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Jan
04

Chocolate Covered Kinjo… and a Bowl Full of Marketing Ideas

By | advertising, Copywriting, Entrepreneur, Neighborhood Marketing, Success, Wacky marketing ideas

1 Comment

Happy New Year!

We went out for Sushi the other night at my favorite place, Kinjo Sushi & Grill.  We had to wait for 15 minutes (on a Tuesday night), but it was worth it … I LOVE this place.

It’s not that I love the cramped space, the lack of booths, and the way-too-close chairs at the sushi bar.

It’s not that I love the packed house they have from 11 am right through to 9 pm at night.

What I really love is the wacky owner of this place,
Peter Kinjo.

He is absolutely oozing personality as he wanders the restaurant waving and flipping his monster sushi knife around like a gunslinger.

He loves to sing to the kids.

He loves to make the kids repeat after him all these wacky sayings and get  them laughing.

Any guy there with a date is forced “at knife point” to hold their companions hand and say sappy romantic things (Peter doesn’t care if the girl you are with is your girlfriend, wife, mistress or co-worker).

When you first sit down, they jump to attention and make sure you aren’t waiting more than a minute or two before you have water in front of you, your drink order taken, and a complimentary platter of sushi placed in front of you.

The first time I went there I couldn’t believe how much free sushi they kept putting in front of me.

“Try this” as a plate with 4 kinds of sushi is put in front of you.

“This is our specialty” as the Kinjo Roll samples are put down in front of you.

All of the initial sushi is free.  It is a great way to try different types of sushi that you may have never tried before.  It is also a powerful way to get your customers coming back … no one else that I know of gives away sushi!

Every girl there gets his bonus gift upon departing … a box of Pocky chocolate covered biscuit sticks. They get to choose between strawberry or raspberry (he gave my daughters his newest ones this time, coconut).

Based on the cases and cases of Pocky he had up against the back wall … he is going through a LOT of free samples.

I asked him once what all those free boxes of chocolates cost him … “six figures a year” is all he would share.

That is some serious free chocolate.

A couple months ago, there were eight of us with kids in tow that wanted to go out for sushi.

I recommended Kinjo.

It was a Wednesday night (during this recession) and the place was packed with a 45-minute wait.

So we went down the road to another sushi joint, decent place, just not Kinjo.

The place was completely EMPTY.

Same night of the week.

Just down the road … even on the same side of the road.

What was the difference?

Peter. Both places make a mean plate of fresh sushi … but only one of them knows how to wow their customers.

The place we ended up at did not have fun with the kids.

Did not make us rehearse hokey love poems to our loved ones.

Did not sing to us.

And didn’t give us any free sushi or desert chocolate.

Is it any surprise that Peter Kinjo has stolen ALL of their clients away?

Not at all.

Think about what Peter did here and how well he is doing in a time when business is down for many.

He uses his personality as his secret weapon.

He knows that people love him being the wacky sushi guy.

The kids love him.

The adults love him.

The staff loves him.

Peter understands that in a competitive environment when the products are similar and the prices are identical … his personality is a deadly weapon that can destroy his competition for no extra cost.

The free sushi samples and chocolates are the final straw that guarantee his continuing success.

Not all of us have an outrageous personality like Peter though.  I know I don’t.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t find my own ways to use my personality in my business … and I do.

If you are ever up my way in Calgary, Alberta, Canada … let me know and I would love to go for Sushi at Kinjo with you!

Just don’t come here in the winter …
it was minus-35 last week!

Also, watch for my interview next month with Ryan Ross … the eight-year-old WONDERKID!

Self-made and a big success already.

At eight-years-old, his net worth is over $900,000 and growing quickly. He will be sharing with us his secrets of massive success … and intelligent leverage.  How he gets others to do all the work for him, and he pockets the bulk of the bucks.  How he buys property (he owns six buildings already) and just bought a hockey rink (his BHAG is to own an NHL team … or maybe two). His parents support him through encouragement, but the money he has made came from his own initiatives and ideas.

Look, if an eight-year-old can do more than what most 50-year-olds can do (not many 50-year-olds have a net worth to rival his), then what could YOU do with some of Ryan’s motivation?

Last, here is a great profitable tip for you to use in the next few days while Christmas shopping. I haven’t started yet (as usual – usually I start right around December 22nd) but I have been using this for some time and it really will open your eyes.

This one little idea can change the way you run your life and your business.

When you are out, pay very close attention
to how stores and sales people sell to you.

  • Notice how nice (or nasty) they are to you.
  • How do they approach you?
  • Do they make your shopping experience enjoyable?
  • Would you return to that store?
  • Why or why not?
  • What could be done better?
  • What could they say to guarantee you would go back to shop there?

Simple – right?

Will you try it is more important
than how simple it is.

Try it.

Every store you visit, every person you interact with in the next few days – ask those questions. Note what starts going through your mind as you window shop and talk to sales people.  You will find you have great ideas on how that business could treat their clients better.

Write down the things that turned you off – and the things that turned you on.

Much like my experiences at Kinjo, you need to pay attention whenever you are out there spending your money.

What would make you buy from them again?

Now use those techniques in your own business.  And in your own life.  If the technique you thought of doesn’t specifically apply to your business – how could it? How could it be modified to directly help your  business improve?

Start applying the ideas you come up with.

Write them down, even if you decide not to use them – they may come in handy at a later time.

In your shopping travels you may just find the idea that makes you and your company stand out from all others.

So pay attention out there.

Side Note: We are headed to Disneyland shortly and would love your thoughts on what is a “must see” there.  I haven’t been there since my early teens, and my twin nine-year-old daughters have never been there.  Not sure if they are more excited, or me (kid at heart here).

As always, I will be watching for their best marketing and customer service strategies, but would love any suggestions from you if you care to share.

Thanks again.

To your success,

Troy

PS: I originally wrote this for Clayton Makepeace and his Total Package Blog, which you definitely should also be following!

Sep
18

The F*@!#N Fast Way to boost your sales by 163%

By | advertising, Copywriting, Direct Mail, Neighborhood Marketing, Wacky marketing ideas

In this issue:

* The F*@!#N dinner campaign that broke all kind of sales records
* Getting a 50% response rate to a one time mailer …
* How to leverage “the diaper mailer” …
* And Much More!

A Direct Mail Information Service survey found that 78 percent of your clients
actually DO want to get mailings from you. Combine that with your own
highly targeted campaigns — ones that make full use of your customer
data — and you’ve got a winning combination.

Just to add fuel to the fire:

* 70% of Generation Y have stated that they respond to print
direct mail (vs. 68% Generation X and 61% Boomers) – 2007 Veritas
Customer Focus.

* 90% will open their mail if it looks interesting or intriguing
(vs. 84% will open it if it has their name on it) – NOTE: people are
more likely to open it if it looks interesting than if it has their
name on it – Consumer Attitudes Towards Direct Mail Study.

* 163% are more likely to buy from a website if they see a
printed direct mail piece than if they saw digital e-mail only – 2007
Multichannel Direct Mail Study, comScore Inc.

* 73% prefer print direct mail for offers and information – only
18% said they prefer e-mail.

* Those who received a promotional product in a dimensional
package responded at a rate that was 57% higher than those who
received the same promotional product in an envelope – Baylor
University.

* Response rates for the dimensional package recipients were 75%
higher than for the group who received only a sales letter – Baylor
University.

People WANT to be intrigued by your mailing piece
- Is regular print cutting it?

==============================
Take Knorr’s new launch of a frozen food line.
==============================

First, they know exactly what people typically think of frozen meals
- ugh.  Blah.  Not very tasty.  So they used that as part of their
campaign.

Second, they pushed the edge a little – especially when you consider
they are quite a traditional company – not exactly ones to push it
that far.

They wanted to target a younger audience than they were used to
(those less likely to want to spend their time in the kitchen cooking
a gourmet dinner).

But they also wanted to target a 25-35 year old professional women,
one who enjoys a glass of wine over dinner.

Great market that is highly focused and has disposable income.

Based on their own in-house list, combined with a list from a partner
company, they were able to put together a very desirable list for
their offer.

Step #1, they gave a coupon for a free $8.99 dinner to this exact
demographic group. The next closest niche group they could find, they
mailed a lower end coupon for ready-to-serve soup, worth $3.99.

==============================
The front of the direct mail piece reads:
To reveal the full message, put this in your freezer …
F*@!#N Delicious
==============================
(showing a picture of a scrumptious shrimp
and pasta bowl underneath the headline)

When you put it in the freezer, the message changed to (using
temperature sensitive ink) :

To reveal the full message, put this in your freezer …
FROZEN
Delicious

It worked incredibly well for them.

Stepping into a very risqué type of marketing (the other ads they
ran all used the F*@!#N concept – “Not your mom’s F*@!#N dinners”).

==============================
The most targeted list received over 50% response, with a 10%
overall response rate from all different list segments.
==============================

They sold out all the products in the first run and had to plan
carefully for subsequent mailings.

Or, what about the Nova Scotia-based golf course that mailed sports
writers who had recently played one of the five courses around?

==============================
Included with the mailing was a beat up old golf ball with a simple
1-page letter:
==============================

“While doing some routine maintenance on the course, the ground
crew found this ball in the sand trap or water hole, and an eyewitness
thought it might be yours.  And, by the way, we’d love you to come
back and we can help you plan your trip …”

Brilliant!

So was their response.

They were deluged with phone calls both to book further golf trips,
plus to compliment them on the very intelligent piece.

My point is that every single one of us should be using more
creativity in our mailers.  The copy is king – but your customers WANT
MORE from you.

More fun.
More interactivity.
More unusual marketing pieces.

For example, why not do a Web card (a postcard showing a screen shot
of your website) with a highlighted section on your website – make a
secret clickable link that would not be noticeable otherwise – forcing
them to go to your website to check out the link?

Or you can borrow this idea from a piece I received.  A nice, shiny,
blue metallic envelope shows up in my mailbox one day.
Inside is a one page letter and a diaper.

The actual letter teases you with some very targeted copy.

They know who you are, what you do for a living, and what your main
area of interest is.

In order to find out what the diaper is for, and to find out what
this is all about, you need to go to a special website -
whatsthediaperfor.com. (It is no longer live, so you won’t find
anything there.)

Makes it difficult NOT to check out the site.

Which is the exact point.

There are hundreds and hundreds of gimmicky things you can use in
your mailings to bulk them up and make them more compelling.
People want to be entertained (and sold), so make sure
you are giving them what they want.

==============================
There are a few ways you can find ideas for your business here:
==============================

1. Find related products to your industry niche, your product, or
your target market.  Talk to promotional companies to see what they
can find for you. (They typically have bookshelves FULL of catalogs
they can pull ideas from.)

2. Talk to pop-up creators (Not the Web page pop-ups, but the
physical ones that can create pop-up people, buildings, clothing,
animals … or pretty well anything else you can imagine.)  Search for
pop-up direct mail or dimensional direct mail with your industry in
the search term – see what you find.

3. Use a one-page creativity initiator, like this one I created

(for a more graphical list,
go to http://www.smallbusinesscopywriter.com/creativelist.htm ):

Action Figures    Art classes        Airplanes
Archery        Board games
Basketball        Baking        Baton twirling
Blackboards/chalk    Beanbags        Biking
Binoculars        Bird watching    Blocks
Butterflies        Bowling        Cap guns
Cracker Jacks    Clay Creations    Caterpillars
Cots        Books        Boomerangs
Bubbles        Bug Collections    Boat sailing/building
Card games    Carpentry        Cards
Costumes        Chess        Candles
Camping        Checkers        Cats
Clay molding    Construction    Coloring books
Cartoons        Chalk boards/drawing    Cars
Cooking        Computer games    Crayons
Chemistry        Dancing        Dollhouses
Dogs        Dominoes        Dolls
Drumming        Dune buggy    Electric toys
Exercise        Elephants        Elegant party
Dice        Dreams        Energy

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  = = = = = = = = = = = = =

NOTE: The birthday bundle special is on for 2 more days….

packed with hot marketing ideas for the year end buying season

PLUS a free teleseminar that will help you improve your cash flow and attract new clients

details at: http://www.smallbusinesscopywriter.com/troybday.htm

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Football        Firecrackers    Frisbee
Finger painting    Flower pressing    Finances
Forts        Guitar        Games
Gardens        Garages        Golf
Gymnastics        Hunting for bugs    Horseshoes
Haunting        Harmonica        Harp
Hammocks        Horoscopes    Helicopters
Hiking        Hockey        Jewelry making
Juggling        Jumping rope    Kaleidoscopes
Kites        Knitting        Letter writing
Listening to music    Lumber        Mummies
Magic tricks    Magnets        Microscope
Magnifying glass    Marbles        Marionettes
Model making    Musical instruments    Masks
Nature walks    Needle point    Paper airplanes
Paper-mache    Plants        Pipes
Photography    Piano        Playgrounds
Ping pong        Poster coloring    Puppet making and play
Pool        Puzzles        Rocks
Remote control cars    Reading        Robots
Slides        Skiing        Snowmen
Star gazing        Scare Crows    Silk Screen
Soap Making    Ships        Sleds
Science        Scrap books    Scrap yards
Sand boxes        Rope        Skating
Stamp collecting    Skateboarding    Sketching
Tires /tubes        Twister        Trampoline
Tea Party        Tents        Trading cards
Telescopes        Swimming        Strings
Stickers        Train sets        Tools
Traveling        Violin        Volleyball
Video games    Walking        Whistling
Wagons        Whittling        Walkie-Talkies
Writing        Xylophone        Wilderness
Yoga        View-Master    Yo-Yos
Yarn        Zebras        Zipper
Zoo trips

4. Use a site like www.orientaltrading.com or http://www.promoprofits.com
Thousands of ideas are there for you – at incredibly reasonable prices.

5. Talk to direct marketers who specialize in dimensional
mailings.

6. Talk to packaging experts.  There are lots of freelance
packaging experts out there who are used to producing product
packaging and would welcome the opportunity to be more creative with a
new type of mailing piece – like the one direct marketer I know of in
Canada who used a packaging expert to design a mock-up shipping carton
with “live animal” written on the outside, straw sticking out of it,
and a surprise inside.  This mailing piece was responsible for over
$1.6 million dollars in new revenues for him.

It doesn’t take much to stand out from the crowd these days in
print mail – many people are getting cheaper and cheaper in their
marketing and moving from print to digital, despite the response
rates.

==============================
I have personally mailed many a bizarre thing: Halloween masks,
bells, dollar bills, coins, cartoons, hats, MP3 players, memory
sticks, garden seeds, etc. and have always been very happy with
the results I got.
==============================

If you are feeling a little sluggish in the sales department, maybe
now is the perfect time to try something new!

To your success,

Troy White

PS: If you want to crank up the heat in your marketing, the Birthday
Bundle Special is still on for 2.5 more days…

details at: http://www.smallbusinesscopywriter.com/troybday.htm

Apr
27

Marketing to the affluent… in a recession

By | Affluent buyers, Copywriting, Direct Mail

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One of the biggest opportunities today is the high end affluent market.

By far, this segment of the population is growing faster than the low or mid-range market. And, most important to marketing minded entrepreneurs, this segment IS still buying.

They may not be spending as much as before the drop, but they are still spending, and they are the ideal buyer to be targetting some of your efforts at.

You can always find a way to modify your offerings to this demographic… all you need is a little focus.

So where to start?

First, you start by targeting the right clients, engaging in effective and measurable business strategies and maximizing referrals.

One BIG key to success is zeroing in on Baby Boomers, the generation that owns the largest disposable income in history.

Combine this with the fact that Boomers have fewer and fewer obligations as their children grow up and leave home.

Add to that the fact where younger generations can easily postpone decisions on new purchases – while 55-year-old empty nesters don’t want to waste time or delay – they want it now and will go for it if treated and educated right.

More difficult buyers are always price shoppers. They want control of selecting products, from where and how low the price will be.

On the other hand, busy upscale consumers are more comfortable with having an all-in-one package delivered to their doorstep – the price is secondary in their decision. Make it easy for them – do it all for them – pamper them – treat them like kings and queens –and their decision just got easier.

To me, in this day and age, customer service has never been so disgusting.

Almost everywhere you go you see bad attitudes, badly dressed customer service staff (usually with 2 or 3 needles sticking out of their face – great impression), and bad perception on who it is that actually pays their paycheck (it’s the customer styupid – not your boss – he just signs the darned piece of paper).

So it doesn’t take much to stand out due to your exceptional customer service. Treat them like gold and they WILL tell their friends – who also are empty-nesters with money burning a hole in their pocket if they are treated right.

A few simple ideas to stand out:

  • Price higher than everyone in your market
  • Deliver the goods – train your staff better than anyone else in your industry, and incent them on customer service.
  • Participate in the community
  • Take sales training seriously
  • Stay in touch! You much learn to be proactive in your marketing efforts. Your existing clients should be seeing a print newsletter from you once a month.
  • Plus, they should also be seeing promotions, preferred client specials, client appreciation events, etc. Make them feel special, educate them on everything you offer, ask them to tell their friends, and sell them on buying more of what you offer.
  • Review your current client database, find out where your best sales came from, and figure out how to get to more of those people.

Take a close look at the clients who you believe do the most in-home entertaining, as these can be great referral candidates.

When they have their friends over for a dinner party – they will love to talk you up and praise your service. And those who love to entertain usually have big parties fairly regularly (hint: send appreciation gifts that are show worthy (likely to be displayed somewhere in their home) and they will proudly showcase how great you really are).

I realize this is just scratching the surface, but you must start thinking about this seriously. A whole seminar needs to be dedicated to this.

Remember, when you’re not selling your preferred client, someone else is.

Apr
21

Simple tools for testing your marketing

By | Direct Mail, Neighborhood Marketing

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Let’s talk about inexpensive ways to get to your buyers.

Are you leveraging community newspapers?

And yes, this does apply if you are in a business to business market. You just have to look at what papers and newsletters (print ones) are going out to your ideal target market.

But, if you are targeting consumers, have a look at these numbers:

Community newspapers reach:

  • 77% of affluent Canadians
  • 75% of women
  • 76% of parents
  • 75% of homeowners*

(Community Media Special Report 2008)

(This is from a study in Canada, but the numbers would be the same anywhere else who uses quality community newsletters).

Who reads them?

The most recent survey showed that 74 percent of Canadian adults read the last issue of their community paper. That figure was even higher in some provinces; in Saskatchewan it was a record 83 percent. The study also revealed that 76 percent of adults with household incomes over $75K are regular readers, as are most adults with a university education. 50 percent of the surveyed readers do not read any daily newspaper at all.

Think about this now.

If you target a higher income family that you cannot reach via email or newspapers, this is a potential goldmine. 74% of your ideal buyers read the community paper regularly. They earn more money, they are better educated, and they are looking for appropriate products and services (see the survey below for more details).

The best part?

The price of community newspapers! To get a quarter page ad – $50. Full page (with color) – $150. That gets you in front of thousands of targeted prospects (you can choose which community you advertise in by the average income in the community, choose communities that have a higher percentage of golfers, have more than average numbers of school aged children, or have a significant number of boomers and seniors.

All it takes is a little research on your part and you can tap into a very powerful source of potential buyers.

To add to that… community newspapers are filled with crappy advertising! Yours done right, using the information you pick up for free through the Total Package, and you can get some exceptional results.

Definitely worthy of some testing.

Right now, with the economy as it is, people are travelling less and spending more time at home, and in their yards. What better way to reach them than through a paper that 74% of them open every chance they get.

Try and get that through email!

One other inexpensive marketing tool at your disposal

The lowly flyer

What amazes me with these little unsung heroes of direct marketing is the sheer impact you can get with minimal dollars invested.

Here in Canada, we can send “unaddressed admail” to as many homes or businesses as we want for$0.11/per piece. So we can go to 1,000 businesses for $111.

Where else can you get that breadth of distribution? For that price?

Especially now that you can do geographic and demographic targeting of those businesses and individuals?

Thompson Rivers University received a 1.43% response rate to its latest flyer campaign! Higher than the industry average for addressed direct mail… at a fraction of the price.

“The sheer volume and ability to geo-target by postal code keeps my cost per inquiry low and, in general, helps to build brand awareness.” Thompson Rivers University

These days, you can also very selectively target who receives your flyers…

Let’s say, for instance, you want to target upper-class households in central Canada with an interest in golf?

Targeting like this is not only possible, but cost-effective because it eliminates unreceptive audiences.

Again, for $0.11/home.

There are firms that do this for little charge… and are a goldmine of great information for you.

Imagine the power you hold in your hands when you combine neighborhood community newspapers, combined with flyers.

You could be blanketing an entire community (or city) for very little money out of pocket.

You can select exactly the type of demographic you want reading it.

You can target their interests and hobbies.

And you can dominate your industry using little used techniques like this.

It doesn’t all have to be through email or in-house database work.

This is a VERY effective way to generate sales

and build your prospect database…

… using very targeted, very effective tools available at your disposal.

If you have recently used these types of tools, let me know. I would love to hear what you did, how it worked, and if you had used it to it’s fullest ability.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Trying times call for more interaction and help from you!

This post originally ran and was written for Clayton Makepeace’s Total Package Blog, which I contribute to every Friday.

You can find my column, Small Business Mastery, at http://www.SmallBusinessMastery.com