Marketing Done Modern

Unlike in High School, Different Can Be Good in Business

I remember my freshman year of high school.  I was still sort of the new kid (I moved the year before) was short, going through my "awkward stage", had braces and was just a little different.  This was also one of the hardest years of my life.  The other kids weren't mean, but they also didn't accept me for who I was.  It took me almost a year to find out where I fit in.  I am really glad that business is not like this. 

When I was in business school they kept talking about finding your niche.  Sometimes you don't have to find a niche and you create mass appeal.  For example, let's look at the Swiffer.  There are a million ways to clean the floors.  You can use a broom, a mop, get on your hands and knees, a waxer, a buffer, a sander, etc, etc, etc.  About 10 years ago the people at P&G introduced the world to the Swiffer.  While cleaning floors is not a new concept, the way the Swiffer cleans is.  The Swiffer has replaceable pads that are sort of like dirt magnets.  While it's not the same as mopping (they have the Swiffer WetJet to solve that problem) it's a good way to keep your floors clean.  I don't know if I know anyone who does not own a Swiffer.  It's different, but it has mass appeal.  Being different and unique can be good.  Time to gather around children, it's story time.

This summer, a girl I know won a free engagement photo session.  I love pictures and photography.  I also love looking at wedding and engagement photos.  Who doesn't like pictures of people that are in love?  It's almost as great as looking at pictures of babies and puppies.  So off I went to Beautiful Union Portraits.  I was extremely impressed with the pictures that I saw.  They weren't the traditional sit-here-pose-and-make-it-look-like-it's-spontaneous kind of pictures.  While on their website, I looked through their blog and their gallery.  What I found was incredible.  They do wedding pictures with a photo journalistic style.  It catches the emotion of the day.  They state that they will do the traditional stand up and pose at the front of the church photos, but what really caught my eye was everything else.  They really have an eye for detail and for beautiful photography.  I was completely blown away.  I hope one day, if I get married, that they will take the photographs for me.  This style may not suit everyone, but it's different, it's unique, and it really appealed to me. And that's why I liked them, they're different.  Anyone with a good camera can take a nice picture, but it's something else to take photos that make a complete stranger feel like they were there. 

Happy Marketing!

Let Others Do Your Work; Why Public Relations is Worth It

Especially with the current economy, many companies are pouring money into advertising.  However, this won't last long.  Companies will soon learn that their return on investment for their ad dollars won't be what they anticipated.  But there is a way to increase business without spending hundreds and thousands of dollars on goofy TV ads or annoying radio commercials.

Public Relations

I am currently reading a book called The Fall of Advertising, The Rise of PR. It discusses how advertising is a great tool for maintaining a brand, but that using PR is the best recipe for building a brand.  While, I wouldn't use the book as a manual on how to launch and build a product, it does carry some very interesting points.

A third party can really create buzz about a new product.  For example, there is the Oprah Effect.  Look at her book club for one example.  Many titles that had never been heard of by many people are now best sellers.  Just today when looking at amazon.com, the first thing that pops up is "Kindle is Oprah's New Favorite Product."  My bet is that sales of this little gadget will increase significantly, now that it's been endorsed by Oprah.  If you aren't aware of what a Kindle is, it's a wireless reading device that is a product of Amazon.

While Oprah is a big and famous name, she's not the only one that can create appeal for a product just by talking about how great it is.  Many people look to Consumer Reports when they are trying to determine which product to buy.  But PR is not limited to well known names.  It could be as simple as an article in the local newspaper or a story on a radio station.  Sometimes we can't control the PR we get, but other times we can by supporting a little league team, sponsoring a cancer walk event, or even providing a prize for a local fund raiser raffle.  We have to remember that advertising isn't the only way to get our name heard and remembered.

Happy Marketing!

Provide Information, Produce Customers

Many companies offer discount/loyalty programs.  If you live near a Kroger, I'm sure you have a Kroger Card with you wherever you go.  Lots of people, including myself, have a Best Buy Reward Zone card.  The great thing about both of these programs is when you sign up, there is a lot of promotional material to explain exactly what it is you're signing up for.  Hundreds of companies offer discount programs, but not all of them offer promotional materials to accompany you.  I understand that it costs money to print promotional material, but is it worth the $0.25 it's going to cost you to print a brochure to lose a loyal customer?  A simple page can be printed easily, if you want it to look more profession, take it to Kinkos.  In my opinion, it's better to go with a more professional look, but we'll get to that on a different day.

Last week my boyfriend was visiting.  I gave him a Nikon D60 as a birthday/Christmas/anniversary/Valentine's Day gift.  While he was visiting he wanted to get a camera bag to protect the camera on his trip home.  After not finding precisely what we wanted at Best Buy, we went to Ritz Camera.  We found a great Tamrac bag and a couple of other items.  That's besides the point.  So while we are checking out, the girl tries to sell us a loyalty program where you get some discount on printing using their services.  The reason I'm so vague is because we really didn't know anything about the program.  When my boyfriend asked for some material to take with him to think about, she responded that she didn't have anything, just what she told us.  We say no thank you and move on to another store.  As we continue to shop, my boyfriend mentions that if they had some type of material, he would've considered it.  The other problem was that the program didn't offer any immediate benefit. 

Now, if they had provided some type of material for us to look over, we might have considered it.  But, now we will get our prints wherever we feel like rather than being repeat customers.  That's a lot of money if you consider that we just got a new camera, we sometimes scrapbook, giving pictures is one of my favorite fall back gifts, and I love to frame pictures.  They could have made a lot of money if they had just provided a little information.  A little information goes a long way.

Happy Marketing!

A New Wave of Marketing - The Online Experience

So although I have just started, I had another idea that I wanted to mention.  I am very passionate about this and feel that it is imperative to modern day marketing.

Websites

This may seem like an unusual thing to bring up in modern day marketing.  You may be thinking Guerrilla or Stealth marketing, but I am really about the simple ideas.   To me, the one thing that any company can do that is super easy is to create a website.  You don't have to be an HTML genius to create, build, and maintain a website.  You could always pay someone who is an HTML genius, but if you want a simple page, there are plenty of sites that will happily host you for a small fee.  Just to name one that comes to mind, godaddy.com.  Godaddy has plans as low as $4.99 a month and they have all sorts of templates and ideas to help you build your site.   If you don't think it's worth the cost, let me give you a lesson in how a $5 a month website can bring in the big bucks.

Last year I moved to Richmond, VA.  I was looking for a hair salon because I needed a cut and color.  I am relatively picky about where I get my hair done.  This first thing that I did was find nearby salons and look up their websites.  The first two that I looked at sounded nice, but in name only.  They were Bellgrade Hair and the other was Shear Dimensions. There was no way for me to tell what they were like because I couldn't find a website for either of them.  They both may be wonderful salons but I looked past them because they didn't offer a website for me to peruse their services, hours, or pricing information.

The third salon that I looked up was Rituals Salon & Spa.  This is the salon that I went to the entire time that I lived in Virginia.  Not only did I get a chance to see their services and prices, but they also had pictures of the salon so I knew that it would be a nice place to get my hair done.

While you may think, "What does this have to do with the $5 website you've been telling me about that you think is so important?"

Here's what.  Like I said, I'm picky about my hair, I'm also willing to pay a good amount of money for a quality cut and color.  I determined what my value, per year, is to Rituals (I can't remember exactly what the cost was, but this is pretty close).

1 Haircut = $35 + $7 tip = $42 per haircut

1 Color = $75 + $15 tip = $90 per color

1 Haircut every 6 weeks = approximately 9 haircuts per year

1 Color ever 4-5 months = approximately 3 colors per year

9 Haircuts x $42 + 3 Colors x $90 = $648 per year. 

Forgive my math but I feel that it helps showcase why I am a valuable customer.  The cost of the website that got me in the door could have been 1/10 of what I spent there, just on cuts and colors alone.  If you add in getting my eyebrows waxed, a fancy manicure or pedicure now and then, an updo for a special occasion, or any of the other services that I go in for in one year, I'm probably worth close to $1,000 in revenue to these people.  I know that Bridget, my wonderful hair stylist probably misses me.  But the even better thing, I recommended two of my girlfriends to go to Rituals as well.  Let's say they get their hair cut as often as I do.  Between the two of them, it's close to another $750.  Plus, I kept going back because it was great service.  All of this came from a simple website!!!

So, as you can see, something as simple as a website can really help you out in the long run.  Especially being a Millennial, the first place I turn for information is the web.  Personally, I don't remember the last time I used a physical copy of the Yellow Pages for anything other than a doorstop. 

Happy Marketing!