(Thanks for reading, I’ve recently rewritten a better version of this article here)

Following on from The 5 E’s of Customer Journey, here are some real-world examples of the Entice stage.

Some are good, others are bad, and we can learn a lot from both of them.

Netflix had an incredible word of mouth campaign.
How did you first hear about House of Cards?
Probably someone (like me) wouldn’t shut up about it.

A way of measuring word of mouth is your Net Promoter Score; happy customers will talk about you, as will the upset customers.
People who are just satisfied won’t even think to mention you in conversation.
For example, I often find myself talking about my Macbook Air, Guzman Y Gomez, UnderArmour and Sennheiser.
Adequate brands never cross our minds.

I have also had friends put me off brands by telling me about their bad experiences.
This is certainly the case with Vodafone, Tiger Air, BMW, The Walking Dead, and the entire city of Canberra.

Facebook ads are a good example of a tailored Entice strategy.
Facebook gives brands an opportunity to select specific types of people (demographic and psychographic) and put an offer in front of them for a few seconds, with a link attached.
By eliminating the 99.8% of the population who probably aren’t interested, these brands maximise their chances of having the viewer take their first steps towards a purchase.

Google AdWords are a good way of grabbing people who have never heard of you but are interested in your industry.
Gary Vaynerchuk did this well, buying the AdWord “Wine” for WineLibrary early on in 2004, resulting in a huge spike in traffic.

Tesla have a setup in large shopping centres; a steel Tesla frame highlighting the tiny, powerful motor, and a full Model S for you to sit in.
It’s a stunning experience, a great way to generate interest in a new brand. What other car brand has a queue to sit in their demo cars?
Better yet, everyone leaves saying "I want one!"

I despise YouTube ads, especially unskippable ones.
What a way to bring up your brand – by annoying people who just want to get to their video, counting down the seconds until they can skip the rest of your message.

Product placement (when done well) can be incredibly powerful.
Giorgio Armani became famous through Richard Gere in American Gigolo, Reese’s Pieces massively benefitted from E.T., and brands like Ciroq and Hennessy gain notoriety through mentions in popular songs.

Sometimes product placement doesn’t work. Take this one here for Bing: terrible show, terrible product, terrible execution. Ugh.

Make an intriguing product like Apple did.
Their products look so inviting, you'll want to learn more when you see one, whether that’s in store or when your friend has one. Nespresso, Fitbit and Crystal Head Vodka all do this well.

If it can’t be intriguing, at least make it distinctive.
Everyone in Melbourne is familiar with National Tiles.
Why? Because of those radio ads with Frank Walker: Helloooooo!

Despite the old proverbs, books are judged by their covers.
A good cover sparks curiosity, just enough to have its target audience pick it up.
Harry Potter was even re-released with more respectable covers, so that adults didn’t feel embarrassed reading them in public.
The publishers knew the content was good enough, the trick was in enticing that first purchase.

Apps are tough, the big barrier is convincing someone to download it, let alone pay for it.
Uber won me over with an acquisition campaign: Sign up today, enter a promo code and we’ll deliver a free tub of Gelato Messina to your door.
Having never used their service, I became an instant fan, and having the app installed on my phone made me more likely to use the service in the future.

Service businesses have been doing something similar, you can often see promo cards for Hello Fresh being handed out at train stations.
These are “Vouchers” for $35 off, the idea being that you use them to sign up for a more expensive product.
It's a clever idea, targeting an audience who will be pressed for time when it comes to shopping for fresh vegetables.

Next time you discover a new brand, ask yourself what enticed you, and how that magic was created.
The hard work isn't over, next up we'll be talking about the Enter stage...

You can skip straight to Entice, Enter, Engage, Exit, Extend and Making Improvements