Thought A Voucher Was A Better Gift?
… well it appears not everyone wants to use the Gift Card they got for Christmas!
So now comes along “GiftCardRescue” — as spotted in Springwise this month — who allow users to either exchange their cards for cash or another gift card from a different store. The story states the cash payout is 60 to 80 percent of the card’s value, or an exchange can be up to the full value of the card you’re getting rid of.
It’s only US based … for now … but that’s a great business idea that filled a need of a hungry crowd.
On the subject of gift cards…
While I don’t have a source of stats — I have heard in the past (and can verify from anecdotal evidence) that gift vouchers and gift cards are not only sometimes unwanted, but even people who like their present don’t always spend the card at its full value (if at all).
If you’re a retailer, it shows you two things: one — promoting gift cards may earn you unexpected profits from cards that aren’t redeemed; and two — if you were to address that issue in some way, it could be a way to stand out from your competitors.
Favorite marketing word of the month
I had to laugh today … reading the January 2009 Glazer-Kennedy No B.S. Marketing Newsletter, and this sentence in Dan Kennedy’s article …
Folks need to be alert for that sort of nincompoopism infiltrating their businesses!
(’twas about rushing a product to market that was going to lose $2,000 on every sale).
Most amusing!
What Downturn?
There’s always a portion of the community who are not affected by any economic downturn.
I’ve been told by those who should know that the figure is around 25 percent of the population.
So even in times when economic news is gloomy, there are plenty of affluent spenders who really don’t change what they do.
They’re the ultimate customers for many businesses: and of course you must work at maintaining your relationship with these customers, don’t just ignore them once they come your way.
And you never know how they’ll pop up.
Did you see the news last week about the plan for Palazzo Versace in Dubai to have the world’s first refrigerated beach? No kidding!
Case in point: there was a story in yesterday’s Herald Sun about Victoria’s most pamerpered pooch.
Ariel’s 25 year old owner Winnie estimates spending $200,000 on the dog over six years. When you read the story, he really is pampered … from $500 Gucci dog collars to his owner buying a Mini Cooper convertible car so he could enjoy the wind in his hair on nice days when they went to the park or out to dog-friendly restaurants.
A $37,000 to $47,000 open top Mini Cooper … the ultimate dog accessory in this case!
If you were selling Mini Coopers or had a dog-friendly outdoor area at your restaurant … you’d actually be in the business of selling dog accessories! But you might never know that before Ariel’s high-spending owner walked in to your business.
(I’ll leave out the stupid part of the article where the newspaper asks the opinion of readers about the owner spending this much money on her dog … that’s up to her, not us to judge!)
So … what kind of affluent buyers can you attract to your business? How well do you know your market, what new prospects can you target?
See my Copy Tip 2 for a bit more on knowing your prospect — you might identify some high-spending potential prospects like this example here!
Markets Won’t Die
I was filling myself with brain juice today at trendwatching.com with the November trend briefing and noticed a link to this story: Luxury market to contract in 2009.
Scary, huh?
Or not really?
Well, it seems like a “captain obvious” headline to me … based on the current economic environment, this type of headline is not really surprising. Media sensationalism that attracts eyeballs and sells ads.
You could, of course, act like a wailing worker sheep drone and moan about more of the “bad news” that’s bringing down civilisation.
Or, you could read the story about more closely and find opportunity where it might not have otherwise obviously appeared.
Here’s what you’ll find in the story:
The (personal) luxury goods market — which has steadily expanded for more than a decade — is expected to slip between 3 percent and 7 percent in 2009, to between €163 billion (US$214.9 billion) and €170 billion (US$224.13 billion) in sales, according to a new study by consultants Bain & Co. presented at a conference of more than 50 top Italian luxury goods producers.
So the market is still ONLY somewhere between US$214.9 and $224.13 BILLION.
They even report that next year’s result “won’t impact the long-term business outlook”.
Of course, if you’re Chicken Little, then you’ll read the headline and believe the sky is falling in. But if you’re a smart cookie, you’ll see well beyond the gloomy headlines and realise there’s still a mass of opportunity that may fluctuate, but certainly won’t vanish. Clever marketers will capitalise on this outlook and make it work for them.
How? Firstly, by making sure you at least keep up your regular “touches” with your best customers. Don’t let them forget who you are.
I recently created a small mailout (of just 300 postcards for a specific travel destination) for one of our travel agent clients, and they’ve already got a 5.3% response (that’s holiday bookings, not just enquiries) — translating into tens of thousands in extra business.
It doesn’t take rocket science to do that. While others are worried about what’s going on, smart marketers are doing what they need to do to stand out against their opposition. Marketing stands out even more when your competitors slow down their activities! And like the example above, it doesn’t need to cost a fortune.
As I’ve heard from both Tony Robbins and Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode I, your focus determines your reality!
Recognising Inbox Insanity
I was checking out the free traffic booster and backlink software called Comment Kahuna today and noticed this message on their opt-in page:
Why must you opt-in? We have several free upgrades planned soon. You will be notified about them via email. We respect your privacy and inbox sanity. You will not be hammered with a million emails or promotions. We promise.
If you’re on multiple mailing lists, and don’t manage your inbox — you very well might find yourself suffering from inbox insanity.
I recently heard an internet marketer explain how they use a different email address for EVERY list they’re on (more than 500). Personally, I don’t have the time or inclination to track my incoming traffic that ruthlessly.
Instead, I use Google mail to manage my lists. Google’s labels and filters do a great job of sorting out the mail, and also filters can be setup to ensure messages never make it into the spam box (when some marketers fail to test if the words they use will trigger spam filters).
I leave it up to Google’s experts to identify and track spam.
And I happily accept Google’s offer of more than 7Gb of free space in exchange for some ads down the right hand side (no, I don’t use a Firefox script to hide the ads — as a marketer and copywriter, I enjoy looking at Google ads to see what gets my attention).
I think the “inbox sanity” message will resonate with a lot of people. They feel overwhelmed at times, especially around product launches or event countdowns where several of the people they get mail from are all promoting the same thing.
I don’t condemn frequent emails — actually it frustrates me to see people with very powerful lists under-utilise its potential. For example, I’m on one huge list (worldwide I would guess the numbers are in the hundreds of thousands or millions) — yet I get email from that source only a few times per year.
But back to the example above.
In this case, I think it’s a great example of keeping your antenna tuned in to the ongoing feelings of the marketplace. It’s just like watching the news or reading all of the regular magazines — if you don’t know what’s going on, you won’t know what your market is thinking!