0% OFF and marketing tactics

One store in my town has a marquee with shall we say, an "unusual" promotional message.

The sign reads:

"0% OFF ALL HOME DECOR

WE HAVE MODA FABRIC"

Now, one might think that the "0% OFF" is a mistake. Surely it was meant to say "20% OFF" or "40% OFF" or "70% OFF", and a digit simply fell off the sign.

But when a person - like my friend Dwayne, who told me about the sign - drives by that sign every day for over a month, and the message has not changed, and the store is still in business, one begins to wonder what other reasons might lie behind the "0% OFF".

POSSIBLE REASON #1: The store is using "0% OFF" as a quirky surprise that will catch attention, pique curiosity, and attract customers. "After all," thinks the passerby, "no store in their right mind would offer '0% OFF' as a legitimate promotion. I wonder what they're doing in there. Maybe I'll stop in and see."

POSSIBLE REASON #2: The store is using "0% OFF" as a one-size-fits-all promotion. Customers realize that "0% OFF" must be a mistake, but that there must be some sort of sale going on inside the store. The store doesn't have to change the marquee to "20%" or "40%" or "70%" based on the discount of the day; the same message can remain on the board and still achieve the same effect.

POSSIBLE REASON #3: The store is using "0% OFF" to make a statement. The store is saying that their prices are so reasonable, that they don't need to offer discounts. Customers don't need a discounted price, because this store's prices are already the lowest in town. This store's regular prices are as low as their competitor's sale prices.

POSSIBLE REASON #4: A digit really did fall off the sign a month ago, and the store owner hasn't noticed, and the store manager hasn't noticed, and the employees haven't noticed, and no customers have said anything. Or someone did notice, but they ran out of extra numbers for the sign, and keep forgetting to order more. Or someone did notice, but they haven't taken the time to change the message yet - in over a month.

Whatever the reason for this particular marquee message, the goal of outdoor messaging is to draw customers to the store. Logical dissonance (i.e. "that's strange" or "I didn't expect that"), price discounts, and "everyday low prices" can all be used to raise customers' attention. Of course, all three tactics should be used strategically, and should be crafted with the customer in mind.

"What will the customer think?" and "How will the customer perceive or understand this?" should be two primary questions when crafting one's marketing messages - or any other marketing tactics, for that matter.

Your marketing message should be clear to the customer. If the customer thinks that your message was a mistake (i.e. a digit fell off your sign), he is going to keep driving right by.

Virtual Dressing Room, Starring You, Live!

The downside to the convenience of online shopping (or catalog shopping, for that matter) has always been that the shopper cannot really see how the clothes will look until the purchase has been made and the clothes have arrived.

As of four days ago, that has changed.

RichRelevance, a company that develops e-commerce tools, and Zugara, an interactive marketing and advertising agency, have now unveiled Fashionista, a "webcam social shopping tool" that enables shoppers to "try on" the clothes they browse online.

Using augmented reality and motion capture, Fashionista enables shoppers to test how an article of clothing will look by standing in front of their computer's webcam. Shoppers can rate articles of clothing (thumbs up or thumbs down), which enables Fashionista to provide recommendations for other clothes they might like. Shoppers can take a photo of themselves "wearing" their prospective clothing purchase, and send the photo to Facebook to get feedback from friends.

Watch the video below to see Fashionista for yourself:



Fashionista is currently used at www.tobi.com.

Other online retailers have used "virtual dressing rooms" of sorts already. H&M allows shoppers to select one of eight "models" on whom to view the clothing. Other stores enable shoppers to "build" a virtual model that matches their body type, or to upload a photo of themselves for "trying on" clothes.

Fashionista lets shoppers have a more interactive virtual dressing room experience, using their own bodies, in realtime. Shoppers can see how clothing of a certain color will look against their skin, and can envision what the clothes will look like.

Unfortunately, though, it doesn't seem that Fashionista can yet recognize the contours of the shopper's body in order to simulate how an article of clothing will fit him or her. For shopper's with model-like bodies, this might not be important; however, for me personally, seeing how clothes actually "hang" on me is the determining factor in whether or not I complete a purchase.

Hopefully the next generation of virtual dressing rooms will enable the clothing image to stretch, shrink, and gather based on the shopper's body shape.

And after that? 3D virtual dressing rooms?

And after that? Hologrammatic dressing rooms?

Oh, what will the future hold for us online shoppers?

Facebook, Birthdays, and Changing Marketing

Browse through nearly any marketing journal, and you will find talk on how Facebook and Twitter have changed (and in the case of Facebook, possibly birthed) the field of social media marketing.

I won't go into that whole discussion today; enough people smarter than I have spent more than enough words on it already, so you can Google them if you want to join that conversation.

I do, however, want to point out one tiny feature of Facebook that has changed our lives in a way that many marketers may overlook:

Birthdays.

Facebook has been the source of more birthday wishes than any other single tool I can imagine.

For example, of my Facebook friends, 99% of them are people I know personally (that is, I know and have met them in the flesh). Most of those 99% are people whose birthdays I would like to celebrate out of general love and goodwill, even though I might not see them or talk to them very often throughout the rest of the year.

But I have enough trouble remembering the birthdays of my ten cousins, let alone hundreds of Facebook friends.

Thanks to Facebook, I can "remember" the birthdays of each and every one of my Facebook friends. Since Facebook even notifies me of birthdays a few days ahead of time, it gives me a chance to buy a last-minute card or gift if I happened to forget an important birthday. But for the majority of my Facebook friends - those "Tier 2" relationships whom I do not see very often, who are friends but not close friends or family, whose birthdays they would not expect me to remember - Facebook's birthday notifications enable me to post a simple "Hope you have a wonderful birthday!" on their Facebook wall.

And on my own birthday, it is a special feeling to see a wall full of birthday wishes, some from people whom I have not seen in months, from whom a birthday wish is neither required not expected.

What are Facebook's birthday notifications really doing for us?

Facebook is enabling people to tell each other that they care. That they value one another. That they respect and appreciate one another's lives. That the people in their lives are important, even if they don't see one another very often.

It is a show of simple human kindness and caring. And in the kind of relationships that most of us have with most of our Facebook friends, this show of caring does not have to be a big thing. Just that unexpected "Happy Birthday" shows a little bit of love and consideration for one another.

That single purpose - showing that people care - is the core behind social media. We want to know that people care enough to notice us. That they like our ideas enough to listen. That they value our existence enough to converse with us.

That act of caring is what social media marketers must demonstrate in order to be successful, in order to really connect. What makes social media marketing different from many other forms of marketing, is that it enables marketers to stop doing all the talking. It enables marketers to listen to what the customer has to say. It enables customers to engage in the conversation with the brand and with each other. It provides a place where the customer's opinion matters.

The successful social media marketer recognizes this, and approaches social media accordingly. She engages in dialogue (not monologue). She takes time to listen, and to find out what individual customers care about. She recognizes the thoughts and opinions of her customers, and she communicates by her words and actions that her customers matter.

If you're going to engage in social media for marketing purposes, you must care about the customers, and then show them that you care. Otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time.

Good Salesman / Bad Salesman

Sorry for the brief hiatus, everyone.

Recently I've been in the market to buy a house, and last week I ramped my search up a notch. This experience of considering a major purchase has given me an interesting look at the sales process. Being a marketer, my work does not often cover the area of "salesmanship," so I find it fascinating when I can make some observations about "sales" from the viewpoint of a consumer.

And so, based on my recent experiences in working with realtors as I shop for a large-value, long-term, high-investment purchase, and based on other shopping experiences in general, here is Haley's Good Salesman/Bad Salesman list (version 1.0):

A Bad Salesman believes that he knows exactly what the customer wants as soon as the customer makes a request.
A Good Salesman asks questions, so that he can learn and clarify the customer's tastes, preferences, needs, and circumstances.

A Bad Salesman believes that he is the expert in the sales relationship.
A Good Salesman knows that the customer is the expert on her own needs and wants, and that his sales expertise about the product is relevant only after the customer teaches him about her situation.

A Bad Salesman is mostly concerned with talking about the product.
A Good Salesman is mostly concerned with listening to the customer.

A Bad Salesman shares his own speculations when he doesn't know the answer to the customer's question.
A Good Salesman admits when he doesn't know the answer to the customer's question, and finds the answer for the customer within 12 hours.

A Bad Salesman badmouths his competitor.
A Good Salesman conducts himself with grace, openly recognizing and respecting the strengths of his competitor, or identifying the differing usage situations for his competitor's product versus his own product, or speaking about "other brands" in general terms, or not mentioning the competitor at all when he talks with the customer.

A Bad Salesman alters the customer's needs to fit his product.
A Good Salesman alters his product to fit the customer's needs.

A Bad Salesman wants the sale to be a good deal for him and his company.
A Good Salesman wants the sale to be a good deal for both his company and his customer.

A Bad Salesman is an advocate for his company.
A Good Salesman is an advocate for his customer.

A Bad Salesman's goal is to make the sale.
A Good Salesman's goal is to make sure his customer gets the best solution.

Making Advertising Work Better for the Customer

Yesterday, MediaPost's Video Insider published an article by Michael Kokernak, founder of Backchannelmedia, entitled "Scientific Advertising and Free Samples." Mr. Kokernak predicts a few of the ways in which interactive television commercials would change the way marketers approach advertising.

First, he says that television advertising will no longer be driven by audience size and demographics. Indeed, demographics are an insufficient predictor of consumer preferences. My buying habits are more affected by my psychographics - such as my lifestyle (I'm a marketer; I run; I draw; I play piano; I'm actively involved in my church), my beliefs, and my friends - than by the fact that I'm a 20-something white American female.

With traditional television advertising, especially on the major networks, it was nearly impossible to segment viewers by anything but audience size and demographics. But since interactive television would enable viewers to pause, click, and further pursue the specific ads and information in which they are interested, marketers can get to "know" the likes and dislikes of each individual viewer, and to customize their advertisements according to those psychographics.

Second, Mr. Kokernak predicts that interactive television commercials will be more "keyed" to results than traditional tv advertising is. The ultimate goal of advertising, as Mr. Kokernak points out, is to drive sales. But so many factors contribute to the consumer decision-making process, that it is difficult to pinpoint if and how a specific ad led to a particular purchase. Except in routine or spontaneous purchases, most consumers' decision to buy a specific product comes after a long period of inputs, including previous brand experience, brand awareness, brand reputation, knowledge of the product category, opinions of other users, a history of advertising, point-of-sale marketing, customer service, etc. Rarely can a sale be attributed to any one factor, such as a particular ad.

Interactive television ads could help to more accurately measure results by capturing the actions of the consumer directly after viewing the ad. Did the viewer click on the ad? Did he spend much time on the website? Did he register on the site, or subscribe to email/SMS/RSS updates? Did he search for the product online? Did he use keywords from the ad in his search? Did he actually purchase the product online immediately after seeing the ad?

By tracking these results, marketers can determine whether an ad was successful in achieving "intermediate" goals, such as increasing the viewer's awareness of the brand, or improving the brand reputation in the mind of the viewers, or drawing the viewer to the website, or creating a positive brand experience for the viewer, or leading the viewer to "become a fan" and subscribe to updates. And because of e-commerce, marketers can also see when their interactive television commercials actually did lead to an immediate sale.

I think the jury is still out on how consumers will receive the idea of television and Internet rolled into one. It could be a huge success if done well. And whether or not "interactive television," as we imagine it, becomes the norm, interactive technology in general should enable marketers to make their communication more relevant and more useful to the individual consumer.

Innovative Boost to Tourism

Need to boost tourism in your corner of the world?

Try this: Pick the most distinctive thing about your location. Hire somebody to take, essentially, a six-month vacation in that place, doing all of those fun, distinctive activities, and blogging about it for six months. Don't search for this fortunate fellow in just your local area. Instead, place classified ads in newspapers around the globe, inviting anyone to apply for the Best Job in the World. Require them to submit their applications via online video. Invite the top applicants to fly to your site for interviews. Pick the best one and set him to work.

And get $98 million (USD) of publicity for your location in the process.

That's what the tourism board of Queensland, Australia did with their "Best Job in the World" campaign this year. In January 2009, they announced their position with classified ads stating this:

The Best Job in the World

Position Vacant: Island Caretaker
Location: Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
Salary: AUD$150,000 six-month contract
Responsibilities: Clean the pool, Feed the fish, Collect the mail, Explore and report back
Applications close: 22 February 2009 Interviews: 4 May 2009 Announcement made: 8 May 2009
Work begins: 1 July 2009

Anyone can apply.
www.islandreefjob.com


The website received over 34,000 applicants. 15 finalists spent four days together on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, taking tests in snorkeling, swimming, eating island barbecue, and blogging. The winner, Ben Southall, 34, a charity worker from Petersfield, UK, began work 2 July 2009.

Since the job began, Ben has been staying in a multi-million-dollar three-bedroom beach villa with pool, exploring the island, snorkeling the reef, posting photos, videos, and blogs, and earning AUD$150,000 (USD$134,000) in the process.

With 34,000 applicants alone (not to mention other visitors to the site and followers of Ben's blog) and estimated USD$98 million in free publicity from news media around the world, I would imagine that Tourism Queensland will be doing pretty well for quite a while.

To see a video recap of the campaign, visit http://adage.com/u/lvfdVaM.