Oops!
The oversized postcard from my local Ford dealer arrived in my mailbox on Wednesday afternoon. It informed me that I might qualify for a $4,500 rebate if I stopped driving my old gas guzzler by turning it in for a new car or truck.
I don’t know how widespread this idea is, but it can’t be original to Lincoln. Every so often, the city newspaper attaches a classy-looking post-it style advertisement to the front of its home editions.
These removable mini ads are 3-inch by 3-inch square, two-color to full-color, and are used by a wide range of businesses. I’ve seen them promote a college savings plan, sell window replacements, announce grand openings and sales, hawk auto services and tires, and so on.
Yesterday, the Internet postal carrier lugged 25 e-mail messages across the super highway and dropped them off in my Outlook inbox. Thank goodness this mail box is far bigger than the traditional mail box hanging on the outside of my house.
While sales for the big three tumbled, Hyundai—the little upstart from Korea—was increasing its market share. How did they do it?
By identifying the major concern of the market. It wasn’t the price of the car, it was the insecurity of their jobs that kept people from buying. So Hyundai introduced a buyer assurance program. You lose your job, you can return the car. It was a hit. A huge hit. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, Ford and GM quickly rolled out versions of the offer.
Not content to beat its assurance offer into the ground, Hyundai introduced a second program. “We’ll pay you every month, for six months to drive our car.” Imagine that! The ads were so well done, with Jeff Bridges doing his best homespun voice-over, I didn’t even recognize what Hyundai was doing. This wasn’t as revolutionary, it was simply a rebate given back in the form of monthly payments. But it was a completely original way to package the offer. That’s what generates buzz, piques interest, and leads to sales.
Whether or not you believe in coincidences, I found what passes for one yesterday.
I posted “It’s Only a Name. So What?” yesterday morning, where I wrote about naming your checking accounts appropriately. I recommended you never use the word “senior” with your 50+ checking account and added:
“In fact, you’ll find knowledgeable marketers across all industries who agree that people generally see themselves as looking younger and acting younger than their actual age.”
The problem with predictions is that they are most often wrong.
Part of the problem is that the people making the predictions are biased and generally pushing an agenda. It may be something as benign as a forthcoming book or as malignant as attacking an existing business to promote a new business.
“The name is Bond. James Bond.”
Does your name get that much attention when you introduce yourself?
Names are important to us. That’s true of product names, too. Let’s talk specifically about checking account names.
Sometimes I think I’ve seen every possibility. Them someone surprises me. What’s most surprising isn’t the far-out choices where the organization tries to be completely different. I’m surprised when someone chooses an absolutely generic name.
Yesterday, among the many e-mail marketing messages waiting patiently in my inbox, the following two caught my attention. I found the first one extremely intriguing since I had to open it to discover what was being offered. The “From” name was genius.
I was the guest speaker at a local community college marketing class a few years ago and I pulled the same trick I’ve tried on many of my co-workers.
“What’s the most important word in direct marketing?” I asked.
These students were pretty sharp. I saw eyes brighten, confident they knew.
(Editor’s Note: Even though you may not be in the business of training your employees, you more than likely know someone who is. If so, PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG! This is the first in what I hope to be an ongoing series of tips, helpful hints, and general thoughts that I have regarding the training of financial institution employees, and what I think they need to know to be successful. ENJOY!)
In the over 25 years I have been in the business of training financial institution employees, it never ceases to amaze me as to the number of people in a front-line sales class who still struggle with the concept that they are in the business of sales. Even in today’s pro-active sales environment! Many front line staff (at least those that have been employed with the financial institution for some time) will quickly tell you that they did not sign on for any type of sales position, regardless of what the Human Resources Department initially told them. Unbelievable, but true!
Whatever happened to following the famous AIDA marketing principle that’s taught in beginning marketing courses?
You probably don’t know his name, but you remember his story from art or your old school texts. His name is Sisyphus, and he’s the figure in Greek mythology who is punished by being forced to roll a large boulder up a steep hill. At the top, the boulder always rolls back down and Sisyphus starts his labor all over again.
I thought of that legend when I opened an email newsletter, TM Tipline, sent by Target Marketing magazine. Its lead topic in the July 15 edition offered “4 Secrets to Help Your DM Creative Team Succeed,” written by Ethan Boldt.
There’s a TV commercial running for Ally Bank that shows the big bad banker with two little girls. He asks the first if she wants a pony. Her yes answer earns her a small toy horse. The second girl also answers yes, but she gets a real pony.
The point of the commercial is that other banks cloak their offers in fine print, but Ally doesn’t. (Ally Bank is the re-branded, renamed, taxpayer re-financed GMAC Financial Services.)
Whatever you do – go out of your way to make it easy for your customers and prospects to respond!
If you’re ever asked to write a marketing or promotional letter, the first step you take is to find a professional copywriter to do the job for you. Wait. Just kidding. That’s not my “Number 1 Secret.”
Well, maybe you do want to find a professional copywriter to handle the project. But if that’s not an option, then here’s what you do…
I was beginning to believe it was the end of an era…an era when the ubiquitous credit card offer ruled the direct mail world.
Two phenomenon from the realm of behavioral economics may combine to bring you more business.
1. We like to conform to social norms. When told a majority of people are behaving a certain way, more of us will adopt that behavior. Examples: More people will recycle if they are informed that most people are recycling. More people will comply with their tax obligation when informed that the majority are complying.
2. Simply asking if we intend to do something makes us more inclined to do it. Examples: A survey simply asking people if they intended to vote in an upcoming election increased voter turnout. A national survey asking people if they intended to buy a car in the next six months actually increased auto sales.
In the days when I worked in insurance, one of my writing jobs was preparing copy for pages of group policy booklets. So the company sent me to a few of the insurance industry’s Benefit Communication Institute conferences to learn the latest techniques.
One year, the speaker list included Ronald Wohl, who described some of the problems companies meet when they translate documents into other languages.
If you’re like me, you dread booting up Monday morning to begin the work week on your computer.
