Doing the same thing and expecting different results

Over the past 15 years I have worked with sum five hundred dealer principles on every kind of campaign imaginable. The one thing that always rings true is the need to find new alternatives to old venues. Many retailers continue to throw money at tired and dried up marketing concepts expecting a different result. Nothing has changed in this instance. Murphy's law says that doing the same thing and expecting different results is a waste of time and money. Another dilemma facing retailers is "I tried it and it worked great but now it has stopped working, but I know it will pick back up." This is very common in marketing, that is why it is important to change a message on a regular basis. The (General Public) becomes immune to your advertising just like anything else. In a economy that is constantly fluctuating your budget can easily be spread thin, this is where Kelnic Corp can help. We are constantly making small changes in ideas that are presented to us to help cut costs and generate the most response to your advertising. Recently a client in the entertainment business placed a direct mail order, we did exactly as asked per his request. He was unhappy with the results. I asked him to change the postcard to an event ticket and resend it. He was reluctant, but agreed. The response was exactly what he was looking for, we didn't change the message we just changed the product that delivered it. Sometimes just bouncing an idea off someone else can mean small changes that will give you results you desire. Let Kelnic help you turn 2010 into a year to remember.

Turning Math into Money!

Get out your adding machine, calculators, abacus, or slide rule... we’re going to figure the value of a customer!

Customer A drives into your store and purchases $10 worth of gas (don’t laugh, it’s a Smart Car), $4.00 worth of Potato Chips (opting for the more expensive “0 Trans Fat brand), $2.22 worth of beverage (he doesn’t really want 2 20oz drinks, but it’s such a great deal), and a $2.00 instant lottery ticket... (he lost). Total purchase $18.22... But hey... all of these marketing ideas REALLY worked right?

Customer B walks up to your store, still a little sleepy eyed and dressed in a neighbouring business’s uniform, and purchases a $1.29 coffee and a $2.19 microwaveable breakfast sandwich. Total purchase $3.48...

Which customer is more important?
The real answer... both of them, and from here on out everything else is a guess, but humour me if you will.

Over the course of a year, customer B will probably work 5 days a week, 51 weeks out of the year. He’s walking so he probably lives nearby. Is this $887.40 sale worth keeping? You BETCHA!!!

This is your customer base, and while everyone wants a BIGGER customer base, many people overlook the base (foundation) they already have in an effort to make it bigger. Almost every request for a direct mail consultation we receive starts with “I want to attract customers who.....” And while many of our clients are maximizing their client base (after all, they are our clients ) we get phone calls all the time going in the complete opposite direction. Our advice is start with the most VALUABLE and EXPENSIVE mailing list available..... YOUR OWN! If you add up the amount of money you have spent on advertising and marketing since the start of your business.... Then add in all of the customer service dollars you have spent, and divide it by the number of customers who’s contact information your currently posses, you will see what list seller in the direct mail industry would call a 401(k)!

So send out a holiday card, start a loyalty program, an exclusive sale or offer, do something to drive (or walk) the people who have put food on your table in the past back through your doors, possibly with a friend or family member. If you have spent $500 a piece trying to get them, isn’t it worth $5 a piece to get them back? 500 new customers did NOT move into your area yesterday, did you do anything to get 500 OLD customers back in?

Are you ready to?

LETS GO!

"Marketing" What is it?

mar⋅ket⋅ing
  /ˈmɑrkɪtɪŋ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [mahr-ki-ting]

–noun

1.
the act of buying or selling in a market.




2.
the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.








It surprises me how many people show up on the marketing scene, touting the next greatest idea. How many times have you heard someone present a method that’s guaranteed to increase sales by 700%? What’s even more interesting is this is their first line in the conversation, without even taking the time to learn what your business is or what your needs are! A recent trip to a clients business led us to a 4 hour discussion that had nothing to do with OUR products, but instead focused on their products and what it was they wanted to see happen, and how their growth plans had changed and evolved, and what the next steps where in realizing their goals. While 4 hours is certainly the exception and not the rule, it is absolutely impossible to create a functional marketing concept without first understanding what the actual goal is.



A good way to evaluate your potential success with a marketing firm or concept, is to gather some thoughts in advance. Decided what it is that you want your business to do. Evaluate your strengths so that they can be positively marketed. Identify your weaknesses and ask for advice and help in turning them around. As with any good business contact in your network, your marketing team should be able to offer some tips, tricks, or advice in “all activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer”. While marketers certainly do NOT know all the answers, (and beware of ones that claim they do) they should be able to send you in the right direction more times than not. Marketing is MORE about business growth and development than anything else. If you are completely satisfied with your current state of business, then you don’t need any marketing advice!



BUT.......



If you want to make even $1 in sales growth, you need to evaluate your entire marketing strategy. If you want to REALLY blow the doors off this year... Then why not let us spend an hour with you learning about YOUR GOALS!

We call this “direct mail fatigue”, and everyone has it.

Hello-



While I was going to St. Ives I met a man with......... Did you finish the sentence in your head? If you didn’t then let’s try this one... Hickory Dickery Dock, the mouse ran........

It’s funny how limericks, rhymes, jingles and tag lines stay with us, regardless of how long it’s been since we have seen or heard them. A certain fast food chain who shall remain McNameless spent alot of time and money to insure that it would in fact always be a good time for the great taste of McName-with-held, and for the most part, I can only assume, it has served them well (and hopefully they in turn have served their customers well). Is there a flip side to all of this? YOU BETCHA! How many times have you gotten a direct mail piece indicating that you “MAY HAVE ALREADY WON XXXXXXX”? Here is an excellent example of many different people spending even more money and time separately to SABATOGE the chance of anyone else being able to use a prize giveaway. We call this “direct mail fatigue”, and everyone has it.



So, that’s the bad news.



Now for some good news. You can still use a prize promotion or giveaway offer effectively, you just have to be MORE creative then the last guy. If your advertising and marketing plans don’t stick out, than how are you going to? And who says you HAVE to use direct mail anyhow? Ever thought of hanging something right on your next customers door? Or how about serve a nice juicy succulent prize offer right on the dinner table? Imagine this conversation.....

“WOW... I’m starved and this smell delicious”

“Mmmmm... And does it ever taste good”

“Hey Look at this” (said with half a mouthful of delicious dinner) “Spend $300 at (insert your business here) and get a free (insert prize here)”

“We should check that out tomorrow”

Not bad hey?



Every week we go to the mailbox and see literally hundreds of THOUSANDS of dollars wasted in direct mail advertising. It’s either poorly designed, mixed in with 40 other indirect competitors for the same dollars, and 7 of these are usually your direct competition!!! WOW, how did that happen?



Don’t throw your dollars in your customers trash bin, let us help you use that money to increase sales AND profit. Call us for a free quote, and find out how we can help you drive your bottom line to the TOP! What have you got to lose besides a few customers?



Our recent success with Pizza Pie Promos™ has offered our clients up to a 7% response on In-Home direct marketing campaigns across Michigan. We are starting to open up territories through out the United States and Canada. We are currently looking for one exclusive partner in your market. This partner will have higher returns than even direct mail can offer for a fraction of direct mail costs. This offer guarantees millions of views per campaign. Let us tailor an event specific to your area. Our slow burn tactics gives you the Super Sale effects but over a period of time, so your staff can easily and effectively handle all traffic. Would an additional 20-500 customer per week help you push the needle in your market? With over 15 years of Aggressive Automotive Marketing experience I believe this to be the best and most efficient advertising venue opportunity available today.



Check us out at www.pizzapiepromos.com



Let us cut your advertising budget for the quarter in half or more and still give you the results you desire.



P.S. If you sell watches, I know 7 women who would love to throw out an old mouse infested clock!

Do it right the first time!

Story Time....

Had an interesting conversation with a new client last week, it started with him screaming about marketing and advertising and what a waste of money it all is. Well, of course I was hooked. After a few obvious questions I got to the heart of the matter... He had just spent $9500 and 3 weeks working on a direct mail piece that, while certainly a good offer, had returned him 0 responses. Not one phone call, walkin, web-hit, NOTHING!

WOW!!! My first thought was who in this economy has $9500 to throw around on a marketing campaign??? My second thought was this guy needs some help!

It’s hard not to be sold on the next biggest thing when it comes to increasing your sales. Everyone wants to get in on the action before the action has gone by the way side. The problem with this rush to “spend” is that you can really overlook the little things, and we all know the devils in the details. Within 1 hour not only had we signed a new client, we had developed a brilliant piece that did the job he ACTUALLY wanted! He was actually interested in getting web-hits and phone calls, he wanted BUYERS!

Fast forward to this morning. I thought 7:30 was a bit early for a phone call. Seems our new client isn’t convinced..... Can you believe he had the audacity to accuse me of paying over 230 of my friends and family to come in to HIS store and make a purchase just to make us look better? (smirk) My Direct Quote “On the $1500 we charged you, I could have only paid 3 people.... where did the other 237 come from?”

Don’t be fooled into low returns by high costs. Start out slow and easy. Use your increased sales to fund future growth, and above all... GET HELP!!!

If you would like to increase YOUR sales by up to 20%, give us a call and see how we can create a low cost high return program for your business.

Thanks Josh for this post. You can call Josh directly with any questions or a FREE marketing consultation. 231.709.8885

This is why when sending direct mail you should leave it to a professional.

It's cost-effective, costing between .75 cents and $1 per mailing, including paper, ink, envelopes and postage. It's effective, averaging between 1 and 3% response rate. It allows controlled growth. You choose how many you send, and since you know the average response rate, you know how many will probably reply. And it gives you one-on-one attention.

But direct mail is only truly effective if you get at least that 1 to 3% response rate. I've heard about direct mail failures from many small business owners. In fact, I'd say most who've tried it don't believe it works well at all based on their response. Sometimes those responses have been zero.

It's frustrating to pour hours of your best copyrighting into a direct mail letter that bombs. You may feel that not only have you wasted your time, but you've also wasted a bunch of cash that could have been put to better use somewhere else.

But, most of those business owners have committed cardinal sins in their direct mail copyrighting. And their response rates could have been far higher had they known a few things about writing direct mail.

It all starts with the envelope. If it looks like "junk mail", it'll probably be tossed instead of opened. There's no chance of getting your message if it hits the trash can, and that means you have wasted your time and resources.

So, make sure your direct mail letter is opened by making them want to see what's inside. You could:

•use real stamps instead of a postage meter


•take your logo off the return address so they think it's from a real person rather than from a business


•address it in handwriting rather than print


•use a different font than what's normally used


•make the envelope a different color than white


•print a teaser on the envelope
And those are just a few tips. Use your imagination. What gets you to open an envelope?

Once you get them to open it, attention shifts to the letter itself. You have literally seconds to convince them to read on, or once again it hits the trash can. What makes the biggest difference? Your opening headline.

Get their attention with a compelling heading, and try to aim for some kind of emotional response. The stronger that emotional response, the better. Your headline could ask a question. Or it could provide an answer. And it should highlight your biggest benefit in some way. "How to..." is a good bet. "Why" also works. Asking a question stimulates our curiosity, and that usually means we'll read on.

Attract more interest with your first few paragraphs. They're your introduction. If it bores them, they'll stop reading.

Know your target market and write the body of your copy directly to them. If they're women, use words that appeal to women. And if they're men, use words men relate to. Copy written for younger consumers differs from copy for older ones.

Today's direct mail has shifted away from using envelopes because the odds are not in your favor that they will be opened but if you insist on using one have a professional design your campaign. Too many small business's try to do it on their own and that is why direct mail tends to be a bust. Kelnic Corp has over 15 years of dedicated work history to moving the needle in your market, where ever you may be we have had successful campaigns. Our marketing experiences spans US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Europe. Our experience in driving traffic is your advantage over most of our competition. We just did a direct mail campaign with our first nursery ever and to our amazement and our clients, they saw 10% of the mailers come back during their one day sale. It is your ad budget use it wisely. With our automotive marketing background we give you the strongest ability to move the needle. Automotive advertising is some of the most aggressive marketing out there and we can take that experience to help you in any industry.

What could a 5-7% Return do for your business

We have been working on this new medium that offers up to a 5-7% return on investment. This marketing offers over 80% penetration in target neihborhoods. For auto dealers this gives them the big responses they are looking for with direct mail but it is tailored to be a slow burn. Never will you be overwhelmed from this medium, but you will see a slow response over a 4-6 month window that gives you an advantage over any other dealer in your market. Your dealership will also sit on the refrigerator all month. This gives your the highest visibility of any advertising that is brought into the home.

Call us for a conceltation to see if this could work for your store today!

Holiday Marketing Ideas

Holiday season is just around the corner and you’re probably busier than ever. But take some time to do some extra-special holiday marketing in anticipation of your customers’ holiday generosity and enthusiasm. Even Scrooge will love these great ideas for sprucing up your small business marketing during the holidays.

1. Scratch Their Backs and They’ll Scratch Yours. Examine your business and see what opportunities you have for allowing your customers to get a reduced rate on your products or services by participating in the process. One mechanic told his customers that he would change their oil at a discount if they would bring in their own oil. What are some ways that you could run with this idea?

2. Fancy Up Your Logo. Google does this for every major holiday and event, so why not follow their lead? It’s fun for you and your customers will definitely enjoy it. If you use Twitter, consider sprucing up your Twitter background at Twitterbacks. Once you’ve created a new background, submit it to the Twitterback gallery. Not only will you have a nice-looking background but you’ll get your name out there as well.

3. Customize and Personalize. Use postage stamps with your picture or your company logo. Don’t stop with using these stamps on your own correspondence but also use them for all communication with customers. Get M&Ms or foil coin chocolates with your logo printed on them for holiday parties. You could even bake cookies for your customers, wrap them in cloth bags, and seal them with stickers featuring your company logo.

4. Build on the “12 Days of Christmas” with “12 Days of Your Service.” Feature a new product or service every day during the holiday season. Think about how successful fruit-of-the-month and wine-of-the-month clubs are. This is just another approach to promotion. If you’re a consultant or trainer, consider providing customers with additional newsletters or webinars.

5. Customize a Holiday Greeting. If you simply must send out holiday cards, commission an artist to create a cartoon other image. Once the image is created, you can easily use online card-marking software to finish the job.

6. Make a Holiday Cookbook. Ask your customers to submit their favorite holiday recipes and include them with recipes submitted by your own friends and family.

7. Create your own Holiday Book. Take some pictures around your office, commission a writer, and create your own book for the holidays to send to your customers and potential customers. Make your story light and humorous, but use it to focus on your company values. You might even consider using a case study. Again, make it light and fun.

8. Send out a Digital Picture Frame. Take pictures of all the teams within the company and send each of your customers a digital picture frame full of pictures of the team with whom they usually work. If you have pictures of the customer at a customer appreciation party or other event, include those pictures as well.

9. Send a Video Card. YouTube is so easy to use that it almost seems criminal not to. Get your team together and sing a holiday song complete with shameless product placement that will make your customers laugh out loud.

10. Send Those Holiday Cards. If you really insist on doing this, find a good holiday greeting card template online, create your holiday card, and send it out on heavy, high-quality paper. Do the same for invitations to holiday parties.

Use the holiday season to your advantage by: choosing low-cost gifts or original creations to reach your customers. Whatever your price range is, you can easily find something to charm them, impress them, and keep them coming back for more. Get the ball rolling now, while there’s still a lot of time left and keep your name in front of your customers as they’re getting ready for the holiday season!

Anything we can do to help here at Kelnic Corp just let us know. We are always looking for ways to help other organizations in moving the needle in their markets.

Our design team can help with any design dilemmas.

#1 Marketing Tool

Marketing today is constantly moving and changing but one thing that doesn't change is your clients. Through this process of opening our new office in Traverse City and offering our services to all industries I have seen a common mistake. How many companies are not taking advantage of gathering information on every client transaction. Your email and mailing list should be updated regularly. Now days witht the internet you have a free medium available to you.

What about the old business card drawings or a small gift for filling out a questionaire. These are simple and easy ways to help collect information that will benifiet you later. Your customer mailing list is the most important market tool you have. For a single point merchant who has a small ad budget to begin with this type of tool could easily help increase your sales by 10% over the year.

If you are not currently gathering this information there is no time like the present. Let us know if we can help in any way. If you are not sure what to do but want to get started give us a call we can help. There is no charge for consultations.

Use buddy marketing to promote your business.

For example, if you send out brochures, you could include a leaflet and/or business card for another business, which has agreed to do the same for you. This gives you the chance to reach a whole new pool of potential customers. If your store is in a strip mall or a group of retail stores try shared direct mail. Our company can create a mail piece that encompasses a group of stores. This lowers your direct mail cost and also gives people more reasons to save your mailing. They may not be looking for a salon today but wanted to save the subway coupons. This gives your direct mail a longer shelf life. I also recommend finding stores that compliment each other and putting together a promotion that all stores would benefit from. For example I have a client in Wisconsin who once a year they do a promotion that five stores participate in. My client is a pet groomer, after I mentioned this to her she went and found four friends who had similar businesses and we put together a four day sale that surrounded all of them. She included a pet bakery, a pet store, a kennel, and a dogie day care. The direct mail campaign was sent to all of their clients and a list was purchased of pet owners in the area. The amazing part is everyone who participated saw an increase in sales and services. Obviously some more than others. When they split the cost five ways the promotion was cost effective. They started a new referral program between all five stores as well. Now they all have a punch card that they participate in that has proven to be a great tool. All this from participating in one promotion. What ever business you are in there are always affiliates. Find yours and make something happen. We are always up for the challenge to help in any way we can.

Dennis Kelderhouse
Direct Marketing Specialist

I have tried that and it didn't work!

How many times have you tried a new advertising or promotion thinking this was going to be the greatest ever and it wasn't. Usually you don't see any response or the product you were trying to move sat on the shelves and everything else sold. The next time you were approached for that advertising or promotion you decided not to do it because of your previous response. This is what I call the "I tried that it doesn't work" complaint. One thing to remember about advertising and marketing is there are a lot of components that make up every situation.

For instance, I have a client in Mississippi (Auto Dealership). They have been closing Memorial Day weekend for the past 15 years. The reason was their last promotion on Memorial Day was a flop. During our conversation I made mention of another client just over an hour from him who does a great memorial day sale. Short story he ended up doing a sale with our help and put an additional $60k on the books in May.

My point is, if a promotion or advertisement doesn't show potential, don't rule it out. Something that didn't work 10 years ago is working today. Marketing is constantly changing in your area. The fact that newspaper is the largest portion of advertising dollars for small businesses is crazy from my stand point. Continue to try new innovative ways to advertise your company. The more dramatic and unbelievable the content of your promotion, the better your results 9 times out of 10.

Thanks
Dennis Kelderhouse
Direct Marketing Specialist

I have tried that and it didn't work!

Jaded Marketing attitudes can be harmful to you and your business

Advertising has become such a large expense to businesses today. With all the different mediums and venues to sponsor and advertise in, making decisions on who and where can be extremely frustrating. This one facet of your business can be overwhelming. During my 10 years of automotive marketing experience I have noticed that dealer principles have become almost numb to advertising decisions. They are custom to trying everything to see what works and what doesn't, and their budgets tend to be some of the largest in town, so they can afford to try all types of mediums and their success rate is higher due to these circumstances.

Just the opposite is true with local single point merchants, they have to be so careful with their budget, that they have become jaded in most circumstances. I see this as a large stumbling block for them. working with independent merchants whose quarterly ad budget might only be $2000 is all new to me. Having the opportunity to come home and work with local families and merchants that I grew up with is the greatest feeling and I love a challenge, and believe in a simple motto: "My success is only from surrounding myself with individuals I have helped become successful themselves," Vincent Lambardi. There is no I in Team.

This Jaded behavior that I mention can be very harmful and I do not recommend it at all. This type of on guard and stand offish behavior is never helpful. Why would any merchant alienate themselves or their business is beyond me. Always remember that anyone who is working in the marketing industry has had a ton more successful campaigns and failures than your business has ever had. What a valuable resource this can be for you. In the past 10 years I have helped dealer principles raise well over 100 Million dollars in gross profit, and I assure you in order to reach these type of numbers there have been my fair share of failures as well. I only bring this up because of some of the negative reactions I have received from local merchants. Hiring an expensive marketing agency is not an option for everyone, so relying on those who call on you in the industry to help promote your business is quite important.

This blog is here to help us as group become more efficient with our ad budgets.

Dennis Kelderhouse
Direct Marketing Specialist

Turn summer chalanges into cash

Summer provides a change of pace and scenery for many customers, as children take a break from school and professionals schedule vacation time to travel or spend with family. The changes of the season can be a challenge for marketing professionals who strive to make connections with clients through the routines and rhythms of daily life. This summer, take advantage of the unique marketing opportunities of the season and connect with your clients as they enjoy a time of leisure and entertainment.

#1 - Get Ahead of the Competition

Because of the busy summer season, many marketers take a break from actively pursuing new business during the summer months. Take advantage of a slow advertising season and increase your advertising presence. I'm always amazed at how many merchants stop advertising in the summer because they don't see the importance.

#2 - Promote Seasonal Services

The summer season is a great time for attention-grabbing promotions. Offer special discounts on a high-interest product to attract customers and highlight seasonal promotions that will attract vacationers, or families with children on summer break.

#3 - Start Working Ahead for the Next Season

Start planning for the busy marketing season that begins immediately after Labor Day. Spend some time analyzing marketing data, work on a new product, or start planning ahead for a spectacular back-to-school campaign.

Let us at Kelnic Corp help tailor a marketing solutions that will help generate more business for your company.

Back To The Basics

Recently when calling on a client they mentioned how they have started up a program that has been very successful. After listening to the simplicity of the concept it reminded me of advertising 101. How many of us have over the years gotten away from the basics of advertising? Sometimes all the circulation numbers from local magazines, newspapers, etc. can be very appealing and at the same time be less time consuming. The problem is all these venues are currently not as advantageous as simple marketing concepts. I know you are all asking "WELL WHAT WAS IT"! They have gone back to the basics and are offering a discounted services package to different local businesses every week. Every week they set up a promotion with a different business to provide discounted services to their employees and friends and family. Some of you are already saying tried that. My suggestion to you if you have tried it and it wasn't successful, try it again. The Marketing arena is never the same twice, every year different elements provide an all new playing field. I know this type of advertising can be time consuming and sometimes more work then you may want. When the economy is this volatile, innovative marketing whether it be new or old can bring new life to your store. We all understand that the market has changed and sometimes the simplicity of old advertising tactics can change your bottom line substantially.

How many of us have gotten away from demanding that our staff are doing their share to help market the business? What programs do you have in place now that not only demand their participation but rewards it at the same time. Remember when your counter staff did more than just take orders. Training your staff to be your most important marketing strategy is a key in these trying times.

This blog is in place to create a place where business owners can not only review marketing ideas and strategies but also to give feed back and we are always looking for new ideas to feature. A wise man once said in order for you to be successful in life you must help others to become successful around you. Who have you helped or encouraged today?

One other thing, I walked into an office today and in the 15 minutes or so I was there the office manager gave out three atta boys! Because of everything going on, are we remembering to compliment our staff on even simple things? The faces on all three employees as they were praised said it all. Your not in this alone make sure your staff is getting the pat's on the back and the Atta Boys they deserve, especially right now.

Hot Summer Promotions: Ideas and Tips for Sizzling Success
Summer is almost here, and it is time to start offering promotions to ramp up your business during the hottest season of the year. You can use creative summer promotions and promotional products to generate revenue and traffic. Take a look at some of the ways in which your small business can employ summer promotions and promotional products for sizzling success.

The Basics of Summer Promotions

Offering promotions in the summer is easy because people are so active and enthusiastic during these months. There are a few summer promotions that are tried, tested and true. They work for all different types of businesses, no matter what the industry or the size. Here are a few great basic summer promotions that you can try with your small business:

A Sidewalk Sale – This summer promotion works best for in-store sales or clearance events.
Road Trip Promotions – People hit the road in the summer, and you can develop complementary giveaways and promotions with a road trip theme. This summer promotion works online or in-store.
Summer Sports Promotions – Favorite summer sports and activities like volleyball, softball, swimming and camping make great promotional themes. You can develop complementary giveaways and promotions with summer sports/activities themes. This summer promotion works online or in-store.
All of these basic summer promotions are especially effective right at the start of the warmer months.

Summer Promotional Products

If you enjoy distributing promotional products to your customers, then you can tailor those products to correspond with the season. There are a variety of practical summer items that are completely customizable to showcase your small business. Some hot summer promotional products include tote bags, beach towels, water bottles and baseball caps. These items are usable and in high demand during the summer months.

8 Content Secrets to Maximize Your Response when using Marketing Materials

1. Strong offer: Create a powerful offer and consider using that as your headline. Make sure the offer has an expiration date.

2. Emphasize benefits not features: Think about what your product does for the customer and state that clearly on your postcard.

3. Use postcard mailings as your personalized customer service tool: Send personalized birthday, anniversary reminders, product announcements, and updates with a personal touch.

4. Top of mind: Mail repeatedly throughout the year to stay in front of customers and in their mind.

5. Start a club: Rather then refer to your market as “customers,” refer to them as members of your club and send them exclusive information and offers regularly.

6. Be unique and stand out: Change the sizes and even shapes of your postcards to maximize results.

7. Say what you want them to do: Don’t just announce your sale, ask them to come in and ask for their business.

8. Use timeliness in your mailings: Take advantage of seasonal and regular activities that your customers will be going through to make your mailings relevant and beneficial to them.

If you have any ideas to add to this please post them for others.

Thanks

Does it really pay to advertise during a recession?

Does it really pay to advertise during a recession? Historical data says yes, but times and perceptions change, so what do TODAY'S consumers think?
"More than 48% of U.S. adults believe that a lack of advertising by a retailstore, bank or auto dealership during a recession indicates the business must bestruggling." Ad-ology Research surveyed consumers in late April 2009 about their perceptions of advertising in this economy. The report, Advertising's Impact in a Soft Economy, shows just how crucial advertising is right now for success today and in the future.Regardless of how you spend your ad budget, I hope you are still keeping your name out in your community and letting your past and future customers know that you are still here and plan to be for a long time to come. If you have stopped advertising because you don't know what is working (if anything). Call me. Let's talk-no pressure on direct mail-no pressure on anything, let's just set up some tools on all your marketing to see where your money is being spent wisely, and where it could be reinvested for a bigger impact.

Inexpensive Direct Mail Advertising

Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. People read postcards when the message is brief. A small ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your web site and generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.

For those of you interested we are offering a Summer Special of 500 14 pt 4 x 6 postcards for only $99 includes shipping

Does not include set up, taxes, mail Svc.

The Basics of Direct Mail

Generally, direct mail is considered the most expensive way to reach your potential client. I like to think of it as the most effective, if tailored to your specific services/products.

Many business owners have tried direct mail and have been unhappy with the results. Considering that saturation mail is very expensive. Try a new approach for instance. If you are a small specialty store that designs flies for fly fishing, saturation would not be helpful. That doesn't mean you shouldn't create a promotion and awareness through direct mail. We would recommend you still do direct mail but be specific. There are many listing agencies out there that can find the information you need. The information comes from fishing magazine sales in the area or from attendance of trade show etc. The list may only be 200 people in your area and some of them may already be clients of yours. The cost of the list may be as high as .50 cents a piece don't let this scare you away. This is a direct opportunity to put you in front of your target audience. Why spend hundreds of dollars in mediums that do not target your client. The cost to advertise in specialty magazines can be expensive and again becomes saturation of the whole nation. Your clients are right here in Michigan.

Another scenario for you; you have a high end product/services and you want to reach your target audience. Try using a House Hold Income targeted list this way you can be specific. You know that your clients house hold income is over 100k a year, than that is the only houses we target. This simple list will add pennies to your direct mail piece yet save you hundreds of dollars on advertising that would have been sent to the wrong home.

One thing I hear often is we are happy with our advertising. Anyone who is happy with their advertising obviously needs us more than ever. Your advertising portfolio should be updated and tweaked on a minimum of a quarterly basis. The same old advertising becomes stale and even though your business may be prosperous the need to cut costs and become more target specific is vital. How many times have we all tried a medium that was off the wall and it worked, so you kept on using it but after time it stopped being effective. Change up your mediums continue to surprise and delight your customers.

This blog is an opportunity for our clients and friends in business to learn and discuss the challenges of marketing. If you have any comments or would like to discuss a certain dilemma, post it and we will do everything we as a group can to help you solve it.

pizzapiepromos.com

Hello everyone,

I wanted to introduce pizzapiepromos.com to our blog.

This advertising is geared toward a younger demographic market along with families. The age group of 12-25 is a difficult market to reach, but through our placement we are able to reach over 83% of this market monthly.

Check it out.

This type of advertising allows you to target specific neighborhoods as well. If you know that you have a strong customer base in a certain area this helps you be more specific with your advertising dollars.

Building your current customer base

Lately I have been hearing SBO's (small business owners) tell me that they have no way of contacting existing clients because in most cases they have no reason to ask for customers information.

One easy way to help build your client base for future in store sales is through a small promotion such as a free meal by adding your business card or information to a fish bowl.

The cost of a drawing box for your counter is minimal along with printing of sign up sheets. Have an in store promo that gets your customers to sign up to win. When doing so make sure you ad email as a way of contacting.

After this promotion you now have ways to send weekly specials just for customers that is inexpensive and can be very rewarding for you and them.

Let us know if we can help set this up in your store.

Helping you explore innovative ideas to mold your business is our greatest joy.

Target your Direct Mail with a listing agent

Reaching potential clients through direct mail can be the most effective marketing approach.

Most mistakes are made by using saturation instead of paying the extra per piece to target your mailer to a specific type of client. This is done through a listing agent. Kelnic is dedicated to helping you in this arena.

Let us help you pin point who your target market is and with our low prices for bulk mailing we can help offset the cost of using a list.

Did you know?

Americans eat over 100 acres of pizza a day.

That over 96% of consumers between the ages of 12-18 eat pizza weekly.

That only 40% of consumers ages 65 and up eat pizza every 90 days.

I guess this means that eating pizza keeps you young :)

It's Been a while

Sorry I haven't been posting on here like I should, it's just been crazy around here lately. There isn't really to much to report on though. We would like to congratulate our friend Brian on his award last night. Keep up the fight Brian.

I'll try to keep this more updated... until then have a great day.

2nd Day

So here we are on day 2 of this wonderful and exciting blog. Not a whole lot to report on right now. We would like to say thanks to everyone who has become a fan of Kelnic on facebook since we made our account there yesterday. We would also like to congratulate Ashton Kutcher on beating CNN to 1,000,000 facebook fans, way to go. Hopefully we can get 1,000,000 some day.
Keep checking back here you never know when I might jump on here just for some random mumbo jumbo.

Welcome!!!

So I'm not real sure about this, but I'll give it a try.
My name is Nic Kendig and I'm the Vice President of Kelnic Corporation.
I started this blog to let everyone know whats going on daily with Kelnic Corporation, and probably some personal feelings of mine.
This is it for #1, I'll do more later.

A bit much I'm sure

Not sure what I wanted to put here, just thought I might let everyone know some good news. Soon we will possibly be closing an account for 14 toppers with one advertiser! YAY! Exciting news indeed. We also have a few direct mail quotes out there. The funnel is filling up, hopefully some will start to trickle down through soon.

Facebook!!

I kind of love facebook, so I'm making a Kelnic Facebook.
Come be a fan of Kelnic!

Let's See If This Works

This may be a repeated post and if so I'm sorry.
My name is Nic Kendig I am the Vice President of Kelnic Corporation. A small advertising and marketing company out of Traverse City MI with worldly visions.
This blog is created for daily business activities as well as my personal activities.
Hope anyone reading this is well.
Ciao, for now.