Attract Attention with Activity

I was visiting the art walk yesterday along the beautiful Santa Barbara coast and couldn’t help but notice the relatively fast pace the crowd was moving past all this magnificent art when all of a sudden we came to a halt, like being in bumper to bumper traffic on the 101 highway.
It always intrigues me how traffic comes to a halt on the freeway and then when you get to the part where it opens up again there is nothing there that would explain the slow down.

But when I got to the place that was causing the art walk slowdown, the “problem” was obvious. One highly intelligent, gifted, marketing genius, artist! This guy either loved what he did so much he couldn’t stop doing it or he understood that activity is the key to attention getting. Basically he was painting an ocean view and the crowds couldn’t move past his 10 by 10 without stopping to watch him work. Although he was quite chatty and willing to engage anyone who wanted a conversation, he did have a companion available to talk and display which I interpreted was his way of insuring none of the viewers would feel intrusive.

If you’re trying to get attention at a trade show or a business exhibit or even your retail location, activity is going to work for you. Walk down the hall of a mall and all you see store after store is window dressings an SALE signs. You’ll stop in front of the store that has activity in the window or someone in the doorway doing something interesting like sending a flying disc out into the hallway that bumps you in the head.

Or, have you ever walked down the aisle of a exhibit hall and noticed someone trying to get your attention by asking, “hi, are you looking for something special today?” What if he pointed a laser pointer at your partner or the person walking ahead of you while looking you dead in the eye with a challenge that made you want to know more about what he does? Don’t you think that would be attracting?

I know some bimbo that knows nothing about the product or services you represent standing half naked in your exhibit space is going to get attention, but is that how you want to be remembered?

Try learning (or relearning) one or two Yo-Yo tricks and then have a couple hundred available to hand out with your name on them to prospects willing to come in and try to turn a trick or two (pun intended). This will give you a break while they create the activity that gets your exhibit all the attention! Let us help you with the next idea to bring some activity to your sales and marketing endeavors. Check our website at www.InnMkting.com or give us a call. We’re here most business days from 9 to 5 @ 805-485-2865.

Part 2 - Life's Lemon ...ERRORs

2. The Errors

As a promotional products distributor and a creator of marketing collateral, our company Innovative Marketing, is basically involved in printing which means there are a hundred zillion ways things can go wrong. We’re very fortunate that the number of errors we actually encounter is very, very small (knock on wood!).

I’ll bet the dozen or so errors we’ve encountered in the 30 + years we’ve been in business can be attributed about 90% to faulty proofreading (usually the clients!).

However, we would rather have our client’s complaint to overcome then to have them go away angry and never know why we lost the account. When someone tells you about a mistake you've made, it means they value your business relationship and you better care enough to do something about it.

Recently we had an expedited order to a local university. On time delivery for a special event was the most important factor. While complaining about the poor quality of the imprint, the client said they could overlook it because we delivered on time. They reluctantly used the product because it was better to have it to give out at the event, then nothing.

This account is too important and prestigious to leave hanging like that so I let my supplier know of the displeasure and he suggested a win-win idea that was going to relieve my anxiety, get him off the hook and really make my client shine. It ended up costing me a few dollars because the supplier greatly reduced his production and material charges and I was able to do a very neat imprinted first aid kit which was unexpected and very well received.
The Lesson: This gave me a great opportunity to put another idea in front of my client that they are enjoying and will probably order again for themselves. Plus I gained additional client loyalty and a new sense of respect from them to allow me to make suggestions rather than just be an order taker. Furthermore, the relationship between my supplier and I has been enhanced. What could have been the “last order syndrome” (THE LEMON) turned out to be a closer relationship with more mutual respect between the three of us (THE LEMONADE).

Life's Lemons are for Lemonade

Business sucks. The recession is killing me and as hard as I wish, I'm coming up with negative after negative and then when something does start to look like it is going to be better, pow, a misstep or the shortfalls and a blown opportunity.

So how do I go about turning those lemons into lemonade?

In the last 30 to 40 days, I've experienced a number of deal killing situations and thought that revealing them here and going over how I overcame them might be helpful to followers of this blog.

1. The Delay Game - I might hate this more than anything else. One of my biggest clients (and absolutely the easiest to deal with) does an annual award banquet where the top 100 employees from its 8,000 nationwide staff are given gifts and awards. Guess who the go to promotional/incentive awards distributor is that they use year after year to provide these gifts and awards. Did you guess Innovative Marketing?

Usually the event is held in January to thank the staff for the great past year. Well 2008 wasn't all that great so the event was cancelled. Then it was rescheduled for March and then cancelled again. April was looking promising so it was tentatively rescheduled for May and finally held in July!

Besides staying in touch month after month, I tried to be creative in a way that would allow the client to keep the event while reducing costs for them without affecting my margins. It took a lot of shopping and cajoling with suppliers to get them to go along with me to make this a win-win for everyone. It worked out. Factories received orders for about 15 pre cent less dollars than expected, the client got to have its award event with great cost savings and highly valued gifts and awards and I saved lost revenue from the first quarter and am booking it into the third quarter.

All through this delay, I kept dropping new ideas for awards and gifts that would achieve the "pat-on-the-back" the company dearly wanted to give its staff. I realized the expense might be one of the obstacles that was getting in the way so I continued sending ideas over that were sometimes clever but it turned out unacceptable. I tried sending new catalogues and samples not knowing if the event was going to be held ever again, but believing it would eventually - probably in a future year.

The Lessons for me was the delay became:
a) Relationship building never ends, no matter what comes you have to keep building and earning that relationship.
b) A Learning experience is always right around the corner. I learned about newer technology ideas that I found useful for other clients and upgraded my knowledge about useful ideas.
c) Service is King and saving clients money is important.

Also, while I was waiting for this delay to end, I earned word of mouth referrals from this client and others who starting talking about the creative and "great stuff," I was producing.

Tomorrow I'm going to write about the second Lemon I recently turned into Lemonade - "The Errors."

Slowing Down? Then Let's get going again!

In case you haven't noticed, the level of solicitations is increasing.

Door to door, telephone and of course those email blasts. Do you know the main reason? Business is slow and people have little or nothing to work on and smart entrepreneurs are turning everybody on staff into sales executives or laying them off.

If you're reading this blog, you too are probably trying to find a new, innovative idea to make the difficult task of soliciting more pleasing. Not only to the solicited, but mainly to the solicitor.

How much more interesting is that person knocking on the door or telephone caller when they have something to give you beyond that product or service they need to sell?

Just yesterday, a perky, medical looking professional (wearing a white smock) came bouncing into my office with the "just happened to be in the neighborhood" line. Extending a gift bag my way, she offered an "opportunity" to visit her new bosses dental office for a free exam and very low cost cleaning.

I've been going to the same dentist for more than 30 years and the effort he goes to keeping out of pain has earned my loyalty (never mind the free toothbrush, floss and chocolates I get on the way out). So, when I told my visitor this she nodded her agreement and left me a folder with all the information about the new dentist including some referral cards, a toothbrush, floss and a toothpaste sample. "What, no chocolate?" I thought to myself. She's not going to get my business!"

But seriously, I would bet you any amount of money that out of 25 people Miss Perky visited, she found someone that is going to have a need for a neighborhood dentist. She will successfully begin developing some new clientele that will begin raising that practice out of this slow down.

Whether there is a budget for it or not, you're going to have to be the one to take the incentive to getting your clients back to calling on you again.

This week I had a terrible experience. I found out a client of mine was releasing a whole new branding campaign and me -- the promotional marketing guru of Ventura County, California -- was out of sight and out of mind when they sat down to plan the campaign with the new logo.

I guarantee that won't happen again. And to insure my existing client base knows I'm around to help them out of this slow down, here is my check list of things I'm doing on a monthly basis.

#1. I'm going to email my client base and let them know this blog is available for their consumption.

#2. I'm going to make more sampling available to them at NO COST. Try it you might like it. I'll be showing promotional ideas and let them know a free sample is on the way if requested.

#3. I'm going to have a contest. Tell me the best promotional product you've seen in the last six months and the winner gets a brand new Fossil Watch. There will be two winners -- one for the guys and one for the gals.

#4. I'm going to invite them to pass the word to their friends about the contest and let them compete for the watches.

The Lesson for my screw up is to take away something that will insure I'm being better at servicing my client base even when we're not in the sales cycle. For me, and should be for you, it's about staying in the loop even when you're not in the sales cycle. If you've got great ideas and great stuff, showing and telling can as much fun as selling.

These four proactive marketing steps will gain me a number of new ideas and new clients while I’m able to provide additional services and make myself more available. It might not result in any immediate sales; but at least I won’t be out of sight and out of mind when the buying need starts again.

Call me at 805-485-2865 so we can plan a campaign for you or visit our website www.InnMkting.com to search through our idea base.

Avoid this Marketing Ploy

While I’m more interested in blogging about innovative marketing ideas that help you promote your message and products and services, I thought this would be a good time to site an example of what not to do because it is a great way to piss off your client base.

The other day I received a letter (direct mail piece) from one of my credit card companies (unfortunately I have several) with one of the “teasers” on the outside of the envelope reading “IMPORTANT INFORMATION CONCERNING CHANGES TO YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT.”

Typically, I trash this kind of mail because I get so much mail I just don’t have time to read credit card offers especially because I already owe them so much money and don’t want to know about another great deal that is going to be so attractive I end up further into debt.
But this one, I decided to open.

Surprisingly, it was not a bunch of legal mumble jumble. It was clearly written and I understood right out the gate that they were INCREASING my APR about five (5) per cent! Furthermore, if I missed a payment after the new increase went into effect (about two months from now), my rate would go to 29.99%!!

The back-panel went into detail about my options which pretty much included LOVE IT or LEAVE IT. I was even given an automated 800 number to call whereby I could automatically cancel and close my account.

While my business, Innovative Marketing, is involved in a number of public relations and advertising enterprises, our mainstay is selling promotional marketing products. We’re pretty small operators when compared to some of the big players, but we still run about $30,000 worth of charges monthly through a number of different bank credit lines and credit cards. Over the years, the suppliers in our industry have gotten more and more strapped for cash so have begun to require either a credit card or check upfront before processing our orders. The biggest in the industry, Norwood, just filed for bankruptcy.

Although most of my cards get paid to zero each month, that credit is very important to the smooth operation of our business. When I have a client having difficulty paying me right away, then often we have to let some of the balance linger a month or two getting even with the card company when our account evens up with us. Again, our numbers are small, but it would not be unusual for us to have $5,000 or $6,000 to push off to the next month.

Somehow I’ve justified that the “REWARDS” we get from using these cards pays for the finance charges which we encounter about three or four months out of the year. However, take a look at the differences in monthly finance charges with these examples:

$6,000 @ 12% APR = $60 per month (which is what we were averaging).

$6,000 @ 17.99% APR = $90 per month (which is what the INCREASE was doing).

$6,000 @ 29.99% APR = $150 per month (I’m borrowing from someone else to pay that off).

Needless to say, I was pissed and began calling the automated number to shut down my account when the cool head of my beloved prevailed telling me “don’t cut your nose to spite your face (idiot)!” She went on, “you rarely have a balance on that account and you need the credit so either make sure you never have a balance or call them and find out if there is something else that can be done.”

Unfortunately, I know me and for one reason or another, one day, a balance would show up and I would be blowing my blood pressure over not paying that bill in full. And I hate to talk to the credit card “customer service” people because…well you know why and I don’t have to explain.

But guess what. I did call and got to talk to someone who understood exactly what I was jabbering about and before I could finish my complaint, he said, “Mr. Berger, sir, we send that pamphlet to everyone; but the increase is for everyone else and does not affect your account which reflects the lower, priority rate for our better, more preferred customers.”

Of course, I was ready for battle so began arguing that what he just said is not what the pamphlet reads and my voice started rising. “I know Mr. Berger, sir,” he calmly cut me off. “But I’m telling you, sir, your rate stays the same and I’m even putting a note here in your account file about this discussion so if you have any problem in the future you can refer to these notes.”

OK, so I let him win that argument.

While I’m feeling very special about my “preferred” status, I’m blogging this so everyone will know that a protesting telephone call does make a difference. Had I done nothing, I’m confident the rate would have gone up the extra five percent. If I cancelled my account, I guessing I would have received a mailer in a few months offering me some sort of introductory rate to get a card and other free services (I may still go for that option when my cash flows better toward the year end.)
Make the call. It will save you some significant money over the long haul and even more importantly, it will let the biggies know we’re not going to let them get away with taking advantage of us. Now I’m wondering, out of the millions and millions of credit card customers who receive these pamphlets, how many actually just go along and end up sending the extra $300 or $400 in finance charges every year?

Your Next "Good" Idea May Mean Your Job!

In this challenging economic environment, as a creative marketing executive, you will need to understand where to focus your efforts. It’s challenging for a couple of reasons – things are getting better right now and you don’t know how long the upturn will last or how up it will be.

You can't focus entirely on cutting costs. Cutting costs is definitely important but you have to be bold now and begin recommending careful, aggressive campaigns that can seize the opportunities that may have a smaller window then any of us would prefer. Remember you're investing your time everyday so to be able to document a winning approach during the right time could pay off for you long term.

Tax refunds are starting to arrive, middle class earners are beginning to see larger take home checks, the news with rescues on the high seas is positive and as consumers continue to verify the bargains available are real, the economy -- as predicted by the experts within the Obama administration -- will start to marginally grow.

Our current economic situation is not discouraging; but it is challenging. Students of some of the best marketing practices during the last recession can help you in the planning and recommendation process. The choice between pumping up your marketing investment and cutting spending until the market stabilizes is really no choice at all. Those who hold back will watch others take larger shares of the available purchases. All purchases are in competition now. It’s not just about market share.

While the last “official” recession was nearly 20 years ago, experience proves that marketing departments succeeded when convincing the occupants of the executive suites to promote, advertise and continue brand building. They increased their own market share, outlasted their market competition and found themselves in a better position for growth when the economy flourished during the Clinton years.

I’m not suggesting to throw your money and ideas away on blasting ads every chance you get. There are a ton of wasteful spending "ideas" on television, the internet and direct mail. Using promotional products available through websites like ours at www.InnMkting.com is a start but more important indulge the expertise of promotional marketing consultants who can give you statistical information on which products work in what environment and help with ideas and best uses of these products.

Sometimes you may not like what you will hear form that professional. But if all he/she wants to do is take your order then you may as well do the shopping on the internet. Look for a promotional marketing expert who has kept up with industry trends and is not afraid to lose an order by telling you when your boss' idea is less effective. Look for the consultant that will be in a postion to make recommendations based on how you plan to use the idea and the medium you are considering.

Obama’s Gift: Almost Perfect for the Queen

What a great problem to have. I’m going to visit the Queen of England and what do I give her for a gift. I laughed out loud when I read the editorial in the Los Angeles Times. “What do you get the Queen? Here’s a woman who has everything and even carries a purse to meetings in her own home.”

An IPOD? I don’t think so. Maybe a nice gift for one of her grandchildren. As a matter of fact, it turns out that one of them gave her one a couple years ago. By the way, that’s the perfect clue for gift giving. Give people the things they give. Subconsciously they are giving the things they really want for themselves.

So if President Obama followed that rule of thumb. He would have given her a nicely framed picture. Then the problem comes up. Do I give her a picture of her with George Bush when he was receiving that glare from her for joking that she was old enough to be around since the revolutionary war?

Actually the IPOD did include some pictures of her and Prince Phillip while they were visiting the United States on a recent trip. So that was close but I like my idea better. This frame is a digital frame and you can put hundreds of photos on it and let it run so you have an ongoing slide show. I have one in the family room and we turn it on whenever visitors come by. Amazing thing about it is they always notice their photo among the hundreds that are “sliding!”

Or if you wanted to get the idea across what a budget minded President you are — in the midst of this global recession — how about a credit card size Hand Sanitizer? After all, think about all the germs a Queen can pick up shaking all those hands day after day. Here’s an idea that cost less the two bucks. As a matter of fact he could have given her a gross of sanitizers with the USA imprinted on one side and the Royal Coat of Arms on the other. She could have handed them out to others who have the ongoing chore of greeting and hand shaking. What an idea. We can help stop the spread of influenza as we continue working for world peace.

If you are looking for interesting ways to get your organization talked about – in a good way – try working with a promotional marketing specialist like Innovative Marketing. It is the type of communications that gets multiple exposures for low rates and long life. Whether it be gifts for a Queen, a thank you to a co-worker for a job well done or a way to show client’s your appreciation, we have appropriate ideas.
We’re available by email just write to Info@InnMkting.com or visit our website www.InnMkting.Com today. Please leave your phone number and other contact information so we can plan a way to connect with you.