Great Marketing Makes You Lose Your Natural Mind
Next weekend (August 7-9) in Tulsa is a tax-free shopping weekend, something “they” do every year in August, just before school starts again. In the 20 minutes I stood in line at the bank (don’t EVEN get me started about that!) I heard no less than 5 people comment about the upcoming shopping event.
I don’t get it.
But then…a mall is about the last place I’d go voluntarily.
What intrigues me, though, is that 3 of the people also mentioned they’d been “saving up” to do all their back-to-school shopping that weekend. Saving up? For an 8.5% sale? You’re kidding me, right?
Oh, no. These people were not kidding. They were dead serious. Why?
Great marketing. Seriously.
You see, if all the local stores were to advertise the fact that you’ll save 8.5% during this event, no one would be all that impressed. I mean, really…would you actually “save up” for an 8.5% sale?
Like adding insult to injury, we’re all kind of stuck going back-to-school shopping in one form or another. Most of our kids have grown since school let out, and we can’t send them back naked. Then there are the school supplies, the back packs, the endless list of must-haves that gets longer each year. So yeah, we’re kinda strapped in…feeling stuck…forced to spend money, which feels really bad if you don’t have it sticking out your ears.
Someone, somewhere, in a brilliant flash of insight, realized that suspending the sales tax for a short period would go a long way toward easing the pain of parting with our money by focusing our attention on the freedom from taxes, which feels really good.
I got a postcard in the mail Saturday from a school uniform shop touting a tax-free WEEK at their store. Oh yeah, baby – and I quote:
“The tax-free weekend is officially August 7-9, but we will be extending these savings to our customers for the entire week!”
So, of course, they’re the best place to buy your kid’s school uniforms because they are freeing you from taxes all. week. long.
Get it? It’s not the piddly 8.5% sale that had those people at the bank all excited. It was the freedom from the bondage and tyranny of taxes! And that feels really good – particularly in a down economy. It’s the Boston Tea Party all over again! Woo-hoo!
There will be (the retailers hope) a lot of happy shoppers in the stores on the weekend with their “saved up” funds flowing freely, shopping like they’ve lost their natural minds. And I guarantee you it won’t be the 8 1/2 cents they’re saving on every dollar that lured them there.
So how can you divert your customers’ attention from the money you want them to spend with you (that they think they don’t have or don’t want to part with because doing so feels really bad) and focus it, instead, on a way or a reason to spend money with you that makes them feel really good?
I’m interested to hear your ideas, because, at the end of the day, making the sale is hardly ever about the money.
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August 1st, 2009 9:15 am
A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more. Really enjoy your blog. Thanks
August 1st, 2009 10:32 am
It’s tax-free weekend here in Atlanta right now. And yes, I’ve had the same thoughts — wow, what a marketing savvy message: A “Stick it to the man,” kind of message.
Sometimes I watch infomercials, just to study the sales & marketing technique. I lock my credit card away, because inevitably, by the end of the infomercial, I’ve just GOT to have that juicer!!!!!! LOL. But some tips I’ve picked up that can be used in a wonderfully authentic way, include:
- genuine testimonials from happy customers
- being very detailed about what you are selling
- focusing on the pain vs. pleasure principle
- a deadline for the offer
Those can be incorporated into your marketing without the yelling, weird soft back lighting or incessant repetition of a 1-800 number.
There’s a middle way.
Great post, Suzanne! I’m gonna go RT it! And… can’t wait for Camp next week!
Martha
August 1st, 2009 6:10 pm
Martha,
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who watches infomercials to learn from them! I’ll bet you – like I – also see TV commercials, radio spots and all kinds of other advertising through that marketing lens, as well.
It’s funny to me, because back in my “former life as a corporate programmer/analyst”, I worked for a paper products distribution company. I worked there 10 years, and by about the 2nd year, every styrofoam cup put in my hands at a restaurant or fast food place got held up in the air so I could read what the brand name was on the bottom of the cup and every public restroom was inspected to see what brand of toilet paper and paper towels were used. I haven’t worked for that company in over 15 years, and I STILL catch myself checking out the cups, TP and paper towels when I’m out in the world. Weird…I know.
But you make a great point – there IS a middle way, and the tips you list are a great start toward it. Thanks for piping up!
Suzanne
P.S. I’m with you – I can’t wait for camp, either! It’s gonna be fun!
October 2nd, 2009 7:10 am
For me 8.5% is not a very big amount but yes if a week that is tax free for shopping then that will be a real help.I can wait for that week for my yearly purchases.But i have never heard of it so i missed it this year hopefully i will be able to get the news earlier next year.Thanks for letting me know.