As much as the internet is it’s own medium, marketing here still relies on the same fundamental principles as offline marketing. After all, people will always be people.

Here’s some tips on how to leverage some of the more overlooked offline stratgies that businesses use to engage their markets… and how to apply them on your website for bigger wins.

1. Let your visitors “squeeze the Charmin”

Let’s face, we love to put our hands on things and give them a good squeeze or whack. It’s one of the ways we take in and process information. Charmin pushed it. Heck, even Jeep goes beyond the standard test-drive of their vehicles by constructing off-road courses at some dealerships for folks to play on before signing.

Easy to do in the physical world but how do you achieve this online?
Use interactive devices such as:

Checkboxes

Check me out

Responsive buttons (check the color change on mouseover)

Magic links

These are pretty easy to implement. When your visitor’s hand is on the mous and they’re whirring that pointer around, they’ll be glad you gave them something to click. You will be too, because it’ll result in better conversions.

2. Give them a refreshing “pop, fizz”

I believe it was Pepsi that ran this ad campaign a few years back (maybe more). The commercial had a beach full of folks in the sun and a food vendor setting up shop. He hooks up a speaker system, grabs the mic, and pops open a can of ice-cold Pepsi. The “pop, fizz” is broadcast along the beach and sure enough folks start lining up.

Point is, people associate sounds with emotions. And yes, we respond to them. Start using audio or video on your pages and get a bigger response. Hint: make sure it’s relevant to your page.

3. Joys of the new car smell

There’s a reason Realtor’s use the scent of apple pie in homes they’re trying to sell. The smell alone will cause buyer’s to rate a home higher than others. And what about that new car smell? Folks love it!

To be honest, smell on a website would probably be more annoying than the <blink> tag. However, scent is still another way in which we take in and process information.

So, I’m not advocating smell on your site I am advocating you use your copy and connect to your visitors’ sense of smell. Build the complete image in their mind and they’ll mentally add the scent to the picture.

Involve your visitors and connect with them through more than just text and pretty pictures. Interaction is good for building those long-term profitable relationships.