It’s really fun to think about your marketing plan on a global scale. It’s big time with a potential to reach billions of people. But like any great marketing plan, its quality, not quanitity to brings paying customers to your door.

I am very interested in the idea of hyper-local marketing that Michael Lefebvre, The Uncommon Agent is doing in Norfolk, MA. Mike is a real estate agent in metrowest Boston that has begun doing feature videos of local town businesses. Take this one for example of Joe’s Barber Shop.

This video is successful in many ways: you get to know a town business and some history of the town, you get to know Mike and his “giving back” to support local businesses, and you are entertained by the story. This is a perfect vehicle for someone like Mike who is in the business of making connections and convincing people about hisknowledge of the area.

But this could work for corporations as well. Imagine a company like Comcast (who tries to be involved in a local level) highlighting local businesses like this. It would do wonders for their brand.

What do you think about hyper-local marketing?

This morning I was greeted with an unexpected marketing message. As I waited for my train into work early this morning, I was greeted by a woman with a warm, friendly smile holding a basket of samples. She had made it around the room of tired, early-riser commuters handing out samples of something to the 6:00 AM crowd.

I thought to myself, “Great idea. Must be a local bakery passing out cookies to sample.” I was only partially correct. Because, although it was a cookie that was passed out, the company was much more appetizing for the commuter crowd.

It was a cookie with a wrapper advertising a company called Dinner Trends: Meals Designed for Busy Lives. This company allows you to prepare gourmet meals from a selection of fresh, gourmet ingredients in their kitchen and then cook them in yours. Read more…

Giving customers ways to respond to marketing communications has never been easier. WIth new technology and an evolution in communication methods, marketers now have options for response vehicles such as: telephone, business reply cards, and websites. But which one is right for your marketing efforts?

The short answer is “all of them”. The long answer is, “Ideally, all of them in many different configurations but where budget and logistics limit your options: it depends on what you are trying to achieve. Read more…

No doubt the most important component of every direct marketing vehicle is the call to action. Without a method of response, there is no way to track the effectiveness of the communication or for the customer to take advantage of the offer.

You want the call to action to be clear, succinct, and actionable. You also want it to be easy. This is easy right? Drop the phone number and URL and wait for the responses to roll in. But are those response devices sending the wrong message to your prospective customers?

Frequently, marketers default to a generic toll-free phone number or corporate URL as their contact method. This is understandable: larger companies tend to have already shelled out the money for a vanity 800 number that dumps into a central phone center. “We’ll save the customer money by giving them the toll-free number and we’ll utilize our existing phone center to distribute the leads.” Read more…