MarketingSherpa reminds us
that the time to market,
if you have the cash,
is during a recession.
Why?
For two main reasons.
The first is that your competition
is likely pulling back on marketing
(a natural response to lean times).
The second is that
it costs less.
No, the official rates
don’t usually change.
What changes is how open
to negotiating
the media venues are.
Ask
‘is this the best you can do?’
One of my writing buddies
was in a tight spot.
She needed an author interview
for a newsletter
and she needed it the same day.
She asked me.
I said yes
and turned it around quickly.
The spotlight
is usually a third of a page.
I gave her enough material
for an entire page.
She used it all,
giving me 3 times the publicity.
The lesson?
Last minute publicity
can pay off,
more than expected.
Morrisons, a grocery store in the UK,
gives customers money back
for using their reusable grocery bag.
Customers are happy.
They think
it is a reward for being
environmentally friendly.
It isn’t.
If it was,
the compensation would apply
to EVERY reusable bag.
No.
It is a reward for marketing,
for walking around
with a Morrisons logo.
How can you reward your customers
for marketing?
First Flavor has developed an innovative twist
on breath strips,
taste strips.
Peel ‘N Taste
is a tiny sample of a taste
packaged in thin, tamper-proof pouches.
What does this mean?
New flavors
(like Moo Juice’s
Blue Stilton Cheese Flavored Milkshake
perhaps?)
can be easily sampled
in magazines and at stores.
Consumers peel off the strip
and taste.
Very clever.
In Europe,
eating gelato is an experience,
the (often pricey) indulgence it should be.
Vendors not only offer
great tasting gelato
but great looking gelato,
many shaping cones into beautiful roses.
These works of art
take a few seconds longer
than the regular blobs of flavor
other shops offer
but believe me, customers wait.
If you can make your product
more beautiful,
consider doing so.
What if most of your sales
were driven by window displays
and your window could only be seen
from one direction?
A bakery in Barcelona
had an innovative solution.
They installed mirrors
so the display could be seen
from any direction.
Did work?
I stopped.
How can you double the impact
of your marketing?
Gary Bencivenga at Marketing Bullets
shares his top 3 tips
for greatness in copywriting.
The second tip,
“that the best copywriters
are the most tenacious researchers”
is one
applying to any profession.
I know
when I feel stretched for content
here at ClientK,
it is because
I haven’t been doing the reading
necessary to remain current
in new business development.
It is a clear signal
to get off my a$$
and do some work.
I was traveling for the past two weeks.
During that time,
I didn’t surf,
I didn’t watch tv,
I didn’t read a newspaper.
I checked email
and that was about it.
A loved one asked me
“Aren’t you afraid you’ll miss something important?”
My response was
“If it is important, I’ll be told.”
And you know what?
I was.
What does that mean for marketers?
If we want information to be relayed,
it must be important.
Seductive Selling has a great tip
on cleaning up sales copy.
Their suggestion?
Eliminate the word ‘will’.
Will is not a filler word.
It is worse than that.
Will implies work.
It implies that the prospect
has to do something
to make the product work.
An example?
Brushing your teeth will reduce cavities.
vs
Brushing your teeth reduces cavities.
Which is the stronger sentence?
Clearly the second.
I’ve been seeing the thumbs up sign
a lot lately
(from mostly politicians)
and it always makes me wince.
In the U.S.,
thumbs up means everything is good.
In Ancient Roman times,
it meant you were going to die
a horrible death.
In some parts of the modern world,
it is the equivalent of
giving people the middle finger.
Do you really want to be using
a symbol with such mixed messages?
I wouldn’t.