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Have you noticed what's in your mailbox since the election last week? Or more properly what's not? There was a fair amount of candidate promotional mail up until Tuesday the 4th but aside from the few stragglers who came in with vote pleas AFTER Election Day the lack of volume of mail in our mailbox is noticeable.
It was never good to see three Victoria's Secret catalogs in the same week (well at least not from a business perspective) but now we get none. Holiday catalog mailings are way fewer and page counts are down down down. We all understand the desire to send less and drive the customer (or citizen you would like to be a customer) to the web catalog. But people really do look at the catalog to do shopping. Of course there are the e-commerce dedicated folks who proudly disdain any received mail however they do not make up the majority of the population. And while sending a postcard to drive web traffic is a good strategy it is a dangerous thing indeed to make it the ONLY tactic.
It's obvious that dollar value spend will be down on individual gifts this holiday season. But people will buy gifts and I also am feeling a general backlash against gift cards. A couple of weekends I tried to use a gift card I received earlier this year and found that it had expired. ARRGH! So that really ticked me off and I have vowed not to buy one single gift card for anyone this season. Sure it's easier, less thought involved. But it is also less caring and if I am going to spend less money on someone the least I could do is invest myself in really thinking about what would be the appropriate gift. For the same reason that handing over cash seems inappropriate in lieu of a gift card.
Fewer catalogs, mail promotions this season will only exacerbate the drop in sales that retailers and catalog companies will feel and to add to it then the pipeline will be drier than ever come the end of the holiday season. And keep in mind with the mailbox being less cluttered than in recent memory marketing messages and offers will better penetrate and resonate!
Mailing less and mailing smarter are options that must be considered. But not mailing at all will have companies struggling Q1 2009 to answer the question of where all the top line revenue has disappeared to? They are blowing it big time.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Direct mail, Email and Social media to Gen X, Gen Y and Millenials
More and more often I am asked about the viability of direct mail. Today I answered a question on LinkedIn'is direct mail deader than disco'? Catchy perhaps, but the question was generally responded to in the positive - direct mail is dead, or they don't read it, I only read email, it is irrelevant etc.
Earlier this week however I saw an article in Promo Magazine noting that 'Gen-X Persuaded by Email, Direct Mail Over Social Marketing: Study. The article published on October 27th http://www.printthis.clickability.com noted that consumers 18-34 report they are more likely to respond to an e-mail marketing message or direct mail than to one they get through a social network.
One of the things about social networking is that it has yet to be proven as an environment for selling anything. The users are there in part because they are not sold anything or offered anything. Not the most promising business model ever developed. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and all the others are feverishly looking at ways to 'monetize' their applications but understand the risks of turning off the very audiences that find them appealing.
Gen Xer's are not nearly as accustomed to direct mail as some of us more experienced folk. But the same rules apply as always. If the offer is good, the direct mail piece or email message creative and relevant, the audience will respond. Keeping up with what is relevant and will generate response is also the same old same old. Things are changing day by day and will continue to do so but what results are just many more ways to communicate with citizens that marketers would like call customers.
The main idea is for companies to communicate with people the way they prefer.
Earlier this week however I saw an article in Promo Magazine noting that 'Gen-X Persuaded by Email, Direct Mail Over Social Marketing: Study. The article published on October 27th http://www.printthis.clickability.com noted that consumers 18-34 report they are more likely to respond to an e-mail marketing message or direct mail than to one they get through a social network.
One of the things about social networking is that it has yet to be proven as an environment for selling anything. The users are there in part because they are not sold anything or offered anything. Not the most promising business model ever developed. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and all the others are feverishly looking at ways to 'monetize' their applications but understand the risks of turning off the very audiences that find them appealing.
Gen Xer's are not nearly as accustomed to direct mail as some of us more experienced folk. But the same rules apply as always. If the offer is good, the direct mail piece or email message creative and relevant, the audience will respond. Keeping up with what is relevant and will generate response is also the same old same old. Things are changing day by day and will continue to do so but what results are just many more ways to communicate with citizens that marketers would like call customers.
The main idea is for companies to communicate with people the way they prefer.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Will P & G kill the golden goose?
So a little blurb in the Financial Times this past Sunday could have a HUGE impact on marketing in general. The direct marketing industry side elbowing in on the retail side. Usually it is the other way around. The article noted that "Procter and Gamble is testing its ability to use the internet to sell its toothpaste, household cleaners and nappies directly to US households, in a potential long-term strategic challenge to its retail partners.
The company is supporting a website, theEssentials.com, that is exclusively selling its brands, with items such as single tubes of Crest toothpaste and bottles of Mr Clean cleaning fluid, to boxes of its Pampers and Luvs brand nappies and Gillette razors.
In an indication of the sensitivities involved, the site is being operated by a third party, which owns the inventory. “We treat them like any other retailer as they buy product directly from us,” said Paul Fox, a company spokesman, of the site, which is still covered by P&G’s legal terms and conditions.'
To read the article you can go to:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/04c83c2c-9e16-11dd-bdde-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
Potentially the retail model being blown up is the most significant marketing development of 2009. Allowing consumers to buy P & G products directly has two major advantages to both parties. P & G not paying tribute to the retailer being one and less expensive pricing (dare we think that is possible?) being the other.
As a tried and true direct marketer I am excited and intrigued by the possibilites. Customers having the choice on buying the product through their desired channel is something to CHEER about (sorry I could not resist that P & G brand plug).
Fear not oh ye retailer, you will not be made obsolete as people will still shop in your store to buy products. But this could truly be the DAWN of a new ERA (sorry folks sometimes these things just write themselves!)
What do you think?
The company is supporting a website, theEssentials.com, that is exclusively selling its brands, with items such as single tubes of Crest toothpaste and bottles of Mr Clean cleaning fluid, to boxes of its Pampers and Luvs brand nappies and Gillette razors.
In an indication of the sensitivities involved, the site is being operated by a third party, which owns the inventory. “We treat them like any other retailer as they buy product directly from us,” said Paul Fox, a company spokesman, of the site, which is still covered by P&G’s legal terms and conditions.'
To read the article you can go to:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/04c83c2c-9e16-11dd-bdde-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
Potentially the retail model being blown up is the most significant marketing development of 2009. Allowing consumers to buy P & G products directly has two major advantages to both parties. P & G not paying tribute to the retailer being one and less expensive pricing (dare we think that is possible?) being the other.
As a tried and true direct marketer I am excited and intrigued by the possibilites. Customers having the choice on buying the product through their desired channel is something to CHEER about (sorry I could not resist that P & G brand plug).
Fear not oh ye retailer, you will not be made obsolete as people will still shop in your store to buy products. But this could truly be the DAWN of a new ERA (sorry folks sometimes these things just write themselves!)
What do you think?
Friday, October 10, 2008
Not having any fun yet - a thought on how to battle back
Like many of us I have good friends and close business associates that have recently their jobs. And since the end does not seem to be in sight we all have to get up every day and trudge back to work and watch the bad news come and go hour by hour.
Sure we can get leaner (and definitely meaner) and cut back. But my sense is that people have been doing that for the better part of six months anyway. One area I think can be looked at is your child's college education. I have a son in college and daughter in high school so the subject is close to my heart - and wallet! Our son did a year at a university and did not care for the school that much. Consequently he has returned home (very common these days) and is working full time and taking courses at a local community college. He seems much happier and will likely take a full course load come January while continuing to work. The benefits are many. Let's start with the difference of about $ 18,000 per semester! I cannot believe how we parents have bought into the fact that college can cost families upwards of $ 160,000 for four years. What made us sign on to this??? Is the education one gets at a community college decidedly worse than a 4 year university? The professors and teachers at community colleges often have credentials just as impressive as those in universities.
Even getting a 2 year associates degree could save a family more than $ 75,000 prior to a student deciding what he really wants to do and where he wants to go. And by the way college age kids get their information and learning from so many sources that they are informed in ways I could never imagine working.
So hang in there and think about how you could roar back at that declining 401K and college fund. What was does not have to be what will be.
Sure we can get leaner (and definitely meaner) and cut back. But my sense is that people have been doing that for the better part of six months anyway. One area I think can be looked at is your child's college education. I have a son in college and daughter in high school so the subject is close to my heart - and wallet! Our son did a year at a university and did not care for the school that much. Consequently he has returned home (very common these days) and is working full time and taking courses at a local community college. He seems much happier and will likely take a full course load come January while continuing to work. The benefits are many. Let's start with the difference of about $ 18,000 per semester! I cannot believe how we parents have bought into the fact that college can cost families upwards of $ 160,000 for four years. What made us sign on to this??? Is the education one gets at a community college decidedly worse than a 4 year university? The professors and teachers at community colleges often have credentials just as impressive as those in universities.
Even getting a 2 year associates degree could save a family more than $ 75,000 prior to a student deciding what he really wants to do and where he wants to go. And by the way college age kids get their information and learning from so many sources that they are informed in ways I could never imagine working.
So hang in there and think about how you could roar back at that declining 401K and college fund. What was does not have to be what will be.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Two seasons and the sounds of silence
The past week and change has been a true roller coaster ride in financial markets and landscape of the financial sector has been forever changed. I have been saying for quite some time that the country had to survive a hard 'winter' if we were to truly appreciate spring and it seems as if we are in a constant blizzard of late.
But there is still freezing weather to come. This shake out is far from over and the impact is far reaching across a broad range of socio-economic strata. I think that the working world as we know it is going to change as a result. More entreprenuers will arise out of the ashes and people will work differently and more collaboratively than ever before.
Yet before we see an economic 'spring' there will be frostbite and some people will be frozen out of their homes and old life. And what of the marketing world implications? How about Ogilivy and Mather who had won the Wachovia account as recently as last week? Now Citibank takes over that relationship and O & M is out in the cold too. Add to this the constant cold wind that advertisers are pulling back on their budgets as a response to the continued tightening of consumer purse strings.
On the other hand advertising clutter stands a great chance of being dramatically reduced. What this means is that advertiser messages have a much better chance of getting through. Now the trick is to make that message RELEVANT to the target market. No doubt priorities have changed and so should the messaging. The right message combined with the right audience will mean your product or service has a better chance of making big strides in the quiet of this economic winter.
So we will be working with our clients and prospects on getting the right message out there NOW! Besides - Groundhog Day cannot be too far off.
But there is still freezing weather to come. This shake out is far from over and the impact is far reaching across a broad range of socio-economic strata. I think that the working world as we know it is going to change as a result. More entreprenuers will arise out of the ashes and people will work differently and more collaboratively than ever before.
Yet before we see an economic 'spring' there will be frostbite and some people will be frozen out of their homes and old life. And what of the marketing world implications? How about Ogilivy and Mather who had won the Wachovia account as recently as last week? Now Citibank takes over that relationship and O & M is out in the cold too. Add to this the constant cold wind that advertisers are pulling back on their budgets as a response to the continued tightening of consumer purse strings.
On the other hand advertising clutter stands a great chance of being dramatically reduced. What this means is that advertiser messages have a much better chance of getting through. Now the trick is to make that message RELEVANT to the target market. No doubt priorities have changed and so should the messaging. The right message combined with the right audience will mean your product or service has a better chance of making big strides in the quiet of this economic winter.
So we will be working with our clients and prospects on getting the right message out there NOW! Besides - Groundhog Day cannot be too far off.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
One big direct response world
I had occasion to spend time with an old friend over the weekend and in another life he was a general agency 'brand' guy. He was talking about his current company and how he is delivering video promotional content for television and the internet. The content message changes depending on the medium and what he was excited about was the fact they could truly measure the response for each channel to determine which approach performed better.
It was both interesting and rewarding to know that even from the brand side the opportunity to better analyze and understand performance is now becoming the standard. There is no reason we can't all get along in the coming age of more complete measurabilty. Creative efforts will be just as important if not more so but listening and understanding what people respond to will make us all produce more relevant content as well as be better marketers.
It was both interesting and rewarding to know that even from the brand side the opportunity to better analyze and understand performance is now becoming the standard. There is no reason we can't all get along in the coming age of more complete measurabilty. Creative efforts will be just as important if not more so but listening and understanding what people respond to will make us all produce more relevant content as well as be better marketers.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I like PC guy more than Mac guy
And apparently I am not alone. The recent bizarre Microsoft ads with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates are a prelude to a series of ads to come (the Seinfeld/Gates ads are done for the time being) where Microsoft/PC will be taking on Apple/Mac head-on. Maybe it's about time but I cannot tell if the fact that it went on so long was a smart show of restraint on Microsoft's part or confusion on how to counter the Mac vs. PC TV, print and web spots.
I kind of like PC guy. He is always trying something new and Justin Long's smug, superior attitude was funny the first time or two but devovled into arrogance that is sometimes typical of Mac users. I have nothing against Mac as a platform and we use it for some of our business applications in the art area. But Mac users like Mac guy seem to have to needle how wonderful their machine is and how much better Mac's are than PC's. True the Vista operating system has not had the impact that Microsoft had hoped but they have worked out the problems and it is a stable and well-featured operating system. What has Macintosh done lately to improve its operating system? Oh you can have one of the Mac in-store technicians transfer your PC files to your Mac. Wow. At least PC guy makes me feel they are trying to improve and are aware that things are not perfect. As for the Mac guy - I feel like he could use a good backhand slap or two.
The reality is that both PC and Macintosh are good operating systems that always could use improvement. And we the people only want the choice to buy the one we want. But you cannot easily put a PC operating system on an Apple machine nor can you easily put a Mac operating system on a PC. Yes you can have both but it is messy and for the most part impractical. And it shouldn't have to be that way.
I kind of like PC guy. He is always trying something new and Justin Long's smug, superior attitude was funny the first time or two but devovled into arrogance that is sometimes typical of Mac users. I have nothing against Mac as a platform and we use it for some of our business applications in the art area. But Mac users like Mac guy seem to have to needle how wonderful their machine is and how much better Mac's are than PC's. True the Vista operating system has not had the impact that Microsoft had hoped but they have worked out the problems and it is a stable and well-featured operating system. What has Macintosh done lately to improve its operating system? Oh you can have one of the Mac in-store technicians transfer your PC files to your Mac. Wow. At least PC guy makes me feel they are trying to improve and are aware that things are not perfect. As for the Mac guy - I feel like he could use a good backhand slap or two.
The reality is that both PC and Macintosh are good operating systems that always could use improvement. And we the people only want the choice to buy the one we want. But you cannot easily put a PC operating system on an Apple machine nor can you easily put a Mac operating system on a PC. Yes you can have both but it is messy and for the most part impractical. And it shouldn't have to be that way.
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