‘Suspense’ and ‘Surprise’ in Marketing and Advertisement

Suspense Marketing is an extended wing of Guerrilla Marketing technique that are instrumental in touching the desired business goals.

• The moment we see something related to Suspense or Surprise — it stimulates our interest, thereby force us to investigate what it is about.
• Per human psychology, the process of transforming suspense into anxiety and then revealing the hidden agenda carries a strong stimulus.

Considering these phenomena, it has an obvious correlation with the objectives of Marketing and Advertisement, and that is to draw adequate attention of the target audience.

Let’s discuss the Benefits of implementing suspense and surprise in Marketing endeavors:

• Register the brand in the mind of the target audience
• Enhance customer engagement
• Help to remember the event for a prolong period
• Create buzz among peer groups
• Possibility of going viral with immense hype
• Anticipate the outcomes
• Take necessary actions in terms of availing the service or buying the product.

Though Suspense Marketing creates wonder during the pre-launch phase, it can also be implemented in post-launch phases. Moreover, it goes hand-in-hand with both offline and online marketing.

Let’s figure out how to execute a Suspense Marketing Campaign (i.e, how to inject surprise elements in the advertisement):

1) Research and Planning

First things first, research is paramount before launching any marketing campaign. To start with, it is important to find the answers to the following questions:

• Who are the competitors? How do they advertise their products?
• How to determine the target audience and how to reach out to them?
• Which are the suitable platforms for launching the marketing campaign?

Finding these answers is critical to determine the traffic flow, along with the actual success of the advertisements.

Online options like Social Media Platforms, Email Campaigns, Search Engines, and Display Networks are quite lucrative marketing channels.

Each marketing channel has its own characteristics. Though the campaign message will be somewhat similar, the way of promoting will vary.

Planning the activities :

Here are the 4 key elements for planning the campaign activities:

• What to send?
• When to send?
• At what interval to send?
• How long to hit the floor?

The marketing campaign must create an impact in the mind of the target audience with organized content publishing methodology. A proper balance and consistency need to be maintained so that the advertisement should not fade away.

In addition to that, creating the narrative will act as the main theme of the Campaign. This includes massive brain work to determine the subset of contents that are needed for promotions.

Point to note — there is certainly a limit to creating the suspense element. Overdoing will spoil the game and may create irritation in the mind of the audience. Marketers should observe the response throughout the process and take necessary steps to achieve the goals without bothering them.

Things to keep in mind — Do Not Overdo.

This may force the audience to unsubscribe the campaign emails, hide the posts from social media, unfollow the brand, or even block the campaign.

2) Content Creation

Experts say — “Content is King”.

Contents include creating articles, blogs, display banners, infographics, videos, teasers, etc. The content deck should be aligned with the context of the Suspense Marketing and Advertisement Campaign. It also needs to be unique and innovative with fresh verbiage.

The entire concept of Suspense Marketing is dependent on good Content Creation. And, there is strictly NO space for plagiarism.

Preparing the content : Initial set of contents needs to be created to launch a campaign. This set is the collection of texts, messages, images, and teaser videos, which will lead to the actual product or service.

The idea of suspense marketing is to reveal each element one by one in a series of events without disclosing everything at the inception.

Partial revelation and the process of unfolding the elements gradually acts as an effective approach in terms of teasing the audience, and thereby increase the elements of anxiety.

Provision for modifications : There should be a provision for improvising the content according to the situation or response. It is an ongoing activity and takes a series of publications to complete the process. Thus, extempore revamping of some content is necessary as an alternative.

Gauge target audience : It is important to know the audience for whom the marketing campaign to be designed. The demographics, persona, buyer journey, and other trends will matter to prepare the story.

Product and Service type : Based on the type of product and service, suspense marketing strategies will be defined. Marketing approach for the pre-launch phase will not be the same for the post-launch phase. So a marketer needs to be careful in preparing the content and formulating the campaign strategy.

3) Launch and Deployment

Now the Moment of Truth has arrived. The hard work is done. It’s time for smart work.

— Launch the Suspense Marketing and Advertisement Campaign according to the plan.

— Improvise as and when needed.

— Experience the feedback and take necessary actions.

— Finally, reach out to the target audience with suspense, anxiety, and surprise them with a big bang.

To Conclude,

Marketing and advertising are ever evolving with time and requires creativity in order to follow the latest trends and compete with other players. Along with the conventional forms, creating suspense can act as a secret sauce towards success.

There are lots of other interesting ideas which can be formulated related to the various forms of Guerrilla Marketing techniques. Please feel free to drop in your valuable feedback and also share some of your thoughts.

Cheers !!