Writing for Forbes.com, Marc Babej argues that entrepreneurs can learn from recession-era hard-sell marketing techniques, which he says are making a comeback.
As consumers have less money to spend, it stands to reason they will be driving hard bargains and there's a danger that thrift becomes a habit - and Babej says that's a good reason for adopting a hard-sell approach.
He recalls how hard times went hand-in-hand with hard sell during the Great Depression as well as the 1970s, observing that "with the economy once again in free fall, hard selling has resurfaced".
The author insists that hard-sell marketing needn't be in poor taste. He says: "In-your-face pitches might have become the epitome of the hard sell, but they're also the parody. In fact, the essence of the hard sell isn't about tone or style. It's about communicating a clear-cut, fact-based value proposition."
Babej believes that the best examples of hard sell don't even appear to be hard at all, citing Apple's iPhone campaign. "These ads take the mother of all hard-sell tactics - the product demonstration - and turn it into an art form," he says.
Babjel adds: "After watching that hand put the iPhone through its paces, you not only want one of those gadgets, you feel like you need one - without being told you do. And that, of course, is the hardest sell of all - the product that sells itself."
Dusting Off The Hard Sell
Marc Babej, Forbes.com, 09/03/09
