Marketing Manner

With the tight economy, advertising budgets aren’t the only thing getting un-supersized: houses featured in TV commercials are starting to look like houses you and me live in, rather than millionaires. Advertisers have realized that people that see commercials shot in fancy neighborhoods with electronically gated communities like you see in the MTV show “Cribs” aren’t what people want to see – most people don’t see themselves in that kind of scene. And therefore, they don’t see themselves as being able to afford whatever product is being sold.  

So, advertisers have shifted their focus from making their products look exciting and indulgent to sensible and affordable. Most people don’t have the “indulgent” money to spend, so the advertisers’ messages that include the huge mansions and fancy cars are falling on deaf ears.

Right now, those that do have the money to spend don’t want to. They don’t want to flaunt their wares to others who don’t have that luxury. It seems crude when they do. “At times like this, you don’t want to be as conspicuous. It’s really rude,” says Stephen Hoch, professor of marketing and director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Many advertisers are touting value and price over quality these days. Kia Motors, which has always touted value with their cheaply priced new vehicles, claims in recent commercials that their new SUV, the Borrego, is “a new kind of luxury SUV” that’s priced under $27,000. 

And Target is including prices for their products in TV ads as well as magazine ads. One ad shows a couple reading the newspaper and enjoying espresso – not in a café – but in their own home, using the espresso maker that only costs $24.99. The words “the new coffee spot” flash across the screen, followed by the espresso maker price. A song proclaiming “This is a brand new day. And it’s getting better every single day” nails in the idea that this is a new consumer era – where people need to cut back on coffee shop trips and pricey hair salon treatments. The commercial shows a woman with gorgeous red hair looking in the mirror at her new color, and the words “the new salon trip” flash across the screen, showing bottled hair color that cost $8.49 – a bargain for any salon trip.  

The low-priced brands and the high-priced brands are still doing well in this economy, says Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “The brands that will struggle are the brands that ask people to step up, because people are not inspired to do that right now.” The brands in the middle of the pack are losing more customers who decide to take it down a level to more affordable than spend the extra dough to kick up the quality a notch. Macy’s and Target fall into the middle range (although, to me Macy’s is way more expensive than Target, unless something’s on clearance, but I’m cheap anyway!). 

I hate to say that advertisers and business owners need to follow suit because I hate to be a copycat, but this is one idea that everyone is flocking to. If you aren’t showing your value these days, you’re just going to lose out to the brand that does.

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro writes about green business practices for The Inspired Economist. I checked out one of her blogs about greening print marketing. She gives reasons why marketers should consider using recycled paper in print marketing. She cites some pretty impressive and scary statistics:

· Globally, according to the Environmental Paper Network, 70 percent of trees used for paper pulp comes from biodiverse forests as opposed to tree farms, much of it from endangered forests.

· Illegal logging has destroyed or degraded 80% of the world’s ancient forests.

· U.S. pulp mills consume 12,430 square miles of forests around the world each year, an area almost the size of the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

Scary, yes? So what’s so bad about recycled paper that more marketers aren’t using it? Demolishing forests for more virgin paper stock that is “bright white” is contributes to global warming because the trees hold in carbon dioxide. When the trees are torn down, the carbon dioxide has nowhere to go but up into our atmosphere.

A marketer could state that the recycled paper just doesn’t look as good as virgin paper. Virgin paper isn’t as “bright white” as virgin paper because of the recycling process and because recycled paper isn’t bleached to make it white. I’ll agree that light gray paper doesn’t make colors “pop” like white paper can, but as a consumer, I must say that I would rather buy from a company with light gray recycled paper than I would from a company whose marketing materials are “bright white.”

The higher the post-consumer waste (PCW), the better. PCW is the amount of the paper that came directly from recycled consumer goods. The higher the percentage, the more waste that was kept out of the landfills. To find a paper company that you can get quality recycled paper from, check out http://www.celerydesign.com/paper/matrix.html. It’s the Ecological Guide to Paper in a handy chart form that tells you how much PCW is in the paper, whether chlorine was used to bleach it and is divided by coated, uncoated and other categories of paper. It lists over 30 companies, along with the type of paper the companies make that is recycled. It also gives the weights of paper, so if you want to find Bond/Copy Paper, just look for the “B” in a circle notation. If you need cover paper, look for the “CV” in a circle notation. There’s a legend at the bottom of the chart that tells you all you need to know to understand the chart.

When it comes to cost, that could be the biggest reason why more marketers don’t use recycled paper. However, the costs are coming down and certain types of paper, like letterhead paper, cost the same or even less than virgin paper. Thicker types of recycled paper can cost from 3 to 10 percent more than their virgin counterparts, but if using recycled paper helps your brand’s image, I say it’s well worth the money.

When I think back on my formative years, I recall three ad icons that still stick with me today: Ronald McDonald, the Energizer Bunny, and Tony the Tiger. Burgers, batteries, and breakfast. Sure there are other marketing moguls that I could point out. The Marlboro Man, Betty Crocker, the Michelin Man, and Aunt Jemima are all fantastically successful icons that have survived nearly a century. But these are my favorites, and the icons most successful to me get my attention today.

Ronald McDonald reigned in my childhood household whenever there was a choice about where to eat. Happy Meals, playgrounds, and ice cream were all I could think about. But what made Ronald so successful is that he did not sell the food and experience; Ronald embodied fun. As a child I only needed a glimpse of Ronald and I had the McDonald’s fever, which could only be cured with a Happy Meal, of course.

Then there’s the Energizer Bunny: still going (and going) strong, too. Electronic toys were just beginning to grip the market, so batteries were a must. Even as a child I can recall my perception that Energizers were the best batteries. In fact, they were the only battery in my mind. To this day, all I have to see is that pink face on those dark shades and I am second guessing whether or not I have the right batteries in my mp3 player.

Finally, the grrrrrreat Tony the Tiger who had me thoroughly convinced that Frosted Flakes was the king of cereals. After all, you can’t beat anything that has frosting and is good for you too! Anytime I had the choice, Frosted Flakes was it. And it was a dark day when Mom came home with the generic equivalent.

Those are my votes based on my recollections, and these ad icons still influence me today.

When it comes to designing your business card, you need to consider several factors:

1. Will you include your logo? (If you don’t have a logo, you should create one, pronto.)

2. Does your logo include your company’s name? If it doesn’t, you need to decide what kind of font you want your company’s name to be in, along with the rest of your business card font choices. Your company’s name should stand out from the rest of the business card text.

3. What colors do you want to use? If you have colors in your logo, you’ll need to complement those colors with the rest of your business card. If your logo is colorless, choose colors that give off the look and feel of your brand. A baseball stadium using pink or orange for instance, doesn’t quite make as much sense as using green, brown or tan would.

4. What type of paper do you want to use? The heavier your paper, the more polished your business card will look, which will make people think your business is polished. Most business cards are printed on a 76 lb.- to 80 lb.-paper stock.

Once you have decided on these basic questions, you’ll be ready to design! Here are some design ideas to make your custom business cards effective.

Design your business card to read vertically instead of horizontally

This is an easy way to change up your business card design that will attract attention. Most business cards are designed horizontally because that’s the way they are stored in wallets, Rolodexes and other business card holders.

However, as long as you have a simple, striking design using a font that is easy to read, you can pull off the vertical design without making your card hard to read. You don’t want everyone craning their necks to read your vertical card in their Rolodex, so design it with simple, bold fonts and graphics.

Use a folded card

A folded card is the shape of a business card when folded, but with a panel you can lift to reveal info underneath. This design works well for businesses that offer a lot of services or products that most people don’t know about. If your company’s name doesn’t hint at what it does, like “XYZ Corp.”, you can place your usual info on the outside of the folded panel and then include a slogan and/or a list of what you offer on the inside fold.

Have your text trace a path

This is easiest and most effective for simple shapes, like a wave or a rooftop. Just design your words (most likely your slogan) to follow a curvy line or to trace what looks like a gently rolling wave or a rooftop with a chimney on top.

Special text effects

Using a special metallic ink that catches the light will make people look twice at your business card. Anything you can do to add visual spice, like embossing for texture or using foil stamping to color your text will make people want to hold on to your card.

The benefits of some products or services don’t easily lend themselves to persuasive copy and brilliant photographs. If you’re finding it’s hard to use words and images to convey the usefulness and benefits of your product, consider using free trial periods or free samples to let people know for themselves.

For example, it’s hard to tell if a dry cleaner can really get business shirts bright white and comfortably stiff with starch unless you experience it for yourself by seeing and feeling one. A picture and words can’t quite fully convince people of a dry cleaners’ worth. So one of the best ways for new dry cleaners to get customers is to offer a free sample – one free dry cleaned and pressed shirt can be all it takes to get a new customer.

Many shampoos, laundry detergents and perfume companies employ free samples by including an enclosed packet of their product in catalogs. This is another option if you can make your product in a small enough quantity to be placed in a catalog. This makes your advertising much more interactive.

How to Create a Successful Free Trial Program

The fundamental element of a successful free trial program is to make it simple for people to access and keep it risk free. Don’t make people fill out forms to take part in a free trial. Make it easy for them to participate and only ask for a few pieces of information – like their names and email addresses. Those elements are really all you need to track a free trial.

The Most Popular Free Trial Offer

You have infinite possibilities of how to present a free trial or free product offer. The most popular, though, is the “30-day Free Trial.”

This works well for many reasons. It takes about 21 days for a new habit to form, so by using this kind of trial for something like subscribing to an online database or offering a 30-day free gym membership gives people the chance to establish a new habit. Once customers have gotten used to having something available, it’s hard for them to let go.

If you aren’t sure whether your product or service would work with a free offer, look at your competitors and other businesses with similar products. Do they offer some kind of free service or product for a limited time? If they can do it, you can too. Just brainstorm with colleagues, friends and family – someone is bound to come up with a great idea!

A Semi-Free Trial

A semi-free trial can be considered a “buy one, get one” type of offer. If a customer buys one item, he gets another free. This works especially well for introducing new products to returning customers. This technique is appealing because it lowers the risk for you and for your customer. You get some kind of revenue by requiring a purchase, and the customer gets something that they would have bought anyway along with a free new product that they might have not tried otherwise.

Obviously, free trials and free sample offers work. Companies wouldn’t use them repeatedly if they didn’t. Take the time to calculate how much the free trial will cost you and how many customers you need to buy the product to make the free trial worth it. Then, market your free trial to the number of customers needed and calculate your return on investment. If you made a profit, do it again and again! You’ll get many customers you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten, and your current customers will appreciate getting something, however small, for free.

We all desire to increase our sales. However, we all don’t have the budget to engage in a far flung multimedia marketing effort. Luckily, there are creative techniques which can spur sales growth quickly without breaking the budget.

Simple steps like proper incentives for your sales staff go a long way. If a salesperson is paid the same no matter how much they sell, then where is the motivation? In the former Soviet Union there was a saying to the effect that if you pretend to pay someone then they will pretend to work.

Leverage your existing customer base to increase sales through upselling. If you are a printer and a client comes in requesting black and white brochure printing, then you should convince them of the importance of color brochures. You are helping a customer while at the same time improving your sales.

Loyal customers should be rewarded. This can be done in many ways. A special sales event for your major core clients is one option. Another would be a version of a frequent shopper program. Whichever route you pick you should ensure your most loyal customers feel special and are happy with your service.

A great product or service becomes moot without a good marketing effort. The public needs to know about you if they are to find your business. There are many methodologies ranging from online banner ads to color brochure mailings available to be used towards this end.

Last, but not least, make sure you back up your claims. Great marketing copy is nothing without a good product or service. Train your employees well. Make sure your customers are happy or else your competitors will.

An ignorant speaker will hardly attract much attention. If you want the message of your company to get across, then it is imperative you become first educated yourself. You should be fluent with all aspects of your product or service. This ranges from current market pricing to popular color choice.

Networking then becomes important. A wide network will allow for a consequently large initial audience for your company’s message. It also allows for others possessing knowledge in the space to impart their wisdom thus making your message even more comprehensive. An effective network also provides for psychological release for isolated home based business owners.

The brand and message you create for your company needs to be broadcast far and wide. This can be done online through advertising and on various Internet forums. Alternatively, it can also be done in the traditional advertising world using catalog printing and booklet printing. The ways to convey your company’s greatness are limited only by your imagination.

Once all of your hard work pays off and your client base begins to build, then the real work starts. Customer service is an ongoing mission requiring constant attention. You need to ascertain on a continuous basis that your customers are satisfied with both quality and price. Failure to do so can lead to watching them flock to your competitors.

I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this before, but I can’t help myself……

Do companies even do market research before they design their ads? I mean, if they really investigated what it was that I wanted, I would notice a lot more ads, right? But I swear that I ignore virtually every ad that I see. That’s a whole lot of wasted advertising money right there, for a lot of companies.

So what do I want? I want interesting ads! I want ads like the one on this site. I want ads that make me look twice…or three, four times. Ads that grab my attention before I even know what they are advertising. Ads that scream at me as I walk by, demanding that I look at them more closely. Ads that play the role of silent assassin, driving their product into my head just by being there.

It’s not hard to make an ad like that. Look at the ones on this site. There is nothing spectacularly innovative about them. They are just creative and exciting; out of the ordinary. Most of them do a very good job of targeting their market audience without doing so blatantly. They do their job covertly, but they do it well.

I would be willing to bet that the companies who designed them did their research.

read more | digg story

Any direct mail postcard marketing is going to have a lot of competition. I would hope all businesses would realize that they aren’t alone.

My mail pile has plenty of different advertisements in it. Some of them I take the time to pick them up and read through what they have to say, and others get dumped right in the trash. What’s different between them?

The ones I pick up have the right kind of designs, layouts, and colors. They scream out to be seen and I oblige them. The companies that accept they have a lot of competition and do their best to stand out among them are the ones I’m going to look at.

Put some serious thought to your postcard printing before you send them out. Is it appropriately attention grabbing? Will it stand out in a pile of postcards?

If you don’t put enough thought I’ll probably be throwing it in the trashcan.

If you want to have a more effective and efficient marketing campaign that looks like those done by the bigger players in your industry and you don’t have the budget for it, there’s one way that you can do it: cross promotion.

I know you’ve heard these two words. And I also know that you’ve thought about it one way or another. So why do you think cross promotions can help you?

For one thing, cross promotions help you to run quality and excellent marketing campaigns and yet help you save on time, money and other resources. Why? Because you have partners to help you with the expenses and costs of say, hiring a professional postcard printing company to produce your print ads.

Second, with cross promotions, you are able to run an ad that is tailor made to your target market. An ad that is responsive to your clients’ needs, wants and desires are more likely to get positive results from your target audience.

Third, cross promoting with other credible business partners help you to reach out to other target clients that you might have otherwise left out. Cross promoting allows you to tap on each other’s customer base that you can widen your own to include those of your partners as well.

Cross promotions can indeed help you grow your business. And you don’t even have to shell out as much of your budget. Yet you will be able to reach out to as many leads as possible with the help of your partners.