Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Marketing Pops and Flops
The goofs and gaffs retailers make have always amazed me. But then there are occasional gems that deserve recognition as well. It is just one such pop that has me starting this blog. After all, few in my home town have hired me for advice and fewer still listen to me. Perhaps it is because, well, I sound so darn sure of myself!
It's true I ran a successful writing/editing/graphic design business in Los Angeles for 12 years--mostly corporate collateral...you know, things like brochures, magazine ads, booklets, manuals and even business cards and letterhead. Oh, and fliers. I was a flier queen once upon a time. Even wrote a booklet about it.
I've always claimed my expertise was gained through observation: excellence by paying attention I call it. So in our collective comatose cooperative, it should come as no surprise that few pay attention. Maybe that has to do with inflation—the price of paying attention to a glut of information so vast one gags at a glance.
But that should not be so, should never be so, in one's field of supposed expertise. So if you're hired to market, then you must not only market, but also pay attention to what works and what doesn't. On the Internet, that's called metrics. In retail, it's a simple foot traffic to sales dollars conversion rate--still a metric. Bodies to dollars, eyeballs to dollars, clicks to dollars, purchases to dollars, returns to dollars--it's all part of the same cloth. How well is what you're doing working, and if it isn't, WHEN do you plan to fix it? My advice: Make that plan right now, this very moment. Pick a date and do it when you say you will.
It's possible I should have called this column a rant rather than a blog.
What makes one company's efforts POP while another company's flop?
Here's a popper for you. I was in Las Vegas the last few days, attending the Internet Marketing Super Conference (year 8 for the IMSC). I arrived by dinner time Wednesday in order to prepare for an early start and intense schedule Thursday, following on through Sunday. A nice dinner and good rest have become part of my transition between concentrated work and demanding conference schedules.
It's true I ran a successful writing/editing/graphic design business in Los Angeles for 12 years--mostly corporate collateral...you know, things like brochures, magazine ads, booklets, manuals and even business cards and letterhead. Oh, and fliers. I was a flier queen once upon a time. Even wrote a booklet about it.
I've always claimed my expertise was gained through observation: excellence by paying attention I call it. So in our collective comatose cooperative, it should come as no surprise that few pay attention. Maybe that has to do with inflation—the price of paying attention to a glut of information so vast one gags at a glance.
But that should not be so, should never be so, in one's field of supposed expertise. So if you're hired to market, then you must not only market, but also pay attention to what works and what doesn't. On the Internet, that's called metrics. In retail, it's a simple foot traffic to sales dollars conversion rate--still a metric. Bodies to dollars, eyeballs to dollars, clicks to dollars, purchases to dollars, returns to dollars--it's all part of the same cloth. How well is what you're doing working, and if it isn't, WHEN do you plan to fix it? My advice: Make that plan right now, this very moment. Pick a date and do it when you say you will.
It's possible I should have called this column a rant rather than a blog.
What makes one company's efforts POP while another company's flop?
Here's a popper for you. I was in Las Vegas the last few days, attending the Internet Marketing Super Conference (year 8 for the IMSC). I arrived by dinner time Wednesday in order to prepare for an early start and intense schedule Thursday, following on through Sunday. A nice dinner and good rest have become part of my transition between concentrated work and demanding conference schedules.
Barely a block from my hotel, to my extreme delight I found Origin India. I was hoping for Indian food, but my contact person didn't prefer it, so had no recommendations. It was tucked away in an L-shaped strip mall, and only the almost flourescent green glow of the nearby Cantina drew me. Within the parking lot I saw the "India" sign and upgraded my dining choice from cantina to Calcutta!
I felt underdressed in travelling clothes but the gracious hostess assured me I was perfect and that she was perhaps overdressed. (What charm!) Though the menu did not have my favorite dishes (it's modern Indian), nor sample platters for one, I found several items to try. A miscommunication with the kitchen caused me to be served food that was so spicy I could not enjoy the whole meal. Even my $8 glass of wine felt hot in my throat. I attributed this to a mistake because the waitress kept coming by asking if it was all right, and was it too hot? She even brought a complimentary serving of raita, a chilled-yogurt and cucumber dish that is often very soothing, but this one was full of raw onions...not what I needed.
With more than half of my meal remaining, I insisted upon an box, and the leftovers made a nice quick meal in the suite the following night (refrigeration but no microwave), again with the heavy schedule in mind. And it wasn't as hot after refigeration and with a couple of beers!
I promise there is a point to this rather detailed description of what was, overall, a delightful, if a bit fiery, dining experience on the east side of Vegas. I told several, including front desk personnel at the hotel, what a lovely, upscale Indian restaurant it was. (My check was less than $25, before tip.)
When I arrived home yesterday, after a hot drive across the desert that even a good air conditioner could barely faze, at the top of my waiting first-class mail was a fat note from Origin India. (I wondered whether I'd left my credit card...but with less than a glass of wine, how could that be possible?) Turns out they use very thick card stock for their custom notecards.
Inside was a hand-written note from the Director of Cuisine and Operations. I would include the name, but being marginally familiar with Indian names and less-so with this person's handwriting, I can't even take a stab at it. What I can say is that the note was not written by an off-site, work-at-home mom in the Midwest. The postmark was Las Vegas. The handwriting has a 98% probability of being masculine. Well, the handwriting is masculine; my guess is so was the writer.
In spite of hospitality that was a bit too warm for my taste, I was already prepared to return, albeit with some trepidation. Now, however, I would make it a point to drive out of my way from another Vegas location to secure my 10% discount and dine again with the lovely people at Origin India!
That's a popping piece of a marketing campaign...sticky, because it gets me to stick to doing business with them. They've addressed longevity and recurring purchases from an out-of-towner. Is any other restaurant doing this for travellers? My guess is very few.
The first sale is always the most expensive. Had they comped me my dinner, they would still have earned money, because of the people I told and because of my return visits, perhaps many of them.
Why aren't all retailers this smart? Well, if they were, this note might not have been as special.
PS: Arriving here before I did, the note definitely earned extra points, and made a much-greater impression than a note in a couple of weeks would have made. However, if you have some people to thank, this is an opportunity to follow the saying, "Better late than never."
I felt underdressed in travelling clothes but the gracious hostess assured me I was perfect and that she was perhaps overdressed. (What charm!) Though the menu did not have my favorite dishes (it's modern Indian), nor sample platters for one, I found several items to try. A miscommunication with the kitchen caused me to be served food that was so spicy I could not enjoy the whole meal. Even my $8 glass of wine felt hot in my throat. I attributed this to a mistake because the waitress kept coming by asking if it was all right, and was it too hot? She even brought a complimentary serving of raita, a chilled-yogurt and cucumber dish that is often very soothing, but this one was full of raw onions...not what I needed.
With more than half of my meal remaining, I insisted upon an box, and the leftovers made a nice quick meal in the suite the following night (refrigeration but no microwave), again with the heavy schedule in mind. And it wasn't as hot after refigeration and with a couple of beers!
I promise there is a point to this rather detailed description of what was, overall, a delightful, if a bit fiery, dining experience on the east side of Vegas. I told several, including front desk personnel at the hotel, what a lovely, upscale Indian restaurant it was. (My check was less than $25, before tip.)
When I arrived home yesterday, after a hot drive across the desert that even a good air conditioner could barely faze, at the top of my waiting first-class mail was a fat note from Origin India. (I wondered whether I'd left my credit card...but with less than a glass of wine, how could that be possible?) Turns out they use very thick card stock for their custom notecards.
Inside was a hand-written note from the Director of Cuisine and Operations. I would include the name, but being marginally familiar with Indian names and less-so with this person's handwriting, I can't even take a stab at it. What I can say is that the note was not written by an off-site, work-at-home mom in the Midwest. The postmark was Las Vegas. The handwriting has a 98% probability of being masculine. Well, the handwriting is masculine; my guess is so was the writer.
In spite of hospitality that was a bit too warm for my taste, I was already prepared to return, albeit with some trepidation. Now, however, I would make it a point to drive out of my way from another Vegas location to secure my 10% discount and dine again with the lovely people at Origin India!
That's a popping piece of a marketing campaign...sticky, because it gets me to stick to doing business with them. They've addressed longevity and recurring purchases from an out-of-towner. Is any other restaurant doing this for travellers? My guess is very few.
The first sale is always the most expensive. Had they comped me my dinner, they would still have earned money, because of the people I told and because of my return visits, perhaps many of them.
Why aren't all retailers this smart? Well, if they were, this note might not have been as special.
PS: Arriving here before I did, the note definitely earned extra points, and made a much-greater impression than a note in a couple of weeks would have made. However, if you have some people to thank, this is an opportunity to follow the saying, "Better late than never."
