Part II - Creative Offline Marketing: Idea No.49 - No.50 | Books Summary | Kenny Tran to Learn & to Share | Self-development, Communication, Relationship, Entrepreneurship, Business, Management, Leadership, Investing, etc.

Part II - Creative Offline Marketing: Idea No.49 - No.50

Category: Books Summary, Business — Kenny Tran @ 3:01 pm — post

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Posts in the [Powerful Offline Marketing In The Internet Age] series:

49) Add Extra Amenities - For physical locations, such as a car dealership, consider testing an in-house diner, barber, coffee shop, putting green, wireless internet, video arcade, playrooms for children, book stores, manicurists, climbing walls, mini-museum, ice-cream shop, etc. These can work well especially for those businesses where their customers have to wait. It may sound extravagant, but many businesses, especially those that cater to the affluent, have done this with resounding success. Why do you think McDonalds added playgrounds to most of their restaurants? Why do upscale bookstores have coffee cafés? The list goes on.

50) Newsletters - Newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with your customers, offer them special discounts and coupons, inform them of upcoming events (a wine store can tell their customers about an upcoming wine tasting event, for example), give them recipes, articles, advice, tips on making the most of your products/services, and much more. It’s a great place to slip in case studies, success stories, testimonials, and pitches for other products and services.

Here are some tips for running a successful newsletter:

Don’t make it a straight sales pitch. You want it to be something your customers look forward to receiving. Too much advertising can turn them off and equate it with junk mail. Include quality content on a variety of subjects, not all related to your business. Don’t be boring.
Keep it regular and consistent. Don’t send it three times in one month and then wait 2 months before sending it out again. Quarterly is fine, but monthly is much better.
If you have trouble coming up with regular content or don’t have the time to commit to a newsletter, there are services that will do it for you.
Proofread your newsletter. A spellchecker won’t flag “four” when it should have been “fore.” Tools like Microsoft Word also have grammar checkers. Check for factual accuracy and make sure dates, times, and places are all correct. Double-check coupon amounts and other numerical figures.
Once you develop a layout that works, try to keep it consistent from issue to issue.
Make it easy on the eyes to read. Avoid white type on black or colored backgrounds. Don’t use dark blue type on a light-blue background. Use serif fonts for the body text. Don’t make it look like too much work to read. Use white space liberally.
Have a plan before you launch your newsletter. You want to have specific goals about what you want it to do for you. Should it be written in first-person from the owner? Or third person, like most newspaper articles? Do you want to have regular columns or features? Guest writers? Do your homework up front.
Always include your contact information, perhaps even on each page.
Feature your customers regularly. They like to see their names in print, and it’s always far better to let them sell you than for you to sell yourself.

If you like this, just buy me cup of coffee. Thank you!

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