Archive for December, 2008
Learning from Recessions Past
This is the fifth recession that has occurred during my marketing career. In every decade, at some point in time, I have been advertising and marketing during a recession. The reality is that recessions come and go.
The way to deal with them is to look for the opportunities, and then change strategies to capture market share in a new way. The case studies of the strategies I used for each decade may give you ideas of what you can do now. You can read the details, or jump to the end of my muse and get the short list. But either way, use this list to guide you through decisions you’re making now.
I’m assuming the recessions of the 1990s and the aftermath of 9/11 in 2001 are still fresh in most people’s minds. But I’ll give you some background on the events that caused the recessions of the ’70s and ’80s to explain how we profited during down times. Read more »
Creating Your Best Competitive Advantage
In a recession economy, where the pool of people spending money is shrinking in size, it is more important than ever to have a competitive advantage in your market.
The consumers making purchases understand that they are extremely valuable. Therefore, their expectations of excellence in customer service actually increase as the economy worsens. One of the most effective ways to distinguish yourself is by the exceptional way you treat your customers.
Given the choice of two companies, with comparable price, quality, and product, the buyer will always choose to do business with the one that Read more »
What Makes Direct Mail Work
Christmas is almost here. So is New Year’s. And with them comes another reason why, in marketing, this is the most wonderful time of the year. I first learned about this magical season more than 30 years ago.
I was working on my first direct mail campaign. Well, actually, I was working on four separate direct mail campaigns. Four different products. Four different mailing packages. But with one thing in common. They absolutely, positively, without exception needed to be put in the mail on December 27th.
That’s when I learned that the best week of the year to have a direct mail campaign arrive in homes and businesses is always the first week of January. To guarantee your mail gets there that first week, it has to go out between Read more »
Matching Your Brand with the Right Type
Access to a bounty of type fonts has created a new breed of freewheeling, devil-may-care, users of type. They are unschooled in the basics of type functionality and purpose, resulting in acts of offensive visual miscommunication.
Too many people are having far too much fun with type. They are not being discriminating. Any type will do. It seems that the more offbeat and funky the type, the better! The result is a marketplace of signs, billboards, ads, and brochures that are almost unreadable.
The importance of type in communication is being sacrificed in the attempt to be different or unusual. From point size to case usage; stretching letters to condensing words; to margin justifications that leave large unexplained gaps between letters and words.
Why is this important? Think about the amount of money you Read more »
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