As discussed in our last post, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is one tool you can use in your marketing toolkit as you develop advertising campaigns. This post discusses how to promote your business using the Hierarchy of Needs. Specifically, I will create one specific hypothetical advertising campaign for a financial institution; in this case, a bank.

Example Of An Advertising Campaign

As I mentioned above, in this hypothetical example our client is a bank. On the surface a bank offers services such as: checking accounts, loans, safety deposit boxes, brokerage accounts …and a whole host of other services. However, in this advertising campaign exercise I want to focus on using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to develop a marketing campaign that is designed to attract new customers looking to open a saving account. Read the rest…

Marketing Tip

I may appear a bit archaic in discussing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. After all, it’s more than 65 years since he wrote the original article, and it’s been commented on many times by marketers and the psychology community. However, the Hierarchy of Needs can be a valuable tool in a sophisticated marketer’s toolbox. Quickly, the basic needs are:

• physiological
• safety
• love
• esteem
• self-actualization

Human Motivation and Marketing

Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

An understanding of Maslow is more complex than what one gathers from a quick glance at any chart of the basic needs. Unfortunately, that is about all of us receive in most marketing books — if they mention him at all; which in my opinion is a shame. Why? Because in studying the Hierarchy of Needs you will find new perspectives when creating your ad campaigns. You will gain insight and understanding on motivation, leading to better conversions on direct mail, pay per click and other marketing campaigns. In the end the investment in studying Maslow’s hierarchy will help increase your campaign’s return on investment (ROI). However, what you will not find is a theory that answers all questions about human motivation. It is not an “end-all, be-all” answer to what motivates us.

Marketing Tool

There is no magic wand in marketing, there are only tools. I found Maslow is most useful Read the rest…

Marketing Tip of the Week

OK, previously we’ve discussed the price vs. timing issue of the postcard vs. self-mailer or oversized postcard. Now, let’s go to the inevitable question — does size matter?

The answer, once again, is…it depends on your goals!

Self-Mailer

If you have an audience-specific offer that needs explanation in any detail, I would spend the extra money on the larger format. A postcard is 4 1/4 by 6, but a self-mailer (letter rate) can go clear up to 6 1/8 by 11 1/2. That is more than twice the surface area of the postcard.

Post Card

A postcard can suffice if you are mailing to a multi-faceted audience and want to quickly get across a ‘brand-building’ message. A photo/headline combination on the non-address side of the postcard can be very powerful Read the rest…

Funmarketer Tip of the Week

Years ago when I was new in direct mail I toured Metromail’s old lettershop. The place held some of the most amazing inserting and affixing equipment on the planet. The mechanics at this cavernous mail center had jury-rigged several machines that could affix nearly any small object to paper. Pennies, stamps, cards; these folks could stick it on a piece of paper and get it in the mail to you.

But why go to the hassle? Why increase in-the-mail production costs by creating a more complex mail piece? The answer was simple — the longer you could keep the mail respondent involved with the direct mail piece, the greater your response rate.

The lesson for any marketer is simple: Get the hands involved. How often do you walk into your grocery store on a weekend and are offered a free sample of juice or sausage? Does your favorite local coffee shop offer to give you a free taste of the flavor of the day to help you decide what to drink? You know car dealers nearly wet their pants in anticipation of getting you in the car so you can take a test drive.

There is no substitute for putting a person’s hands in touch with an object; not only does touching get them involved plus it opens their minds to the possibilities. There is a feedback from the brain to the touch mechanisms in our fingers. We are tool users, and the hands are the manipulators of the tools…the hands are the brain’s number one tool, actually. It is just so incredibly vital to get the person’s hands involved.

But what about engaging the intellect…overcoming objections with logical sales presentations and expressions of the facts?

Sure, that’s great and necessary. People don’t buy on either emotions or reason alone. Go ahead and answer the objection in your marketing…but at the same time get their hands involved and engage their brains on another level. While their hands explore their imaginations kick in. They imagine how good that coffee will taste; they imagine how good they will look driving that car around….they imagine what they can do with your product.

Now, how do you do that on the web? You have to get their hands involved with the keyboard… give them a chance to interact with your product as much as possible. Allow them to comment on your blog or rate your product or customer service. The more you can entice people to become involved with your site and hold their interest, the more you will sell them. Try and integrate involvement in your next promotional marketing.

Funmarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

This photo is great for anything related to a business-education seminar, training or higher-education. The model suggests a nice balance of professionalism and friendliness.

Headline: When You’re Ready to Take Your Life to the Next Level, Acme School of Business is There For You
iStock 2221205

Funmarketer Tip of the Week

A small business owner friend and I had an interesting conversation the other day: Which was the best marketing tool for his business, a postcard mailing first class rate or an oversize card (self-mailer) mailing at the standard class rate?

Like so many other choices in marketing, the correct answer is: It depends on your goals.

For example, if you mail to consumers (B to C) and timing is an issue, then you can saturate an area quite effectively using a good lettershop, pre-sort, and trucking facilities. If you have enough mail going out, you can control the delivery of your piece to the customer’s door nearly as effectively using Standard Class mail, properly sorted, as you could with First Class mail.

And, of course, your Standard Class mail will be at a fraction of the cost.

But what if you are mailing to businesses (B to B), and you need to control your timing of the delivery of the message? Here you will probably want to mail out a First-Class postcard or, if you have enough pieces, a First-Class presorted mailpiece. The advantage of First-Class in this case is again in the timing. You are going to pay the post office to make sure your mailpiece arrives as quickly as possible.

If timing is not an issue in your B to B mailing, and you have enough pieces to qualify, then I recommend you use Standard Class. The money you’ll save will drop straight to your bottom line.

But what about tests that show First-Class vs. Standard Class improves response rate? Feel free to do your own head-to-head tests, but most consumers aren’t sophisticated enough to pay attention to the difference. If you really think it’s that big of a deal, use a precancelled stamp on your Standard Class mailing.

Funmarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Sometimes basic and blunt and bold can be very effective — especially if you have limited space on your ad. This would work well for a postcard:

Headline: Low on Cash? Stop by Acme Payday for an Advance on Your Check!

iStock photo 7198393

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Funmarketer Tip of the Week

We marketers understand that integrated marketing is rapidly evolving. Twenty years ago integrated marketing meant tv, print, and radio, with perhaps a dash of billboard advertising or a direct mail campaign tossed in. While the concept of enveloping the prospect with multiple media channels continues to be vital, the mix has changed. Today we are more more likely to engage paid search coupled with strong search engine optimization techniques on our websites, and couple these with direct-response mail, radio or TV. Social media such as Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn campaigns are what is likely to be layered on just to see what happens.

But the basics remain the same. So many times I see marketers using the latest internet tools to run campaigns that include the most basic elements — like an offer! Including a strong offer in a marketing campaign should be a “must-do-item” on anybody’s checklist. But obviously, it’s not. The first time my wife and I refinanced our home (many years ago) we received a horrible, one page photocopy letter in a plain envelope. It was the most pathetic piece of direct mail creative I have seen in my life.

It worked. We called the company, set up an appointment, and refinanced our home.

Why did it work? Right offer and right audience at the right time.

Would that lowly piece have won out if there had been three other dynamite mail pieces arriving that day in my mailbox at the same time? Probably not. Yes, good creative and good copy writing is important — hey, I make a living that way. But the most valuable service I ever perform for a client is making 100% sure they include a compelling offer in their marketing. If I haven’t done that, then I am letting them down.

Yes, sometimes clients don’t take my suggestions, or bury the offer under the ‘brand’, but I can sleep in clear conscious if I’ve told them they need to have a offer.

Speaking of the basics, if any of you need a refresher, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style is always a classic. I bought my first copy back in 1979, and have now just purchased my 2nd.

Funmarketer Campaign Idea of the Week

This photo would work good with any product for stress relief, health, or skin revitalization. Here’s a possible headline:

Headline: Need a Break? Try a 30 Minute Soothing Eye Treatment at Acme Spa and
Facials
iStock photo #492773

If you have any other comments or ideas, feel free to respond or give me a call at 402-423-2444.

Thanks and Be Well.
Craig.

Funmarketer Lesson of the Week:

A few years ago we designed and wrote an innovative self-paced marketing education program targeted at small business marketers and owners. I find that today, more than ever, smart marketers must continually educate themselves on marketing on three levels:

1. Continue to learn the fundamental marketing philosophy from the “old masters” of marketing and advertising.

2. Learn the “hottest trends” in online marketing (where most of the change is rapidly occurring).

3. Deepen their understanding of their own industry’s evolving marketing-place from both customers, suppliers and competitors.

Since my teens, I have been involved in a variety of leadership positions. Most of us are, if we stop really think about it. And every successful leader must develop into an effective teacher or else their message isn’t carried very far. As a marketer the role of teacher is especially important. You must help develop your company’s brand ambassadors — your customers and your employees. If you don’t develop effective messages for these ‘carrier pigeons of the brand’ to spread to their contacts then you severely limit the potential growth of the company you work for.

One of the best ways to become a good teacher is to first become a good student. If you continually learn from the marketing masters of old and then integrating that knowledge with the newest marketing tactics coupled with stunning business intelligence from suppliers and customers — if you learn like that, then when it comes time to teach you will be so well prepared the teaching will come out naturally.

Funmarketing Free Campaign Idea of the Week

You know I love the discipline of writing a powerful headline to go with an iStock photo. Well, don’t just limit this to iStock photos. Any ads you find in the paper, or any postcards or direct mail pieces you receive — feel free to write your own ads to go with them. It’s a great way to stretch out your creative brain as well as build up a backlog of ideas. Never know when you’ll need them on a rainy day.

My youngest son just returned from the Inauguration of President Obama. Believe me, it is a 16 year-old’s dream to be in DC for any Presidential Inauguration; but to be there for one this historic–wow! So just now DC is on my mind. Here’s a general, uplifting type of campaign you can use as a reminder to your customers that you are hanging in there with them during these tough economic times.

Headline — Tough Days? Plenty. Remember, Renewal is Around the Corner

iStock photo 1792363

Thanks and Happy Almost-Spring

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Instead of the “Lesson of the Week”, I thought I’d share with you some thoughts on one of my favorite marketing books.

Most small business owners run a service business - yet most marketing books target companies that sell a product.

The Invisible Touch by Harry Beckwith is a book for those of us working in service businesses. A bit lost wading through marketing books that merely focus on how the Diffusion of Innovation spreads for new products? Then turn to pp 57-59 and learn Beckwith’s take on how it’s different for a service business and you’ll soon understand you’re not alone in your frustrations, after all.

This is Beckwith’s second book devoted to service businesses. The first, Selling the Invisible, has a greater emphasis on selling, while this second work emphasizes marketing. I actually recommend you read both. The second half of The Invisible Touch is so compelling that anybody involved in running or selling for a service business should spend an evening or two reading it.

Here - at last - is a book on marketing written with a focus on small companies. If you are a salesperson wanting to boost your sales by selling smarter, then read this marketing book. It won’t give you some magic formula on how to close, and there are no case studies on securing your next appointment. It will simply help you gain an edge on your competition in the dozen or so ways that Beckwith outlines.

The first half of the book is valuable, but the second half really speaks to what’s important for a service business. Beckwith lays out four “Keys to Modern Marketing”:

* Price
* Brand
* Packaging
* Relationships

The chapter on Relationships also outlines eight profitable tips on building them.

The Invisible Touch is an easy read - just a couple of nights and you’re done. If you integrate even a couple of Beckwith’s concepts into your business during the course of next year, it’ll be well worth those evenings you spent reading it.

Call me for more ideas at 402-423-2444 or email me at funmarketer@marketinghawks.com

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

January is almost here and it can be a very depressing month for many of your clients. Good marketers sell hope, and people need it more than ever right now.

Here’s a great photo that speaks to the renewal of spring and catching your piece of it. The suggested headline is for a financial services check-up, but it can work for

Photo: iStock #6439150

Headline: This Spring Make Every Moment Count
Subhead: Schedule an Investment Checkup Now - Then Go Play in the Sunshine.

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

If you aren’t using Google Analytics on your website yet, then the New Year is a great time to start.

Happy Marketing - and Happy Holidays!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

FunMarketer Lesson of the Week

Mention “Enriching the Customer Experience” and in our mind’s eye we envision a customer surrounded by an elegant showroom, with sophisticated, beautiful salespeople waiting on her. Images of Champs Elysees, Fifth Avenue or Orchard Road spring to mind.

But there is another way to enrich the customer’s experience, and that is to reduce the customer’s pain.

Less glamorous? Yes, but quite effective.

Every service business lugs along certain baggage. Dentistry involves pain and Fast Food means waiting in line at lunch time. No amount of smoke and mirrors advertising is going to change that fact.

The good news - your competitors are shackled by the same set of constraints.

The first thing to do is improve the service you deliver. If you are a dentist, then engage available technology to minimize pain; if you are in fast food, run people through line as fast as possible.

And that is where most small businesses stop–they only improve their product or service. And customers often fail to notice the improvements - because the company failed to tell them about the improvement.

This key to customer satisfaction must be a constant companion to product improvement–Subtly tell your customers you are minimizing their hurt.

For that dentist, a first step in communicating a pain-free office can be the waiting room. It should be bright, with prints of people smiling and laughing and having fun. The effect need not be in-your-face, but a few photos of smiling people sprinkled about helps the patient remember the benefit of why they came to the dentist to begin with.

And don’t forget - a big smile from the receptionist is always a pick-me-up.

What about that fast food line? Brightly colored Tensa-belts, floor graphics for the latest kid’s toys, balloons–any device to keep people looking about and distract their minds as they wait in that line.

Remember: Improve your Service, then immediately Consider the Customer and ease her pain. It may seem like common sense, but at the end of a long day it’s the last thing your staff is thinking about.

But the Chief Marketer must.

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

OK, we’re trying to keep your clients from being bored…but here’s a photo that captures boredom and turns it to your advantage.

Photo: iStock #4266563

Headline: Boys Parked In Front of the Big Game This Saturday?
Subhead: Treat Yourself to a Facial at Acme Spa!

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

Try and watch two or three TV shows at once. If you have the “picture-within-a-picture” function on your television you can use that; or just park your laptop on your TV and run a DVD while at the same time watching, say, the news.

Distracting, isn’t it? No matter how smart you are or quick you are, you must keep shifting your attention back and forth between the two screens.

How many times do we do the same thing with our ads?

Make sure your ads have a Focal Point.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Funmarketer Lesson of the Week

I recently spoke to several small business owners about simple yet effective ways to market to their current customer base. Here’s a quick overview:

1. Score your customers.

A popular way catalog companies rank their customers is called RFM:

R Recency - When did they buy?
F Frequency - How often do they buy?
M Money - How much do they spend?

Most small businesses don’t use all three elements of RFM in combination to arrive at a score, but the basic concepts can help you in your planning.

2. Allocate Resources.

Many different methods exist, but for most small businesses a simple A-B-C ranking will work well.

A Best Customers - probably the top 10-20%
B Second Tier Customers - the next 10-20%
C The Masses - the rest of your customers

A’s will receive most of your marketing dollars. If you are doing simple mailings, A’s might get monthly mailings, B’s quarterly, and C’s annually (like a Christmas card).

3. Communication methods:

Postal Mail
email
blog (but call it an ‘online newsletter’)
Phone calls
personal visits

For postal mail postcards work well as they are inexpensive and quick to produce.

4. Content:

Build the brand through:

Repetition - Get your name in front of them frequently.

Valuable content - Make sure the content you write is interesting to the reader and content that is easy to pass along to their friends. People talk to each other, and they like to contribute some wisdom of their own to a conversation. If you can be a source of that information, then your customers are more likely to continue to read what you send.

And that bonds them to your brand all the more.

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

As the economy is more and more uncertain Trust continues to be THE key theme for anybody who markets any type of service. Forget about shoving how many years you’ve been in business down their throats - everybody’s doing that. It is too sterile. Connect on the human level.

Photo: iStock #4481332

Headline: Seats Are Open at Our Negotiating Table
Subhead: Acme Insurance - Real Solutions for Your Real Life

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

Marketers should have one ally in the sales department. If you work for a company of, say, 200 people and don’t have the ear of one front-line salesperson, then change that. Find that salesperson and buy them a cup of coffee or lunch. Get to know their problems and some of their successes out in the field.

They’ll give you insights into your customers you won’t get from sitting back at the office.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert