Marketing 101
Marketing 101
Stanley Marcus of Nieman-Marcus once said,
"Half of advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half." It turns
out that a lot of advertising is not only wasted, but is very harmful as
well.
For example, I have owned about half a dozen Oldsmobiles including the gorgeous 1977 Ninety-eight above. GM came out with an ad campaigning declaring, "This is not your father's Oldsmobile," implying that the millions of Oldsmobile owners were all a bunch of old fogeys. They got the message and quit buying Oldsmobiles and a century old brand died, or more correctly, was killed by poor management and worse marketing.
An even worse marketing technique is rewarding new customers while punishing your current customers. We are seeing several nationally known companies offering huge discounts to new customers while insisting that their long established loyal customers pay full price. They result is that the loyal customers are not coming back. The marketing guru, Seth Godin, addressed this in his latest blog titled, "Stupid is the brand killer."
A much better plan is to reward loyalty. This includes things like frequent flyer miles, discounts printed on cash register receipts for dollars off your next purchase and loyalty cards at grocery stores. When I managed a coffee house, we started a successful punch card system that made every tenth drink free. A coffee house I frequent gives your entire order free if you buy or add $25 to a gift card. This insures repeat business and rewards regular customers.
For example, I have owned about half a dozen Oldsmobiles including the gorgeous 1977 Ninety-eight above. GM came out with an ad campaigning declaring, "This is not your father's Oldsmobile," implying that the millions of Oldsmobile owners were all a bunch of old fogeys. They got the message and quit buying Oldsmobiles and a century old brand died, or more correctly, was killed by poor management and worse marketing.
An even worse marketing technique is rewarding new customers while punishing your current customers. We are seeing several nationally known companies offering huge discounts to new customers while insisting that their long established loyal customers pay full price. They result is that the loyal customers are not coming back. The marketing guru, Seth Godin, addressed this in his latest blog titled, "Stupid is the brand killer."
A much better plan is to reward loyalty. This includes things like frequent flyer miles, discounts printed on cash register receipts for dollars off your next purchase and loyalty cards at grocery stores. When I managed a coffee house, we started a successful punch card system that made every tenth drink free. A coffee house I frequent gives your entire order free if you buy or add $25 to a gift card. This insures repeat business and rewards regular customers.
I have a published price list. New customers
know what the cost will be, but I sometimes give discounts for loyalty
to clients that I have been doing business with for several years. I
would never give a discount to a new client that I would not give to a
loyal client that I consider a friend. This just makes sense.
If you have old photos that need to be
copied, saved or restored, please call. You will get a fair price and be
certain that you are paying the same as the next person with the same
requirements.
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