Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Stay Targeted!

Here is an exerpt from my upcoming book, "Think Big Marketing For Small Business." I sent this to a friend today and thought I should share!

Stay In Front of Clients All Year
What if you could spend $10 per quarter on your very best customers (the 20% that is responsible for 80% of your business) in order to thank them for doing business with you? No problem. What if in addition to that “thank you” perception, that $10 kept you in front of your customers all year long? Seems like a no-brainer when broken down like that, huh? Well, that is exactly what the right promotional product campaign can do for your company!

When I meet with new clients to discuss their promotional needs, I first talk with them about building their “foundation” for their marketing campaigns. This “foundation” consists of items that will stay in front of clients all year long. These items have a very low “cost per impression.”

The cost per impression (CPI) is calculated by dividing the cost of the item by the number of times a customer will actually see your advertising message. For example, if you spent $20 on a promotional watch for your top clients, then the cost per impression would be figured by calculating the number of times that client would look at a watch and see your advertising message. The average person looks at their watch approximately twice per hour and we will be conservative by saying only 10 hours a day. Assuming the watch lasted a year (based on only 300 days) then you are looking at 6000 “impressions.” Wow! Now divide the cost of the watch ($20) by the 6000 times the customer looked at the message and you come up with $.003333. Now that $20 gift becomes a very affordable marketing campaign. Factor in the fact that this message goes ONLY to where you want, and it becomes even more exciting!

So we consider these low CPI items when we build the foundation of their marketing campaign. So what are these magic promotional items that last a long time and keep our marketing message with them? Ironically, these are often the items some clients feel are less exciting. Examples of some great items with a low CPI are mousepads, notecubes, watches, magnets, and of course, calendars. Each industry is different and there are some great items with low CPI for each industry. Just consider where your clients or customers spend their time, and figure out what product can be there all the time!

Calendars…Your Silent Sales Person
At the end of the day, you want your advertising dollars to be as effective as possible…that’s the point of this book. So I would be remiss if I didn’t spend just a moment on calendar advertising.

If you are already on board with calendar advertising, then this might remind you why. But if you are not a believer, just give me a minute on this. Calendars are the ultimate in targeted promotional advertising. Obviously they (by their very nature) spend 24 hours a day, 365 days a week on the wall, on the desk, in the home, even in the pocket of your customer. They are always there…your silent sales person.

Consider this…85% of all people who have a calendar on their wall know exactly who gave it to them. And of those, 95% do business with that person! There are no “gimmies” in advertising, but utilizing calendar advertising as one of your “foundation” items is close. And let’s put it to the CPI test! The average person looks at their calendar 10 times a day, 350 days a year. Go ahead…do the math.

In addition, a nice calendar can either accompany or be your year end gift to your clients. It’s a nice marketing touch to thank them for their business anyway, so why not have something that will remind them of you all year long?

Obviously you need to spend a bit of time considering what kind of calendar to hand out (there are a lot to choose from). You know your clientele, so you need to consider what they would like to receive. In addition, make sure it is a theme you can be comfortable with as representing your company’s brand. And of course…you can always do a completely custom calendar. The price for printing one has come down considerably in the last 10 years.

More info on the book coming soon. Are you staying targeted?

1 comment:

Justin Geerdes said...

Great message on the watches and calendars "CPI". I am a calendar supplier so of course I am a little biased though. :)