Money Tight? Use the Library!

Did you know:

That you can go online, find a book, check it out and have it sent to your neighborhood library for pick-up? For free!!!! I live in Multnomah county and our great library system will even send the books directly to your front door for a nominal charge. Its true!

This is a gold mine, people! I have checked out books on everything from the latest fad marketing book to knitting books to a good fiction novel.

Not sure if you are going to like that $35 hardcover cookbook? Library! Is that business planning book really worth your hard earned money? Library! If it is really good, then after you return it to the library, buy it. Keep it on your shelf for reference or just to make you look smarter, I don't care.

Money is tight these days and your tax dollars support our libraries, they are there for YOU! Please use them, respect them and respect the materials you check out.

Visit your Multnomah County Library

What are you trying to say?

Your marketing message is one key in getting good return on your marketing dollar. So what are you trying to say? First off, there are several pitfalls to avoid:

• Too many messages in one place.
• Too many messages period.
  
• Changing the message frequently.

Tip #1 - Be consistent! Keep your message the same and frequent for an extended period of time. How long? Well, it depends. Maybe you are running a limited time offer campaign and need a message just for a few weeks or maybe you have a company slogan or tag line that you will run for years.

Tip#2 - Reach for your target audience's emotions. We are emotional creatures and people buy many things for these reasons. Give a sense of how it will relate to your customer's life, how do they see themselves? Would they buy a Honda or a Hummer? Is it a sense of fashion, security/safety, family? Craft your message to push these buttons.

Tip#3 - Be clear! Make sure that people know what you are talking about and keep the technical jargon out of your message. Test it out! Try it on with your Grandma or your hippie neighbor.

Tip#4 - Run with one theme over several marketing layers (see previous post). Keep your message the same on your vehicles, ads, direct mail and web stuff.

Don't over complicate things, choose one good, simple message and it will serve you well.

Marketing is like Baklava

You know, that Greek desert that has all the layers of honey, pastry and nuts? Here is how: You have a recipe that has lots of ingredients. They are of different textures and flavors, each offers something to the whole that wouldn't be the same if just on its own. The same is true with marketing - you need lots of layers of different ingredients.

For example: you have your business cards, vehicle signage and a web page. Three different layers to get your name out but the more layers, the better. So consider all the ingredients in the marketing kitchen: web marketing, direct mail, advertising and public relations just to name a few. This strategy is to touch people as many people as possible that you may have been missing before and to touch them more often. Remind them constantly who you are and why they need you. You can create layers for each message as well (stay tuned for a post about good messaging).

And remember, you can't just eat one piece of Baklava, you have to eat at least two in order to be satisfied! Don't be frustrated if your direct mail piece didn't get the phone ringing - you will have to mail to the same people 3 or more times for them to pick up the phone!