Anything but ordinary……please!

It’s Monday morning, Autumn leaves on the line dictate that Costa’s sophistication now belongs to Biffa and guess what, the monthly industry journal has your competitor’s latest product campaign splashed over the front cover…..and it’s blo*dy brilliant!!

OK……your luck will change if you make it so. Let’s start again.

‘’Good morning Jane!’’ (in the most cheerful tone available). ‘’Morning Clive’’ (slightly less so – which is more than Mr Rogers would ever expect). Grab a ‘Crista Coffee’ Super Latte Columbian Special Plus’ from the machine, no sugar left and the milk looks very…er….hydrated.

Computer sings it’s ‘Windows’ melody and we’re in! The day begins.

Mrs Biggins, 63, has served at Jennings and Co for no less than 39 years. An asset, carved from the biggest loyalty stone in Cambridgeshire.

‘’Your post is on your desk, David. Your 9:30 has been pushed to 10 and Mr Zalanski has e-mailed their proposal. I have finished the draft copy for BDH and we need to start looking at the contract particulars for Sam. David……please can you sign off the budgets for the next quarter – we need to get ahead.’’ 

‘’Thank you Margaret.’’

Sound familiar? A day we all relate to……..Monday.

So, amidst the stressful, fast-paced start, coupled to the week’s volume of work concentrated into Monday morning, what is your mindset when you sift through the post?  Agitated? Removed? Pressing? What it isn’t focused upon prioritising is Dumbbulbugs Creative’s latest direct mail – an A5 flyer (franked without envelope) showcasing their latest success – in a blobby, New Age design style, with a yellow elephant shouting from the page! Another forgettable DM brushed Biffa’s way along with all the other tedious, unremarkable, distinctly ordinary junk mail.

I don’t know who you are?

I don’t know of your company?

I don’t know your company’s product?

I don’t know what your company stands for?

I don’t know your company’s record?

I don’t know your company’s reputation?

Now……what was it you wanted to sell me?

Now you are probably smiling and nodding at the regularity with which this situation arises. Have you ever thought that there is another face to this story. Can you hand on heart say that the last direct mail you (your team) commissioned had impact? How do you expect your sales team to follow up credibly with any authority, when your initial touch point had such minimum impact?

The direct mail can be an explosive introduction to your latest product, cross-selling, or even a reminder of what you do best. Why compromise? It is your responsibility to deliver a campaign that facilitates enough curiosity in order that a follow-up presentation/call can be received with an amount of anticipation.

Happy Creative specialise in anything but ordinary campaignable direct mail pieces, that are proven to unlock the doors of global industrial/publishing/food/travel/automotive/financial institutions. We create memorable publications, no more lasting than ‘The Happy Client’. Curious? Just email me mike@happy-creative.co.uk and ask for a copy. I guarantee it’ll make you smile (and remember us too!).

Mike Emmett is a Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk

11 Ways to make your campaign memorable

With the memorable date of 11-11-11 upon us, here are 11 tips to make your marketing campaigns memorable:

Know your audience

Whether you’re staging a major TV ad campaign or a small targeted direct mail you must know your audience.  Not just the basics either like age or sex, it also helps to understand what it is they want, what do they desire, where do they shop, how do they spend their time?

Knowing your audience will ensure you can tailor any campaign in such a way as to fit perfectly with them.  What better way to make it memorable for them.

Social Media

What used to be termed ‘water cooler’ moments were those campaigns that were talked about in offices and classrooms up and down the country the day after they had gone public.  However, with social media those moments are now instant.  Twitter, Facebook and the rest provide instant reaction to anything and everything.

Engaging with social media to enhance, react and interact can turn your campaign from noticeable to memorable.

Eye-catching Creative

Fantastic ideas remain just that without the right execution.  Creating eye-catching creative, be that design, a TV ad or direct mail piece can make the difference when it comes to grabbing and most importantly keeping attention.  Sometimes direct mail pieces in particular, if designed well, can remain with their recipient long after the campaign if they are well designed.

Always go for the best and most eye-catching creative you can, it can make all the difference in the end.

Be Brave

The easiest option is always the safest, but it is so often the least memorable.  Being brave with your choices is the only way to make a memorable campaign.  It’s difficult to be brave, we feel safe with what we know.  What we forget is that every day our customers are being bombarded with messages from our competitors and other media channels constantly changing expectations.

Striking out with a brave choice will make your campaign the memorable one.

Great Copy

In the same way that eye-catching creative will show, great copy is worth its weight in gold.  Engaging, memorable and most importantly relevant copy is a fantastic way of feeding your key messages into the memory banks of your customers.  It would be campaign suicide to match eye-catching creative and a brave idea with poor copy.  Great copy will enhance creative and give your brave idea that edge.

Integrate

One way to make your campaign memorable is to integrate it.  The more ways your campaign can be accessed the more memorable it can become.  It is important for any campaign to be ‘followed through’ across all media both online and offline to maximise the return on investment.  Never is this more important in creating a memorable campaign.

Instead of concentrating on one marketing channel, ensure your campaign is integrated across as many as you can.

Surprise Them

Who’d have thought a yoghurt company would advertise its product using rapping farmers.  Or how about being caught up in a Vodafone flash mob, I’m sure you’d remember that.  Sometimes a surprise (often requiring a brave idea) can make your campaign more memorable than you could’ve hoped.  Instead of sticking to the norm, look at new ways to surprise people.  Use guerrilla marketing cleverly, create an unusual ad or high-impact direct mail piece.  All of these can serve to surprise customers and get your brand logged deep in their memories.

Surprises are always memorable, use different media and techniques to make something really surprising.

Make Me an Offer

You buy one, you get one free, I say… you know the rest.  An offer can enhance any campaign, indeed you may even be developing your campaign around an offer.  Make sure (where you can) that you include some kind of offer with a campaign. It may be a great discount, points, vouchers or even a giveaway.  A good offer will serve to increase the effectiveness and memorable nature of your campaign.  To go back to the example, Safestyle UK base their whole campaign on the offer.

Include an offer to make your campaign easy for your customers to benefit from. (ps. Did you know that Happy Karen went to school with Safestyle’s Buy One, Get One Free man – Jeff Brown).

Make Friends

Your best customers are your greatest sales tool, and can make or break your campaigns.  Getting your customers talking about your campaign is a fantastic way to make your campaign that much more memorable.  As your biggest advocates, your customers can ensure your campaign is seen by many more people.  They will often add in their own benefits, gleaned from their own experience of your brand, and give your campaigns longevity.  That’s why making friends is crucial, and it is where social media is particularly useful.

Your best customers are the biggest advocates you have, use them to make your campaigns memorable.

Deliver on Your Promise

As with anything, especially campaign related, the best way to create a memorable campaign is to deliver on the promises you make.  Not only does this simple adage mean your campaign gets spoken about in glowing terms, it also gives subsequent campaigns a great chance of being even more successful.  By delivering on your promises customers will see that they really can gain from your campaign and that is your ultimate goal.

When customers know that you deliver on your promises, you and your campaigns remain memorable to them for years to come.

Momentum

The very best campaigns maintain a crucial element, momentum. Whether they explode on to the scene in one big surprise or they slowly burn away, keeping the campaign full of energy is crucial to getting results.  Maintaining momentum doesn’t mean persisting with a campaign that has served its purpose or isn’t working.  Momentum is the simple act of ensuring every avenue is explored with the elements of the campaign.  Just how week two or three, or the next series of posters or the next set of adverts look is all key to maintaining momentum and should be considered at the earliest stage of the campaign.

When assessing the suitability of a campaign look to the stage 2, or the next set of adverts to see if you really have a viable campaign and can maintain some great momentum.

Karen Lambert is an experienced strategic marketer and Managing Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk

What can digital marketing learn from DM?

For many marketers, digital marketing has quite rightly become their number one priority.

The flexibility, cost savings and relative ease of use makes it a marketing channel that is perfect for many. Quite rightly too, but what is sometimes forgotten in the use of this marketing panacea is sometimes focused too much on the technology and not enough on the best way to use it.

And in this respect digital really can learn lessons from DM.

One clear lesson is one that DM practitioners have been using for years. The well worn DM path of Test, Learn and Refine is one that fits perfectly with the benefits that digital bring. And it is a reason why many of the best digital marketers have a DM background.

Secondly, the essence of any great marketing strategy is a perfect mix of marketing channels all working in conjunction to best meet the business objectives. Digital campaigns work best when they are combined with other marketing routes. Making sure, as you would with a DM campaign, that all branding is in line and reflects the key messages you are trying to make.

Thirdly, any great DM campaign follows the Test, Learn and Refine process, but also any DM must be AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action). The beauty of digital is that it can speed up this process as feedback can be instantaneous. However, as it is so easy to do, it often becomes forgotten. Test, Learn and Refine can bring excellent results to any marketing campaign.

Creating something interesting, great design, persuasive copy and call to action are key to any effective marketing piece. Be that digital or DM, the trick is to ensure that some of those fundamental lessons that arrived before the digital era are followed through. Digital marketing is essential for all businesses. It takes customer and supplier interaction to a new level.

However, the fundamentals of great integrated marketing campaigns should not be ignored.

Simon Brooke is Digital Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk