All the best,

Ron Gross

Download Free Calendar 

Happy holidays everyone and let’s make our dreams come true in2012!

Ron Gross

RG Creative Consulting

 Get With a Plan

First thing you just need to do is rethink your marketing plan. Ask yourself this: Are your current marketing efforts working for you? Do you have a mission statement? Has it changed? Is your marketing reflecting your goals? You might want to start by writing or re-writing your mission statement because all your marketing communications should flow from this, then revisit your marketing plan and change it if necessary.

Become Flexible and Expand

Since the marketplace changes all the time, especially in a recession (people’s money values change), your business should change with it. You might want to consider adding more services/products or alter what you currently offer to better fit your customer’s spending habits (such as a value package). Look for a need and fulfill it and if something is not working, change it.

Be Direct

When every penny counts you’re going to want to know how well those pennies are working for you. Direct marketing is the way to go because it is measurable, you can actually see your rate of return. With traditional print, TV and radio advertising, you just don’t know what your incoming numbers are. I’m not saying that these types of advertising can’t be effective but when the economy is in a slump you want to be able to see the results – stick with direct marketing for now.

Clip on the Dotted Line

Couponing may seem old fashioned but I assure you, it is alive and well. Consumers save about $2.6 billion annually using manufacturers’ coupons when shopping for packaged products. The poor economy is spurring shoppers to clip and save and many are looking to the Internet for savings. Over 36 million people turned to the web for coupons last year. That’s market share you can’t afford to pass up.

Share The Expense

If you can’t afford to take on the brunt of a marketing campaign, go dutch. Find a company with a product or service that compliments yours and implement a cross marketing campaign together. It’s a win-win situation and it’s a great way to reach a new customer base.

Customers are Key

During a recession, a lot of your marketing should be geared toward the retention of your existing customers. Keep the customers you have happy and keep them coming back. One way of doing this is by implementing a loyalty program. This is a type of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) campaign that rewards and encourages loyal buying behavior, such as a supermarket savings card or a points program. You can then use the data you collected to address the needs or behaviors of your customers with future targeted communications.

Providing customers with valuable information like whitepapers or an informative newsletter is another CRM tool that is a cost effective way to strengthen your customer base and brand.

Go Forth and Prosper

These are just a few tips on ways you can improve your sales and marketing in a tough economy. If you want to here more or are ready to make some marketing changes to your business, give RG Creative Consulting a call at 512-917-1963 or visit us at rgcrc.com.

This is why I don’t work at an agency anymore and work as a consultant. I don’t get to work with “difficult” clients anymore and guys with sock garters! Thanks Pauly for posting this on your Facebook page.

Here is an interview with Ron Gross, Owner of RG Creative Consulting. Mickey Peavler of ATX Architects talks to Ron about art and creative marketing. To check out more interviews with Austin’s creative talent check out the the iTunes ATXA podcast site.

Sucked into Shopping

Retail Tricks to Get You to Buy

In these challenging economic times, retailers more than ever are using every trick in the book to get people to buy and there are plenty of tricks in the book. Most of the time consumers are unaware of these tactics and end up getting duped into buying stuff without even realizing it. For instance, have you ever run into a store to buy milk but ended up with a handful of extra items you weren’t planning on buying in the first place? Well, there’s a reason for that and we’re going to let you in on a few secrets of the trade.

Location, Location, Location

Remember that milk you went in to buy; milk is the item most people need when they go to the supermarket, so they place it at the back of the store. Therefore, you have to weave in and out of the store bypassing display after display of enticing products, like chocolate chip cookies (which happens to go great with milk), to get it. Grocery stores aren’t the only ones that employ this tactic, clothing and department stores do it as well. Usually clearance racks and low priced items are placed in the back to get customers to traverse through the higher priced items first. Fitting and dressing rooms are also located in the back of stores, keeping shoppers immersed in merchandise for as long as possible.

Time is of the Essence

It has been said that the longer you stay in a store, the more likely you are to spend. Statistically, a person who spends 40 minutes in a store, compared to someone who spends 10 minutes, is more than twice as likely to buy something (H.B. Maynard & Co.).

The entrance to a store is also known as the transition zone, which is used to acclimate people from the hustle and bustle of the outside world, to a slower and more focused shopping experience (note there are very few windows in a retail environment). It all starts with a greeter at the door welcoming customers in with a big friendly smile as they hand them a shopping cart. Soothing music fills the air along with familiar and pleasant smells (more on this later) and consumers are led down the yellow brick road of retail temptation. Okay it’s not yellow or brick, but if you look closely, retail stores have a very definitive path they want you to follow, it is generally the lines between the linoleum tile and the carpeting (carpeted areas are used to slow shoppers down and are usually where higher priced items are located). Ikea has arrows on the floor leading customers through their store.

Got to Hand it to You

Most retailers will veer store traffic toward the right. Why is this? Because, most people are right-handed and without even realizing it they will turn in that direction. Smart retailers place their best bargains to the right of the transition zone, enticing customers to start shopping right away (once they buy one thing, they are more likely to buy something else).

Also usually positioned to the right are carts and baskets, which shoppers tend to fill. Retailers are making their carts and aisles bigger so customers will buy more stuff – bigger basket, bigger profit. Retailers have started to hand out carts and baskets because the chances of multiple purchases are greater; most people are usually embarrassed to go through the checkout with one item in their basket.

Note: items that have the highest profit margin (items that stores want you to buy) are placed between the knee and shoulder of the height of an average consumer, so they can grab them easier. Products that kids are drawn to are usually placed lower at their eye level. Coincidence? No such thing in retail.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

I’m not sure if we are all inherently vain but when we see a mirror, we tend to stop in front of it. Retailers often use mirrors to slow down traffic in strategic locations throughout their stores. Major clothing stores have been known to place altered mirrors in dressing rooms making the potential buyer look thinner. Now, the mirrors we don’t often see are the security mirrors, (Usually located on columns and in the corners of stores) and even if we do see them we don’t think much of them. These mirrors are not only used by security but by the sales force as well. Sales associates are trained to use these mirrors to watch customer behavior and make sales attempts according to them. Beware of the innocent “can I help you” line, most likely they have been watching.

The Smell of Consumerism

The sense of smell is one of the strongest senses of the human body and is linked to memory and emotions. Retailers use this fact to their advantage. When was the last time you went to a movie theater without buying popcorn? Car dealers have known this for years and have been spraying their cars with scented sprays to create that “new car smell”. Grocery stores and supermarkets also know about the power of smell and usually have their bakery located by the front entrance of the store to make customers hungry and hungry shoppers buy more. Some have gone to such lengths as releasing the smell of baked goods into the store giving the illusion that the bakery is baking “fresh” bread. Even baby boutiques are getting in on the olfactory factor and have added baby powder into the air conditioning to trigger a baby impulse.

The End of the Line

Have you ever been to a store where there is 20 checkout counters and only one or two are open? Stores make people wait online on purpose. They want them to buy those last few items (batteries, candy, lip gloss, magazines, cigarettes, etc.) before they checkout. Adding another $10 onto a bill may not seem like a lot but those little items add up; convenient stores are built on this premise.

Don’t Play by their Rules

Now that you know a few things about the retail game, it’s time to play by your own rules. Here are a few things you can do to avoid being sucked in:

1. Write a list of items you need (this pertains to ANY store) and stick to the list.
2. If it’s only a few things you need, skip the basket and cart all together.
3. Don’t take samples. If it’s not on your list don’t touch it, taste it or smell it.
4. Don’t go food shopping when you’re hungry, eat before you go.
5. Go shopping by yourself if you can, then no one can influence you into buying something you don’t need – kids are notorious for this.
5a. If you have to take the kids shopping with you, make a game out it. Have them find all the tricks in the store – it keeps them occupied, sharpens their senses and makes them better shoppers.
6. Shop from the back of a store to the front, the least expensive merchandise is always located in the back.
7. Check the unit price (usually found on the shelf’s price label in very, very small type) of an item before you buy it, because sometimes a different size container or a generic brand will be a better deal than a sales price item.
8. If the store is out of stock of a sales item, don’t be afraid to go up to the service desk and ask for a rain check. They have to make good on their promises.
9. Try to avoid asking a SALES associate for help, you may end with more than you came in for.
10. Just by being aware of the tricks that retailers use, you are more likely to see through the illusions and less likely to succumb to them.

This short film is called “historia de un LETRERO” which translates from Italian to English “The Story of a Sign”. Spending 15 plus years as a copywriter, I never get bored watching this.