« October 2004 | Main | December 2004 »
November 22, 2004
Using Scarcity Marketing To Spark Sales
The library at my kids' school does a very interesting thing...
They limit the number of books that the littlest kids can check out to one per day.
This strategy has both positives and negatives. For a kid like me, who had to be dragged away from his books to come to dinner, this is a major tragedy.
But for most of the kids, this is a major advantage.
It actually causes the kids to want to read the books faster so that they can come back the next day to get the other tomes that are clawing for their attention.
This tactic has a name - it's called "scarcity marketing." We use it when we tell people that:
- They can only have a certain number of an item
- There's only a limited supply available
- Something's only available at that price for a limited time.
You're going to see this tactic used liberally right after Thanksgiving. You'll see door crasher sales, while quantity lasts sales, and limited quantities available at this price.
All of these executions fall under the definition of scarcity marketing, but they're all usages that make people feel cheated because they're artificial. These tactics cause people to say "hey, if this product was $9.99 this morning, why is it $19.99 now? What changed? It's the same product that was on the shelf this morning, so why is it now worth twice as much?"
The best scarcity tactics are real, not artificially created.
Posted at 02:14 PM
Identifying Story Hooks: How Good Are You?
Are you a master at identifying story hooks?
Here's a chance to prove it and win something at the same time!
Today, November 22nd, is the official launch date for Corporate-Gift-Baskets.com
This new company is designed to help businesses differentiate themselves with their customers by giving heirloom-quality gifts that the recipients will treasure and remember for years to come.
It's basic message is "why give yet another gift basket that will be discarded and forgotten once the goodies are gone? Give a high-quality gift basket that will become a treasured keepsake, so they'll remember you for years."
This site is being launched with a variety of marketing and public relations programs, including pay per click marketing and a series of 4 press releases to be fed out between now and December 7th.
The first, a new company announcement media release, went out this morning.
Two others will be shopping-related tip sheets, giving different tips on holiday-related shopping.
The other one will be a hook-related story.
That's where you come in.
Posted at 01:35 PM
What's That Again? Brain Removal Study
Count on one of my local papers, the award-winning Kenosha News, to tag a normal story with an baffling headline:
"Brain removal study finds few volunteers"
Hmm, I wonder why?
Posted at 12:59 PM
How To Create Your Own TV Show!
Joan Stewart recently told a story about how publicist Robert Smith wanted something more than the standard brochure to set himself apart from all the other public relations practitioners in the U.S.
So after seeing a tip in this newsletter about starting his own TV show, courtesy of his local cable TV company's public access channel, he tried it.
"I had never heard of getting a local cable show f~r-ee," said Robert, who lives in Rockford, Illinois. "So I contacted my local cable provider and they finally had open slots."
The two-hour show, called Biz Briefs, features Robert interviewing local entrepreneurs, CEOs, authors, speakers and other experts who either live in Rockford, or are visiting.
"I chose a business format because I own a PR firm and it's an excellent strategy to get new clients," he said. "It's a superior access vehicle that sets me apart from other PR firms pitching the same prospects. And it works."
The first episode was a repeat of his "Publicity Made Easy" seminar. All other shows are being videotaped, with Robert acting as host, asking his guests questions. After each taping, all he has to do is drop off the tape.
After his first show, which aired for two hours and then was repeated, his phones rang non-stop.
Posted at 12:31 PM
November 11, 2004
Owning Your Customer's Heart - The Key To Customer Loyalty
Let's look for a few minutes at the concept of customer loyalty - how it's created and maintained.
My oldest daughter is in the college hunt.
And, because she's got great test scores, there's a ton of universities who are hunting her back. Every day's mail brings another stack of letters, postcards and brochures from universities, all seeking to catch her interest. We're now even starting to get telemarketing calls from universities!
It's been very interesting to watch this process, and I've noticed several things which have a great deal of applicability to those of us who wish to create loyal customers.
1. Almost all of these colleges, no matter how good the marketing department is in their business school, don't do a thing to differentiate themselves.
It's incredible! According to what I read, every one of these colleges is friendly, academically excellent, great at teaching because they are either small or large, well rounded with sports and social, well stocked with good looking kids (have you ever noticed that you never see pictures of an ugly kid in a college brochure?), has a plethora of mismatched yet cool-looking buildings (have you ever seen such an architectural mishmash as the typical US University? (University of Virginia excepted), and is a "great value" in education.
This rampant non-differentiation is so bad that I could literally pull the copy from one brochure, change the names, the locations and a couple of the pictures, and use it for virtually every college's literature we've gotten.
They clearly don't get it.
Keep in mind that these are the people who we pay lots of money to teach us how to be excellent marketers and business people!
2. Customer burnout happens
Posted at 10:39 AM
November 10, 2004
Sharpening Up Your Presentations
Many of us have been through media training, designed to help us give the best presentation possible when the key moment comes.
Part of media training is focusing on the message and how to deliver it well.
Here are some key points to help you sharpen up your presentations. They work both with the media and any other kind of presentation you give.
Posted at 09:01 PM
What's That Again? Burglary
Some people just don't get it - here's a report from a police blotter about a burglary:
"When officers told the victim the man had been arrested for burglary, he said, 'I didn't want him arrested for burglary, I wanted him arrested for breaking in and stealing my stuff.'"
Think about that comment the next time you're preparing a presentation for the media - he's your "real" audience!
Posted at 06:19 PM
PR Basics: Length Of Press Releases
Publicity expert Paul Hartunian says there's no reason you can't write a succinct one-page news release.
His advice makes sense. Joan Stewart points out that scientific studies inside newsrooms have shown that reporters and editors spend an average 5 seconds reading a news release before deciding whether to use it or trash it.
Why, then, do so many of us write releases that are longer than a page?
Posted at 01:48 PM
November 01, 2004
Borrowing Publicity - How To Use The Fame Of Others To Build Your Publicity
Have you ever noticed how famous people can get publicity almost without lifting a finger while you feel like every bit of media attention costs you endless work and struggle?
There's a way to fix that...
Find a way to use the celebrity power of others in your behalf!
As a result you not only both get publicity, but you get the benefit of the attention their presence brings and possibly their implied endorsement!
Here's some ways you can do this:
1. Use celebrities as examples
I just watched an interesting little news clip. It was promoting the latest issue of one of the women's magazines. It had one of their writers talking about how different facial structures need different styles of eyebrows. (I didn't know how important it is for Madonna and Susan Sarandon to purposely perfectly pluck differently from each other.) (By the way, I just read this to my middle daughter who stated "they do" with that tone of voice that implied "Dad, you just don't know anything!")
Posted at 08:22 PM
Researching Media: How To Find New Markets For Your Publicity
I just got off a plane, and discovered something that I should have recognized, but not being in that business, have never figured out.
What would you say if I asked you to name the top categories of advertisers in in-flight magazines?
If you're like me, you'd probably respond with restaurants, resorts, LCD projectors, cell phones, etc.
And you'd be right.
But in reading this month's issue of United Airlines' Hemispheres magazine, I discovered that there's another category that makes all kinds of sense, but wasn't on my radar screen before...
Posted at 01:51 PM
Using Quizzes in PR
We frequently mention the power of using quizzes, tip sheets and polls to build your PR presence
In this month's Hemispheres Magazine, there's a great example of the usage of a quiz in building PR. Here's one of the questions that I answered in the quiz while sitting on the airplane. Let's see how well you do:
Suppose a bird is standing in a closed box that is resting on a scale. When the bird flies in the box, does the scale read the same, more, or less than when the bird is resting?
See the end of this article for your answer.
Here's a quote from the start of the quiz:
"Quick Quiz
Gray Matters
This test, developed by Dr. Gary R. Gruber, author of more than 30 test-prep books (www.GruberTestPrep.com) is designed to predict intelligence."
The quiz then followed, with the answers upside down at the bottom.
So not only did Dr. Gruber score an attribution from this quiz, he actually was featured (along with his site) right at the top of the quiz.
Posted at 12:44 PM
