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Making Gifts Out of Gift Cards
Gift cards are a popular way to give a gift when you're not sure exactly what someone will want. They're also a great way for stores to boost business - it's kind of like the ultimate referral. In order to make them more gifty, gift cards are often packaged in a special box, bag or envelope.
But what if someone took gift cards one step further, and made them actually also gifts? As it turns out, a couple major retailers have done just that this year. Target has a gift card that is also a 1.2 megapixel camera, and Best Buy has a gift card that is also a functioning speaker you can plug into your iPod.
If you have a business who uses gift cards or certificates, why not make them more compelling by using an actual product? A customized wine opener, would make a perfect gift card for a wine shop or a pocket-sized aromatherapy stick as a gift card for a spa. Any pocket-sized item that relates to your business would make a better gift card than, well, a gift card. Plus, since there are so many items that are relatively inexpensive compared to the value of the gift card, even a small boost in sales will more than cover the cost. Chances are, having something way more interesting than a gift card at your point of purchase will boost gift card sales considerably.
6 Steps to Business Growth Through Change
Change is essential to business success, and I’m not talking about the kind of change you drop in a vending machine. It’s the kind of change that too often brings fear, self-doubt and resistance to business owners.
Building a business is hard work and once the wheels are turning, it can be difficult to grasp the idea of doing something differently. But more often the not, resistance to change that can lead to trouble. A business that doesn’t change risks become stagnant and misses the opportunity to grow.
Consider McDonald’s, a turn-key operation that functions in cookie cutter fashion and has maintained the same core menu for decades. Though the business is based on being predictable, McDonald’s introduces new products and promotions on a regular basis. Often times the company strikes gold with something new like the Oreo McFlurry, and sometimes even McDonald’s misses the mark. Whatever happened to the McDLT? Continue Reading…
The Power of Free
An interesting study mentioned in a recent New York Times article shows that, while most people like getting a deal, everybody loves free stuff. In the experiment, two tables were set up offering discounted chocolates: Lindor truffles for 15 cents and Hershey's Kisses for 1 cent. At this price, the Lindor truffles were chosen about 70% of the time. This would seem to make sense because the truffles are ostensibly a lot tastier and a great value at 15 cents.
Then, they dropped the price by one penny for each, and free Hershey's Kisses were chosen almost 70% of the time. This was true even when the tables were set up at the end of a cafeteria line and the 14 cent truffles could easily be added to the price of the meal.
The moral of the story? Cheap is good, but free is great!
Changes & Choices: Pharma Updates Marketing Code
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Board of Directors recently updated their Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals, prohibiting distribution of non-educational items (such as pens, mugs and other "reminder" objects typically adorned with a company or product logo) to healthcare providers and their staff. Despite their minimal value, the code states they "may foster misperceptions that company interactions with healthcare professionals are not based on informing them about medical and scientific issues."
Working for a promotional products company I'm surely a little biased, but this doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Under the updated code, pharmaceutical manufacturers can still treat doctors and other healthcare providers to expensive dinners, as long as they're part of an "educational" event. According to a study cited in the New York Times, at least 25% of doctors in the US have actually been paid by drug companies to lecture at events like these. Promotional pens and mugs must have an immensely powerful effect to be more influential than these types of dinner and lecture arrangements.
At the end of the day, I think the pharmaceutical industry is due for some reform. It's dominated by huge, immensely-profitable companies that use their clout to influence healthcare professionals and lawmakers. At the same time, I think they should be allowed to market their products responsibly. Promotional products, providing tangible, visible evidence of their marketing seem like a convenient sacrificial lamb, while drug companies continue practices that may be more deeply detrimental to the quality of healthcare than a free pen.
The Last Form of Advertising People WANT to See
Most media are wearing out their welcome when it comes to pushing advertising messages to consumers. One market research firm estimated the average American is exposed to up to 5,000 marketing messages per day. Meanwhile, other studies show brand recognition developing as early as two years old.
People are tired of advertising, and now that the tools exist to avoid it, they seem to be doing so in record numbers, whether fast forwarding ads on their DVRs, blocking them on their web browsers, or migrating towards subscription rather than advertising supported media. They're also using the web to pull the information they want to know about a brand, such as user or editorial reviews, rather than simply listening to what the brand has to say about itself.
Still, there is one final area where marketing is welcomed with open arms: promotional products. Whether an inexpensive giveaway, or a brand-name corporate gift, everybody loves free stuff. It's perhaps the last sure-fire way to get a positive reaction from someone when you offer them a piece of advertising. Perhaps it's fitting that as consumers use technology to take more control over the advertising that reaches them, the lowest-tech method of all - stamping your message on a physical product - is actually gaining effectiveness.
Which strategy reigns in capturing consumer attention - informational or emotional?
Are you logical?
What makes you tick?
One can hardly get by these days without being affected emotionally. Whether it’s for the latest gadget or our future homes, emotional marketing is here to stay. And it is the most effective. In a culture that longs for relationship more than anything else; we are emotionally driven to the things and people in our lives and a term, “emotionally attached,†has been derived as a result of these. So why are emotions so important when it comes to making our purchase decisions? It’s in our nature. Almost intuitively, we want what is attractive and not what sounds good on a resume. Speaking of resumes, it would be in error for a company to hire someone without first having an interview with that person. If the emotional element weren’t a big deal, one could be hired just by the hard and fast facts found on their resume. But this obviously is not the case and an interview is imperative before any hiring manager decides to hire or not. Again, emotional marketing is essential and its effective use is what often separates two people, products or services. The emotionally marketed individual is bound to feel the warm fuzzies when marketed to correctly and the cold pricklies of informational marketing will be the only lasting effect on its unimpressed audience.
What types of changes do you see happening among traditional Ad Agencies in light of the digital revolution?
Blog:
Social networking sites such as Facebook, Linked-In and MySpace all empower the user with
information about others in their network. In a sense, this is the
heartbeat of what is going on today in what is colloquially termed the “Digital
Revolution.” Information heavy users (or consumers) on the web are better
equipped to make good buying decisions. They are in a sense “a step ahead
of the game” when it comes to being “advertised to.”
They are savvy and
prepared to filter what advertisements have to say and can better “read between
the lines” of what is and is not true about a product or service. In this
case, knowledge is power, and consumers for the most part are becoming much
more knowledgeable. This being said, it is imperative that we reach the
consumer in the most appealing way.
Now is this through traditional forms
of media or by going online?
This is the million dollar question that we
need to ask with humility. In one sense, traditional media has been
working for decades before the birth of anything online. However, online
marketing has become a powerful force in such a short period of time. The
trends are leaning towards media moving online but at what rate and what amount
is at question. It is true that time will tell but I leave you with one
phrase.
Much like the success of a product is determined by whether or
not it is the “first to market” in the same way the success of an ad campaign
will be determined by whether or not it is the “first to reach” the consumer.
How effective are mobile web ads currently and where do you think the trends will go over the next five years?
The
effectiveness of mobile web ads should grow over the next five years.
Privacy advocates, wireless hardware, mobile carriers, and mobile ad companies
are the limiting agents to making this possible. However, I believe
growth in effectiveness is inevitable. Privacy advocates speculating
about how to make phones’ location information available to advertisers, phones
like the iPhone with more user-friendly mobile Web browsing being available,
mobile carriers like Sprint pushing advertisements using age and ZIP code
specific information, and mobile ad companies complying with the steady rate of
change of incorporating their ads and not being too overbearing, the mobile
advertising space has all the right ingredients for a recipe of success.
Before you know it, you’ll be standing in line to buy a movie ticket when your
mobile phone prompts you to buy a bag of popcorn at 25% off.
Welcome Advertising and Marketing Community-
Welcome
to the Advertising & Marketing IncBizNet blog! This forum will hopefully become a fun and
educational environment used to dialogue about the new trends, issues and ideas
in our industry.
Before
we get kicked off, I’d like to introduce myself – your moderator – and Trinet
Internet Solutions, Inc., the company I work for. My name is James
Chung and I am a Business Development Specialist for Trinet
Internet Solutions, Inc. We are the largest & longest standing full service web firm in Orange County, CA with an Inc. 5000 Media Industry Rank #41. I love working in this industry because I’ve
been able to witness firsthand the growth of the online marketing space where
websites are transforming from templates to more customized and complex
business tools that help increase new revenue streams and decrease operating
costs. This industry is truly
captivating, innovative and ever-changing.
Trinet
not only provides innovative web solutions for large corporations like
Coca-Cola, IMAX, Sony, Toyota and others, but we also work with Non-Profits and
Christian Ministries like The American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. However, one of the most unique things about
Trinet is the partnership program we offer for other marketing and advertising agencies. We have found that because the trends are increasingly forcing traditional
agencies to provide clients with web solutions in addition to the more
traditional marketing & advertising services, it becomes extremely
valuable for both sides to form a relationship where we can partner with one
another to provide the full spectrum of services to clients without having to
finance the services in-house.
This
is just one of the trends we’re seeing in the marketing and advertising
space. What are some of the trends you
and your agency/firm have been dealing with?
I encourage you to
share your ideas and post thoughts of interest to the community at large. I’d like to continue this dialogue and see
what new horizons are forthcoming in our industry. Please feel free to share openly about your
business issues and topics of interest for us to read and discuss. I’ll be posting some serious questions as
well as some fun questions just to get your juices flowin’…
