Halloween Marketing At Its Best: Marketing Update 11/2/12

  

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Episode #223 - November 2nd, 2012

Intro

• How to interact on Twtter: Include #MktgUp in your tweet!
• On the show today is Karen Rubin (@karenrubin) and Mike Volpe (@mvolpe)
• As always, all the old episodes are in iTunes. If you like the show, please leave a 5-star review!

Headlines

Halloween Marketing At It's best

• blog.mrhandyman.com/pumpkin-carving/
  
  • Mr. Handyman with the help of their Inbound Marketing Agency realized that there is lots of interest around Pumpkin Carving before Halloween and tied it to their brand by focusing on "Pumpkin Carving with Power Tools"
  • First, a video brought their pumpkin carving ideas to life. A unique, interesting twist on pumpkin carving and a video that clearly explained the concepts made broadcasters interested inviting Mr. Handyman franchise owners to come in for live TV appearances to share their pumpkin carving expertise.
  • Mr. Handyman turned TV viewers into website visitors, by offering Free Pumpkin Carving Templates, which were branded with the Mr. Handyman logo and contact information. The pumpkin carving templates, also generated lots of traffic from pumpkin carving searches and inbound links to their site. 
• http://www.rei.com/features/infographics/zombie.html
  
  • 13 Essential Tools for Surviving a Zombie Outbreak Infographic
  • Details on the tools you need and tips on how to properly neutralize a zombie or set up a trip wire
• http://www.innerduck.com/
  
  • Oriental Trading Post created a cute game to find out what your inner monster duck is
  • Allowed you to easily buy your duck or share the game through social media
• Marketing Takeaway: Companies of all sizes can leverage holidays in their marketing. 

Good Customer Service as Marketing

• http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2012/10/dominos-and-starbucks-turn-customer-behavior-into-customer-service.html
  • In the UK, Domino’s is offering a new twist on dinner and a movie. When you order a pizza, you’ll also get a code to stream a movie from Lionsgate while you eat.
  • Starbucks is using 17 locations in that city to test a wireless charging mat built right into the table. You’re going to lay your phone down while you drink your coffee anyway, so why not charge the battery at the same time?
  • Adding Duracell Powermats to every table in the chain will cost the company Venti bucks and since they aren’t charging customers to use the service, it’s not a revenue stream.Because Starbucks knows that the longer you sit in their store, the more likely you’ll be to buy another coffee or a muffin or lunch.
• http://www.getthefive.com/articles/the-boardroom/the-wall-street-journal-and-the-new-york-times-lif/
  
  • Harkening back to the days when journalism was a public service, The New York Times and The The Wall Street Journal have placed a crack in their firewall to give readers free access to vital information about Hurricane Sandy—the “Frankenstorm” currently spreading across the East Coast.
    
• Marketing Takeaway: Treating your customers right is always good marketing. 

Direct Mail 2.0 

• http://www.postcardmania.com/direct-mail-2.0/
• Brought to you by postcardmania
• The main idea behind Direct Mail 2.0 is to take a marketing classic (direct mail) and bring it into the future by seamlessly integrating it with newer marketing tools like Google Remarketing and digital call tracking.
• Postcards are a tried and true marketing medium that produces results by delivering your artfully designed and clearly written message right to your prospect's mailbox.
• Using a system we designed ourselves, we track the mailing process of your order. This allows you to know exactly when your cards are due to arrive in prospects' mailboxes. This helps you plan for the influx of new customers.
• Google Remarketing is an online follow-up tool that enables your text and banner ads to follow prospects around the internet once they leave your site. So if leads don't take the desired action (fill out a form, buy, etc) on your website the first time, you stay in touch. No leads left behind.
• We use a unique phone number to track the number of calls your mailing generates. You can use this data to gauge the effectiveness of different strategies and marketing messages. It also records calls so you can check for quality in your lead reception and sales processes.
• Marketing Takeaway: 

Small Businesses And Social Media

• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33776/43-of-Small-Businesses-Spend-6-Hours-Per-Week-in-Social-Media-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx
• Infographic from Vertical Response
• 43% of small businesses -- are spending at least 6 hours per week on social media, with a large focus on Facebook (90% are using it) and Twitter (70% are using it).
  
• Only 50% of small businesses are using Linked In AT ALL
• Only 32% of small businesses are using Google + AT ALL
• Marketing Takeaway: Google+ influences search results, you can't afford to not at least have it set up!