Who's really to blame?

When Woolworths launched their Aussie Animal cards, I reacted like a typical teenager - rolled my eyes and smirked.  Surely a lame old fashioned campaign like this would never work!  Haven't they done their market research?  Kids are simply not interested in anything that it is not digitized.

Boy was I wrong!  This campaign turned out to be a resounding success.  It captured the attention of Aussie kids in a big way.  For starters, the timing was perfect:  it started just before all the sporting grand finals and peaked during the holidays.

Another factor contributing to the success was the "Swap Days" organized by Woolworths.  Children were encouraged to come into the shopping centres to swap around cards with other interested children.

The third stroke of genius was the albums that could be bought to store the cards.  These albums not only housed the cards, but also provided various activities for the kids.  Unfortunately one of these activities brought the whole campaign in disarray for some parents.


A swearword was hiding in a find-a-word game and low and behold quite a few of the children found it.  Some parents were outraged that Woolworths did not pick this up during the proofreading process. 

My take on the situation is that these games are randomly generated and at most you would ensure that all the words you ask the child to find are actually present.  What bothers me more is that a seven year old child actually knows how to spell the swearword!  Should we really be blaming Woolworths or should we be pointing the finger of blame closer to home?


Alternatively we could have a quiet chuckle and know that stuff-ups happen to the best laid out plans of mice and men . . .

Because size really does matter!

It must be plainly obvious by now that I have a thing for advertising and public relations.  Some people collect stamps, others teaspoons and I collect ad campaigns!

So as I was browsing some sites earlier this morning, image my intense delight in coming across this jewel in Business Insider:

Submarine Rises Through Milan's Pavement In Ridiculous Publicity Stunt

 

Picture:  @MediasetTgcom24

Firstly let me put your minds at ease - no actual damage was done.  The campaign called "Protect your Life" is run for Europ Assistance IT, an insurance group based in Italy.  A group of people created the scene very early in the morning - fake submarine and all - and waited for the public to arrive and start spreading the news.

It is a great example of buzz marketing.  Everybody took photos and were on social media in a flash.  In this way the campaign's reach spread far beyond national borders.  It is memorable due to the shock value, but also the connection between protecting your city/country against an invasion and taking out insurance to protect your life.

What do you think - brilliant PR stunt or did they go too far?

Personal Selling

"A salesman is somebody who sells goods that won't come back, to customers that will."  (Anon)

Personal selling is a promotional tool that creates value by establishing relationships based on trust.  A good salesperson knows that the focus is about identifying and providing the best product/solution for the customer's needs.

Advantages

• High customer attention
• Message is customised
• Interactivity
• Persuasive impact
• Potential for development of relationship
• Adaptable
• Opportunity to close the sale

Disadvantages

• High cost
• Labour intensive
• Can only reach a limited number of customers

7 Aspects of personal selling

Prospecting

Use a variety of sources like directories, referrals, trade publications and databases to identify new clients.  However, not all leads will be useful.  It is important to qualify prospective customers and screen out the poor leads.

Pre-approach

It is important to ensure you really understand the prospects' needs, how they use the brand as well as how they feel about the brand.  This knowledge makes it easier to create a sales presentation.

Approach

Armed with the essential background knowledge, the salesperson can be confident when actually making contact with the prospect.

Presentation

It is essential to tell the product's story in a way that identifies the needs and wants of the prospect.

Overcome objections

Objections should be viewed as signals that prospects need more information to make a decision.

Close the sale

Do not be afraid to ask for the sale!

Follow up

This step is crucial for customer satisfaction and to build long term relationships.  Contact the customer to ensure that the entire process was acceptable.

Sales Promotion Ideas (part 2)

Price promotions

What is it?  It is a sales promotion based on a sales discount offer.

Who benefits?  Both retailers and wholesalers depend on price promotions to lure customers into stores and to increase product sales.  However, Harvard Business Review states that these gains are merely short term.  After the promotion the customer reverts to his old ways.  Of more interest to me is the statement that stores may actually be financially worse off when using price promotions.  The argument is that the turnover of the product on special will increase at the expense of its competition, while generating a smaller margin of profit due to the sales promotion.

This clip from Small Business News explains the pitfalls for price promotion:

More SmallBusinessNewz Videos

Should I use price promotion?  Definitely!  What you should NOT to is to make price your point of differentiation.  Ensure that Quality, Selection and Service define your product or business. 

Examples of price promotions

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Sales Promotion Ideas (part 1)

There are a myriad of sales promotion techniques being applied successfully.  The key is create excitement among consumers in order to facilitate participation. Consumers view sales promotions as something that add value - they get something for free!

Promotions can be divided into two broad categories:  price and non-price promotions.

Non-price promotions

Premiums

Well-designed premiums are powerful motivators.  Customers view it as an offer they cannot refuse.  Premiums not only rewards the customer but also afford companies the opportunity to get to know their target audience.  Technology can be used to create targeted, interactive promotions.

Companies like Woolworths and Coles use loyalty cards to gain insight into their customers' shopping habits as well as to retain their share of the market.

 Sampling

This is often used to introduce new brands.  A significant change in sampling is the move away from mass distribution campaigns towards narrowly targeted dissemination.  Companies like Pinch Me create databases incorporating geographic, demographic and shopping preferences of customers.  This cuts down on waste and ensure that you have a captive, motivated audience reviewing your product.

Sweepstakes and contests

This is one are where marketers prefer cyberspace due to cost efficiency, immediate data collection capabilities and the ability to keep the consumer engaged.

Contest require entrants to perform some type of activity based on skills, e.g. to state in 25 words why they should win the competition.  The winner is determined by a panel of judges.

Sweepstakes generates enthusiasm as it is based on luck.  Participants are required to submit free entries from which a winner will be drawn.

Event marketing

Most people only classify corporate sponsorship, staged promotions and product licensing as event marketing.  However, this is a much bigger field.  It is also referred to experiential marketing, live marketing or participatory advertising.   Some companies manage to come up with very creative, entertaining and attention grabbing ideas!

Point-of-purchase displays

These displays are specifically designed for retail and directly influence how customers interact with brands in-store.  It determines whether they see your products or whether your brand just blend in.

What if my business sucks at social media?

A lot of businesses are caught up in the frenzy of social media.  They are desperately trying to stay on top of the myriad of  platforms - scrambling to create a very visible online presence.  I often hear small business owners saying that they are feeling overwhelmed by it all.  Another frequent response is that they have created the websites, the facebook pages and twitter accounts, but that they fail to attract customers.

My advice is to relax.  Social media is very important and will only continue to grow in importance, but you have to put it into perspective:  social media is just a tool to reach your target audience.  It certainly is not the end of the road if you need more time to master this tool.  You have an arsenal of other tools you should utilize in the mean time.

Just to refresh your memory, I am writing a short series of blog updates on the more traditional tools. 

Promotional Mix

The promotional mix consists of 7 aspects namely personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, corporate image and exhibitions.  Each of these aspects allows the business to connect with its target audience, to communicate key attributes and to build long term relationships.

The most fundamental need of a business is to create sufficient sales. You need to inform customers about the attributes of your product and motivate them to purchase it.  Sales promotions offer a direct inducement to customers, salespeople and resellers to purchase a product.  It is extremely flexible and functions at both the consumer and trade levels, thereby creating high levels of distribution and goodwill.

However, there are also some disadvantages to sales promotions.  When implemented incorrectly it can damage the brand equity.  Care should also be taken to coordinate various messages across all the formats utilized.  When used too frequently it becomes the consumer expectation rather than a temporary sales boost.

Tomorrow's update will discuss specific techniques to inform customers about your product and how to motivate them to buy it.

Are we too sensitive?

 Huffington Post reports on an advertisement for Red Bull that is attracting complaints in the U.K. and yet remains on air.  Personally I love the ad, it incorporates a bit of risky humour, but nothing offensive in my view.  I think enough time has lapsed not to make humour of this kind offensive. 

No fun is being made of the people who lost their lives.  It is more a case of 20/20 hindsight.  The majority of viewers ought to identify with it - who hasn't looked back on decisions they made and thought: If only I knew then what I know now.

What do you think?  Do you find it offensive or distasteful?