I got a Valentine’s Day card in the mail this year, guess who it was from?

Oh alright, I’ll spill the beans. It wasn’t from a secret admirer but from big brother Google. And it wasn’t really a Valentine’s Day card but an advertisement for Google AdWords. My virtual heart has been crushed by a Googleplex.

As an AdSense publisher who has never dabbled in AdWords, Google sent me $100 to pique my interest. And I was interested, thinking about which of my little projects I could promote. But then I read the terms and conditions and decided not to use my credit because it was like those 1-month free AOL CDs from 10 years ago, they keep charging you after you’re done your initial promotion.

But this ad did catch my eye, not only because it was a direct (snail) mail from Google, nor because it was a Valentine’s Day card; but because of a couple of things on it. First, they used a QR code as a mechanism to redeem your offer. Wave of the future? Maybe but do they expect me to sign up for AdWords on my cell phone? Then they also put a OMG TAKE ADVANTAGE BEFORE YOU LOSE $25 clause into their offer for psychological effect. I had decided that I wasn’t going to use the coupon, but the $25-less gave me a quick pause. Well I wasn’t fooled, but it’s a good strategy.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs, Facebook Notes Tags: advertising, google, psychology