Can a marketing strategy work too well?

A few months back, a friend of mine sent me a link to coupon website called Groupon.com, a web-based coupon site that sends deeply discounted local daily deals directly to your e-mail. From coupons for restaurants to family activities, the site seems to offer something for everyone. The only catch for the consumer is that the site sets a minimum of how many people must buy the deal before it is active. And, in my experience involving this site, this requirement hasn’t proven to be that big of an issue.

The deal of the day that hooked me was 20 Bikram yoga classes for $25. Granted, yoga’s not for everyone, but to me it was an awesome deal. I saw value in spending the money and so I did. Since that time, I’ve become an avid follower of this coupon site.

During an economic time when money is especially tight for most all of us, coupon sites like this one are great for consumers. But, do they really work for the small businesses that use them as part of their marketing mix?

A recent article published in Business Week addresses this question head on. According to the article, sometimes it works too well.

Last October, when Philz Coffee offered users of the coupon website Groupon discounted gift cards for in-store pickup, Jacob Jaber, president of the San Francisco coffee chain, figured on a few hundred takers. He got more than 2,000. "I nowhere near projected the amount of people that showed up," says Jaber. "We just weren't prepared for it." He ran out of cards, irritating customers, and says he'll probably stick with word-of-mouth marketing from now on.

What concerns me most on Jaber’s situation is why a company would choose not to use a marketing tool that obviously worked for them – scratch that – worked remarkably well for them? Rather than throw up your arms and go back to employing old strategies that work only some of the time, I recommend learning from the experience, retooling expectations and trying again.

The point of running a business is to be successful at what you do. It’s always surprising to me when I see people quick to run the other way at the first sign of challenge. Every challenge is an opportunity that has yet to be discovered.

As for Groupon.com and other similar sites, they too are learning and retooling their service to better serve customers.

Megan Lane is an account executive for Imagine Marketing.
Contact Megan at mlane@imnv.com

“Are you ready for the pain?”

The fourth grade was no treat for me. I was a skinny kid then (hard to believe looking at me now), debilitatingly shy (again, hard to believe) and a constant daydreamer (which placed me on the low end of average when it came to academics). Compounded by the fact that I was new to Good Shepherds Catholic School in Beverly Hills, Calif., and of course you’d end up with an awkward kid like me, right? As a result, I spent a great deal of my early scholastic career avoiding being picked on. (That's me to the left.)

The only classmate who had a more difficult time than I did was a boy named Steven, who had the misfortune of being nearsighted, a straight-A student and overweight. He just happened to draw more negative attention than I did. Even at an early age, I quickly learned that my best defense against the school bullies was to stay within range of Steven. Who’d want to pick on me when they had Steven nearby to pick on instead?

It was at the tender age of 9, while staying in range of Steven, that an event – one that would teach me a lesson I would never forget – occurred at recess. The school bully, Calvin Coolidge, decided he’d gather a group of boys, including Steven and me, to play a game of circle. It was a pretty simple game. Everyone stood in a circle and, at the whistle, all tried to push one another out. The last one left (usually Calvin) was the winner and dubbed the “boss” of the playground.

I was usually one of the first kids to hit the asphalt outside the circle, and this day was no different. Steven, on the other hand, found a nice position in the center where he stood, immobile and terrified with his arms crossed hoping nobody would notice him. The game progressed quickly. Many scrapes and bruises later, everyone found themselves looking in from the outside of the circle. Everyone, that is, except Steven and the meanest, toughest, most freakishly over-developed boy in the school, Calvin.

In kid terms, Calvin was out for blood. He circled Steven, looking him up and down as he panted, sweat dripping off his face.

“You’re next fatty,” Calvin repeatedly said. “Are you ready for the pain?” Steven steadied himself. “Here it comes,” shouted Calvin. Calvin charged at Steven, bounced off of him and hit the ground as if he were made of rubber. Steven didn’t budge – not even an inch.

This is when something strange began to happen. We all realized that Calvin may have met his match. He continued to try to push Steven out of the circle, but, still, Steven would not budge. My classmates began chanting: “Steven! Steven! Steven!” It was then Steven opened his eyes for the first time since the beginning of the game. As he looked out over the crowd – a sea of kids and a nun – that had gathered to watch and cheer him on, the look of fear quickly switched to that of confusion before slowly shifting to one of confidence. Steven crouched, placing one hand to the ground, faced Calvin, charged and knocked him out of the circle with force. He was victorious.

Steven was the hero of the day, the “circle king,” the center of attention, and stood taller than I’d ever seen him. Actually, we both stood a little taller that day. And although Steven eventually went back to being the “fat kid” others would pick on, he no longer cowered. He faced his tormenters, perhaps not with the dramatic flair he displayed that afternoon in the circle, but enough to where his days at school became much more bearable. I still hung out with Steven at the playground, not because I feared Calvin, but because I respected Steven.

You never know where inspiration will come from. And you never really know what is possible until you muster up the courage to face challenges or people who torment you. Now, whenever I’m faced with a situation that may feel impossible or intimidating, I face those fears and think of Steven and Calvin. I knock the problem out of that circle because that circle is mine.

Alex Raffi is a partner and the creative director for Imagine Marketing.
Contact Alex at araffi@imnv.com

Eliciting response

My entire profession revolves around one goal: eliciting a response from people. If I do it correctly, and that’s what I’m paid to do, the response I receive is the one I wanted – whether it’s the public responding to an advertising message or a news article, or two of my contacts responding well to meeting one another and discovering how they can create a new and fruitful professional relationship together.

Any way you have it, my job requires me to be an expert in ensuring people, many times perfect strangers, answer my calls or make time to meet with me so I can get my message across on behalf of my clients. And you know, after 10 years, I do pretty well at it. Or, at least other people think I do, which is why I’m writing this blog. (Really, someone asked me to write this blog.)

There’s no “trade secret” to how I get things done, but there are a few rules I employ each and every day when it comes to doing business. Perhaps these tips will help you as well.

First, answer the “what’s in it for them” question before you contact a person you plan to ask a favor or make a request from. Nearly everyone you know, or don’t know, will respond more favorably to your requests if you start by telling them why they should care about your needs. It doesn’t need to be a hard sell – just a note to start your conversation.

Second, be clear and brief when making your request. This one’s important to me. Let’s talk e-mail first. Whatever the matter is, make it a self imposed rule that you do not make others dig through 5-6 “pages” of e-mails to figure out what it is you’re asking them for. Why? Recipients don’t enjoy reading them and, to be perfectly blunt, they often figure that if you, the sender, are too “lazy” to craft a brief message that gets right to the point that it’s also highly likely you won’t respect their time responding to your request. Essentially, don’t be a pain in the you-know-what if you’re asking someone else to give you a helping hand.

My No. 1 pet peeve is professionals who send “see below” e-mails asking me to sift through 20 back-and-forth e-mail conversations just to learn a simple fact that could have been stated quickly to get things moving ahead.

Now, imagine the recipient’s reaction when he/she is faced with having to sort through loads of e-mails to respond to a simple request … or a favor? (Not good.) This is a small (yet very large) issue many professionals can improve upon in order to elicit more favorable and quicker responses and, as a result, improve their results. Additionally, many professionals read e-mails from their smart phones, which often do not easily display long e-mails. This means an even longer wait time on your end if you’re seeking a response from a contact.

Part two: phone calls. No matter how passionate you are about your own needs and how much of a priority they are to you, do not leave convoluted voice messages that last more than 30 seconds or earmark them as a “high priority” or an “emergency” unless they are. (Same goes for e-mails.) Be concise, state your case, always leave your name, the time and date you called and repeat your phone number – slowly – two times at the end of the message. Respect their time by leaving a short message and don’t give your contacts an excuse for not responding to your call.

Third, say “please,” “thank you” and while you do it, briefly remind people again why they are responding to your need. These little words work like magic. Also, reminding people about how and why they’re responding to you maintains focus on your specific needs and shows them that action and results are being accomplished, thereby eliciting a stronger response and helping you to develop a better working relationship with new contacts.

These are a few basic, easy-to-use tactics that have aided me in moving efforts along in a quick and straightforward manner over the years. I hope you find these few tips to be as helpful as I have.

I invite you to share your own tips with us.

Amber Stidham is the director of strategic planning at Imagine Marketing.
Contact Amber at astidham@imnv.com