At the beginning of any client/customer relationship a potential buyer has no idea that you even exist — they are Unaware. This state of unawareness marks the first of five steps in The Buying Continuum, and is arguably the most difficult to overcome. Why? Because you must rise above the noise of every other business (competitor or not) that is … Read More
Prankvertising: Will everyone see the funny side?
Telekinesis, Meteors and “Push to add Drama”… You may have heard about a video in which patrons of a New York coffee shop witness a woman seemingly hoist a man up into the air using telekinesis. “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise” is a stunt that promoted the release of the feature film Carrie, and has racked up nearly 62 million views on … Read More
Those Little Tikes: What WeBuyAnyToyCar teaches us about responsive marketing
Yesterday, WeBuyAnyCar.com, the used car website, demonstrated excellence in timely and authentic responsive marketing. At the weekend twitterer Jamie Jones (@jamieDMJ) (and, as it turned out, aka Adam Jennings) tweeted a photo of a letter purported to be from WeBuyAnyCar in which the company declined to buy his “Little Tikes” toy car. The letter turned out to be fake, but … Read More
How the chain came off Surbiton Cycles’ recent ad campaign
Surbiton Cycles — Ad Campaign Analysis We’ve previously written about how Evans Cycles effectively targeted their audience through clever placement and timing of their advertising — their flyers hooked to the handlebars of bikes in the racks outside Waterloo station was a perfect example of “talking to your customers where they live”, and timed to coincide with the beginning of Spring … Read More
Want to engage your prospects? Tell them a story
How often have you visited a company’s website to read something like “we go the extra mile”, “we give one hundred and ten percent”, or “our product is best in class”? I’ve lost track of the number of companies that make those kind of statements on the homepage, but offer nothing to back them up. All the statements about service, … Read More
Evans Cycles — talking to customers where they live
Yesterday I joined the thousands dotted along the route of the London Marathon to cheer on a couple of friends as they participated in the 26.2 mile race (congratulations Chris and Shareef). On my way home I spotted a neat little bit of guerrilla advertising at Waterloo Station. Evans Cycles, a well-known chain of bicycle shops here in London, had … Read More
Topless bartenders and false advertising
I never ceased to be surprised and impressed by the inventive and fun ways that small businesses find to market their services and products. Take, for example, this simple chalk board sign I came across on the wall of a pub in Kingston upon Thames. False, but amusing, advertising. It was probably no coincidence that it was April 1st when … Read More
Online marketing and the power of a good story
A little while ago I was grabbing some lunch from the Marks and Spencer food hall near my office and noticed a series of four in-store advertising posters stretching along the wall. Each of the posters drew attention to one food product type and one M&S producer/supplier of that product. One poster featured John Mearns, a pig farmer from Oxfordshire, … Read More
