Never a Lack of Ideas

Tough Question "What would you do if I gave you another dollar?" That's the hardest question you can ask a marketing professional. The answer varies for every business and it's difficult to figure out. Invest in a better customer call center? More ads on Google? A new direct mail piece? An ad in a trade magazine? The question is so difficult because most marketers don't know the value each dollar across their different marketing channels (that's called return on investment). An entire industry within marketing called attribution modeling seeks to solve this problem. Yet, far too few marketers have attempted to tackle this problem. Solving it starts with gathering consumer data. At a minimum, it requires excellent website analytics and a flexible customer database. The best companies are able to gather consumer data across channels and build models to know how to spend that extra marketing dollar. The One Dollar Challenge   It would be f...

Have Fun with It A car drove through the front of our local Chinese takeout restaurant. After boarding up the windows, the owner of the restaurant could have wallowed in his misfortune, but instead, he chose to have fun with it. Check out the sign he posted on the front door: "We are open! Come in and enjoy delicious Chinese food (food was so good that car had to come in as well). Thank you!" I love this attitude. I told the owner that to really take advantage of this unfortunate situation, he should create a food special called the Runaway Car Special. That would have closed the loop and made this event good enough for every customer to tell their friends. "A car drove through our restaurant to get this specific item -- that's how good it is." Wouldn't you try that item? I would. Add This To Your To-Do List When things happen outside of our control, the most important thing is how we react. Sometimes bad luck, bad press, or a bad decision gives us the op...

Three Years and Still Going Strong Today marks the third year anniversary of my first official blog post. A lot has changed in my life since I first started blogging (a new house, a new job, and a new baby, to name a few), but my marketing blog has always been here as an outlet to let me write about a topic I truly love. Thank you to all of my readers for making it fun to post my thoughts and ideas. Here are my favorite five posts from the past year:  Providing an Outlet to Show Off The Sixth P of Marketing The Precious Presence Punch Your Way to a Great Direct Mail Campaign Making Thank You Notes Easier Add This to Your To-Do List Enjoy my favorite five posts!

Less Was More Without even running an ad on last night's Super Bowl, Victoria's Secret was the biggest winner of the night. Why? Because Adriana Lima, the face of Victoria's Secret for the past five years, was featured in two different ads — one for Teleflora and one for Kia . And I'd bet the majority of Americans immediately associate Lima with Victoria's Secret (if you don't, just ask someone who was watching the game with you — I'll bet she does). Heck, the Teleflora ad seemed like a Victoria's Secret ad for the first 25 seconds. Because Victoria's Secret has such a strong brand, they essentially received $7 million in free advertising last night without paying a penny. Just more evidence for why I've named Victoria's Secret the best brand in the United States . Add This To Your To-Do List Check out all the Super Bowl commercials on Ad Blitz's channel on YouTube. Am I right? Did Victoria's Secret benefit most from the Super ...

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 f...

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...

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 ...