When one is traveling for business, it's as if the Blue Fairy has come along, swept you out of your life and into some alternate reality where there is nothing but overcrowded airports, bad coffee, flight attendants who snap at you like you're five, and hotel rooms with broken thermostats. In the meantime, life...your life, the life that you left behind...goes on without you. And when the traveling is done, and the Blue Fairy drops you on your ass back into your actual reality, you feel a bit disoriented.
Thus is my rationale for recycling this post. It's time to get back to work children. See you next time with something new!
Lately, I’ve found myself lingering in the Back to School department at Target, longing for the days of new lunch boxes and a 64-pack of Crayola crayons, remembering what it was like to get new clothes and shoes and have my mom take my picture clutching my new Big Chief Tablet right before I stepped onto the bus. Just because that was a million years ago (sometime during the Johnson administration as a matter of fact--yes, I am THAT old) doesn’t mean we can’t still focus on learning.
Here’s your next batch of DIY marketing vocab. Take notes. There just might be a pop quiz later:
Direct Marketing—Seems pretty self-explanatory, but can encompass many things, including Direct Mail. In a nutshell, Direct Marketing targets a very specific audience. Instead of taking a shotgun approach and mailing out your brochure to everyone in the United States, you build a profile of your target market (determined by demographics and psychographics) and tailor your message or offer directly to them.
For example, you want to make sure that if you’re selling genuine fur-lined computer monitors, you’re only marketing to those folks who would have a use for that sort of thing. My guess is no one from PETA should be on your list.
Direct Response is much the same as Direct Marketing/Direct Mail, except that your marketing piece includes a means for the potential customer to respond to you, either via coupon, mail back request for additional information, or order form.
Eighty-Twenty Rule—Also known as Pareto’s Principle, the 80/20 rule states that 20% of your customers are responsible for 80% of your revenue. As such, it’s important to identify that 20% and make sure you’re managing those accounts closely. Now that doesn’t mean that it’s okay to treat that other 80% like redheaded stepchildren. On the contrary, all your prospective and existing customers should get as much “love” as you can give them. It’s just that that 20% is likely your bread and butter—treat them well and they’ll continue to keep you in business.
Full Position—This is really a newspaper term, (“What? What’s a newspaper?”) but can still be applicable if you’re utilizing ad space online or even in your local shopper, small town news or a newsletter in which you’ve purchased ad space. Essentially, it’s the most effective placement for your ad because your ad is completely surrounded by an actual news article, making it highly likely that the reader will peruse your message while they’re busily reading the surrounding article.
That’s all for today kids, this being the first day of school and all. Be prepared for more info to come! Class dismissed.
