Advertising that lasts, part two.

[kaiser715]

OK, told y'all about my advertising notepads that keep showing up 12 years later...

Now, how about if I can beat that? Here's 15 years:

This wasn't for my computer business, but I know it would work great, and I'm going to give it a shot. My dad used this when he first ran for city council (successfully) back in 1996. He'd pass them out by the handfulls. I still see them often today at some of my clients' offices (recently, someone at a client asked when I was gonna run for office so she'd get some new ones).

What is it?

Printed fingernail files... think about the number of women that we deal with at clients. From the front desk to the accounting office, you'll find a lot of customers that would welcome a little freebie like that, and keep it around, because it's useful. Cheap, too.

I just found one supplier with a google search, to get sample pricing. Sixteen cents each in one-color printing, for 3000...that's only about $500 bucks for advertising that will stick around literally for *years*. Twenty cents each for 2+ color. Cheaper for higher quantities.

 

[tek9]

I really don't know much about these things, but IMO the notepads are a better idea for a computer/tech business.
Then again, you have the 15 vs 12 years argument to go on....

 

[plushzilla]

Well to be honest, the marketing strategies that you are talking about sounds a bit new to me. Not saying that they are new, but maybe for me.

 

[Xander]

How are you documenting the 15 years? Do you currently have new customers who come in saying, "I was given a nail file in '96 and was using it just before my computer died?"

 

[kaiser715]

No, I didn't pass them out...my dad did when he first ran for city council in 1996. Gave them out by the handfuls.

It's almost 10pm on Sunday night, I am at a client site right now, and there is one laying on the desk that I am working at. I'd say that's advertising that stays around a while, whether it's for political office, or a consulting business.

I'm really thinking about giving it a shot. After a rough count, almost 70% of the clients/users I deal with face-to-face on a daily basis are women.

 

[kaiser715]

Well to be honest, the marketing strategies that you are talking about sounds a bit new to me. Not saying that they are new, but maybe for me.

I've never tried to market to "everyone". These strategies probably would not work well if you are trying to pull in individuals/home systems/etc. Since I started in 1983, I have tried (with few exceptions) to keep to a pretty narrow client profile. I do very few home computers (only for employees at existing business clients). Most clients are small to medium businesses, maybe 15-100 employees total.

 

[Xander]

The problem is that this all completely anecdotal. Unless your father can say that these people are still voting for him based on the souvenirs, it's not valuable advertising. My realtor gave us a fridge magnet when we bought the house... just because we've still got it on the fridge does not guarantee that we'd buy a house through her. It just means we have things we want to stick to our fridge.

 

[callthatgirl]

I have to say that anything you give someone to keep for a purpose, has a marketing shelf life. Depends on what it is and how they want to use it or what to keep it for. I have a bunch of magnets on my fridge, never have needed to call those people, but that's what people do with them, put them on the fridge. Is there a purpose? Not really, but magnets work.

As for the marketing give aways, just as note pads, files, pens, etc...that one pen landed me $300. Took care of the whole purchase. I got that call the same day I left the pen on the top of the ATM machine. That took no time at all, but if I had 1000's of pens, it would have the life of the ink in the pen, and who knows where those other 385 pens are right now that I gave out over the spring time.

I think that the OP has in mind when writing this is to just let everyone know the shelf life of our give aways has potential to be many many years. Good post.

 

[Xander]

Lisa, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing or a good thing. I'm saying that you can't call it good until you have people calling you saying that the pen/nailfile/whatever was the reason for the call.
You can say that the one pen you left at an ATM got you a customer. That counts.

Let's separate this into first or second contact. First contact being a new customer from...somewhere. Second being an existing customer that comes back.

I leave a small sticker on systems I fix with contact info. When someone needs another repair, that sticker just makes it easier to find me without whipping out the Yellow Pages. They're just reminders of service already provided. Now, that's not necessarily without value. If they can't remember my name to look up, then that sticker becomes valuable. I have had a few people point to the sticker and say, "It's a good thing you left that there." That counts. More often than not, though, it's the business card I leave with them, though. This would be a second contact -- a reminder of service already provided. A desktop shortcut to your site, a quarterly email or Christmas card would fall into the same category.
Giving female customers a nail file might be a great second contact method. Same with mouse pads or a coupon for a free annual in-shop dust-removal. You can't easily document the efficacy of a second contact item unless you grill them about whether they remembered you outright or were reminded by the item/email/etc.

If we're talking about handing out items as a first contact, you'd have to document how many people called you based on that item that they got somewhere. If you hand them out in the mall, are they calling because of the item or the great first impression you made? (Does the item, then, become a second contact referral?)
Lisa got one call from her pen. That, plus a couple of referrals, probably paid for the pens. I'd call that a success but I'd say that any advertising where you don't lose money on it is a success.

 

[kaiser715]

EHousecalls...

That pretty well hits the point. Advertising is more than about getting folks to call you...it's also about building brand identity, and keeping your name at the forefront when people need the services you provide.

 

[osho741]

I have to say that anything you give someone to keep for a purpose, has a marketing shelf life. Depends on what it is and how they want to use it or what to keep it for. I have a bunch of magnets on my fridge, never have needed to call those people, but that's what people do with them, put them on the fridge. Is there a purpose? Not really, but magnets work.

As for the marketing give aways, just as note pads, files, pens, etc...that one pen landed me $300. Took care of the whole purchase. I got that call the same day I left the pen on the top of the ATM machine. That took no time at all, but if I had 1000's of pens, it would have the life of the ink in the pen, and who knows where those other 385 pens are right now that I gave out over the spring time.

I think that the OP has in mind when writing this is to just let everyone know the shelf life of our give aways has potential to be many many years. Good post.

These are all awesome ideas. I'm going to write this all down! Now if I could just find my pen!

 

[jft135]

EHousecalls...

That pretty well hits the point. Advertising is more than about getting folks to call you...it's also about building brand identity, and keeping your name at the forefront when people need the services you provide.

I have to agree. This is a lot like all the SEO firms out there that show you how great they are because they can list a dozen keywords that their clients now rank #1 for. Whether or not those keywords are actually searched for by people looking to buy is a completely different story.