Category: Marketing

According To titanium ebay,
the average best time to end
an auction
is 11pm EST on Sunday.

But Skip McGrath cautions
this is not a hard and fast rule.
It depends on holidays, football games,
and most importantly, the target market.
School kids would be in bed by then
and
Seniors are also more likely to surf earlier.

“You need to make sure
you end your auction during a time
when your target market is online.”

This hold true for marketing also.
No sense marketing if no one is watching.

I have a buddy whose idea
of enthusiasm in web copy
is using BOLD and multiple exclamation marks.

I suggested she read
Stop, Ask, and Listen
by Kelley Robertson.

Instead of offering a dismissive
“Oh, we’re out of stock,”
say
“We’re completely sold out!”

“We can’t get any until next month”
becomes
“They’re selling so fast
we can’t keep them in stock!”

“You can try getting it at
one of our other stores”
morphs into the stronger
“Let me contact one of our other stores
and see if they can help.”

Are you using enthusiasm in your copy?

David Wolfe and Robert Snyder
in Ageless Marketing
advise companies to
“Market to values, not to age.”

The top 3 values held
by Americans 62 and older are
self-respect, family ties, and faith and religion.
The top 3 values held
by Americans 45 to 61 are
altruism, family ties, and intellectual curiosity.

Yes, feature older actors and actresses
in marketing
but actually mentioning age is not needed.
Focus on values.

When I worked for a certain beverage company
and Pepsi, the competition,
tested a new product,
we would buy pallets full of
product
before it even hit the store floor.

We’d then tear the product
apart in labs
and ship it
to co-workers across the world.

Pepsi’s sales would spike
in these locations
but they weren’t real sales.
They were,
as Robert McMath calls them in
What Were They Thinking?
(a must read for any product developer)
Falsies.

The more shelf stable a product is,
the bigger the magnitude of the falsies.

If you’re using test markets
to judge sales potential,
make sure they are real sales.

According to the John Tesh Radio Show,
movie goers consume
30% more popcorn
while watching scary or dramatic movies
than while watching comedies.

I often get asked
which is the better emotion to use
in marketing –
fear or love.

It depends on what you’re selling.
Fear sells more popcorn.
Love sells more greeting cards.

I’m inviting a range of authors
to participate in a holiday promo.
and have observed any interesting trend.

The New York Times Bestselling authors
alway respond (or have someone respond for them)
immediately
with either a yes or a no.
Most say yes.

Why wouldn’t they?
There is no cost to this promo
(not even a book give away).

The mid list authors respond
a week or so later.
All of them say yes.

The new authors with small press publishers
seldom respond.
If they do, they are suspicious,
asking questions like “How much does it cost?”
(Nothing)
They want to see the post
before they completely agree with participating.
They send me three different versions of their excerpts
and want me to choose.
In other words, they are a pain in the a$$.

I’m thinking this is not a coincidence.

Want to act like a bestseller?
Respond quickly and professionally.

Dosh Dosh has a great post
on how email marketers (i.e. spammers)
leverage the power of the familiar.

2.28% of all emails in July
had Angelina Jolie in the subject line.
Why?
Because we all known her.
Familiarity lowers our bull sh** blockers.
It doesn’t hurt that she is current.

Is using Angelina’s name too transparent for you?
Then use an influential in the community.
When I visit romance forums,
I’ll lead by talking about
a well known author’s current book.
This small talk puts readers at ease.

Every month on my writing blog,
I give away a book.

NOT my book.

Why?
Because I’m trying to sell my book
to the people I’m promoting the contest to.
If they have a chance at winning a free copy,
they won’t buy.

So I give away favorite eBooks I’ve read.
Most authors,
when they hear I’m promoting their book,
will give me that copy for free.
They will also help me promote the contest
and drive readers to my site.

Win-Win.

I have a very clean,
very focused mailing list.
These names were obtained via contests
and I only contact them
with contest news.

However, I still lose 1% of the list
every single month.
12% of those are from unsubscribes,
the rest are inactive emails.

What does this mean?
I have to continually add to it.
Even the best mailing lists lose participants.

Oh, and before buying a list,
I ALWAYS ask how old it is.

Many companies talk about
how supportive they are of
their local community.

Few companies actually are.
Especially when disaster strikes.

Commander’s Palace in New Orleans
is the rare exception.
They spent time and money
feeding firemen and other emergency personnel
gourmet meals prepared on barbeques.
Not cheapie hot dogs and hamburgers,
gourmet meals.

They didn’t need the media coverage
they received as a result.
This 128 year old landmark restaurant
is full every time I visit.
They do it because they truly believe
in the community.

How can your company better show community support?