Corbridge & Short Part 2: A Side Benefit

When Corbridge & Short began their radio advertising campaign on KEX and KPOJ, they expected to hear from homeowners who were facing foreclosure. But they’ve also started hearing from other attorneys.

Here’s Jason Short to fill in the details:

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

It’s a very nice extra benefit to their radio campaign: in addition to gaining new clients, Corbridge & Short is now developing a reputation among their colleagues as the loan modification authority.

Check out Corbridge & Short’s loan modification web page: www.portlandloanmod.com

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Legal Advertising Case Study: Corbridge & Short

The Corbridge & Short Law Group saw an opportunity to build their home loan modification practice in the Portland area. They reserved a great URL — www.portlandloanmod.com — and began a strong radio campaign on my two AM news and talk stations.

We’ll let Alexz Adams of Corbridge & Short tell the story:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4luKNHZ_XKE]

Corbridge & Short did a lot of things right. Although their law group handles many types of cases, they focused their advertising on only one — home loan modifications. They told the story well, and sent everybody to a well-designed web site for more information.

And, recognizing that they had a finite advertising budget, they picked a single medium, and ran on two good stations they could afford to dominate.

I knew the campaign would work, but the results came faster than I expected. Congratulations to Corbridge & Short!

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Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-477-4933.

You Get What You Pay For

A quick follow-up to my post on third-party marketing partnerships:

Apparently several Portland-area businesses were taken in by the free-gas scam from Florida. The short version is that the Florida company sold vouchers that were supposedly redeemable for rebates on gas purchases. In turn, they gave out these vouchers to customers as part of a gift-with-purchase promotion.

By all accounts, the local businesses were not intending to deceive anyone — they thought this was an on-the-level promotion. But the most fascinating point of view was from Jeff Garcia of Fidelis Marketing. Garcia purchased the vouchers — paying $10 for each $100 voucher — and then re-sold them to a couple of car dealerships.

Garcia said that while the deal sounds fishy — $100 cards for $10 each — it’s a common marketing equation. Like others, he said, the deal had enough hoops to clear that it’s assumed not everyone would follow through, meaning it was still possible to make a profit.

Which brings up an interesting question. Let’s assume, for the purposes of this exercise, that this wasn’t a scam, and that the company on the other end was willing and able to redeem the certificates.

If you make an offer to your customers that contains so many “hoops to clear” that many either can’t or won’t take advantage of it… how do your customers now view you? What will they tell their friends about your business? What will they post on internet message boards and forums?

What’s your word-of-mouth worth?

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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.

3rd-Party Marketing Partners: Proceed With Caution

Gift-with purchase programs can be very effective, but can also be expensive and cumbersome to administer. So it can be very attractive when a third party offers to take care of all the fulfillment details.

The downside is that if the third party screws up, it’s your reputation that suffers.

According to the Oregonian, La-Z Boy Furniture Galleries offered $250 in gas rebates with a qualifying purchase. The rebates were to be handled by a Florida company. About 700 customers took advantage of the offer last summer, and at least 100 complained that they didn’t get their rebates.

On Feb. 12, the Florida Attorney General sued the gas redemption company for unfair and deceptive business practices. The company operates under a variety of names and Web sites, including Tidewater Marketing Global Consultants, though Portland-area customers likely would recognize the addresses used in a handful of local retailer and marketing offers, including the La-Z-Boy deal, as FreeGasCentral.com or GasolineRedemption.com.

Although the store had contracted with the Florida company in good faith, customers held La-Z Boy Furniture Gallery responsible when they didn’t get what they were promised. And to their credit, the store has accepted that responsibility.

Although the deal worked for some customers, [Regional Sales Manager Mark] Yohn said, La-Z-Boy has taken over the reimbursement program.

Customers who haven’t had luck redeeming their gas receipts can contact any of the six Portland-area stores. La-Z-Boy also will refund the $5 customers spent to get the program started, he said, and reimburse those customers’ gas receipts as they are mailed in.

So the story ends well for La-Z Boy customers. It’s likely an expensive lesson for the store: whenever you’re approached by a third party for a promotion, check ’em out carefully.

A side note for Portland businesses — the state of Oregon amended several consumer protection rules about a year ago, and now tightly restricts the circumstances under which you can offer a gift with purchase.

It’s called the “Free Rule”, and I’ve got a copy of it at my desk. You might be surprised at what’s legal in Oregon and what’s not — email me here and I’ll be happy to send you a copy.

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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.

The Elephant In the Room

I’ve written a couple of times recently (here and here) on marketers who have successfully addressed economic worries in their marketing.

Today, Laura Oppenheimer picks up the topic in the Oregonian. It’s a delicate balancing act:

“If you can figure out a smart way to deal with the elephant in the room, it actually will be a win for you,” says Doug Garnett, founder of Portland’s Atomic Direct agency and an advertising professor at Portland State University. “But that’s where you have to be really careful.”

He compares the advertising climate to 2001, after the terrorist attacks. Companies wanted to acknowledge the national mood but risked coming across as if they were capitalizing on tragedy.

Oppenheimer’s article salutes national companies Hyundai (whose Hyundai Assurance program I’ve covered elsewhere), Denny’s and Budweiser, along with a Portland personal trainer offering a discount-rate “stimulus package”.

________________________________________________________________________

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.