Marketing – Page 32

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar April 2016

Here’s our regular look ahead at the coming month, April 2016…

…and the events, holidays and anniversaries that a smart marketer can use as the foundation for an event-driven campaign or marketing promotion.

The most prominent event of general interest this month is…

…”April Fool’s Day” (a day for practical jokes and spreading hoaxes) on the first of the month.

It’s also “Shakespeare Day” on April 23 and this year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Bard. April 23 also happens to be “English Language Day” and “World Book and Copyright Day”.

Other events of note… [Read more…]

Three Ways To Increase Customer Average Value

Three Ways To Increase Average Customer Value

At the February 2016 meeting of the GKIC London Chapter, the main presentation from David White was…

“Three Ways To Increase The Average Value Of A Customer”

Increasing the average value of an existing customer should be a priority for most businesses for a number of reasons.

Firstly, there’s the old direct response marketing wisdom that the easiest sale is to an existing customer. After all, you’ve already done a lot of the hard work by establishing a relationship and getting them to buy from you in the first place. They already know you and the act of buying indicates some degree of liking and trusting you.

But there’s more to consider…this from Dan Kennedy in the January 2016 issue of the “No BS INFO-Marketing Letter”…

“I’d point to (a) my predictions and reports of genocide of middle class coming to fruition…new Dec. report shows the middle class no longer the majority US demographic, first time since before WWII (b) concentration of spending into fewer ‘n fewer categories (c) rising health insurance/care costs (d) stagnant wages (e) job erasures, sky-high percentage of able workers opting out, leaving millions of unfilled jobs (f) onerous gov’t burdens and interference (g) overall consumer and investor anxiety (h) investor/capitalist and corporate leaders’ vehement disapproval of tax and other policy so ‘capital on strike’ (read Ayn Rand) continues to pile up and sit idle.”

Put another way, most businesses face an ongoing squeeze on profits with costs increasing relentlessly and customer value at risk of declining because of (a) ongoing competition and (b) increasing commoditisation of many products and services because of the impact of the internet and information technology.

So, it’s vital to defend profitability and increase the average value of a customer if you want to survive, let alone prosper, in the years ahead.

Three ways to increase average customer value are… [Read more…]

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar March 2016

Time to look ahead at the month of March 2016 at the events anniversaries and holidays that we can use to build a marketing calendar March 2016 for campaigns, product launches or promotions.

The main occasion of general interest is St Patrick’s Day on March 17. Plenty of scope for ideas based around luck, good fortune and finding that elusive “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow.

There is also the change of season with the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere and the Autumn Equinox in the south.

And this year Easter falls early over 25-28 March.

Moving on to other events… [Read more…]

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar February 2016

Let’s take a look at the coming month of February 2016 for the various holidays, events and anniversaries that smart marketers can use as the basis for a promotion or campaign and to create a marketing calendar February 2016.

And although we’re looking just one month ahead at February, it’s never too early to get started on your preparation for months and major events later in the year. This year Easter falls on 25-28 March and I’ve already seen Easter Eggs on sale!

Linked to Easter are “Shrove Tuesday” (known as “Mardi Gras” or “Carnival” in some countries) and “Ash Wednesday”.

Shrove Tuesday is in large part a final celebration before the season of Lent (a 40 day period meant to be devoted to reflection, repentance of misdeeds and making amends, amongst other spiritual activities). So the day could easily be used as the basis for some kind of “celebration” promotion.

That then leads on the season of Lent itself and for any kind of personal development business, this could be used as a time to encourage people to review and recommit to goals and objectives that may have been neglected. By this stage of the year, it’s highly likely that those resolutions from the beginning of the year will have abandoned (or looking a little frayed around the edges!), so this could be a great reason to revisit those goals and get back on track. For 40 days you have a completely legitimate reason to contact people and remind them of why they contacted you in the first place and how you can help them.

Back to February… [Read more…]

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar January 2016

2015 is not yet over…we still have Christmas and the New Year to enjoy…

…but it’s not too soon to get started on putting together a marketing calendar January 2016. So let’s take a look ahead at some of the events, anniversaries and other occasions that we can put to use for an event-driven marketing event or promotion.

Of course, the New Year itself is a great reason for a promotion. At this time, most people are making plans for the year ahead and often looking to make a “fresh start”.

“New Year Sales” are a staple pretty much around the world and no reason why you can’t make use of this.

January is also “Brainteaser”, “Get Organized” and “Creativity” month.

Advance notice…

…in 2016 Chinese New Year falls in February on the 8th, when the “Year Of The Monkey” starts.

Other events of note… [Read more…]

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