Marketing in the Toilet

Urinal screens starting at $5.00!

CloseOuts in Promotional Products

If you like a great deal, try shopping close outs. There is the old "4 P's of marketing" - price, product, place and promotion. Close outs offer at least 2 and maybe 3 of the 4. You get great prices since the manufacturers and retailers are motivated to sell. The place of distribution can be retail, wholesale, and online. There are lots of ads for these items - they tend to be the loss leaders that get you into a store or they are promoted in order to reduce inventory. The one are that might suffer is product - in terms of variety. Often, the product is a close out due to color, style, outdated model, etc. If you can go into a buying situation with an open mind on the product, you can get a great deal and still accomplish your objectives. Ask us about close outs on promotional products.

Out To Lunch

There is a lot of discussion about Social Media and Networking...Facebook, Twitter, Blogs,...I have to wonder if people are filling up their time posting, texting, tweeting, and blogging. It's looks like you are connecting, possible even working. Maybe we should just go out to lunch and chat there. Connect face to face over Chicken Mahkani! We can count it as a meeting - very business like and much more connected. Many researchers put communication as 55%-80% body language. You can't text that kind of communication!Check out this blog for more.

A Watched Pot Never Boils

I've done it...watched the pot! I realize that it does eventually boil but it just seems to take longer when I watch. I think that's happening a bit right now in our economy. We are waiting and watching for it to get better. Instead, let's take our minds off the waiting by doing something else. It can be anything that keeps your business moving: picking up the phone to interview customers, mailing thank yous to past customers, or attending a trade show to show your latest innovations. 'The pot' will boil much faster while we are doing something other than watching and waiting.

If you prefer a sports idiom...get off the sidelines and get into the game. Same idea!

Marketing on a Shoe String

Save Money Now!

We are all looking to save money and make our budgets go farther. One of the easiest ways to do that is to plan ahead. It's not something that we all do naturally but we can learn it. Planning ahead allows you time to find the best solution for the best price. It allows you to ship regular ground services rather than expedited expensive methods. It helps you preempt mistakes and get them corrected. It also gives time to produce product overseas where it might be made less expensively. It allows more creativity so that the solutions might be more cost effective. Finally, planning ahead is less stressful - which indirectly save money (less illness, less coffee, less late hours).

Think: PAAS = Plan Ahead And Save!

Re-Market using New Acronyms

It seems that everything has an acronym these days. Just read an article about re-naming TARP (Treasury Asset Relief Program) - i.e. the bailout. It seems that it has a negative connotation - so they need to re-market it! Maybe we can do the same...

Losing business to price cutters: STOP - Sell To Other People

Reduction in force (already an acronym RIF): HIRE - Happy In Retirement Exercise

Rude Customers or Suppliers: PLEASE -Practice Living Each Action Solicitiously Evermore

People who don't return phone calls: RISE -Refuse Insult Seek Encouragement

Not spending money on marketing: PROFIT - Prepare Real Options For Increasing Transactions

Maybe you have others to add? It's all how you look and act on things!

Get Some Propinquity!

Huh? Propinquinty is a noun meaning nearness or the property of being close together. How well do you know your customers? Who is your ideal customer? Start by looking at your most profitable customers that also refer business to you. Once you have a clear picture of whom that is...practice propinquity. Take them to lunch or coffee. Get some face-to-face time. Most people are feeling a bit fearful right now - why not assure them of your relationship and services. It'll be fun too!

Turning Up the Neon!

We embraced our neon and turned up the ideas at our kick off meeting. We're looking ahead to 2009 as a year of change and growth. We continue to help our customers get the most from the marketing dollars. With our ideas and expertise, everyone will benefit. Our biggest question is how do you prefer to interact with us? Phone? Email? In person? We also found out what our learning styles are...visual, auditory or kinesthetic...hmmm...
uh oh for one of us!

Neon Trend

The fashionistas were reporting a neon trend last Spring and Summer. It usually takes the corporate world a little longer to embrace trends. This Spring, I think you will see more t-shirts, hats and jackets with neon colors - either 100% or as accents. They will great for team building, attention grabbing and message announcing. For safety programs, it's not a fashion statement but a necessity. They don't even call the colors neon, as in neon orange - but "safety orange". You will find some here.

If you prefer a more subtle take on the neon, use it for pens, notebooks or other event materials. It provides color and attention to your efforts. Something like this!

Punxsutawney Phil says 6 more weeks!

Groundhog Day can offer us a few insights about marketing. Phil has seen his shadow 97 times out of 112 recorded observances. That's 86% of the time that we get 6 more weeks of winter. With these odds, we should plan for winter most of the time. I compare it to the 80/20 rule by Pareto - 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. Plan to spend most of your time with them. They are the foundation of your business.

The 6 more weeks of winter gets me thinking about events and planning for the weather - umbrellas, ponchos, sunscreen (events in Hawaii?), jackets, hats. We need to give our audience a great experience and that includes thinking about the weather.

Then there's his name: Punxsutawney Phil. It's catchy. We all want to grab our audience's attention for a sale, a visit to a booth or a meeting. Turn It Up!

Finally, continuity plays a great part in maintaining and growing your business. The efforts you make tday will reap benefits in months and years ahead. 112 years of recorded observances for Phil is a success story full of heart that grows every year.