September 23, 2007

I think billboards are a general waste of money, most especially for websites.

But I’ve had an interesting thought.

The Australian outdoor advertising market has been depressed lately. Because of this I’ve noticed that some billboards are staying up for a very long time. There’s one outside Caulfield station for the Melbourne Storm which has been up for a few years now.

There’s also a tram going around Melbourne with a fading ad for G Star, a clothing brand. Whole tram advertising is obviously not that popular, and rather than spending the money removing the ad Connex have just waited for new money to come along.

I can understand why some don’t like the idea of their ad fading and looking, well, crap. If you can find a billboard that is changed semi-regularly maybe you’d be on to something.

Vista Print have got to be one of the marketing phenomenons of the internet. You won’t read about them when you open up your newspaper tomorrow, and you’ll very rarely see them mentioned in any tech news, but these guys are THE dominant printing force on the internet.

Their promotional work is something that has to be seen to be believed. They offer all sorts of ‘pay shipping only’ products such as business cards and stickers.

What they’re now pushing is a postcard printing service. Postcards are a growing marketing phenomenon. They’re becoming popular because they’re visually memorable and it seems to have a subtle subconscious effect on people as well. The fact that they’re solid - not flimsy junk like catalogues - causes people to put higher value on them.

Their stock designs are quite frankly horrible and it’s something that Vista Print should really work on. If they released each product with stock designs that looked GOOD I think their business would double overnight. It doesn’t matter that the stock designs are no good though, as you are able to upload your own. Ordering in bulk makes it cheaper - 2500 for $210 is a good price.

They’re good for giving to current customers in a mail-out, dropping in a very targeted neighborhood or just giving to prospective clients at functions. I’ll probably make use of this sort of thing sometime soon as a lot of people are reporting good results. My mother (who lives in Sydney) reports that Vista Print has done a good job with her business cards, so I might just give this one a tinkle.

This is from Peter Aldin, a life-coach and someone who I esteem greatly. Great Circle specialises in helping people interact more effectively with the people they lead, with their families, with their colleagues and partners.

Knowing and doing are two different things.

E.g. You may know that fuel injected engines require your fuel level to stay above quarter tank. How often do you let the level dip below that?

E.g. You know men and women are different. How intentionally you act on the information?

E.g. And you probably know the basic premise of sales/marketing that says “discover your customers and then offer a way to relieve it.” But how are you acting on that premise?

People don’t part with their hard earned dollar for the hell of it or because they think you are funny or smart or smell nice. They will pay for goods and services that satisfy the need.

This need could be simple, subtle or serious.

Simple:

• I’m hungry, where can I eat?
• I need to dress–to–impress at my big job interview.
• I’m bored with the music I already own.

Subtle:

• I wish I could get more done.
• I don’t feel at home in this job.
• People don’t seem to take me seriously.

Serious:

• My finances are a mess!
• My business partner and I are having more and more conflict. If this goes on, the whole thing could unravel.

 

And if you can find a way to uncover this and address it, then you will have gotten to first base. Once again, knowing and doing are different things. The next post will look at one way to do this in ordinary conversations with new contacts.