Everyone, businesses and consumers alike, are looking to save money. Here are some free (that means no cost) tactics to add to your arsenal of marketing solutions. You can roll these ideas out on the web to help build your brand today!

#1 Be the expert. The truth is, you’ve spent some serious time researching your industry, developing strategies, and building a quality product, but if you aren’t trying to establish yourself as the expert in your field, consumers aren’t going to listen. Show people you know what you’re doing and that you are ready to meet their need better than anyone else.

#2 Give your target something to laugh about. Arguably some of the most memorable advertisements have an element of humor. People love to laugh and they’ll be more likely to talk about something that is funny around the water-cooler than something that just says “buy my product”. Put together some short videos for YouTube or work on some witty pieces for your website - this is how viral begins!

#3 Personalize your email efforts. When was the last time you opened an email from sales@mycompany.com? Never. Anything that’s this generic or has something about getting us to spend money in the address doesn’t take long to make its way to the trash. Don’t stop your email campaign, but try to be smart about it. Send a message from a personal address that includes a full name. Don’t send these emails out everyday either. Would you open an email everyday from one of your favorite companies? Limit these emails to no more than one a week. Keep them casual, simple, and to the point.

#4 Network with the people that matter. Using one of the many social networks to get your brand out there can be one of the most cost effective tactics - but only if you’re reaching out to the people who matter (industry experts, industry journalist, associations, and core targets). If you are in the paint business, you probably shouldn’t spend too much time reaching out to high school cheerleaders and their thousands of friends. The world of social networks is vast, so focus your efforts. This will also show your customers that you’re not interested in trying to be all things to all people and that your goal is to meet their needs and desires.

These are four simple steps that aren’t going to cost you any money and you can start them today. Do these and you’ll be laying the ground work to do something bigger and more extensive in getting your brand noticed.

Just for a minute, imagine that your ad didn’t get out this week.

There’s good news and bad news there, right?  Lots less markdown, but what would the sales impact be?  5 or 10%?  30%?  More?  The great unknown is how many secondary shoppers compare ads before deciding which store to shop.  If your customer base is like most stores, about 50% of your total sales each week come from what Neilsen classifies as “tin” or infrequent, value-focused shoppers. The ones who pay special attention to ads.

In this perilous operating environment, there is a real danger that one important conduit to your customers could be in grave danger.  Especially if you depend on newspapers to deliver your message.   Since 2005, we’ve seen the incredible decline of newspapers accelerate in a way that is frankly stunning.  From decades of operating at profit levels approaching 50%, newspapers can now barely lay off people fast enough to avoid bankruptcy.  In fact, today’s announcement of the Chapter 11 filing of the Chicago Sun Times adds to what is now a very long list.

There will be survivors.  Papers deliver content to readers on behalf of advertisers.  The desire for local content isn’t going to go away.  Just the delivery mechanism will be dramatically different.  Meanwhile, there will be a wrenching transition—scratch that, there IS a wrenching transition and it happening now, exacerbated by the pressures of the economy.

If you rely on newspapers, or one could argue, just about any other print based media, it might be prudent to begin now to begin to control your own destiny.  If you have a loyalty card and you use it correctly, you already know that your database is one of your brand’s most valuable assets.
Right now is the time to put a plan in place to get individual e-mail and SMS text addresses from customers.  But if you’re like most people you are thinking, “no one wants more spam in their inbox.”  Think about this:

• Last week research came out that indicated that, next to e-mails from family and friends, people spend the most time with opt-in e-mails from businesses.  That’s you.  It added up to an estimated 45 minutes per week!  That is a lifetime in the Internet age—especially when there’s no articles to get through before they come to your wonderful marketing message.
• Your best customers, even your second tier customers are truly in a relationship with you.  They want to hear from you.  They deserve to hear from you.  If you wan to keep them in the relationship, that is.
• Aggressive price conscious customers may be the bane of your existence, but your best shot is to give them something beyond the below cost ad specials to look at.
• Take a look at the traffic on your web site by day of the week.  You may find that there is a spike that coincides with your ad effective date.  Hmmmm….. Might be an opportunity to reach out right there.

Putting together your initiative to build your customer e-mail and SMS data base can be as simple or as complex as you have the bandwidth to make it.  It might involve in-store, on-line and direct to consumer components.  But one thing is certain:  The risks and the rewards are both large.  If you misstep and irritate or alienate, you will wind up in the bottom of the digital trashcan.  If you do it right, you’ll remain a valuable part of your customer’s lives.  They will be much more likely to shop with you more frequently and for a longer time.  More on that in a future post.

Start soon.  From the way things are going, the day might be around the corner when you wind up with a very large stack of print ads and nowhere to put them.

There’s a study out today from Merkle that is fascinating.

It says that right after e-mails from family and friends, people spend the most time on opt-in e-mails from companies (permission e-mail)! Shocker.
It really supports what we always say about brands. When people invite you into their lives, either via their TV sets or their desktops or their mail boxes, they actually want communication from you. Not too much of it mind you–the number two reason for opt-out is too high of frequency, but if you can remain relevant and interesting to someone, you can certainly keep their attention.

Here’s the rub: People are becoming more and more cautious about signing up for e-mail blasts. They are buried with communication and can’t keep up. So they certainly don’t want to opt in to a company that is sending two or three e-mails every day during the holidays! (Are you listening Neiman-Marcus? Hello Auto Sport?)
That means your invitation should be honest and offered with humility and an understanding of the imposition that you’re potentially becoming.

Also, it’s smart to use your analytics to determine where an e-mail might be appropriate. We have one client who’s site gets a significant bump every Sunday, the day their weekly ad breaks. This speaks to the fact that the Sunday newspaper is becoming less and less of a factor for most customers and rather than take the paper or go out and get it, they’re just as like to go on-line and hit their favorite stores to see what’s new. Knowing that they’re visiting that day gives us an incredible opportunity to expand the relationship, via an e-mail offer or even tailored offers.
I would love to hear where others are having success in opt-in.

Here are some key points from the Merkle Study:

Time spent with permission email has stabilized since the gains seen last year. 59% of all email users spend twenty minutes or more with permission email weekly, with just over one- quarter spending an hour or more weekly

Permission email accounts for about a quarter of all time spent with email, second only to its primary function of communicating with friends and family

Just over half of all permission email recipients have added at least one company to their address book, and do so for 25% of the companies sending them email

There is an inverse relationship between the email types that are most valued and the quantities consumers receive

The biggest reasons subscribers choose to opt-out of permission email continue to be lack of relevance (cited by 75%), followed closely by sending too frequently (73%)

Slightly over half of respondents said that they were less willing to sign-up for email communications when compared to just a few years ago - showing that they are exercising caution.

eMarketer has released revised metrics for online advertising growth over the next 5 years. Although we’re in the middle of a global slowdown, and the growth in online advertising has slowed with the rest of the world, there still appears to be growth ahead in the online advertising space.

Over the next 5 years, we’re still looking at roughly a double in the areas of online marketing that HEILBrice focuses on such as search engine marketing and optimization, display and rich media. When we look at online video, eMarketer is predicting a dramatic 8-fold spending increase.

US Online Advertising Spending Growth -$

When we look at these same metrics on a percentage basis, it looks as follows:

US Online Advertising Spending Growth - %