Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Make Your List and Check It Twice: Plan Now For the Holiday Season

You might not be decking your halls yet, but when it comes to your marketing plans, those sugarplums better start dancing. The holiday season is just a few months away, and it’s time to start planning your marketing strategy (if you haven’t already). Email marketing can be particularly effective during the busy holiday season when people are watching their inboxes for special sales and promotions, and can be easily integrated with a direct mail plan. Here’s where to start. Update your mailing lists. Even if you’re using the best email marketing software, you still need a good list in order to get results and avoid being accused of spamming. Use this time now to collect and update your customers’ email and physical addresses. Focus on one key message. One of the most common mistakes is planning a holiday campaign with too many messages. People have a short attention span when they’re busy. Plan now for the one main message you want to convey or the particular call to action you’d like to include. Create all your assets based on that message. Give your emails a hook. Shoppers love to think they’re getting a bargain—tap into that desire by offering your customers a special deal. This can include free shipping, a bonus product or a coupon. Even the smallest incentive can go a long way in attracting more business. Don’t think of email marketing as a last-minute channel to bolster sales. Make it an effective part of your holiday marketing plan, and most importantly, be sure you have updated lists so your message will end up in the right place

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Back-to-School Marketing Ideas

Nights are getting cooler, days are getting shorter and kids are getting more restless lounging at home. That can only mean one thing. It must be August, and it’s time for school to start. Companies everywhere are looking for innovative ways to tie in the beautiful autumn season into next quarter’s marketing plans. Need some jumping off points? We’ve got few to get you started. Send Your Brand to School Unless your company sells school supplies or school clothing, you can’t directly market as a “back-to-school essentials” brand. However, there are many great ways to market your services within the back-to-school season. For example, a health clinic might advertise school immunizations or physicals needed to participate in school sports. A printer could market to schools that are getting updated banners posted for sports and student council activities. A cleaning service could advertise “student packs” for first time college students who’ll be tidying their rooms without their parents’ help for the first time. Aim High For the most part, parents purchase school items for kids (especially elementary and middle school). Keep parents in mind as your target audience when marketing back to school services. Additionally, kids returning to school typically means that parents will have more time for their own activities. A gym could advertise specials during school hours for parents to enjoy. Hair stylists or any other pampering services could offer celebratory deals for “they’ve-gone-back-to-school” appointments. Restaurants could create newer updated menus for those now child-free lunch dates. Get Out That Shiny Red Apple Offer special treatment to teachers. Hard-working teachers don’t get enough credit for the wonderful jobs they do educating our children, so offer them some nice perks. Special deals available to teacher only, a free dessert for the first month of school or a teachers-only discount card.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

What We Can Learn From the Twinkie’s Sweet Comeback

Question: How many Twinkies have you eaten this past month? Answer: Probably not as many as we have. If you haven’t noticed yet, the beloved cream-filled sponge cakes are back in the stores, and the sorrowful demise of the Twinkie is now history. After months off the shelves, Hostess relaunched their major brands last month with a campaign they called The Sweetest Comeback in the History of Ever. Failure is not always the end of the world, and second chances exist. Here are some takeaways from the Twinkie’s successful re-emergence back into the marketplace. Simple works. Why do people have such a sentimental bond with the Twinkie? It could be partly due to its 82-year history. But it’s also likely due to the Twinkie’s simplicity. It’s a combination of two basic elements—sponge cake and vanilla cream. Kind of like the M&M. People tend to respond to simplicity. Adapt and streamline when necessary. The new Twinkie now has a longer shelf life (45 days), a smaller size and way fewer jobs. The new Hostess employs 1,500 nonunion workers. The old Hostess had 15,000 union members on its payroll. The company also plans to use just four of its eleven factories. The company says it can make the cuts and still hit the same capacity as the old version. Listen to your customers. The triumphant return of Twinkies is also a victory for social media. When Hostess went bankrupt and Twinkies disappeared, consumers retorted through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Apollo Global Management listened and today Twinkies are back. The lesson? Pay attention to the consumers in your networks and find out what products they want and need. Social media gives them a clear voice. And FYI: The previous owners of the Hostess brand did try to respond to America’s cry for “healthier” junk food last summer (before they declared bankruptcy) when they introduced a lighter and leaner Twinkie. A single spongy treat now has 135 calories and weighs 38.5 grams, compared to the traditional Twinkie, which weighed in at 42.5 grams and had 150 calories. The change may not have saved the previous owners from bankruptcy, but the new brand owners are packaging the slimmed-down Twinkie, so you can snack without guilt and those extra whopping 15 calories.