Spring Shopping

Marketing Lesson of The Week

► Keep Your Marketing Promotions Separate

Promotions are one of the 4Ps of Marketing for a reason. They enable you to create excitement around your offering and get people to buy. When combined with your pricing strategy, they lure prospects, customers and others to buy.

BUT, your promotion must stand out from other events and offerings. Otherwise you’ve wasted an opportunity to attract new prospects. Even worse, you can hurt your sales and profits.

The other day I went shopping at a few stores. I still like the experience of going into a store to see what they have to offer instead of shopping online.

When I walked into a well known retailer, I was greeted by a mix of Easter and Mother’s Day products. Like two siblings fighting for my attention, they were mixed together in the prime promotional area near the entrance.

While many marketers create promotions around Easter and Mother’s Day, take care to only run one promotion at a time.

Actionable Marketing Lesson

• When holidays that change dates like Easter fall close to another promotion, shorten the timing of each promotion. Additionally, assess the impact that this may have on your product buying since you may not have enough time to promote the remaining product due to other promotions.

This year, families are expected to spend $169.79 on average for Easter. [Source: NRF 2022]

Actionable Marketing Tip

• Move your Mother’s Day promotions off of selling areas until after Easter. This includes store windows and emailings.

Social Scene

► Are You At Risk For A LinkedIn Penalty?

As marketers, we try to get every last drop of marketing mileage we can across social media platforms and other channels.

But, take care when crafting your LinkedIn Profile. My colleague, Jo Saunders, learned this the hard way during a training demonstration!

In Jo’s words:

“LINKEDIN WARNING // Pimping your name comes with [a] penalty.

[D]on’t follow bad advice [by adding] extra stuff to your name field to stand out, it can result in an account restriction,

To understand what to do, compare Jo’s “Jo Saunders – Keep It Clean” name field on the Facebook post with “Jo Saunders” name field on the changed LinkedIn Profile.

Content Communicates

► Why Consistency Is at The Heart of Content Success

While it’s easier than ever to turn out more and more content through the use of AI-powered tools, if your content isn’t tailored or relevant, it doesn’t build relationships with your audience.

You make an implicit promise with your audience when you commit to create a regular newsletter, podcast or video.

You promise to show up and share the best content you can create. And it must feel like you wrote it specifically for them.

Use AI-driven tools to help gather and edit your content, but the finished product must sound like YOU wrote it.

Your commitment matters whether you write for 10 people or 1,000 or 100,000.

Your audience expects to get your communication on the schedule you set.

Weekly content scheduling is the best since your audience can find time to read or hear your message. Go more than a couple of weeks between messages and your audience may not remember you.

Actionable Content Marketing Tip

Have a backup plan. Among your options are:

• Keep a spare letter ready
• Have planned vacations – for example The Economist takes off 2 weeks every year and The New Yorker has special issues.
• Write a shorter piece. Combine it with regular features and curated content.

New York City Marketing Minute

► Your Marketing Depends On Your Employees

I acquired my current pair of Lowa hiking boots as hand-me-downs from my husband. They were too narrow for him and my current pair had worn out. These are my third pair of hiking boots I’ve “bought” since 1997. All three pairs were Lowa branded and purchased from Paragon Sports.

Since my husband and I are headed to the Grand Canyon, I returned to Paragon to buy another pair of the same brand boots. I did no research or price comparisons beforehand.

Why?
Because Lowa boots last a long time, so the annual cost is lower than buying cheaper hiking boots.

One of my friends who regularly goes hiking and outback trekking told me that I could buy cheaper boots.

As I explained to her, in 25 years, I’ve gone through 3 pairs of boots. Each pair was equally worn out because I wear them all winter long. They work better than any other footwear on icy New York City sidewalks and streets.

At Paragon, I went straight to the Lowa shoes.

David, our salesperson, was impressed. Lowa boots are high-end both in quality and price. Most shoppers start with cheaper models.

Lowa was the only brand I tried on. After an hour of working with David and exchanging shoe tips with other customers, I decided on which size to buy.

Good salespeople are hard to hire in New York City. Online ordering and the pandemic have reduced foot traffic and cut into commissions.

Still, you’ll find people like David in stores that treat their employees well.

Bottom line:

• I trust the brand and the product; and
• I trust the store and the salespeople.

Actionable Marketing Tip

• Hire carefully and treat your employees well.

Marketing Reads

► 20+ Tips to Reduce Blog Risk: Don’t Put All of Your Eggs in One
Basket

Happy Easter!

Celebrate with these 20+ tips to improve your blog. Also, it’s a great example of how to create useful content aligned with holidays.

In honor of those of you who celebrate Passover, here’s a spin on how to improve your content marketing:

► Content Marketing Plan: How To Create A Strategy That Will Make You Stand
Out

Now that we’ve completed 1Q2022, it’s a good time to reassess your content marketing plan to ensure that it is on track to succeed this year.

At the same time, it’s useful to re-examine your editorial calendar.

► Woot! Heidi Cohen was featured in Boomcycle’s post, Top 50 Content Marketing Influencers You Need To Know

Marketing Training

► How To Be A Content Entrepreneur?

Learn from leading content entrepreneur, Joe Pulizzi, and his team at The Tilt.

New Course: Exploring Web 3.0 

Use code:  heidi25  for $25 off

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► Personal Branding Masterclass

Create your powerful personal brand with expert Mark W. Schaefer

August 2nd through August 18th, 2022

Plan Ahead: Mark Your Calendar

► Project Voice – April 25–28th, Chattanooga, TN

The #1, in-person event for voice tech and conversational AI in America returns. Register Now!

► The 2022 Creator Economy Expo (aka: CEX) – May 2–4th, Phoenix, AZ

By Creators for Creators: Join 500+ fellow creators to explore the latest strategies, tactics, and tools — plus make valuable connections — for achieving big success as a new breed of content entrepreneur.

♦ ♦  Special AMG reader discount: Get $150 off — Use code: AMGCEX  ♦ ♦

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