The Precious Presence

Think Small 

Many marketing professionals think bigger is better when it comes to printed marketing materials. I actually think the opposite. For several years I've been touting the "precious presence" when it comes to printed pieces. The idea is simple: people like to pick up small ("precious") brochures because they are less intimidating and invite the reader to handle with care.

Of course, I don't have any actual research behind this theory, but I've seen it happen time and time again — people are intimidated to pick up giant brochures, envelopes, and unfamiliar magazines. Yet, people are happy to pick up and handle well-made, beautiful, small printed pieces. They have a bigger presence than their larger counterparts.

The precious presence goes beyond just size, though. If you can include surprises into your small printed pieces like varying textures, page sizes, and page shapes, you will really begin to engage the reader. Add a pop-up feature for maximum results. 

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Keep the precious presence in mind the next time you are working on a direct mail piece or a brochure for a trade show. Bigger is not always better. Create precious pieces for maximum impact.

There's never a lack of ideas.

Making Thank You Notes Easier

Here's a Free Business Idea
We need a link between popular online retailers that feature gift registries (like Target.com and BabiesRUs.com) and popular online photo stores (like Snapfish.com and Shutterfly.com) in order to make writing thank you notes easier after big celebrations like weddings and baby showers.

Babies R Us already has a list of nearly every item that you will receive at your baby shower. And you have a list of every person invited to the baby shower, including addresses. Those two lists should be easily linked with an app or a website. After the shower, choose a thank you note template, identify what gift each person gave you, add a picture of your new baby, and have your personalized thank you notes mailed on your behalf. Your thank you note could be completely customized: 

Dear [insert name],  

Thank you for helping me celebrate the impending arrival of our [son/daughter/child]. We are very excited to welcome our little one into the world. We really appreciate the [insert name of gift] that you gave us and we know we will get a lot of use out of it. We can't wait for you to meet our [son/daughter/child].   

Love, [insert name]

How to Make Money with this Idea 

A photo card normally costs around $0.30 to print online. A stamp costs $0.44. If you write an application for thank you notes and charge $1.00 per note, there's $0.26 to be made on each card. Ask any new mom or recently married bride if she'd be willing to pay an additional $0.26 to write, address, and mail each thank you note and I'd bet 9 out of 10 would jump at that chance.

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As more and more consumer information is stored online, it's only natural that applications like the one I've described here start popping up. If you happen to write the application I've described, I'll help you market it. Just shoot me an email.

There's never a lack of ideas.

PS While I think this idea fulfills a huge need, I still think hand-written thank you notes are best. But sometimes we just don't have the time.

The Best Brands in the United States (Part 2)

Best Brands — The Remix

Happy Halloween! Last year I presented my list of the top ten brands in the United States. After revisiting my list, I wouldn’t change anything, so I figured I’d present the next ten brands on my list. To create this list, I relied heavily upon my opinion of the general perception of each brand versus its competitors, and how much of a premium the brand can charge because of that perception. I didn't get hung up on revenue data or market share numbers — I just went with what I see and hear every day and threw in my own opinion from a marketer's point of view.

Here's my list of brands ranked 11-20:

11. Starbucks — Just missing the top ten, Starbucks put gourmet coffee on the map and showed the world how to create a company focused on the customer experience that happens to sell coffee.

12. Disney World — Millions of families make a pilgrimage to Orlando just to visit the theme park every year. I’ll bet your parents took you there when you were young. Mine did and I loved it.

13. YouTube — Not only is YouTube the second largest search engine in the world, but it’s the first place we turn when we want to find a video clip of that thing everyone’s talking about. It even creates celebrities. Just ask Justin Bieber and Susan Boyle.

14. Nike — The number one brand in sports apparel. It’s every young athletes dream to be a spokesperson for Nike. Reebok can’t say that.

15. Lady Gaga — She has the most loyal fans in the industry and every time she appears in public she creates a stir. (Here’s what I think she should wear to the Grammys.)

16. Amazon.com — The number one retailer in the United States.

17. Southwest Airlines — In an industry plagued by commoditization, Southwest is the only airline with a definable brand.

18. Harley Davidson — The pride of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has some of the most loyal fans in the world.

19. Angry Birds — The first huge game for mobile devices. Tons of big brands want to partner with the game to push their messages.

20. The city of Las Vegas — America’s adult playground and one of our country’s top tourist destinations. No other city name sounds better with the word “baby” after it. I’m impressed at the way the city has redefined itself over time.

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What did I forget? Where am I wrong? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

There's never a lack of ideas.

The Sixth “P” of Marketing

P is for Packaging 

Packaging is an essential part of a customer's experience with your products. The traditional "four Ps" of marketing are price, product, promotion, and placement. Sometimes "people" is added as the fifth P. I'd like to offer a sixth P: "packaging." From the way the products are packaged when shipped, to the packaging protecting the products themselves, packaging is very, very important.

That's one of the reasons I love buying products from Jill's Boutique on Etsy.com. Jill takes the time to wrap each of her headbands in beautiful tissue paper and a ribbon before shipping them (pictured on the right). When customers open the package, they are greeted with that beautiful paper and it sets the tone for the product. It shows that headband was created and packaged with care and makes it feel special right out of the box.

More than Meets the Eye 

Yet, the importance of packaging extends far beyond consumer-packaged goods. It applies to the experience a customer has in the waiting room at your doctor's office, the hold music your customers listen to while waiting to speak to their financial planner, and the cleanliness of the carpets on the floor of your restaurant. The entire customer experience — the "packaging" of your service — is very important to acquiring new customers and keeping existing ones happy.

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When was the last time you thought about the packaging of your product? If you ship items to your customers, what message are you sending with the way your boxes are packed? If your business has a retail location, think about the tone you set from the minute your customers enter the door. What tone does your reception area set? How are customers greeted? Maybe now is the time to do a thorough review of your packaging. You might be surprised by what you find. 

There's never a lack of ideas.

The Rental Car Wrap

That's a Wrap 

Wrap Media Group has begun wrapping rental cars with advertisements in Atlanta, Georgia. I love this idea because it's filled with wins:

1. People who rent the cars pay a reduced rate to drive the cars with ads.
    
2. Advertisers gain great exposure in an exciting new way.
    
3. Advertisers are able to include free samples of their product in the glove compartment of wrapped cars if they choose to do so.

The most appealing part of this initiative from an adverting point of view is the amount of data Wrap Media Group could potentially offer its advertisers about the people driving the wrapped cars, providing a great way for brands to place samples of their products in the hands of their target market. Rental car companies know the age and sex of every car renter, in addition to the frequency in which someone rents a car, which could indicate business travel or leisure travel. Rental car companies also know the size of the rental car, which could indicate the presence of a family renting the car versus an individual.

Wrapper's Delight 

If Wrap Media Group is able to place ads on enough cars, advertisers can begin to target specific groups of customers with free samples in the cars in order to get their products in the hands of people with the highest likelihood to become customers.

Wrap media group is potentially offering the best of both sides of advertising: extensive reach achieved by people seeing the wrapped ads on the road, and targeted advertising via free samples to specific people in the glove box.

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Wrap Media reminds us that there are still many new and exciting ways to reach customers through advertising. If your brand hasn't thought about leveraging new ways to reach customers recently, isn't it about time?

There's never a lack of ideas.

Stop Paying Customers for Failing to Issue a Receipt

No Receipt, No Problem
Stores should no longer offer $5 for failing to issue a receipt. Instead, they should offer $5 if customers have to stand in line for more than five minutes. When a store offers to pay me if I don't get a receipt, I secretly hope that they don't give me one. I don't mind asking for a receipt if I don't receive one, and I'd like to have the $5.

However, I would never hope to wait in a line for more than five minutes. Even if the store offered to compensate me for waiting, I would rather move through the line quickly than have the $5.

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If you're going to compensate customers when your business fails to do something, make sure you're compensating them for something they don't want to happen.

There's never a lack of ideas.

Providing an Outlet to Show Off

Nowhere to Flaunt It
Your new couch was just delivered and it looks great in your living room -- much better than it did online and in the showroom. You would love to take a picture of it and share it with potential buyers so they can see how great it is, but you head back to the furniture store's website and... nothing. You can't upload your photo. If you're lucky, you can write a review, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

Bragging Encouraged
Many businesses are missing out on the chance to engage with customers after their purchases because they don't provide the opportunity to share photos and stories on their website. Social media and third party review sites are dominating this arena and it's time for businesses to catch up.

Imagine how much better your dresser-buying experience would be on Ikea's website if you could view hundreds of customer-submitted photos of each piece instead of just the six posted by Ikea. How much easier would it be to envision hosting a birthday party at a restaurant if you could view pictures of other birthday parties there?

Shameless Self-Promotion
I've been asked by many people to see pictures of our baby's new room. Because I can't post these photos on the supplier sites from which I bought the items, I'll settle for posting them here. Enjoy the photos of baby Brady's new room, below.

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Give people an opportunity to share photos and stories about your business, and do it on your own website. There are many great Facebook, Picassa, and Flickr plug-ins for websites that make it easy for customers to post their photos to your site. Give customers the opportunity to engage with your brand after their purchase and they'll be more likely to return to your business for their next purchase.

There's never a lack of ideas.

Even though I posted pictures of Brady's room on third-party site www.projectnursery.com, I still believe that these photos would best serve the stores in which I bought them if they appeared on their websites.