é

Tag Archives: recession marketing

Recession Marketing Example 2 – Use of Coupons to Drive Business

1
Posté par Jamie Matusek le May 14, 2009 – 3:43 pm
dans Marketing Strategy

As Luis Paez, blogger for The Direct Marketing Voice mentioned yesterday, we are highlighting examples mentioned in the billshrink blog. The post outlines “12 ways companies are reacting to the recession.” I’m covering the section on “Increased use of Coupon Advertising.”

Inmar, the nation’s leading promotions transaction settlement provider states that coupon redemption increased by 10% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Moving into 2009, consumers redeemed 9% more than in January of 2008. The results go on to demonstrate that coupon redemption is no longer only popular in conventional supermarkets.

“For years, nearly 70% of coupons were redeemed in conventional supermarkets,” said Jennifer Mauldin, President of Inmar Carolina Services Revenue Recovery Services. “But in 2008, the mass merchandiser channel saw a 15% increase in redemption overall, made up by a 20% increase in redemption for food coupons and a 13% increase in non-food coupons.”

So I think it is safe to say that we are all looking for ways to save a few dollars, and coupons are a great way to help consumers do just that. I have personally seen an increase in coupons from restaurants, service providers and retail merchants.

Last year, I MAY have been lucky to receive a coupon once every few months; however, now I receive several offers per week from retailers that I frequently purchase from. They know my purchase patterns and they serve relevant offers to an already loyal customer.

Here is an example of a way to encourage purchase by giving a % off of a particular purchase amount.

Carter's 20% off of a purchase of 50 or more

Other merchants are offering free shipping as a way to help customers save on online orders.

Old Navy Free Shipping

QuantumDigital offers free shipping on printing product orders of $45 or more — a standard everyday offer provided to reward current customers and attract new ones. We’ve also picked our most popular items and offered coupon codes to assist with marketing expenses.

$15 off Jumbo Postcards Mailed

$15 off Jumbo Postcards Mailed

Knowing consumers are redeeming more coupons should spur us all on to look at ways to reward loyal customers and bring in potential new ones.

Here are a few examples to spur some ideas: Offer a buy one get one, an in-store only coupon available on a particular date to drive urgency, use a dollar amount off of a service to get the first appointment, highlight a free appetizer on the purchase of two meals, free shipping to drive internet orders, free service with the purchase of another, dollar amount off for purchasing multiple haircuts, facials or massages at one time, free consultation on staging a home for sale, the list could go on and on.

The key is to not throw just any offer out there, but look at your customer requests for information or frequent purchase patterns and provide offers that meet their needs, wants and desires.

And more importantly, be targeted with your marketing methods. Use direct mail in a more targeted fashion by selecting key demographics that match your customer base or send direct mail to your current customer list. My recommendation, based upon my own marketing campaign response, is to send a direct mail piece and follow it up with an email message touting the same offer.  Remember, it is better to send fewer pieces, but to send them to a very targeted prospect using demographic selections rather than doing a blanket mailing to thousands of people.

What ways are you using coupons to drive business for your company?

Recession Marketing Example 1 – Money and Price

0
Posté par Luis Paez le May 13, 2009 – 2:02 pm
dans Marketing Strategy

The billshrink blog recently outlined “12 ways companies are reacting to the recession“, and a few of us here at the Direct Marketing Voice thought these examples good enough to outline one by one in greater detail.  I’m going to start with the first one mentioned which was “explicit” mentions of money or savings.  Just to be clear, this is slightly different than offering a coupon, or building up value in a product/service.

Here are a few examples in addition to the Geico Ad campaign that billshrink already mentioned:

Ad from 1and1.com

Ad from 1and1.com

The web host 1&1 has an ad that specifies in red their “old” price ($24.99) and have it crossed out, with their “new” price ($11.99) right below it.  The use of red on their new price draws attention to this point, and the fact that they mention prices right on the advertisement is an overt use of price point strategy in a marketing campaign.  You can’t miss the “50% off” call out on each service, prompting one to action.

Newsweek insert

Newsweek insert

I included this Newsweek magazine insert, because it’s also a great example of using savings in an ad.  Note the old price, the new cost which is drastically below the one above, and the amount of savings which is more than the new cost.  All these factors, combined with the use of red and the simple, bare font – gets people thinking about the large savings associated with getting a subscription – now.  Also note that Newsweek puts at least 4 of these inserts in their magazine.  This ensures that a newsstand customer will see the subscription offer at least once or twice.  As in any outbound marketing, the more touches the better.  Re-thinking this “newsweek insert” approach for direct mail is very easy – this artwork can easily be slided into a business reply card design, and with the right list could quite easily yield great ROI.

Ithaca Escape Ad

Ithaca Escape Ad

Here is a campaign that does not appear to use money or savings – as your eye is first drawn to the views of waterfalls and bicycle riders.  As the image of a luxury getaway is painted in your mind, this is reinforced by the verbage of “award winning wineries”.  However the ad shocks you by describing that this experience is accessible for “less than $30″.  Again, the focus on savings hits our recession mentality and shows us ways of enjoying life on a budget.  In my opinion this is one of the more clever ads of the three because they build up value in a particular experience but follow it up with a specific price point that everyone (especially NY/NJ citizens) can afford.

Though not all of these examples were strictly direct mail, I hope that some of the creative elements and overall strategies can apply to your particular audience or industry.