Marketing – Page 43

So…What’s In Prospect For Marketing In 2014?

Hope you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas!

At the end of the year and especially in the lull between Christmas and New Year…

…it’s a good time to take a little time to reflect on what major trends might impact on marketers and marketing in the coming year.

Hopefully, you’ve already mapped out your Marketing Calendar for 2014. If not…now would be a good time!

As to the shape of the landscape in the coming year…

…I’ll kick off with these thoughts from Dan Kennedy from the December 2013 issue of the “No B.S. Marketing Letter”.

“It pretty much looks to me like more of what we’ve been coping with: many customers with lowered spending ability, many more with less willingness to spend, overall a “tightness” in spending – so we must be smarter, more effective, and more efficient in identifying, reaching and motivating viable customers. Also, to my point made above, we need to craft and present more irrestible offers incorporating more urgency to act vs. delay. We can’t take ANY patronage for granted.”

Dan’s pretty gloomy about overall economic conditions. Of course, he’s talking mainly about the USA and conditions in your local market may be more encouraging. However, his following 4 suggestions will almost certainly pay dividends for any business…

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A Selection Of Christmas Marketing Cartoons 2013

Christmas 2013 is fast approaching…

…so here is a selection of Christmas themed marketing cartoons from the great Tom Fishburne for you to enjoy.

One of the highlights of the week for me is Tom’s new cartoon. Always raises a smile and always insightful.

I’ve posted a number of these before…

…but for your entertainment I’ve decided to put together this seasonal selection.

First up, here’s the latest from Tom…

2013-12-15 naughty or nice

Original at “naughty or nice”

Next, one of my favourites…

You can read the full post at “on the 12th day of Christmas, retailers gave to me” .

More great Christmas marketing cartoons…

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Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar January 2014

2013 is almost over and the coming year of 2014 is fast approaching.

Time to take a look ahead at the month of January 2014…

…and events, anniversaries and other occasions that we can put to use for an event-driven marketing event or promotion.

The start of 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 globe and no reason why you can’t make use of this.

Also, in 2014 Chinese New Year falls in January…

…on the 31st, when the “Year Of The Horse” commences.

Other events of note…

January 1 – New Year’s Day

January 4 – Blender Day (invented 1910)

January 6 – Birthday of Sherlock Holmes

January 8 – Elvis Presley’s Birthday

January 11 – International “Thank You Day”

January 19 – “Tin Can Day” (patent awarded in 1825 for canning process)

January 21- Martin Luther King Day (USA)

January 29 – Freethinker’s Day

More unusual events and anniversaries over at www.BlueMountain.com.

(Look for the ‘On this day’ section.)

Turning to events specific to particular countries…

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Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar 2014

One of the highest payoff activities in marketing is to prepare a marketing calendar. And it’s never too early to map out a calendar for the coming year 2014!

As well as this article to give you ideas…

…here’s a great post from copywriter Ray Edwards…

“How To Create A One-Page Marketing Plan”.

It’s taken from one of Ray’s regular podcasts, so you can listen along if you wish.

Now, this was originally published last year so it talks about creating a marketing plan for 2013…

…but the principles are pretty much timeless and apply to 2014.

In passing, included in that article is a GREAT resource for event-driven marketers…

…a comprehensive calendar of events!

Even better, there’s a specific calendar for every major country, so you can create your own list of events that are relevant to your local area!

With that said, let’s get down to business with a core calendar that can be used pretty much anywhere for the coming year 2014.

January – New Year (Chinese New Year on January 31 – “Year of The Horse”)

February – Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day

March – St Patrick’s Day

April (18-21) – Easter

June – Mid Year (mid-summer northern hemisphere, mid-winter southern hemisphere)

October – Halloween

December – Christmas

To fill out the schedule…

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So When Does The Christmas Marketing Season Start?

A Christmas themed cartoon from the great Tom Fishburne…

Original post at “Christmas creep” and well worth a read.

Christmas promotions from retailers seem to be starting ever-earlier. So how early is too early?

“It will be interesting to see how the Christmas Creep bandwagon continues in coming years, as retailers navigate the holiday shopping pressure and balance how best to listen to their consumers. Some consumers genuinely want deals earlier in the year. Others see it as an invasion. I imagine the best approach will be different for every retailer. What might work for Kmart won’t necessarily work for Neiman Marcus.”

In many cases, a lot of these promotions smack of desperation to me and marketers who have no coherent plan.

Of course I am a big advocate of planning ahead but that’s a different issue to actually launching a promotion.

And, of course, people differ. Some like to get all their Christmas shopping done early (even starting straight after Christmas on shopping for the following year!). It’s reported that over 40% of people do start their shopping before the end of October.

Others will pretty much leave everything to the last minute.

So there’s no one answer, but I’d suggest…

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