Took my kids fishing over the 4th of July weekend. I picked up a carton of worms from the local Walmart and the slogan on the carton has been stuck in my head ever since. Check out the picture below.
"Our worms catch fish or die trying!"
Clever - good job DMF Bait Co.
I’ve got to say, this is craziest, most unusual marketing stunt that I’ve seen or read about in a long time. Recently at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Eichborn, a small German book publisher created quite a buzz (what a terrible pun – keep reading to find out why).
To promote foot traffic to their booth, Eichborn enlisted the help of a small army of flies – 200 to be exact. But these were no ordinary flies. A small banner the size of your thumb was attached to all 200 flies which were then released into the exhibit hall.
George Torok, President of Power Marketing recently wrote this ‘How To’ article for MarketingSherpa
A corporate-style branding effort requires a corporate-sized budget. But if fancy logos and mass advertising aren’t in your budget, you can try building your brand one customer at a time. Through simple, low-cost tactics, you can build stronger relationships and establish a brand identity that’s more than just an image.
1. Make company leaders available to customers. No need for the CEO to be available from 9 to 5, but do establish a time when top-level management can interact with clients.
2. Reach out and be heard. Make valuable customers feel special with a personal email, post card or phone call.
3. Request introductions from the sales team. Let your sales guys introduce you to key clients; be sure to coordinate any communications through sales.
4. Ask customers about their business. You’ll get a better understanding of your customers’ needs and mindsets and the more you understand your customer, the better you’ll be able to market to them.
5. Send small gifts. Relevant and personalized gifts connect well with customers.
6. Manage your time wisely. Not all customers are equal, so set parameters to help manage your time and resources.
7. Scale back if necessary. This could all easily spin out of control if you become too ambitious – stick to your parameters.
Read the full ‘How To’ article from George Torok, in all of its glory at MarketingSherpa.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day (yes, I'm a little late getting this posted) I received this clever little direct mail piece with a heart-shaped window that immediately grabbed my attention. The second that I saw the “Baby, come back…” that’s printed on the front of the envelope, I knew that this was another customer activation/win-back letter from Gecio. While I personally think that Geico's win-back direct mail letters could be better, I'm more than impressed with their efforts: four letters and one phone call in the last 11 months - well done, Geico!
I really like the envelope and the theme on this one. The timing was perfect for the theme being used - the heart shaped bullet points and window, the red lettering – this envelope did a good job of standing out.
Click these thumbnails to see full size examples
The letter, however, didn’t do much for me. First, it’s way too long for my liking. Cut this thing in half and then we’ll have something. Also, I’m all for using bold and or bold colors to draw attention – but this should needs to be used sparingly. This letter is too busy with all the different sized/colored fonts. My eyes are bouncing all over the place – too distracting.
Click these thumbnails to see full size examples
I do like that early in the letter Geico points out a that a lot has changed since I left, that's a good way to engage the reader, but I wish they would have include a few bullet points telling me what has changed - just bullet out a few of your most recent additions/changes/upgrades, etc. I also really liked the quotes from satisfied customers – it’s a great way of showing someone that may have had a poor experience with you that others have had great experiences.
To date I've received four total activation letters from Geico (three of them unique), and while the envelopes used are all different, the letters pretty much look like the same old regurgitated crap that I've already received (and haven't acted on). Your win-back letters will be more effective if they don't all look the same. Each letter/email you send should look different than the last. Also, if you're down to your 3rd or 4th round of letters, why not try offering an incentive (or a new incentive that you haven't already offered). For example, Geico could have offered me free road side assistance for a year or 10% off my first month back if I switch back within the next 7 days. Hell, offer to send me a stress ball shaped like the Gecko, Caveman or the googley-eyed money stack – offer me something new because as of customer win-back letter #4, you obviously haven’t given me a compelling reason to switch back.
How does this one rank?
Geico gets 3 sore thumbs up for this follow up win-back letter. A shorter, more readable letter and bullets telling me what has changed since I left would have bumped this up to a 4 or 5.
Click here Geico's win-back/activation letters #1 and #2
