Category: Marketing

Your business is too small
to benefit from overseas outsourcing.

Good.
Source local
and use it in your marketing.

Michelle Obama made headlines
with her love for American designers.
Why?
Because there is a growing trend
towards local product.

Create an All American (or All Canadian or All Australian or…) ???
This could be a burger with all American ingredients,
a book published by an American publisher,
a necklace made from American gold and gems.
Then tell the media, customers, prospects about it.

It will build loyalty with the people who care
(and be ignored by the people who don’t)

If you’re going to be a local business,
BE a local business.

Most cruiselines employ a cruise card system.
This plastic card is
a means of tracking passenger
embarkation or disembarkation during port stay,
a key to enter staterooms,
and an on board credit card.

Carnival Cruises also uses their cruise card
as a status symbol.
New cruisers are blue.
Returning passengers have gold
or platinum (10 plus cruises) cards.

Staff makes an extra fuss
over the gold and platinum card holders
but more importantly,
other cruisers notice.
They notice, they ask questions,
they want one.

The only way to get one
is to book another cruise
with the same cruiseline.

In the mobile section of the Consumer Electronics Show,
there were amazing displays of
vintage, futuristic, and pimped up cars.
These cars grabbed the eye
and created photo opps.
Photos that are sure to be shared with
friends, coworkers, and fellow car buffs.

Many didn’t have any branding on them.
Not even a sign in the corner of the windshield.

Then there were the good looking models.
Many of them had to supply their own clothes.
The company paid them
thousands of dollars to stop traffic
yet didn’t spend the $10 for a branded tank top.

If you’re going to create a photo opp,
make sure your brand is in that photo.

Vegas is a city pandering to discretionary income
so in this challenging economy,
the key business, gambling,
is seeing steep decreases in revenue.

The traditional tactics aren’t working
and this is pushing marketers out of their comfort zone.

One of the most intriguing promos
is the guaranteeing of gambling losses.
Bally’s, Rio, and Paris are guaranteeing up to $100.
There are stipulations.
You must be a new loyalty card holder.
You will be mailed the cash voucher
and have to redeem it on your next purchase.

Very, very clever.
The casinos get your personal information,
are able to track your gambling within their casinos.
and entice you to return.
All while giving the perception
that winning is so easy,
it can be guaranteed.

2009’s Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas
was quieter than usual.
That was expected
with many regular exhibitors bailing
and companies sending fewer representatives.

During the Sunday wrap up,
I interviewed exhibitors.
There were two very clear camps
those that thought
this was the WORST show ever
and those that thought
this was the BEST show ever.

The difference?

The worst show booths were staffed
with trade show ‘professionals.’
As they were only tracking numbers,
they saw the decreased attendance
as a failure.

The best show booths were staffed
with company employees,
salespeople, engineers, new product developers
(my idea of paradise).
Yes, they agreed that
attendees were WAY down
but that was offset by the quality.
There were more buyers
(Wal-Mart and Costco buyers were HUNGRY)
and they had more time to talk to them.

No placeholders.
If you’re exhibiting at a tradeshow in 2009,
staff your booths with
people who are there
to sell.

200 years ago today,
poet Edgar Allan Poe was born.

Why is this important?

It isn’t…
unless you have a tie-in product
to market.
Then you should be promoting the heck out of it,
leveraging this significant anniversary.

It makes your product even more newsworthy,
increasing your odds
that the media will pick up
on your press releases.

Note: Remember to distribute press releases
well in advance of the actual anniversary.

Marketing Jive has come out
with the top marketing buzzwords
for 2008.

The number one?

User intent.

What that means,
I have no freakin’ idea
and I’m betting prospects think the same.

I like these lists
because before sending out promo material,
I double check
to ensure I’ve used
NONE of the words on it.

Buzzwords are dead space.
Either they mean nothing
or they are so overused
readers skip over them.
Don’t use them.

Emotion sells.
Every marketer knows that.

But it is important to know
what emotion sells best
with each target market.
Most times it is not the obvious answer.
(Why insider experience helps)

Many outsiders to the romance genre think
the emotion romance novels sell is
love.

It isn’t.

It is hope.
The hope that love can conquer all.
That problems can be solved.
That happiness can be found.
That one chance meeting
can change a life for the better.

Books missing that component
miss with readers.

Know your customer’s emotional trigger.

It is no coincidence
that Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana)
is 16
while her target audience
are tweens (ages 6-14).

Kids prefer an older role model.
As my 8 year old niece tells me,
anyone younger is a ‘baby.’

That holds for cartoon role models also.

I helped develop a kid targeted juice box
featuring a cast of fruit characters.
The target demographic was the lunch box group.
The fruit characters, however, were early teens.

When in doubt,
go older
(but still parent friendly).

Making a decision is tough for prospects
so don’t force them to make a decision
about what free gift to accept.

As Bob Stone and Ron Jacobs state in
Successful Direct Marketing Methods
“offering a selection of gifts of comparable value
usually reduces response.”

Offer one free gift
for each level of participation.

Do free gifts increase sales?
The right gift can increase sales by 25%.

Or it could become the product
being sold.
David McConnell offered a custom made perfume
as a free gift with a purchase of his books.
The perfume was so successful,
he started selling that instead
and Avon was born.