A New School Year Brings In Creative Marketing Techniques

How can your business take advantage of the new school year? Even Fuddruckers, a popular hamburger restaurant, has capitalized on the "back to school" mentality, sending out emails to subscribers reminding them that Fuddruckers should be on their supplies list.

I just started my final year of college, which makes these sort of campaigns fresh on my mind. I've always been the student who gets excited about buying things for school, and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. So, take advantage of the young person's need for supplies.

The Container Store has Back to School and Dorm sections on its website, and the Dorm section includes a video featuring a college student's dorm room full of Container Store products. The student tells the viewer that it's parent's weekend and she has had to clean up to impress her parents, so she went to The Container Store. The store's site also includes a dorm catalogue.

My favorite example of a great marketing method taking advantage of students returning to school comes from Walmart. Walmart created a project called Project Dream Dorm. The project has its own Youtube channel with a plugin that plays videos and displays pictures of and links to products that appear in the videos. Walmart found five college students, assigned design experts to each of them, and gave them an unlimited shopping spree in their local Walmart. The entire experience for each student was recorded and put on YouTube. Once back on Walmart's dorm website, the viewer finds attractive photos of products and an easily navigated menu to help him find what he's looking for.

How can you make your products visually appealing? What have you done to cater to students going back to school?

Dora Turns 10 - Marketing Lessons From Successful Children's TV Shows

I've never been a fan of Dora the Explorer, but somehow she's managed to last for 10 years now. And, much to the chagrin of those of us 10 years older, she has not aged a day. In fact, she's much the same little hispanic girl that she was when she first premiered on Nickelodeon. So what has kept her going? What makes a children's show like Dora the Explorer or Barney the dinosaur so popular?

In the case of Dora, I think there are several reasons for her popularity that we can observe and learn from:

1. She's cute, she has cute animal friends, and she sings catchy songs. Never underestimate the power of a catchy tune.
2. She interacts with her viewers. Kids like to talk to characters on the screen; it's part of the learning process. When Dora asks what she needs out of her backpack, the child can yell with pride and excitement, "Flash light!" And when Spiper comes around, kids can learn a lesson about stealing and simultaneous have fun yelling, "Swiper, no swiping!" Marketers can learn a thing or two from this interaction, because adults like to interact, too, especially in an age of Facebook and MySpace. Find ways to interact with your customer, and they'll come to you.
3. She teaches her viewers in a fun way. You, too, can teach your customers without pushing your business or product. Social media provides the means to interact with customers and give them what they want. Blogging, for example, is a great way to talk about things relevant to your product, but not about your product. With links to your website, you can draw customers in without ever pushing yourself on your customer. So, find a new and fun way to teach your customers.
4. She knows her audience. Dora the Explorer caters to hispanic children looking for a more diverse show, but it also caters to a more white audience looking for a way to teach their children Spanish. At the same time, Dora doesn't over-emphasize Spanish, so sensitive parents won't mind the show. What is your audience like and how can you cater to them without pushing your product?
5. Lastly, she knows how to put herself out there. Her marketers have found a variety of ways to put her face on various products from backpacks to notebooks to cups to tooth brushes. Once your business is out there, you can find ways to keep it out there by putting your product on other products and selling them. What are some other products you can use to put yourself in the public sphere?

I may not be a fan of Dora the Explorer (I never grew out of Barney or Blue's Clues), but I respect the way her marketers have used different methods to keep her popular. After 10 years, she's still going strong, and she's reinvented herself by adding new characters like Diego.

How can you reinvent yourself to make yourself attractive?

What are you doing to stay strong? What have you observed from successful TV shows?

Create an Event, Attract Customers

A college acquaintance of mine is marketing a game called "Keep It Real." She arranged for it to be a part of a special event at Borders (happening tonight). I thought I'd share the event with you to spark a few ideas.

"Do You Have Game," the event taking place at the Borders in Columbus Circle, will feature a night of fun and games, games like "Keep It Real."

In your marketing, try to think of a creative event like this one, an event that can take place at a recognizable location and can involve something that will attract customers, such as a free product demonstration. In this case, anyone who goes to the well-known, well-placed Borders in Columbus Circle in NYC can play the game "Keep It Real" for free.

And always remember to put your event out for everyone to see. My friend put the game night on Facebook as an event and invited her many friends. She also created a video ad and put it on YouTube.

What are you doing to give customers a fun time? What kind of events do you plan for your business? Is it appropriate and useful to give away free products or to allow customers to experiment with products?

A Lesson From Disney: When a Customer Doesn't Like a Rule, Turn It Around

When you live in SoCal, have a Disneyland season pass, and go to Disneyland as often as I do, you begin to notice things. You might have just read that book about all the hidden Mickeys, or you might just be an observant person. Either way, you notice things. For example, you might notice that Disney does not sell gum at its parks.

I'd imagine Disney's customers would not be too happy if Disney made a no bubble gum rule, a rule that would likely be impossible to enforce. So, instead of making its customers irritated, Disneyland Resort turned it around into an implied rule instead of a stated rule. Disney does not sell gum in its parks, but it doesn't make it illegal either. This keeps customers happy. It keeps the park clean, but allows customers, hopefully the more responsible customers, to bring their own gum.

How do you keep your customers happy? What do you do to sweeten the seemingly negative things?

Using Documentary to Make Your Business Stand Out

It's amazing how many people prefer video over text these days, and that's something to take advantage of. I've done behind the scenes videos for a theater company and a trailer for a book, and I recently came across another great use of video: a mini documentary.

David Meerman Scott used a documentary to promote his book, "Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead," and wrote a post about branding a business through video on his blog.

The great thing about his suggestion is that it allows a business to reach out to customers who enjoy video and to tell them a memorable story. People love to learn new things, and a documentary gives them things to learn. Even the person who's not a big fan of video may be more intrigued by a documentary that feels more familiar; It's like watching something on television.

People also love a good story that makes them feel good or makes them feel attached to the people in the story. A good story gives the customer something to relate to. Combine the story with content the customer can learn from, and the customer will be thrilled and intrigued, far more intrigued by the documentary than by an advertisement.