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| What is your best marketing tip? | Views: 1624 |
| Nov 09, 2007 7:45 pm | | What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Sara Fitts | | My name is Sara Fitts and I've recently joined this group. The reason for my question today is that I'm researching marketing tips and am interested in specific tips that you have personally found to be "the best" in your particular line of work. My best marketing tip is this: focus on the benefits and results of the product or service - and consitently use this same message in all marketing campaigns.
I look forward to exchanging ideas and learning from all of you.
Take care,
Sara
Sara L. Fitts
SLF Consulting
http://www.SLFConsulting.com
Private Reply to Sara Fitts |
| Nov 12, 2007 8:57 am | | re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | My best marketing tip is "think synergistically when spreading your business message." For example, connect your press release to a front-page news story to a Squidoo lens. Don't just blindly run an add here and there. Connect your marketing messages.
Speaking of connecting, if only one person were to tell a message to three people and those three people were to do likewise and on and one, in just two weeks you could reach 4,872,696 people. No wonder passionate people are the ones who make the magic happen.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Nov 13, 2007 6:14 pm | | re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | I'll kick in a tip: Clearly identify your target market, and address your messages to it.
Earlier this year I started my first retail business - selling motor scooters - and have found that when I target my advertising to one of my target markets it works much better than when I forget and "broadcast" my ad.
Kurt Schweitzer
Urban Village Scooters
Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer |
| Nov 15, 2007 9:55 pm | | re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
CedReynolds.com - The Entrepreneurial Pastor | | Hello gang,
Great tips so far. I'll share one. For those marketing online, "branding" is a neat way to get people to remember your keyord - your name.
Ced Reynolds - The Entrepreneurial Pastor
p.s. There may be more than one Ced Reynolds but there's only one Ced Reynolds - The Entrepreneurial PastorPrivate Reply to CedReynolds.com - The Entrepreneurial Pastor |
| Nov 17, 2007 12:06 am | | re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
When you "target" your advertising for scotters, what medium or mediums are you using?
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Nov 20, 2007 8:52 pm | | re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | Media:
* Alternative newspapers - target younger, urban readers.
* Placemat advertising - target depends on restaurant.
* Yellow pages - targets motivated buyers. Category is key.
* Radio - target depends on station.
* Pizza inserts - who orders pizza for delivery? Experimental.
* Billboards - target depends on location of billboard.
* Movie advertising - target young adults with disposable income.
* PPC web ads - target depends on site hosting ad.
* Video ads in bars - target young adults with disposable income.
* Craig's list - target motivated bargain seekers.
* Ebay - target motivated bargain seekers.
* Direct mail - target current/recent customers.
* TV - basically untargeted, establishes "legitimacy".
* Trade shows - target depends on show.
* Club involvement/sponsorship - target current users of products.
* On-vehicle ads - untargeted, builds brand awareness.
This is all the media I'm currently using (or planning to use in the next six months) that I can think of off the top of my head. Until I started writing it down I hadn't really considered how BIG a list this is.
Some of these items are long term investments (i.e. Yellow Pages) while others can be spur-of-the-moment impulses (i.e. Craig's list). The long term items have to be geared towards brand building, while the shorter, quicker ones should target specific events (sales).
They all need to tie into your shop or website. For example, the PPC ads should have specific landing pages on your website to both track usage and provide a specific offer. As an example, one of my landing pages is at http://urbanvillagescooters.com/take-ten-off. You'll see it presents an offer and gives a specific discount code to use on the website. The discount code allows me to track not only the number of people who come into my website via that landing page, but also the number who then go on to make a purchase.Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer |
| Nov 21, 2007 8:01 am | | re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
Here is a thought. When you advertise in the newspaper with a display ad - especially if the newspaper not only places the ad but designs it - ask for a PDF of your ad. That way you can use the ad for FREE to advertise on free online sites. As opposed to JPEGs, the links in PDF's should be clickable.
I met with an ad sales guy for my regional newspaper this morning. We are working out a layout procedure where a group of small businesses can harness an entire page of the newspaper for an advertorial with business card-size ads to pay for it. After the ad runs, I get the PDF and share it with the other businesses participating in the ad display.
Have you considered doing any co-op advertising? How did you work that placemat advertising - since you are not the person that owns the restaurant? Did you simply create a placemat and offer it for restaurants to use?
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Nov 21, 2007 11:23 am | | re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Corrisa Malone | | I don't remember who said it, but I agree that you have to find your target market, and market to them; find what words they are typing into searches, where they hang out (online) etc...and market directly to them.
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If You're SICK of spending money on leads and getting NOWHERE
Check out THIS system: http://www.MyNetworkMarketingTips.comPrivate Reply to Corrisa Malone |
| Nov 21, 2007 5:42 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | Lamar,
The local business association is currently running a co-op ad in one of the alternative newspapers (a weekly). The co-op ad runs twice a month, and is SUPPOSED to be a full page. (People have been dropping out, so we're down to about 3/4 page.) The cost is around $200 per month per business (initially 12 businesses, now down to 8), and this gives us full color ads. I change my portion roughly once a month.
As for the placemat, a guy stopped by the shop last month selling space on the placemat - that's his business! For a run of 15,000 placemats my cost was $150 for one of the 16 spots. I expect those ads to last most of next year.
By the way, I do nearly all my own ad creation, so I have originals of most everything. Once I've created an ad I find it's MUCH simpler to edit and reuse than to create a whole new one.
Kurt Schweitzer
Urban Village Scooters
Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer |
| Nov 23, 2007 8:11 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
With regard to the coop situation, here is what I am planning with the help of a local newspaper:
1) Create a template for an entire page. That page includes a key article of interest to the community surround by small business card-size ads and prehaps one or two large ads.
2) Every business running an ad pays the newspaper fee for their ad space to me. I forward the total cost for the page via Paypal to the newspaper.
Question: Who owns that page? Answer: all those who advertised - including the company that provided the key article.
3) After the article runs in the newspaper, I get sent by the paper a PDF of the entire page. I send a copy of that PDF to all the advertisers and the company providing the key article.
4) Anyone can take the PDF and use it as an advertising tool online through an extensive range of resources - websites, lenses, blogs, citizen journalism sites, etc.
5) Now, it should be pointed out that I encourage every company participating to create a Squidoo page and include a link to it in their ad. In this way, they have created a landing page for interest feedback. Every advertiser needs to know if their ad is attracting any attention. Squidoo does this automatically and for free. If the newspaper sends me the ad page as a PDF, all the links included in it should work for anyone who see it online and wants follow-up information on any one advertiser.
This way, I have more ways to advertise in an impressive manner without needing to spend more cash and at the same time I can freely track my advertising effort's effectiveness.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Nov 24, 2007 4:22 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
I am fascinated by the placemat concept. For $150, you get an ad for your business on 150,000 placemats - along with 15 other businesses. How many different restaurants have that placemat on display? Does the exact same placemat go in ALL the restaurants? Have you actually been in the restaurants and seen the placemat on display? I think the idea is fabulous - provided the person doing the selling is credible and you did the necessary due diligence. And, if you had a landing page link included in your ad, you could actually track the success of your placemat advertising effort.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Nov 26, 2007 7:59 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | Lamar,
The placemat only goes to one restaurant, which is located two blocks down the street from me. I can check it by simply going to lunch there.
As for doing other due diligence, I'm only risking $150. That amount fits within my "stupid decision" budget.
By the way, the number is 15,000, not 150,000. I'm told that this restaurant goes through around 20,000 placemats a year. That would translate to around 60 customers a day. I've seen around that many in there at one time, so I'm guessing that's a realistic number.
A link in the placemat ad won't do nearly as much good as my address and phone number. After all, clicking on a placemat won't cause it to bring up my website!
Then again, spilling a beer on it won't cause my website to crash, either! ;-)
Kurt Schweitzer
Urban Village Scooters
Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer |
| Nov 27, 2007 7:20 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | Update: I just got back from lunch there, and the placemats are already in use and look GREAT! My ad is plastered all over the restaurant! Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer |
| Nov 28, 2007 7:09 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
I am trying to get the picture here. People sit down at the table in the restaurant to eat. The placemat is there. They finish their meal and get up and leave. The placemat is still on the table. Correct? There is no reason to take the placemat from the table. While I am not opposed to your having your street address and phone number on the placemat, if people do not take the placemat with them (which I think would be quite unusual), why should they remember your ad? Didn't you say there were 16 ads on the placemat? What is it about this advertising venue that makes it work for you? How are you going about measuring its success - even though it only represents an expense of $150 to you? The reason I suggested a landing page link within your ad on the placemat was simply a means to possibly measure the effectiveness of the placemat as an advertising tool. 800 phone numbers are also good marketing measuring devices, but I doubt that would be appropriate under the circumstances.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers!Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Nov 28, 2007 10:21 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | Lamar,
How would I measure effectiveness? The old fashioned way - ask!
It turns out that there are only 12 spots sold on the placemat, around the edges. In the center is the restaurant's list of daily drink specials. There isn't any plate covering the placemat until the food is served, so for the ten minutes or so you're sitting there waiting for your food you have a wonderful opportunity to read the mat.
Also, remember these same placemats will be used for six to nine months. Repeat diners will have repeated opportunities to notice the ad.
One of the other advertisers (another corner) incorporated a coupon in their ad. I suppose a few diners will tear the placemat in order to use the coupon.
I'm just going for exposure. I'm building up to Spring, when my sales season starts. I'm finding lots of inexpensive ways to get my name out there, and using as many of them as I can afford. For example, yesterday I found out about a company selling ads placed on the sides of gas pumps. I can picture the ad copy now: "If you were filling a scooter, you'd be done by now." A gas pump is the perfect place for a message like that!
Cost for a gas pump ad is around $60 a month. Figure 200 customers a day (one every 3 minutes for a 10 hour day), that translates to around $0.01 per customer - about the same as the placemats. (The company selling the ads says I should figure 800 customers a day, which would make it even cheaper.)
I like these "outside the box" ideas, don't you?
Kurt Schweitzer
Urban Village Scooters
Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer |
| Nov 30, 2007 1:37 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt, I like both the placemat and the gasoline pump idea. How clever. Both are introduced in high traffic areas and represent thinking "outside the box." However, think back to your coop advertising. Do you have a way to measure its effectiveness? Are you including a landing page link in your portion of the ad? What happens after the ad has run in the publication? Do you get a PDF of the entire ad? If not, ask for one. Chances are the newspaper will gladly give it to you - especially if all the other advertisers also request it. Afterall, if the coop ad takes up a full page in the paper, you own that page - not the newspaper. So, you have a right to request it and the newspaper I believe has a responsibility to provide it to you. But, here's what's neat. If you have a PDF of the ad, and own Adobe Acrobat, you can restructure the entire ad to benefit you specifically and post it elsewhere online - in many cases absolutely FREE! Below is a actual layout for what is called a signature business page. The small rectangles are reservced for business card size ads. The one large space is for an advertorial. Note that the small rectangular spaces cost $88 each. What does the one large space cost? It's free. However, I could decide to own the entire page. If I did, I would reduce all the small ad spaces by 50% and charge 50% of the retail cost of the one advertorial space to a high profile business that wanted it at a 50% discount. After the ad ran in the newspaper and everyone got the PDF, I would encourage each advertiser to rework the ad using Adobe Acrobat placing themselves in the advertorial space and positing various places online for free. Keep in mind that when you share a PDF picture which has links in it online, those links are active. Therefore, each link in each ad could be a landing page - a measuring device to let you know if someone is actually paying attention to your advertising effort. 
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers!Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Dec 02, 2007 2:45 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | |
Lamar,
Here's my portion of the co-op ad, at least the October version:
Please notice that this is an image, with the text incorporated as part of it. I create and submit it this way.
If the URL in my ad were a separate text layer on top of the image it might be worthwhile doing what you suggest with a PDF. However, in this particular case I don't see any advantage since I'd have to do lots of additional editing to create the links.
Have you been getting your ads as PDFs? If so, can you point to examples where you've done what you're suggesting?
Kurt Schweitzer
Urban Village Scooters
Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer |
| Dec 02, 2007 7:39 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What is your best marketing tip? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
I just recently convinced the county newspaper to do the PDF thing. So far as I know, the newspaper has never had a request like mine before. What usually happens is the newspaper simply creates the ad and keeps it on file for repeat use. The newspaper really isn't all that interested in how well your ad works. They are only interested in your paying for the space. The newspaper is not working as an ad agency. It is simply interested in filling the advertising space with advertising. They will, however, create the ad that fills the space. You, of course, are going to pay extra for that.
Honestly, I was amazed that the newspaper was willing to send me a copy of the assembled ad after it had run as a PDF. But, they said it was not a problem and not an extra expense. So, I am definitely looking forward to that happening. The real challenge for me is to convince others that this idea is worth doing. Even though the individual cost for a business card-size-ad is cut by 50% when included on this signature page, convincing more than a dozen people to participate in it is no doubt going to be an uphill battle.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
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