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The Rapid Evolution of Cyber Monday

 

Cyber Monday Inbox

My inbox was full of Cyber Monday reminders today.

The idea of “Cyber Monday” as a sales event has proven in just eight short years to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. When it began in 2005 – at least that’s when the term was coined after online retailers noticed a spike in online sales on the Monday following Thanksgiving – there were 9 other days of the year that saw greater online purchases. Still, the growing event inspired  great sale prices, giveaways and free shipping. As the catchy name and phenomenon caught on among retailers creating a double whammy with the already successful Black Friday marketing push, the event has now finally lived up to its name by becoming the #1 online shopping day of the year. Sales are estimated to hit in the area of $2 billion for 2013.

While the concept of Cyber Monday has now lived up to its name, the phenomenon is still changing. Below are a few significant ways:

  • Cyber Monday is becoming Cyber Week: Why limit such an effective promotion event to just one day, when shoppers will be selecting their purchases for the holiday season online for several more weeks? Retailers are catching on that the windfall of a Cyber Monday need not be limited to one day of bargains.
  • The line blurs between Online and Brick & Mortar: Most brick and mortar retailers are now online as well, becoming increasingly savvy and profitable with their online business. The idea of Cyber Monday being a profit-maker for just the online-only retailers like Amazon is a thing of the past. Integrated marketing now connects in-store and online specials in increasingly creative ways.
  • High speed internet changes things:  Why did the Monday following Thanksgiving originally show such a spike in online sales? Because people came to work to do their shopping! Back in 2005 and before, most homes had slower dial-up internet connections so folks waited until work resumed to order online. Also, the workplace afforded the privacy away from family members to do their shopping. Today, with high speed internet everywhere and the prevalence of smart phones, waiting for a workday to shop makes less sense.
  • It’s not just for the big players anymore: Small businesses are coming into their own online, with the ability to offer specials and promotions through their interactive e-commerce websites. The large sales figures for online shopping no longer need to be just the windfall of the large corporate retailers.

Here’s a link to a great infographic on the history of Cyber Monday.

 

 

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.
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Pin Up Your Marketing with a Bulletin Board Test

Whose Menu Stands Out on the Bulletin Board

So what looks good for lunch today?

This is our breakroom bulletin board – your workplace might have a similar one. While scanning the take-out menus and ads for various local eateries, think of that bulletin board as a little microcosm of a larger marketing environment: each piece hangs there hoping to catch attention, influence behavior, provide information. Some use mouth-watering photos of their meals; others provide detailed descriptions of their menu choices while still others rely on the familiarity of their logo and brand to catch your eye. They come in all sizes and colors. Each local eatery, vying for your daily lunchtime dollar, wants to outshine the others.

Now think of your marketing material on a bulletin board among those of your competitors. Will they stand out? Would you stop and take notice, feel drawn in by the imagery or design? Which one will make you decide to eat – or shop or invest… and why? If you saw a Pinterest page with a screenshot of your website alongside others in the same line of work, how would you feel about what that homepage says about you? Consider those “bulletin boards” as your marketing litmus test.

Back to Basics: Design & Message

If simply designing with eye-catching color was all that was necessary to get noticed, then most marketing would be a neon, day-glo mess. Yet color choice remains central to making design stand out. Consider if your colors are consistent with your branding and company image, if use of an out-of-the-ordinary color would be efficient, or if even black and white or a minimalist design might give you the desired effect. Keep up with the print and digital advertising of your competitors in the marketplace – the more you understand their efforts the better you can craft your own message to stand out.

With print marketing, shape  – whether in terms of scale or geometric shape – can be very important. This is true whether you are printing a flyer, direct mail piece, handout or poster. Over-sized pieces draw attention, yet at times an unusually small piece might stand out from the herd. Die-cuts add an extra step in production but often create a very unique and memorable end product. Your information might fit onto the front of one sheet, or you might need to expand into a folded piece or multiple page publication – all basic and important decisions.

How is your message unique? In other words, what does your business do better than anyone else? Does your marketing simply repeat the same claims all of your competitors are making, or does it reveal why a potential customer is missing out by not discovering what your enterprise has to offer?

The bulletin board test can bring forward some of the most basic questions about your marketing efforts through a simple, real-time comparison. Taking the time to do that comparison can lead you toward finding more productive strategies for success.

Consider the ways you can use inspired graphic design to market your small business. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing

. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.
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Share a Coke with Your Name on it: Getting Personal with VDP and Integrated Marketing

 

Update:

Personalized CokeAfter success in Australia, South Africa, the UK and dozens of other countries, Coke is finally releasing personalized Coke in the US this summer of 2014 – and it seems to be a social media hit (at least judging by my Facebook newsfeed.) 250 of the most popular names for millenials and teens will be found on 20 oz. bottles of Coke, Diet Coke and Zero. You can check online to see if your name will be on the bottles, and you can personalize virtual bottles to share via social media as well. But don’t get too creative – to avert potential viral disasters, the website will not generate any name not in their approved database! 😉
So why not get variable?

(The following article was first posted in 2013.)

Variable Data Packaging?
(Source link: www.marketingmagazine.co.uk)

Variable Data Printing is a proven catalyst in effective marketing – when properly executed, research indicates that response rates can be increased by as much as 30% with VDP. Now corporations are discovering creative new ways to combine personalized content with both online and print communications for a truly integrated marketing outreach. With the dominance of social media, consumers are beginning to expect (or in marketing-speak, “demand”) a personally targeted appeal from their advertisers. And who is more successful at branding and effective marketing than Coca-Cola?

But, VDP packaging? Well, in a way…. In Australia, and now the UK, Coke is putting out millions of bottles bearing, rather than their iconic logo, 150 names as a way to “personalize” their packaging. Coke enjoys such a universally established brand recognition that they can even remove their logo from their products and still count on consumer loyalty. The campaign is called “Share A Coke”, and as a truly integrated concept, it combines the product packaging with an online site where you can create a “virtual personalised Coke can” if you are unable to find the name you are looking for among the 150 choices. Outdoor ads, and social media also drive the campaign. The video below shares how Coke anticipated the buzz generation on Twitter to further build consumer interaction:

After a successful run in Australia, Coke is repeating the project in the UK. Now, a true VDP product packaging would require the Coke bottles to be printed with the customer’s name before rolling out of the vending machine – an expensive proposition – but the success of this semi-VDP approach highlights some important ideas:

  • the power of variable data personalization in affecting consumer choice,
  • an increasing consumer expectation that we can share a personal interaction with what was previously an unreachable corporate entity when it comes to our consumer purchasing power. The buzzword is “engagement,” and consumers are realizing their new role involves more than passive consumption, but can also include interaction and influence.
  • the value of finding ways to initiate the power and outreach of social media outlets like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to your marketing advantage

 

Share a Coke campaign
Image Source: thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com


 

Printers understand communication and design. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.