Category: Portland

Direct Mail By The Pound

Ben McConnell of Church of the Customer has made a yearly tradition of keeping all of the direct mail he receives during the holiday season — and putting it on a scale.

 This year: 21.5 pounds. Up over two pounds from last year, and a more-than-50 percent increase from 2005. His post gives some examples of other things that weigh about that much:

  • 9.75 kilograms
  • About the equivalent weight of three newborn babies (or quintuplets for one couple)
  • Two bowling balls and a tray of white russians
  • A bit more than the average weight of the handbags of some women (contributing to a 30% rise in purse-related injuries)
  • The weight of a scarily large catfish caught in Missouri last summer

    • And the comments section has a very interesting dialog about the subject, with intelligent arguments on both sides.

    My question, for those of you who’ve been using direct mail for years: 

    With an increase in postage costs and (at least anectdotally) a significant increase in mail volume, how did your direct mail efforts pencil out in 2007? Is it still working as well as it did?

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    I’ve written a white paper called The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them. It’s a study of some of the most common ways that companies waste their advertising dollars — along with suggestions to make those dollars work harder and smarter. Request your free copy here.

    A Missed Opportunity

    brooks-brothers.gif

    Over the holiday break, this ad ran in the Oregonian at least twice. My guess is that it ran all over the country, and the people who designed it didn’t feel like customizing the ad for specific markets.

     

    Which means they blew it. 

     

    Brooks Brothers wants their prospects to respond in one of three ways: ordering online, calling their 800-number, or visiting their store. Logically, the retail store is where people would go if they wanted to try on a suit and get it altered. But Brooks Brothers doesn’t tell you where the store is.

                                                                                                                                  

    The downtown Portland Brooks Brothers store has only been open a few months, in a mall that’s seen some hard times, and a lot of their target customers don’t even know it’s there. This would have been a perfect opportunity to tell them about the new store, lure them in to save money on shirts — and measure them for a suit or two.

                                                                                                                                          

    It would not have been hard to leave room for store addresses in each market that had a retail store. But someone at Brooks Brothers couldn’t be bothered, and they’ll never know how much money they lost.

                                                                                                                                  

    Today’s lesson is: if you want your prospects to do business with you, make yourself easy to find.

                                                                                      

    By the way, you can find me at 503-323-6553.

    How to Find Me on Google

    A while back, I did a post on great headlines, which I titled after my favorite example: “Headless Body in Topless Bar”. WordPress, the company that manages this blog, lists the search engine terms that people have used to get to it — and yesterday, someone found me by typing the term “Topless Bars, Portland OR” into Google.

    I just checked this myself, and I’m #7 the page — the other six are actual strip clubs. And if you Google “Headless Body Portland OR”, I show up at #2.

    Not sure quite what to make of this, but my mother would be proud.

    Cute Elevator Speeches

    One of the mainstays of sales training is the “Elevator Pitch” — a 30-second summation of what we do that we’d give a prospect if we had the prospect trapped in an elevator. The idea is that when someone at a cocktail party asks what you do, you can respond with a succinct value proposition rather than just a job title. Which, in theory anyway, will pique the interest of anyone who might be a prospect.

    For example, if a business owner asks what I do and I say I sell advertising, the conversation might be over very quickly. He probably hasn’t been dreaming about buying advertising. If, on the other hand, I say that I help local businesses find tell their stories, find more customers and make more sales, there may be something to talk about.

     Over at the SW Washington and Portland Small Business Blog, Michael Thompson of Market Accelerators wonders if cute elevator pitches work. 

     No one in our group had a particularly cute one but we all could remember someone who did. You know the “I’m Rachel the Realtor and I’m Really Reliable” or “Harry the Healthy Heart Alternative or whatever. Some folks even dress the part with a particularly impressive hat or big flashing button — you know who you are.

    It was interesting because we all could remember someone like that and often it turned out to be the same person. So obviously it works from a remembering point of view but none of us felt particularly like we would buy from someone like that. There was a hesitation for some reason.

    I’m all for a memorable hook (I use “Portland’s Finest Media Rep”), but the problem with a cutesy rhyme is that it smacks of trying too hard. And the folks I’ve encountered who use handles like that are so pleased with the alliteration that they forget the rest of the value proposition. The best elevator speeches are like any other form of advertising — they tell potential buyers how the seller can solve a problem. Skip that part, and a rhyme isn’t going to save you.

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    Like what you’re reading? Download my free white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How To Fix Them.

    What Other Problems Do Your Customers Have?

    In the wine department of the Hollywood West Fred Meyer store is a device that looks kind of like a clothes hamper full of slowly circulating ice water. A sign on the device says,

    “Free Chilling Service — 25 Times Faster Than a Refrigerator”

    You just put the bottle in the water and come back in a little while. 3 minutes for “cool”, 5 minutes for “cold”, 7 minutes for “ice cold”.

    Somebody at Fred Meyer realized that for some of their shoppers, a good wine selection solves one problem — what to serve at the party — but leaves another potential issue — the guests are arriving in less than an hour and the white wine’s warm.

    By offering to solve this second problem at no extra charge, Fred Meyer’s positioned itself as the first option for this segment of customers.

    We’re all in the problem-solving business.

    • People with transportation problems go to car dealers.
    • Homeowners who need to find a buyer hire a real estate agent.
    • People who believe they look old or unattractive go to a clinic for botox or lipodissolve.

    In many cases your customers are consciously aware of the primary problem they need to solve, but may need to address other issues as well.

    Sometimes these issues are a barrier to doing business. The Red Cross, recognizing that many people feel they’re too busy to give blood in December, recently announced a program called “You Give, We Wrap.” Donors bring their holiday gifts to the center, and Red Cross volunteers will wrap the packages while the donors are giving blood.

    Sometimes these secondary problems can even be an opportunity for extra profit. When you buy a gift from Amazon.com, they’re happy to wrap it — for an additional $3.99 per package.

    Whether you’re trying to generate extra revenue or just position yourself as the first choice for your clients, it makes sense to ask — what other problems can I solve?

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    Like what you’re reading? Download my free white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How To Fix Them.