Marketing Maestro

My friend Jeff sent this video of the lemonade business my way.  If only starting, running and marketing a business was this easy.

I guess everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten is true.... 

Enjoy

It is commonly believed that Hallmark made greeting cards popular by creating different occasions for giving cards to friends and family.  They may even be responsible for a number of 'holidays' on our calendar.  Many companies celebrate national holidays with sales and marketing promotions but how many companies celebrate their customer's life events (OK my dentist sends me a birthday card.  Lucky me...) or even their own special days?

Today we did just that and celebrated our 3 Year Anniversary by posting a note on the Trump Blog.  In addition to giving a discount on our products we wrote about the past year and some upcoming product launches. The hope is to create a bit more insight for our clients and to make everyone feel a part of this exciting company.

Did you ever think of creating a holiday to call your own?  It could be fun.

What can you do as a marketer to use life events to market your business?

How often do you hear an executive struggling with a marketing problem and not wanting to hire an agency or additional resources declare:

"Our business is so unique no one knows it like we do"

Of course not and that is exactly why you should hire an outside resource.  You know your business and how to run it but marketing your business is a different skill set.  If you run your own business you are probably too close to it to have a good perspective on driving new customers to your business.  You need outside advice and resources to help solve those marketing problems.  Don't get me wrong business owners and executives should have marketing insight but you shouldn't try to do everything on your own.

Does this mean you should listen to anyone who has marketing advice?  Probably not, since many of those people are probably trying to sell you something but if you have a few key resources you will be well served in the long term. 

Let me let you in on a little secret (shhh). There are no business that are so unique that a good marketing person couldn't find a hook to use.  Just hire a great marketer or marketing partner.

Last week I was directed to Stephen Kimball's website by a coworker.  It was perfect timing since I had just written my hire a copywriter post.  Stephen has a great offer on his site (he actually calls it amazing).  In this case you can get a free trip to Utah to spend the day with Stephen (if you take him up on his offer - read the details since the offer is more then just a day with Stephen).

As a marketer I am always in awe of a great offer. An offer can dramatically improve the results of your marketing effort. The best part of including an incentive of some sort is that you will get responses from people who don't even want (or remember) to take you up on the offer.  The fact you included the offer is enough for many people to pick up the phone or visit your site to get more info and to buy.

Here are some of the offers I have used in my career:

• Free upgrade in services
• Bonus materials included with purchase
• Additional material with purchase (bundled products)
• Save X%
• Rebate when you buy before X date
• Buy one and get a second at X% off (or free)
• Free consultations

Successful direct response marketing includes an offer of some sort to help push the reader/watcher/listener along to take action.  As long as you read your marketing results and you are making money why not include an offer?  After all who doesn't like a little something extra with their purchase?

At Trump University we have a number of rules we live by, one of them is that everyone is responsible for marketing.  This is especially true if someone interacts with a client directly.  Any employee who speaks, meets or interacts with a customer has the opportunity to make that person a customer for life or change their perception of the brand for good or bad.

Yesterday I visited Whole Foods and was very disappointed.  I have written about Whole Foods in the past and normally I am a huge fan. In short this whole experience was ruined by a cashier.  The cashier obviously didn't understand the Whole Foods brand and what customers expect in their shopping experience. 

This situation reminds me that great marketing and branding can be destroyed if the front lines of your business don't understand your marketing and brand promise.

Take a few minutes every now and then to remind your teams what your brand stands for and why you do what you do.  The effort will pay off and might even create some life long loyal customers.

Will I go back to Whole Foods?  Time will tell but in my mind the brand is not what it was a day ago.

What internal marketing efforts do you use to remind your employees about your brand promise?

The Girl Scout cookie sale is off and running. I was approached to buy some cookies when it occurred to me that the Girl Scouts are great marketers.

Just think about this for a minute.

• The brand is easily recognizable
• They have a sales force of thousands of willing and eager girls (and their families) running around the country selling
• This sales force creates product placement that can't be beat
• They sell huge quantities of their product with almost no overhead
• There is a sense of scarcity - only sold a few weeks a year
• The product selection and pricing model is simple to understand and communicate
• Almost everyone has a favorite flavor so the purchase decision is easy
• The product sells itself because of the machine they have built over the years
• Their product is nostalgic for many so people buy them for the memories
• No fancy promotions or offers are needed to generate sales

This is marketing at its finest...

What other school or organizational fund raisers have as much success as the Girl Scouts?

The big question for marketers is how can you turn your business into a Girl Scout sales and marketing machine?

So how many boxes did you buy this year?

I know, I know, Hannah and Miley are the same person....

For those who don’t know this weekend has two major activities happening. The Super Bowl on Sunday and the beginning of a one week run of the Hannah Montana 3D movie.

Maybe Disney holds the ‘magic’ behind the genius of Hannah Montana but whoever thought of the latest marketing has done an incredible job.    The movie is basically a recording of Hannah’s concert tour with some back stage coverage. The movie is only in theaters for one week and almost all theaters have sold out of tickets in advance. What is so great about the marketing? 

1. I don’t know of anyone previously releasing a movie of their concert tour especially while still touring. Just think of the increased reach Hannah has created. How many more tickets is she going to sell to concerts and now movies because of this release? I suspect this is a huge financial win all around.
2. The news of the movie was spread via word of mouth and tickets were sold out almost a month in advance in some areas. I guess it helps that the fans are primarily 6-12 year old girls...but I know some mothers chatting about the movie and making sure they and their friends purchased tickets in advance so that they don't upset their girls.
3. Only in theaters for one week. She created scarcity for something that normally is very scalable.

1. Give yourself two names... no seriously:
2. Think about alternative ways to distribute or communicate your products/services.
3. Think about what is worth talking about. Do you have customers who want to talk about your business? Spread news for you? 
4. Create scarcity of your product. (Limited time, limited availability etc). If your product is worth having, then no one wants to be left out or miss an opportunity. Think about how you can create scarcity for your business. Sometimes scarcity can create some buzz in the process.
5. Creating a brand pays off. Like it or not Hannah Montana has a brand that resonates with her target market and delivers what her fans want. Are you branding your business to best serve your clients?

So if you are thinking about catching a movie check if your theater is playing Hannah Montana 3D. If they are, you might want to prepare yourself for lots of screaming girls...