Author: "Doctor" Phil Bernstein

Oregon Golf Equipment Liquidation Sale

UPDATE  The liquidation sale ended on March 15.

This is just an experiment.

My clients are liquidators — this weekend they’re liquidating the stock of the Oregon Golf stores. They’ve taken over a space in Tualatin for the event. I don’t golf, but I’m told that there are major bargains to be had.They’re running radio commercials on KEX and KPOJ this week to promote it.

The “experiment” part is this: I’m writing about this golf sale on a blog that has nothing to do with golf — in fact, I don’t even play the game. I’m wondering how many Portland or Vancouver golfers will stumble onto this post and go to the sale.

Click here for all the information — dates, times, directions, contact info.

If you’re in the Portland area and are interested in this golf sale, click on the link to learn more. Then leave me a comment.

  • Tell me if the web page tells you what you need to know.
  • Tell me if you’re planning to go to the event — and especially, if you do.
  • Tell me if you heard about this golf equipment sale anywhere else, or just here.
  • If you do go, tell me if you found what you were looking for.

Enquiring minds want to know.

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Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Become Known For What You Know

If I were asked to give one piece of advice to someone considering a career in media sales, it would be this:

Please find something else to do. I don’t need the competition.

If, on the other hand, I could offer two pieces of advice, the second one would be: learn something valuable that most of your colleagues don’t know.

I may have saved a client several thousand dollars the other day with that kind of knowledge. He is the General Manager of a local auto dealership. He worked for a long time in the Portland car business, moved to California for several years, and recently returned to Oregon.

He emailed me the other day because he was planning to launch a new used-car promotion. He has a selection of pre-owned vehicles priced at half their original MSRP, and wanted to feature them in his radio advertising.

What he didn’t know is that while he was in California, the state of Oregon made it illegal to compare a used vehicle’s price to the MSRP in an ad. The official commentary accompanying that section of the law (technically an Administrative Rule) explains that MRSP is a term reserved strictly for new vehicles. Because so many factors (mileage, wear and tear, accidents, etc) affect the price of a used car, the law forbids using an MSRP in any way when referring to anything pre-owned.

I know this because a little more than a year ago, I was the only Portland broadcast rep to drive to Salem for a seminar on the new laws. So I was able to warn my client away from a strategy that would have earned him a substantial fine from the state.

My clients know I’ve taken the time to learn the rules, that I’ve got copies of all the relevant consumer protection laws, and that I check with my contacts at the Oregon Department of Justice if I’m not sure of something.

They also know that my competitors weren’t at the seminar, and may not know the law as well as I do (I’ve been known to bring that up in conversation). So I get phone calls, and business, from advertisers who might otherwise take their money to another station.

The extra income this brings me stops briefly in my bank account, until my wife decides she needs something like new lamps for the living room. The lamps are pretty nice, actually.

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Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

The Value — and Risk — of Rebate Offers

When I wrote recently about the ethics and advisability of rebate offers, local reader and attorney Kevin Spence had this to say:

Gift cards, rebates and vouchers are all kind of a scam in my opinion. They are all designed with a certain failure rate. Whether the failure is caused by the recipient losing it in the wash the cost of the voucher to the business is less than the value of cash. Gift cards are particularly bad in my opinion.

Why people are convinced that buying a gift card to a particular store is better than giving cash that can be used in countless different ways is beyond me. Add to that the limitations and fees that are placed on some gift cards and I’m left scratching my head.

In the Oregonian, Laura Gunderson recently tackled the same topic:

Although some companies nationwide have veered away from redemption programs in recent years, many remain and are legitimate. Typically, marketing experts say, the easier a deal is to fulfill, the more trustworthy and beneficial it is — for customers and the company.

In Oregon, the legal bar on promotions is rather low. Offers that are inherently misleading — even simply confusing — can trigger an investigation.

In my work with car dealers and, in one memorable case, a siding company, I’ve had a chance to talk at length with Eugene Ebersole of the Oregon Department of Justice. Gunderson’s warning is correct — Oregon has always had some pretty explicit and strict rules concerning advertising and promotion. Those rules became even stricter about a year ago.

Considering a rebate or gift-with-purchase offer? Doing it wrong may not only anger your customers — it may get you a subpoena from the D.O.J.

Call me first.

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Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Dental Advertising Case Study: Sleep Dentistry of Portland

Dr. Floyd Kasch operates Sleep Dentistry of Portland. As the name suggests, Dr. Kasch concentrates on sedation dentistry. His target patient is someone who is afraid of going to the dentist. I’ve seen statistics indicating that up to 40% of the population does not see a dentist regularly; in many cases this is because of fear.

Dr. Kasch has a great story to tell — he does sedation dentistry because he himself was afraid to go to the dentist after some bad experiences as a child. For this reason, he really relates to his patients. As I got to know him and the practice, I realized that if we could tell that story effectively, patients would seek him out.

I recently talked with his son and business manager, Brandon Kasch, about the process of putting the Sleep Dentistry of Portland campaign together, and the results they’ve achieved.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UBNxnUPKHY]

You can learn more about Sleep Dentistry of Portland here

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Cessna Combats an Image Problem

The image of the corporate jet has taken quite a beating recently. And that’s a bad thing if you’re in the private jet business — like Cessna. For the short term, at least, Cessna must reposition their product as a necessity rather than a luxury.

So they’ve launched a campaign portraying the private plane as a productivity tool. And they also recognize that no matter how legitimate the productivity-tool argument is, the mere existence of a corporate jet will still offend some sensibilities.

One potential target is the CEO or board who just doesn’t care what anybody else thinks. For them this ad positions a Cessna as a giant, airborne middle finger to the rest of the world.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.