New Era in Consumer Marketing

When was the last time you flipped through the Yellowpages looking for a service or scanned the newspaper for a coupon? These days a lot of us rely on word of mouth marketing or recommendations. Are paper coupons a way of the past?

With advertising budgets being slashed, how many of retailers can advertise in weekly mailers, coupon packets, and print media? How many consumers these days go through these types of media to find deals?

I discussed this with a client this morning, he was asking what the impact of social media was on businesses like his? "It's HUGE!", I replied. Small businesses need to figure out a strategy that works for them and then to take the time to set it up. Many people think it's too time consuming to set-up something. I'll admit that the set-up will take awhile to get it the way you want it, but once set-up, it takes only a few minutes - just like checking email. Listen to the comments, wants and needs of the consumers.

I've seen a couple of foodservice retailers doing amazing promotions. Some of them are pretty wacky, but they work and drive traffic. They either don't know better or just wacky enough to be remembered. In a world of 3D promotions, you need to be that 4th dimension that stands out in the crowd or is remembered by the consumer.

The tide is changing, don't get caught facing the wrong direction when the next wave comes...

Please let me know your comments. Thank you!

Comments

Unknown said…
Hey Jay, thought you might find this relevant http://blogs.bnet.com/harvard/?p=1559&tag=nl.e713

Popular posts from this blog

Sticking to What You Do Best...

Coco Bread Sandwich with Jerk Chicken

Hidden Little Tokyo: Cheap Eats