If you sell accounting, legal or computer services you are probably very concerned about your brand.  You want to look appropriately serious in your marketing materials so that your clients take you seriously.  Your clients are making serious, numbers-based decisions.  You’ve got to prove your professional caliber in front of your clients.

Here-here!  Just remember: every one of the decision-makers and influences in your clients’ organizations was a little kid before they grew into business consumers.  Even your gruffest and toughest customers were trained as humans first and in their vocations, second.  As such, they still have emotions and it is critical in your marketing to factor in their emotions.

Marketing Tips

Here are some tips to set your company apart from your competitors.  Try this formula next time you are building a new brochure or website or PowerPoint presentation:

1. Tell a “Story-In-a-Split-Second”. What works well is a photo of people showing some type of emotion, coupled with a strong headline, and a subhead.  If you are selling business-to-business, photos that create a sense of trust or satisfaction are excellent.  The emotion to pursue is reassurance; a calming of lurking fears regarding the purchase.
2. Trundle Out Some Benefits — What’s in it for the customer? What benefit does your product or service provide?  Here you can start a short list of benefits, bullet points work well.  Remember, you are writing for the customer so don’t bury the benefit.
3. Features – You may be tempted to begin writing something like: “Our XYZ feature is the fastest in the industry” or, our “XYZ feature sets us apart from our competitors”.  Yes, features are important because they, “back up the benefits”; they add legitimacy. However, I have seen time and again lists of features that soon degenerate into industry jargon that only the most familiar and technically savvy can understand.  Features are the “supporting cast” in your collateral marketing — critical to the overall effect, but don’t let features become the star of the show.
4. To recap:   1 – Story,  2 – Benefits,  3 – Features.

Use this combination to create a repeatable message in the client’s mind and that’s what a story will provide.

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, with a short general message and your company logo/tagline on the address side. Here you are building brand-awareness and quickly trying to make an impression on your prospect. You are not trying to get the prospect to act, other than to remember your name and company and start to build an emotional bond with the prospect.

Postcard Marketing

If you have a super-stunning, easy to understand offer, the postcard can work, especially if you are running other media, such as print or TV. If you have strong brand awareness already, and are just jolting the person to action, like “Save 1/2 off on all suits at Acme clothing this weekend” and you are sure the prospect knows your brand and your location, then the postcard can work well.

But, for most direct mailers, the prospect does not know your brand, is not familiar with your product, and needs some explanation of what they are supposed to do. Even with a compelling offer, you need some extra info to explain to that % of the population that wants more in-depth explanation of “what’s it all about”. The oversized postcard card or self-mailer allows you to present a greater level of detail.

Remember, you need to tell the story graphically on the oversize card. But, you can include things like maps to your retail branch, order information, link to your guarantee, mini-synopsis of your guarantee, or a few testimonials.

Free Marketing Campaign Idea of the Week

Here is a photo that I just loved…we need a bit more humor with the economy in the dumps.

Headline: Is This the Way You Felt After You Bought Your Last Suit?
Subhead: Acme Menswear – The Place Where Adults Shop

iStock photo 8266899

Happy Marketing
Craig Lutz-Priefert

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

Craig, what is Data-Brand Marketing?

The FunMarketer Answer: The future!

For too many years, marketers were siloed into different divisions. “I’m a Brand Image marketer”; “My specialty is DataBase marketing“; “I’m a Direct Response expert”.

While marketers always will have varying strengths and expertise, the traditional walls that separated various disciplines are coming down fast. Anybody that buys Google AdWords knows what I mean.

AdWords at first glance may seem to be direct marketing – and it is. However, now that we are several years into Pay Per Click marketing we are starting to see an interesting phenomena: The power of a company’s brand can have immense impact on the AdWords campaigns you run.

If you have a well-known, well-respected brand in a category, then your brand’s name may actually convert at less than 1/2 the cost per conversion of a generic description. Here’s an example using that greatest of companies, Acme Widgets. Let’s imagine we are running an AdWords campaign for Acme’s ball bearing division.

Keyword: Ball Bearing
Keyword: Acme Bearing

If Acme is a strong brand, people searching for “Acme Bearing” may convert at up to 1/2 the cost and 2X the frequency of people searching for “Ball Bearing”. Why?

1) They already have an awareness – and often an affinity – for your brand.
2) They are probably closer to making a buying decision. Their search is more refined, as indicated by the more closely refined search term.

So now the smallest of companies can affordably combine Data and Brand in new ways to effectively market their products.

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

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Most photos are fairly strongly skewed toward a Consumer or Business audience. If you’ve spent enough hours putting iStock lightboxes together you know what I mean. Here’s one I like that is versatile enough for either audience. And, if you are marketing to both, then you can use this to pull some good “double-duty” for your compmany. I wrote the headline below with a clothing store in mind, but it could just as easily be switched to a B-B use:

Photo: iStock #6289860

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=6289860

Headline: Time For a Wardrobe Checkup?

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

Google Chrome was just launched and here’s how I use it so far. I often work with both Firefox and Explorer open at the same time, and jump back and forth between the two, depending on the task. I have different toolbars loaded onto my Firefox browser than I do on the Explorer browser. I tend to use the Explorer browser a bit more when I’m deep in AdWords, and the Mozilla browser when I’m writing in Google Docs or in my Yahoo or Google emails.

With Chrome, since most toolbars aren’t ready for it (yet) the top 1/4 of the screen is very clean. I’ve taken advantage of this larger screen space and have been using Chrome to watch video and look at photos and project proofs – tasks where the larger screenspace on the browser is a plus. One of Chrome’s biggest strengths is its simplicity and lack of clutter; so for now it remains my third-place browser for the most basic web tasks.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

The FunMarketer Answer:

Both multinational corporations and small family businesses fall victim to Brand Drift. The word “drift” implies slow, rudderless change in marketing position. It also implies a lack of power. Two types of brand drift can poison a business; each is equally lethal:

1. Customer base moves away from the company due to:
– shifts in technology
– demographic or behavioral changes in customer base
– other external causes

2. Company moves away from original mission – this is typically caused by forces internal to the company.

An example of #1 – currently individual consumers and a trickle of businesses are migrating away from desktop-based software installed on the local computer, and heading toward ‘cloud computing’, where the processing is done on a remote server. If you are Microsoft, you must be vitally aware of this shift, and react quickly.

An example of #2 – right now somewhere a small family-owned bakery under third-generation ownership is changing its focus from customer-service to cost-control. The current ownership believes the way to greater profits is to squeeze costs and reduce the product quality. Within five years they’ll lose half their customer base and be a ghost of the company grandma founded.

How do we avoid Brand Drift? How do we deal with it?

For #1, External Forces causing the drift, we keep our finger on the pulse of the industry. We:

– Read industry publications and watch for trends
– Watch our competitors; their moves can signal to us changes they see
– Run periodic checks of our customer base – surveys or database analysis

For #2, we need to have other people in the company challenge us. If we are in senior management, we must allow opposing opinions into our meetings and listen to them. If we are in marketing, then we need to be aware of our company’s position in the past, and, if we are changing our position, then our marketing will need to change with it.

Brand Drift is survivable and to some extent inevitable. However, managing it successfully is often the difference between success and failure.

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

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Here’s an idea for a mutual fund company, insurance agency, small bank – any business that needs to generate consumer interest in a financial product.

Photo: Istock #6781428

Headline: Just think, Billy – We Don’t Have to Worry About Insurance For Another Ten Years
Subhead: Yeah, Now If We Can Just Figure Out Where Rex Buried the Mustard.
Lead Sentence: “Don’t you wish you could go back to a simpler time with your insurance decisions? Unfortunately they’re counting on you for their security.”

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

As a marketer you know how emotions are completely tied into the purchasing decision, and therefore to your brand. For a great look at why emotions reinforce the brand, check out Gordon Hotchiss’ Search Insider Post Aug 21.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Craig, what do you mean by “pulling inspiration from the past?

Ever experience a running-on-empty day when you are writing copy for an ad or looking for that ‘just-right’ marketing graphic? Maybe you’ve finished your brand check-up, but find your inspiration fuel tank is a couple gallons low.

Hello, YouTube.

Old commercials that haven’t ran in years – or even decades – are now available on YouTube. Just a few searches for terms like “old tv commercials youtube” and you’ll find dozens of great ads–some classics and some lame-o’s.

Once you’re done enjoying a few moments of nostalgia – if you are old enough – or have stopped laughing – if you’re young enough – it’s time to see how these old spots can inspire a few new ideas for your current marketing mission.

Yes, it’s tempting to pick apart everything the ad creators (many of whom are gone to that great agency in the sky) did wrong. Ditto on commenting on how fashion was atrocious way back when. Instead, see how they used elements of the ad to:

* Pull your eye toward the product
* Tug your emotions
* Make you want the product
* Cause you to take some action

Note – I don’t advocate that you clone anybody’s ads from the past, but with the advent of YouTube there’s suddenly a deeper well of inspiration to draw from.

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

FunMarketer Free Marketing Campaign Idea of the Week

Here’s an idea for a pain med targeted at older males. Especially for guys who want to still act 25…even if they’re 50.

Photo: Istock #6691673

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/people/6691673-senior-man-giving-woman-piggyback-ride.php?id=6691673

Headline: Acme Aspirin – We Won’t Tell Her If You Don’t

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Every salesperson learns this early in their career. It’s still a really useful refresher acronym for marketers.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Hope Springs Eternal”. Speaking of old ads, check out this Irish Spring ad from the 1980s. See how many emotion-loaded elements the ad creators inserted to pull you closer to the brand – dogs (two, including a puppy), kids, good-looking people and even some bare skin.

Check out the signature demo of the knife cutting through the bar of soap – it almost feels like an apple being sliced in the Garden of Eden.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Craig, Why is it important for a service company to have a Brand Banner?

The FunMarketer answer is: Because Word-Of-Mouth propels a service company. And your employees need to absolutely know what your company stands for. The Brand Banner accomplishes both.

The Brand Banner is an easily-remembered phrase or concept that your customers and employees can repeat effortlessly to other people. It’s much more than a tag-line or headline for a specific campaign; it must reflect the promise you are delivering to your customers, day in and day out.

One of the best is Hy-Vee’s “Where There’s a Helpful Smile in Every Aisle”. I am not a frequent Hy-Vee shopper, but last year I was in a Hy-Vee , bogged down with too many items in my hands because I had just ducked in to pick up one item and ended up snagging five. As the Hy-Vee employee walked by she literally lifted a twelve-pack of soda pop from my hands and shepherded me to checkout. All this was unsolicited, but definitely appreciated. (Hey, I’m a guy, and you know how we hate to ask for help).

Now that’s going the distance for a customer. That employee was 100% aligned with the company’s primary brand message – helpfulness.

Your brand has a position in the market. Notice, Hy-Vee isn’t positioned as the low-price leader. Although they have sales promote their prices as competitive, their brand stands for service and convenience, not price. It’s extremely difficult for your brand to occupy two places in the customer’s head – better to just have one that is clear in the mind of the employee and the customer. Keep your company loyal to one Brand Banner and you’ll win.

So, make sure your service business has a Brand Banner that customers and employees can remember. It’s not an easy task to build one – call me if you want some tips. Or else check out the tips in my Marketing Workouts

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Here’s a photo that screams: “We appreciate our customer!”

Photo: Istock #4625200

Headline: To All You Who Help Make Us Great – Take a Bow!

Got any great ideas of your own? Just reply to the Funmarketer blog with your istock number and your headline and subhead (Clean Only, Please).

Oh, if you do use the campaign, make sure you give credit where due.

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

Use Google Alerts for your competition. If you are trying to find out when your competition is mentioned on the web, one way to do just that is using Google Alerts. Of course, it’s a good idea to sign up for alerts for your own company, too.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“We’ve Got Your Back”. Remember, Trust and Value is our theme this summer. This phrase falls into the “trust” camp. It implies that you, as a company, will take care of the client. But just think of all the ways you can use this phrase:

Suntan lotion
Recliner chair (or a lawnchair, since it is still summer)
Chiropractor
Winter Overcoats (coupled with a strong, cold wind icon blowing)

More generally, the phrase is great for Customer Service. Some of you that are clever can probably even incorporate it into a tag-line for your Customer Service guarantee.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Craig, Why the Stress On the Headline/Photo combination? Is it really that vital?

Yes. Every marketer should read a recent Wall Street Journal article on cognition. Basically, the article related new research that shows a human brain actually makes a decision before its owner is even aware the decision has been made. Of course, the article brings up weighty questions concerning free will and self-awareness. These are way beyond the scope of FunMarketer (although I’ll chat with you about them over a cup of coffee sometime).

As usual, I immediately thought: “How can I write a better ad from this?”

This research reinforces the idea that you’ve got just a couple of seconds to grab that customer/prospect. See, if the customer isn’t even aware her brain is processing information relative to making a decision, it’s all the more important for you to instantly push as much relevant information in front of her as quickly as possible. The headline/photo combination is a crucial first step in this process.

And it is a process. A simple shock photo and headline may attract interest, but if there is no correlation to strong Benefits or a Quick Story that pulls the prospect along the road to a purchase decision, then you’ve merely wasted your prospect’s time. And, in that moment, probably damaged your brand in the mind of the prospect. People accept that they’ll be advertised to, but they hate to be lied to.

For those of you familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, I urge you to refresh you acquaintance with his theory of “thin-slicing”.

Remember, your customer is thin-slicing your ad campaign, from initial contact right through the moment they choose to act on your Call-To-Action — or not.

That’s why we always include a quick sample in our “FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea Of the Week”. If you save these you can quickly run through them and snag some ideas that you can use as the basis for some great campaigns of your own.

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Here’s a great one for financial services or any type of educational/higher learning school deal.

Photo: Istock #5417006

Headline: You Still Must Run the Race – But We’ll Level the Track for You

Alternate Headline: Acme Financial: Leveling the Race Track Before Your Competition Does

Got any great ideas of your own? Just reply to the FunMarketer blog with your istock number and your headline and subhead (Clean Only, Please).

Oh, if you do use the campaign, make sure you give credit where due.

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

The last FunMarketer post mentioned value and trust and their importance in your marketing. Let’s look at three quick ways you can incorporate these into your marketing:

1. Length of time you’ve been in business. This adds the Trust element.

2. Testimonials. The fact that somebody supplies a testimonial adds a bit of a trust element. The testimonial itself should reflect value – either that the price was a world-beater, or that the product was stellar. Many of you are not the low-cost provider, you are the best-value provider. Make sure your testimonials reflect this.

3. Tone. If you want to scream low-price, then use lots of starbursts and other graphic treatments. Low-price ads usually must shout the fact; the text and graphics and message should be fast and in their face. Sure, if you’re Wal-Mart and you’ve pumped millions into an ad campaign like ‘Always’ you can afford to be a bit more subtle. For most of your low-price ads, say it loud and proud.

Again, it may sound really basic, but trust and value are big themes for the rest of this year.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Ripped at the seams”. Speaking of phrases, you can almost hear the Grease soundtrack in your head if you’re over 35 (maybe even if you’re younger, if your parents took you to the 20th year Grease mania ten years back). OK, so here’s a phrase you can leverage for some last summer hurrahs — I don’t recommend you actually use the entire phrase from Grease, “Summer Dreams, Ripped at the Seams” because it’s copyrighted and there’s no use ripping off somebody else’s art. The key idea here is to plug into a popular phrase, “ripped at the seams”, and let your audience make their own associations in their mind(s).

It’s not exactly archetypal, but it’s along the same line. Sorry, Carl J.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Craig, what do you mean it’s critical that I “Signal after the Sale”?

The FunMarketer answer is: You Signal After the Sale to achieve a Competitive Advantage.

Many of you know I study Michael Porter. One of his key insights for marketers is the idea of “use criteria” and “signaling criteria”:

use criteria = what the product does for the buyer

signaling criteria = how the buyer thinks or feels about what the product does for the buyer

Superior marketing can often successfully defend against a superior product. But, even if you have a superior product, you must use signaling criteria to make sure your competitor – who you know makes an inferior product – isn’t clobbering you through superior signaling (marketing).

And guess what – a great deal of signaling needs to happen AFTER the sale.

What are you communicating? Value, of course. Yes, I can hear some of you saying: “Craig that’s Marketing 101″. Yes, well then why do so many of us violate the rules of Marketing 101? Probably the same reason the huge banks violate the rules of Finance 101; sometimes Finance or Mkg 401 looks sexier and more attractive, but it doesn’t always make you the most money.

Signaling after the Sale (to communicate the superior value your product/service has) can take many forms. You can’t just fire off a signal flare when you are in trouble and sales are down–that’s what your signaling strategy can head off. Here are two powerful reasons to implement an after-sale marketing strategy, and the attendant tools to use for each:

1. Facilitate Two-Way Communication. You want that customer talking. You want them talking to your company if there is a problem, and you want that customer talking to other people if there is no problem. The tools:

a. Survey. No, not the 10 question Customer Satisfaction stuff that corporate puts out. Just a quick survey that asks “how’d we do” and “how can we do better.” Make it look like a quick note and not something that is going to be graded by a computer. Mail it to your customer along with a pre-stamped envelope. People respond more openly if they can safely enclose their answers inside an evelope – don’t cut corners with a postcard, here.

b. Referral or Tell-A-Pal program. (Yes, it needs to be incentivized). These are simple programs to set up and monitor; just make sure you think the rewards through and that BOTH parties – referring and referred – receive some incentive for participation. Email me at funmarketer@marketinghawks.com for more ideas or specifics.

2. Head-Off Buyer’s Remorse

Good salespeople close today’s sale; great salespeople close tomorrow’s sale.

Ever felt great about a purchase in the store, and then once you were home balancing your checkbook or figuring out how to pay for your purchase got a sick feeling in your stomach? You need to be proactive in your signaling to avoid this happening to your customers.

a. Handwritten thank-you note is absolutely huge.

b. Phone call from the salesperson. Joe Girard has excellent advice here. His books are just great at sharing all kinds of sales tips, and this is one of the best.

c. Reassurance via product benefits, helpline, we are here for you, ways others are using the product, blogs on the product, etc. For those of you living in Web 2.0, this is the time to engage good blogs on your product to help re-sell you to that customer.

Get creative! It’s rarely the cost of signaling after the sale that causes companies to abandon the practice. Lack of management will and commitment is the usual culprit.

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Save this shot of a US Flag for a serious campaign geared around Flag Day or the Fourth of July. For those of you who’ve seen the burial of a vet and the presentation of the triangular-folded flag to the spouse, you know how powerful that moment is.

Not an image to be used lightly – yet some of the most powerful ads can generate some very positive emotion for your company or cause.

Photo: Istock #1954124

Headline: In Between Hot Dogs and Soda Pops, Take a Moment to Salute the Real Heroes This Independence Day

Alternate Headline: For Those of You Who Couldn’t Be Here in Person This Independence Day – Thank You for Our Freedom

Got any great ideas of your own? Just reply to the FunMarketer blog with your istock number and your headline and subhead (Clean Only, Please).

Oh, if you do use the campaign, make sure you give credit where due.

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

OK, if the ‘Ka-Ching’ of the cash register is just the start of the sale, how do you keep the line of communication open with your customer?

Ask.

Pretty high-tech, isn’t it. At the point of sale…ask the customer if they’d like a frequent purchase punch card, or to be placed on your newsletter or email list. Make sure you let employees know how important the lines of customer communication are.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Red Letter Days”. OK, you know a Red Letter day is typically a holiday or a specialy day on the calendar. During the summer in the US we have various “Red Letter” days such as Memorial Day, Flag Day, Juneteenth and Independence Day.

Next time you’re searching for a theme for any sale or promotion you’re having, why not try “Red Letter Days” instead of the over-used “-thon” such as marathon, sale-a-thon, etc.

Just a thought, but you might be able to build a whole promotion around it.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert

Craig, why do I need a marketing checklist?

The FunMarketer answer: If seasoned airline pilots trust the discipline involved in using a checklist before they take off, why not apply the same method to our marketing?

Checklists are easy ways for us to keep from reinventing the marketing wheel every time we start a new ad or launch a new campaign. There are two types of checklists:

#1: The Repeater. This is the checklist(s) we develop for repetitive tasks. Let’s say we are launching a new landing page for an AdWords campaign. Your checklist might include the following:

Did we restate our Brand Message?
Is there an Offer?
Is there a Call to Action?

Seems like a pretty simple list, doesn’t it? But something like 80% of the power in your landing page resides in those simple yet overlooked intangibles like an Offer or a strong Call To Action. Even pros need reminded; that’s why it’s important to make the checklist uniquely your own.

For the Repeater Checklist, make sure it is:

a) Quick – there’s no time to debate
b) Yes or No questions – it’s a checklist, after all.
c) Just 4-6 topics. More than that and break it into smaller lists for specific tasks.
d) Remember – If a checklist is going to get used it must be EASY and FAST.

#2. The New Campaign Checklist. Because we are plowing new ground this checklist will be more involved. You’ll need to arrange your tasks into different groups or categories. Since we are generating ideas and brainstorming, we’ll need to move beyond the simple “yes/no” of the Repeater. Here is the place to ask some very brief questions. On the Marketing Hawks “New Launch” checklist I leave some spaces for me to write in answers, plus I’ve included a couple of “fill-in-the-blank” tables.

The New Campaign Checklist tends to evolve with the marketer. Remember, this is a checklist you are making as an aid to your remembering specific marketing questions you need to answer prior to the campaign. Here you need to use a kind of shorthand to jar your brain into action. For my own checklist, I use four main areas: Use Criteria (from Michael Porter) and then Brand, Package and People.

Under each section I have several pre-printed questions drawn from each of the people above, and space to fill in my thoughts. For example under Brand I have questions relating to Brand Essence (Scott Bedbury) and Story (Laurence Vincent).

Under the Package section I have a simple question: “Can we Thin-Slice It?” For those of you familiar with Malcolm Gladwell, that statement makes 100% sense and is obviously vitally important for marketers. But to people unfamiliar with Gladwell that question leads to deli thoughts. Yet the question occupies a vital place in my New Campaign checklist because I often overlook the importance of the “Blink” look that so much of our marketing receives from our audience..

If you want my New Campaign Checklist, just email me at funmarketer@marketinghawks.com and I’ll be glad to send you a copy. Be warned: you’ll have to build and edit and make it your own, otherwise it might not make much sense.

Sum-Up – Learn from the masters, add your own experience, and then combine both into a marketing checklist to devastate the competition.

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Here’s an image that you can use to show appreciation to customers or employees.

Photo: Istock #6039478

Headline: “Thanks to Everybody that Helped Us Make the Grade”

Alternate Headline: “Just In: Our Customer Report Card”

Got any great ideas of your own? Just reply to the blog with your istock number and your headline and subhead (Clean Only, Please).

Oh, if you do use the campaign, make sure you give credit where due.

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

For those of you marketing anything “green”, check out Abraham Maslow and his famous Hierarchy of Needs. (Yes, it is a part of my New Campaign Checklist). I do think there is an enormous value in building the Esteem Needs into your green marketing. And, while you’re at it, check out what Dale Carnegie talks about in his appealing to the nobler motives. In a nutshell – see if you can influence somebody to act on something green-related because it’s the right thing to do.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Price Hike”. Wow, here’s a phrase that’s being used all the time as inflation comes racing back at all of us. In the USA, one generally hears the verb “hike” standing all by itself and used in reference to football or outdoor walking. The word “hike” as in “to lift up” is rarely used anymore, except in the over-used “price hike”.

Here’s the opportunity for you marketers. How about using the price-hike in some of your ads, such as “We refuse to participate in any price-hikes this week”. Or “Inflation? – We do our hiking outdoors, thank-you very much”.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert