The Naked Tagline
If you use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, you know that you have a limited amount of space with which to induce people to click your link. This is the perfect place to create curiosity. To create that curiosity, simply create a relevant, catchy tagline or phrase to pique the curiosity of the reader. Relevance is important here. If, for example, you're advertising for the keyword "garden tools", the tagline should relate to that, and the page you're linking to should relate to that as well.
The Teaser Title
If you're engaging in content marketing, the title of your articles should be somewhat cryptic in order to spur enough curiosity in the mind of the reader to cause them to read the body of the article. As an example of this, we need go no farther than this blog post. In the title, reference is made to a potent digital marketing weapon, but there is no mention of what that weapon actually is. The reader is forced to begin reading the article to discover what the weapon is.
These are just three ways to harness the power of curiosity in your digital marketing initiatives. With a little creative thought on your part, the possibilities are unlimited. Of course, curiosity can only motivate an individual to take the next step - click a banner image or link, read an article, etc. What they do after that will depend on how well you execute the next step in the marketing process.