News and Observer
Published Tue, Dec 15, 2009 11:24 AM
Modified Tue, Dec 15, 2009 11:24 AM
Modified Tue, Dec 15, 2009 11:24 AM
Grace W. Ueng is CEO of Savvy Marketing Group in Cary, which works with various local companies. A consultant, speaker and writer, Ueng has served on the adjunct faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School and in the international MBA program at Fudan in Shanghai, a joint venture with MIT Sloan School, teaching "Entrepreneurial Marketing and Innovation." For several weeks in Work&Money, Ueng is offering her 12-step guide to marketing new and existing businesses. Last week, she discussed how to generate awareness (to catch up, go to www.newsobserver.com/business ).
Step 9: Promote yourself.
If your product is sold via channels, think through ways to promote to a corporate buyer as well as retail customers. For some businesses, the majority of revenue occurs in key seasons such as the holidays or summer vacations. Promoting valuable offers, unique products or gift packs to induce trial of incremental offerings could create the key difference in reaching revenue goals.
Lulu.com, headquartered in Raleigh, is a digital marketplace that serves both authors and readers. The company needs more authors to attract more readers and more readers to attract more authors. The marketing staff thinks about both groups in approaching promotions.
"For authors, one of the most compelling aspects of Lulu is that it's free to publish. We charge no upfront fees," explained Rob Croft, director of marketing at Lulu. This year, Lulu built a campaign around that fact. It promoted its free platform and the availability of free ISBNs. And the company threw in a free book so authors could experience the satisfaction of seeing their works in print. Lulu relied heavily on search engine marketing, which gave the highest return on investment for acquiring new customers.
As it turns out, authors also are instrumental in book sales at Lulu. They all have a base of readers and are always eager to encourage them to buy. This year, Lulu started monthly sales contests for its authors. The company gave participants coupons to promote their books and offered tips on increasing sales. It awarded cash prizes to winners. This program created both community and action.
"We planned a number of 'doorbuster' deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to drive sales," Croft said.
"Every day in December, we'll have a different promotion to help our customers find and create memorable and meaningful gifts at the best prices. We'll also have a gift ideas page with our holiday pricing."
All of the promotions Lulu is running this holiday season have been informed by experiences from the year. The company has spent much of 2009 looking at ways to drive more transactions during off-peak periods.
Not everything Lulu has done has worked, such as promoting hardcover books, Croft said. Hardcovers fall into the luxury category, making it harder to drive sales even with promotions, Croft said. Know your audience well and assemble your promotions accordingly to be most appealing.
Promotions can be used to launch new companies and their products as well as mature companies - with the latter being often more challenging to make compelling. While the brand's heritage may be more established, it is more difficult to come up with a promotion that seems new to the target market. Years ago, when I was responsible for consumer product line management for a publicly traded educational software company, I was responsible for a mature software title that you may remember playing in school called "Oregon Trail." As I was brainstorming the possibilities one day, I remembered that the 25th anniversary of "Oregon Trail"'s first version on the teletype computer was on the horizon.
I worked with our team on a 25th anniversary edition of "Oregon Trail" complete with serialized limited edition authentication certificates, classic versions along with the latest on one disk, all captured in a wooden keepsake box with western wagons burnished along the sides. The title quickly rose to the top 10 of the educational software rankings.
No matter what product or service you offer, take the time to step back and brainstorm compelling promotions, keeping your revenue goals, product attributes, its newness (brand new or mature?), target audience and ties to a season in mind.
Step 9: Promote yourself.
If your product is sold via channels, think through ways to promote to a corporate buyer as well as retail customers. For some businesses, the majority of revenue occurs in key seasons such as the holidays or summer vacations. Promoting valuable offers, unique products or gift packs to induce trial of incremental offerings could create the key difference in reaching revenue goals.
Lulu.com, headquartered in Raleigh, is a digital marketplace that serves both authors and readers. The company needs more authors to attract more readers and more readers to attract more authors. The marketing staff thinks about both groups in approaching promotions.
"For authors, one of the most compelling aspects of Lulu is that it's free to publish. We charge no upfront fees," explained Rob Croft, director of marketing at Lulu. This year, Lulu built a campaign around that fact. It promoted its free platform and the availability of free ISBNs. And the company threw in a free book so authors could experience the satisfaction of seeing their works in print. Lulu relied heavily on search engine marketing, which gave the highest return on investment for acquiring new customers.
As it turns out, authors also are instrumental in book sales at Lulu. They all have a base of readers and are always eager to encourage them to buy. This year, Lulu started monthly sales contests for its authors. The company gave participants coupons to promote their books and offered tips on increasing sales. It awarded cash prizes to winners. This program created both community and action.
"We planned a number of 'doorbuster' deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to drive sales," Croft said.
"Every day in December, we'll have a different promotion to help our customers find and create memorable and meaningful gifts at the best prices. We'll also have a gift ideas page with our holiday pricing."
All of the promotions Lulu is running this holiday season have been informed by experiences from the year. The company has spent much of 2009 looking at ways to drive more transactions during off-peak periods.
Not everything Lulu has done has worked, such as promoting hardcover books, Croft said. Hardcovers fall into the luxury category, making it harder to drive sales even with promotions, Croft said. Know your audience well and assemble your promotions accordingly to be most appealing.
Promotions can be used to launch new companies and their products as well as mature companies - with the latter being often more challenging to make compelling. While the brand's heritage may be more established, it is more difficult to come up with a promotion that seems new to the target market. Years ago, when I was responsible for consumer product line management for a publicly traded educational software company, I was responsible for a mature software title that you may remember playing in school called "Oregon Trail." As I was brainstorming the possibilities one day, I remembered that the 25th anniversary of "Oregon Trail"'s first version on the teletype computer was on the horizon.
I worked with our team on a 25th anniversary edition of "Oregon Trail" complete with serialized limited edition authentication certificates, classic versions along with the latest on one disk, all captured in a wooden keepsake box with western wagons burnished along the sides. The title quickly rose to the top 10 of the educational software rankings.
No matter what product or service you offer, take the time to step back and brainstorm compelling promotions, keeping your revenue goals, product attributes, its newness (brand new or mature?), target audience and ties to a season in mind.
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