Search Engine Sensation

Your Valentine!

Probably much like yourself we have had a variety of emails from various companies aiming to hit the Valentine’s market!

And we have indeed done our own campaign for  http://www.safetyrazors.co.uk

Most companies aim their product/services to the partner of the loved one!  

Timing is also a very important part of these time campaigns and does need careful consideration in giving enough lead in time.

A few weeks before is an ideal starting point for a campaign, with some further reminders, without being overbearing and running up to the point where it’s ‘last call’ but of course leaving enough time to get the product delivered in time for the happy occasion. 

This also depends on the cost of the product or experience offered.  We saw today a ladies fountain pen to the sum of £1200 being advertised – not a sum of money that most of us could just pull out of our pocket at a moments notice! Something like this would really need to be saved up for well in advance so the marketing should have started much earlier – probably at the beginning of the year.

· Target the occasion – Easter, holiday season, Halloween etc

· Decide on lead-in time and strategy

· Get the message out there

http://www.searchenginesensation.com/traditional-marketing.asp

What’s it worth to you?

How much is a qualified email address worth to you?

 

Some market research was recently carried out by a leading north east provider of e-mail marketing software.

 

The organisation asked a cross section of major retail and service sector organisations how much each email address that the business collects from customers and potential customers was worth to them.

 

You may be surprised to learn that the average value of EACH email address was between £5 to £7.

 

So, a visitor comes to your web site and hopefully enquires or buys something.  At this point you should be obtaining permission to add the person’s details to your email marketing database.  If you don’t, you are missing a trick!

 

So, when a customer buys something from you, don’t just think of the value of that sale in terms of the product or service that you sell the customer at that point in time.  By collecting your customers’ email addresses you can easily keep them up to date with your products/services, special offers etc and keep them coming back for more.

Click on this link to read more about the power of email marketing

Claire

Rainy Days

The forecast said that it was one of those weekends when it was just going to rain rain rain….. so I thought it might be a good idea to go down to our local Blockbusters and rent a few DVD’s. 

 

While I was paying for them, I must say how well the assistant up sold me a WII and the package deal was rather good even with the extras added on.

 

With entertainment in hand I left the shop feeling quite happy, it was only the beginning of November and by chance I had our son’s main Christmas gift sorted, then it suddenly dawned on me……….. the assistant said that they didn’t currently have any in stock?  Yet I had paid the full amount – ok I have a receipt that’s fine BUT in this current climate when you see some businesses that you have known most of your life ceasing to trade how did I know that they would still be there tomorrow and that I would actually get these goods that I had spent nearly £300 on!

 

The current climate has changed the way that some of us think and makes us question more and has taken away some of the trust.

 

We need to look at our own businesses and make sure that we are getting our own credibility across.  Simple things like having an address and contact number visible on our web site contact page.  Customers do look for this when they are making purchase decisions and if it’s not there and is on your competitors who is most likely to get the business?

 

I did get a call later the following week from Blockbusters the WII had arrived! So there will be one happy boy on Christmas morning!

http://www.searchenginesensation.com/traditional-marketing.asp

Claire

January Sale

I was sat in a café on Saturday lunchtime and noticed a big poster in a shop window opposite, which really caught my eye.

It said January Sale Now On! – isn’t this really diluting the ‘January Sale’ ? If this shop is having their January sale now in November then what is their marketing strategy for January?  Maybe a pre-Christmas sale would have given them further opportunity, as it would have also left room for the ‘real’ January sale.

Consider AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)

Interestingly the poster may have caught my attention and created a bit of interest but it didn’t make me go in the shop! - it didn’t give me any desire to take action.

http://www.searchenginesensation.com/traditional-marketing.asp

Claire

Sock Sale

Bit of a funny one - just had some time away in Turkey.  One day while visiting the local market we came across this sock stall and had a bit of a giggle when we read the sign for their ‘Big Sale’ – can you spot the flaw in their advertising strategy?

We did try to explain that customers aren’t saving anything by buying in bulk here but they didn’t seem to understand! 

Dave

http://www.searchenginesensation.com/traditional-marketing.asp