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A phenomenon that has become more popular recently is that of co-marketing. Co-marketing of products or brands occurs when two companies whose products are complementary (and sometimes completely unrelated), decide to join together in an effort to promote both of their products at the same time. This practice has become more popular recently because it is an effective way to stretch marketing budgets, and reach more customers. With the current economic climate, every penny counts, and co-marketing could potentially save your company money.

Why is co-marketing popular?

1. Saves money: Companies can share marketing and advertising expenses.
2. Saves time: Expands the number of employees available to work on projects.
3. Expands customer base: Can attract people to a product that might not have heard of it otherwise.
4. Increases contacts: By sharing mailing lists and other customer contact information, partnering companies can increase their contact with the public.
5. Increases exposure: More people are likely to see advertisements if they are coming from two companies, and they might also be exposed to these advertisements more often.
6. Increases creativity: More people working on a marketing problem will likely come up with an increased number of more creative solutions.

Simple ways to cross-promote products

• Share ads in newspapers or on billboards
• Give samples of your partner’s product when a large amount of items have been purchased from your store
• Share mailing lists and send out promotional mailings together
• Hang up posters in stores promoting the others’ store
• Develop joint promotions – e.g. opportunity to win Product X when you purchase Product Y

Co-marketing will increase brand awareness, as it enables you to use another businesses’ retail space to promote your products. Co-marketing can also give your firm a less expensive and more credible introduction to potential customers. The partnering company will have different contacts, and you will establish credibility with their customers through association. This is more effective than going out and blindly marketing to these people, because you have associated yourself with a brand they already know and trust.

One caveat with co-marketing is, not to partner with a company whose product is not in direct competition with yours For example, two shampoo brands would not usually partner with one another. An example of a partnership that would be mutually beneficial is a hair salon partnering with a brand of shampoo. In this case, co-marketing should effectively increase sales and awareness of both the shampoo brand and the salon services.

Using a co-marketing strategy can be a very effective way to promote your product, it can save your company money, and increase your sales.

In these troubled times, when advertising and marketing budgets are being slashed left, right and centre - companies need to find effective , inexpensive and most importantly, innovative ways to promote their products and services. In July 2008, Apple released a mobile marketplace for users to download apps - third-party mobile applications, designed specifically for Apple’s iPhones and iPod Touch’s, ranging from games and social networking tools to language translators and other such applications.

Uploading and selling an app to the “App Store” is free, meaning that the only expenses businesses must face are in development of their app - though outsourcing app development can cost over €5,000 - but, surprisingly, many companies have yet to capitalise on this opportunity. Perhaps they question the use of iPhone Apps for marketing as it limits the consumer market to strictly iPhone and iPod Touch users, but, as of June 8, 2009, there are over 50.000 Applications in the App Store and users have downloaded over one billion apps.

Many companies, however, have seized this opportunity and created apps that benefit users and also promote the brands. eBay was one of the first companies to release an app, while Major News companies like BBC, The New York Times, and USA Today have already branded apps to increase the ease and speed of receiving breaking news. Kraft has also found a way to assist users in finding the closest grocery shop and creating a shopping list, while also optimizing exposure of their products in the 7.000 recipes provided, with their iFood Assistant. Mocapay, a leader in mobile marketing and services, has created an iPhone app to allow users to give mobile gift cards to friends, family and colleagues, which can be redeemed via iPhone.

While less people are eating out these days, perhaps restaurants and other food services could offer ‘ordering-via-apps’, while offering discounts to those who order ahead in advance to increase business. Another related idea would have grocery stores packaging bespoke orders-via-app, making it easier and faster to pick up goods on the way home from work. It’s also only a matter of time before major betting services make it easier for sports fans to check odds and place bets via app. Department stores and boutiques alike would benefit themselves and customers by supplying apps with updated stock and prices, giving app users priority news on sales and other promotions. With the present times as they are, it’s only a matter of time before more companies begin to flood consumers’ appettites with more mobile tools, subliminaly engraining their brands in the minds of the public; wouldn’t you like your brand to be at the forefront of this movement…

A few tips on creating apps for your company:

• Make sure the app’s name directly relates to the Brand and the Service it provides: this is to make searching for the App easy - especially if it is not in the Top 25, 50 or 100 lists of the store. If the app’s benefits are not directly displayed to the public, it is likely App Store browsers will not be tempted to read further into it.
• Analyze user feedback and continuously make improvements to your app: no amount of focus groups’ and testers’ reviews can substitute for actual user feedback.
• Don’t charge for the app (at least not too much!). With all the free apps in the store, even a price as low as 99c may deter consumers from downloading your app. One solution to this issue is offering a free “lite” or ad-based version and then offering a full or ad-free version for a small fee - this is assuming the app is such a “must have” that after exhausting use of the old version, the consumer will have to purchase the full app.

Competition is one human trait that runs deep because we all love to win. Contests and promotions - whether they are on a large or small scale, draw attention to a company and attract prospective clients. They are also a way to reaffirm your brand within the competitive market. In order to make your competition as successful as possible, here are a few tips:

• Most important: Make sure that the prize or prizes are something that can be utilized by the consumer. Because of the busy lives we lead, many people do not want to be bothered by a competition where the prize is useless.

• You will have to decide the types of prizes you will want to give away. It usually is best if you give several small prizes rather than one grand prize. This gives the consumer more of an opportunity to win - giving them a reason to participate in the competition.

• Ask yourself how little you can spend on prizes in order to get your desired result. Just because a prize is worth more, it does not significantly impact upon the consumer’s intention to make a purchase.

• Make the contest accessible to a lot of consumers. In order to get the best out of the promotion - you will want lots of people to enter it.

• According to research, the best way to run a competition is an instant win, but if that is not able to be done, next is an online promotion.

• Promote the competition to consumers outside your usual target market. These competitions can help you reward your existing clients while luring new clients.

• Make sure that you let people know about the competition, through promoting it on point of sale material and on your website. If people do not hear about it will not give you your desired results.

Research shows that promotions and competitions are more likely to positively impact whether or not a consumer buys a product when compared to television advertising. Promotions also have a great effect on the image of a company. It shows the public that the company is willing to give back and reward their customers. Competitions are great ways to create a buzz around your small business and compete with other companies within your market.

In times like these, it is worth knowing and getting to know as many people as possible. Having good contacts can be key to generating more business. These may be new friends, colleagues or acquaintances who may work in a complimentary business. There is no easier or better way to get to know these people than to join a networking group.

Networking groups have many benefits to help your company grow:

1. Generate new leads for your business. Increasing your network allows your company to expand into new markets and gets your name out to potential customers.
2. Improve your company’s reputation by establishing yourself and your company as a regular in your business community.
3. Develop mutually beneficial relationships that help improve your company’s performance, products and skills. By exchanging ideas and experiences with colleagues and peers, you can benefit and learn from their knowledge.
4. Build partnerships with complimentary businesses. Your company does not have every service or product. By building partnerships with companies that have complimentary goods, you enter into a mutually beneficial relationship that allows your company to build off your partners’ current clientele. You also gain a distinct advantage over competitors by offering customers more solutions.
5. Access to new quality services. Belonging to a networking group helps establish relationships with quality suppliers and service providers. If a member of your networking group is unable to fulfill your requirements, it is likely that they will have a trustworthy contact to which they can refer you.

Networking can give your company the tools it needs to prosper even in tough economic times. Joining a network group has the potential to take your level of success to new heights.

Public relations a highly powerful marketing tool - it’s a great way for companies to credibly enhance the company’s image, heighten exposure and increase sales.

Public relations is much the same to marketing in that the message needs to be differentiating. The story not only needs to reflect the personality of your brand but it also needs to stand out and have impact.

Top reasons why PR should be a component of virtually any marketing programme:

• Fragmentation of Media - traditional media is not only expensive in many cases but it’s harder to reach a widespread audience as media continues to fragment.

• Speed of Communication - The world is moving very quickly and people want to be kept abreast of news as it happens.

• Decreasing Brand Loyalty - PR is a great agent to engender meaning to brands as more than just products but a part of people’s beliefs and lives.

• Search Engine Optimisation - Web crawlers love the density of a news story that’s picked up on the web and most radio programmes, magazines and newspapers today will include their offline content on their website. A high volume of mentions of your company and your brand on the web on other sites will increase the organic search engine ranking of your company and brand.

Some rules of thumb for your company to follow in developing its PR programme:

1. Know Your Audience - In the same way that you would analyse a newspaper, radio programme, or magazine for its relevance to your product and your target audience, you must know and understand the audience of editors and journalists. Make sure you read, watch, listen to the media you plan to target. Follow the stories which receive placement so that you have an understanding of the types of stories which have appeal.
2. Volume Impact and Mass Appeal - Make sure your story has meaning for a large group of people.
3. Make It Timely - Oftentimes, you will have to prepare your press release and send it to the media in advance of an event to ensure that the news is timely. Journalists won’t cover a story if it hasn’t happened very recently.
4. Share Something New - The story should be something that the media have not already covered - there has to be a sense of newness or a new angle to an old story. Nothing is worse than sending an editor a tired story idea.
5. Story Proximity / Relevance - The event needs to be close to the media source. A national newspaper will not cover a local story unless it has a national impact or interest.
6. Leverage the Expertise of Professionals: PR professionals know what it takes to create newsworthy coverage and, because they’re working with the media every day, have the relationships to secure coverage - and with PR, you often only have the chance to get it right the first time.

Email marketing is inexpensive, easy to execute, and can be one of the most effective tools in driving new business or increasing sales with your current customers. It is also a simple way to communicate with your customer base and increase loyalty.

It is important however, to take care when you start email marketing, as some businesses find it almost too easy - so much so that they start to overuse it and annoy their customers, by bombarding them with constant promotions via email.

In the same vein as text marketing, there are a number of golden rules that one should follow when embarking upon email marketing.

1. The first rule is to make sure you have a clean email list, and that people have willingly given you or a qualified third party their email addresses. You can develop your list by asking customers to leave their information if they wish to be contacted, or through purchasing an approved list from a list broker. You are always better going for the first option however, as you have a more targeted list of people to communicate with.
2. Make the title as enticing as possible. Aer Lingus are great at this “SALE. Fares from €9.99* incl. Taxes!”
3. Always test your e-mail before sending it out en masse. This way you can make sure that all your images and text are showing up in the way that they should.
4. Make sure your e-shot is designed in the same way as the rest of your marketing materials: use the same logo, colour scheme and fonts. That way your brand will become more and more recognisable to your targets.
5. Always make sure you include an “unsubscribe” link so that you those who wish to be taken off your list can request to be taken off without any hassle. This will also leave you with a list of people who actually want to hear from you.
6. Make sure the content of your e-mail is relevant, interesting and includes a call to action. If you are promoting a sale, make sure it has a deadline. If you a promoting a new product, make sure those who are getting the email, are getting a better deal!
7. Never send the same email twice! It sounds like common sense, but sometimes if people get no response, they re-send the same mail. This will serve only to annoy your customers.
8. Be consistent with your communication. If you send out a monthly e-newsletter, try and send it at the same time on the same day every month. For example, don’t send at 10am on a Wednesday in January, 4pm on Monday in February and 7pm on Friday in March. It might seem like something people don’t notice but you would be surprised how much people like routine.

Overall email campaigns are one of the most useful promotional and communications tools you can equip yourself with. Follow the tips above and you should be in good shape to send a quality e-shot quickly and easily.

Using social media (Bebo, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn) seems like a logical place to market your business, right? As marketers are just beginning to realise the potential these sites have for promoting their offering , make sure you don’t dive in without carefully analysing the opportunity.

Social media is here to stay

Among the 13-29 year-old population, social networking sites as their online “home” and jumping-off point rather than the portals an earlier generation favoured. “Email is for old people.”

Twice as many Irish people are on Facebook (which has 123 million users globally) now compared to a year ago where the number of users has jumped from 200,000 in January 2008 to 400,980 in January 2009. This is particularly remarkable considering there were only 7,000 users on Facebook just two years ago. Facebook is nipping at the heels of Bebo which has 31 million users globally and remains the most popular social networking site among young adults in Ireland. Research shows that Facebook is favoured by older people, with 69% of users aged 25 and above on it and 37% are 30 years or over.

Social networking and social media have also changed our psychology on personal and private life. Things that would once be considered private are published freely on blogs. We’ve also changed our mind on what constitutes free versus paid content, as professionals begin publishing their thoughts and ideas. Both blogs and micro-blogging platforms (Twitter) afford us the opportunity to share our insights, our thoughts, our feelings, our experiences to the world.

Options for marketing on social networking sites

1. Display advertising: similar to advertising on traditional websites, display advertising is sold on a cost-per-thousand basis. Response rates can be low in terms of click-thrus so ensure you are using an incentive to encourage a click to your site if anything beyond awareness is your goal.
2. Contextual advertising: Contextual ads can be text or image-based and appear at the side as social ads or as news feeds. This is sold in a similar fashion to Google adwords and the context in which the ads appear can be age, gender and keyword targeted.
3. Contextual advertising on video: Similar to contextual advertising, YouTube is now offering in video overlay of text. This is still in its infancy but to see more of how this works, check out our link: http://www.google.com/ads/videoadsolutions/demos.html
4. Profile pages: There’s no cost for setting up a Facebook profile page for your brand. Users can use the skin, become friends, sign up, but beware heavy skepticism from members when brands set up pages purely to promote themselves. Think of this as a value exchange, if members of the social networking site can derive value from your presence there, they’ll likely connect, otherwise, you’re just wasting your time.
5. Groups: Similar to profile pages, you can set up a group (e.g. conference go-ers, or event go-ers or brand fans). You’ll see a lot of big brands have fan groups like the Guinness appreciation group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2246705037. Of course, you can start one of these yourself on behalf of your brand but even better if it’s created spontaneously by true fans and then you join the conversation!
6. Applications: Applications are tools that users put on their profile pages to allow them to share with others, for example, Cities I’ve visited (courtesy of TripAdvisor). It’s free to upload a video but it needs to be relevant and offer something of value / interest and works best when they are adopted by members virally.
7. Product Placement: Video is increasing in popularity on Social Networking sites. In addition to contextual adverts, product placement is also becoming popular. It’s costly, but it offers subtle brand building opportunities for large brands. For example, search Kate Modern (www.bebo.com ) or The Gap year, which is a new series from Bebo. The product placement costs begin in the €100,000 arena so be prepared to invest if you’re looking to take this approach.

Should your brand engage in social media marketing?

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. In order to determine whether this medium is right for your brand today, ask yourself a few questions:

• What is your brand trying to accomplish with social media?
• What does Social Networking mean to your brand? Is it just another channel or a unique way to interact online?
• Do you understand the target audience and their motivations online? Can you create resonance?
• Are you prepared to try things and to make mistakes?

Don’t let your message be rejected by the audience in social networks. Sign-up and learn more about each of the sites you are interested in and observe the way in which other brands are promoted. Learn from their successes and their mistakes! If you’re not in the target audience of social networkers, ask those who are. Ask your son or daughter what he or she likes about the site and if there are any advertisers or brands on the site that they like and why. You’ll quickly learn what works and what doesn’t.

And if all of this is mumbo jumbo and you’re still interested in social media for your brand, give us a call and we’ll help guide you through it.

Window Display at Bergdorf Goodman - made entirely from Post-its. If you look closely you will see that it is the image of a face.

When was the last time you walked down a high-street and saw a shop window without a display? Probably the last time you saw a model on the catwalk with no make-up on?! Your window display is essentially your customer’s first impression of your business - it’s the face you present to your public. As a retailer, your window display is one of your most useful marketing tools, therefore, it should be as eye-catching and creative as possible. Use your display to engage with your customers, to cause a stir, to showcase your products and most of all, to entice people into your shop. Here are a few tips on getting the most from your window display:

• Make your merchandise the focal point of your display. You can be as creative as you like, but don’t lose sight of the fact that your main aim is to highlight what you have in-store.
• Get creative! Use colours, themes and props to make your display eye-catching. It only takes a few seconds to walk by a shop. Need inspiration? Just check out the Store Window Display group on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/platinumblondelife5/sets/72157603990966996/
  
• Think outside the box! You don’t need to restrict your display to your window, why not extend it to the whole building during key shopping seasons? Wrap your building in a bow at Christmas, or in heart-shaped lights for Valentine’s Day. Your window display doesn’t have to be expensive, Urban Outfitters frequently uses recycled materials in their display. And vinyl stickers are in-expensive yet can make a big impact.
• Get seasonal, change your display as the seasons change, as well as during key occasions like Easter and Halloween.
• Use your window to engage with your customers, put up a mirror that shows their reflection in a different way, or some teaser-stencils shaped as clothes you have in stock.
• Create some excitement when you are about to change your window display, black it out for the evening before you change it and create an air of mystery around it.
• Be strategic with your lighting, it needs to highlight the product you want to sell and not the props you are using.
• Use a professional window dresser at first, the investment will be worth it when your footfall starts increasing. You can always learn a lot from them and then start experimenting yourself.
• Keep your focus, your window display’s main job is to get people in the door. After that it is up to you to make the sale!

Remember, your window display can work as a great salesperson and can also work as a useful tool to bring recognition to your shop. People will always notice creativity and innovation and it’s a great talking point. Remember, first impressions last!

At the moment, competition is high and consumers are a lot more discerning about where they shop than they were 5 years ago. Customer service is one of the most vital tools you can possess as an organisation, especially during times when the economy is unstable.

“Low Cost” positioning alone won’t cut it. Today, value needs to go hand-in-hand with good customer service as consumers are now firmly in the driver’s seat in these times of economic woe. Conversely, there is no point in positioning your brand as “high quality” or “luxury” if you do not take care of your customers. Good Customer Service is what will give your company the edge over competitors and make it stand out from the rest.

Top Tips for Good Customer Service

 Always answer the phone! Put yourself in the shoes of your customer and imagine how annoyed you would feel listening to an endless ringing tone.

Make sure the person answering the phone is qualified to do so and can deal with customer queries efficiently or directs them to someone who can. Apply The Grandmother Rule. Its basic principle is simply to “do what you say you’re going to do, do it when you say you’re going to do it, and do it right the first time”.  

Train, Train, Train. Good customer service requires mentoring. Ensure that all your staff are trained to be polite, helpful, courteous and efficient. Even when they do not know something, they should be able to direct customers in the direction of the staff member who can help them. One of the most annoying experiences for a customer is to be bounced from one person to another in an attempt to obtain information, make a purchase or find answers to resolve a problem.

Listen to your customers! They are your most valuable resource for feedback, so whatever they have to say, good or bad, should be listened to.

Deal with every complaint and ensure you do so in a timely fashion. Empathy can be effective in diffusing customer complaints. By understanding the customer’s concerns and seeing things from their perspective, it removes the combativeness and aids in moving the situation towards an agreeable solution. Remember, when customers have a positive experience, they are likely to tell 3-4 of their peers. However, when they have a bad experience somewhere, they are likely to tell 7-8 people.

Go that extra mile for prospective customers, even those who may not be purchasing immediately. There is no need to be pushy, just make sure you devote enough time and interest to their query so that they know you are interested in their custom.

Know your customers. By learning a little about them you will build a relationship and gain their trust. Even if it’s something small like knowing what they bought the last time they visited your shop, their birthday or the colour they had done the last time they visited your salon. Encourage your staff to capture information about the customers and record it in a central place. This can be as sophisticated as a database or as simple as a card file! Once you have the information, there are lots of easy and inexpensive tools to use in order to stay close to your customers and keep them loyal like email marketing or text marketing or a blog on your website.

Make sure Customer Service is rewarded within your organisation in order to maintain a high standard.

If you follow these basic rules and you make sure everyone in your organisation does the same, the rewards reaped will be well worth it!

Your Marketing New Year’s Resolutions

It’s January, it’s cold outside — and you have broken all of your New Resolutions already. You tucked into that slice of cake instead of making that trip to the gym, and you went on a big shopping spree in the sales, instead of putting money aside for that holiday later in the year! New Year’s Resolutions are hard to keep sometimes and it’s hard to be motivated after the Christmas season, but January is actually the best time of year to organise yourself and your business for the year ahead — especially in terms of developing a marketing calendar.

A marketing calendar is something which is useful in two ways: firstly, in terms of forward-planning, it is highly effective to get your marketing plan on paper and pinned down to certain dates. Secondly, it is very important in terms of evaluating your marketing activities at year-end, and seeing what activities were most effective, most profitable, and brought you the biggest results.

The most effective way to develop a marketing calendar is to first set out overall marketing goals and activities on a monthly basis. This can then be broken down further and a template developed showing the exact date of each activity, the cost involved and the results expected from the activity.

Example of a Marketing Calendar Entry for a Retail Outlet:

While sometimes, other factors will interfere with the execution of all your calendar events, if you stick with it to the degree that it is possible, you will find that your planning pays off in the long run. You also will spend less time chasing your tail trying to plan events at the last minute, and trying to have somebody design and send out your Christmas cards on the 23^rd of December!