Retailers Get Creative with Catalogues

posted by Anna Fleet on July 20th, 2010

Small and medium businesses feel the pressure of the recession more than larger retailers. But if you run a smaller retail shop, you might have taken cue from many of the larger retailers who put their funky print catalogue campaigns on hold this year due to spending cuts and to achieve that green-friendly image that so many customers appeal to.

“But [catalogues] aren’t disappearing, they’re adjusting,” says Catalogs.com founder Leslie Linevsky in an article from USA Today on large retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Barney’s, Sears, J.C. Penney, and watch company Fossil and their creative catalogue campaigns. These retailers aren’t abandoning catalogue campaigns; they’re just scaling back on the number of print they mail out—and using more memorable campaigns to drive traffic to their websites.

Take Abercrombie & Fitch’s controversial A&F Quarterly Saturday for example. The retailer decided to launch a funky issue this year after a seven-year hiatus—despite the cuts to spending. The reasoning: to drive traffic to their website and Facebook page.

Creative director, Barneys New York, Simon Doonan says that print catalogues from large retailers are specifically “being aimed at young audiences in order to get them interacting with stores.” Stores like Barneys are making their catalogues more creative—even 3D—with the hopes of making direct-mail pieces more impactful and relevant to younger audiences. And it’s working, or so Doonan says, “The generation that shops at [Barney’s] is having fun with 3D…it resonates with the store’s audience.”

Tags: 3d catalogues, ambercrombie and fitch catalogues, barneys catalogues, catalogue campaigns, direct mail tips for small business, sears catalogues, web marketing tips
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How to Create Lion Meat Burger Viral Marketing

posted by Anna Fleet on June 29th, 2010

This morning, as I did my rounds on Twitter, Facebook and Google News, I was instantly taken aback by a lion meat burger.

A lion meat burger?

What the heck is a lion meat burger ?

Gasp! Huff! Gasp!

It’s exactly what it sounds like. And the Phoenix Small Business Examiner jumped on the lion meat burger news after Phoenix-area restaurant, Il Vinaio, announced they were adding this controversial meat on a bun to their menu (in case you’re curious—it’s legal, not that it has me craving lion at the moment, actually quite the opposite).

So what exactly does this mean for the local restaurant Il Vinaioi? It means a ton of online attention in the form of viral marketing—that’s what!

Positive and negative reactions (such as mine) have put this restaurant in the spotlight (news wires, blogs and social networking sites) all over the web because of the controversial menu item.

So small business take a cue from the story of the lion meat burger. A little controversy can be a good thing…especially when it increases your web presence and gets people talking about you.

By the way…I checked the Il Vinaio menu and there was no lion burger in sight.

Tags: blogging for small business, lion meat burger, small business web strategy, viral marketing tips, web marketing tips
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Why is Blogging Frequency Important?

posted by Anna Fleet on June 24th, 2010

Yesterday we took a good look at the age-old blog question—does blogging frequency or the quality of posts matter more? And the Google experts at Google Webmaster Central weighed in.

I thought it was all said and done. However, this morning, I found A Simple Blogging Formula c/o Chris Brogan, the owner of New Marketing Labs and chrisbrogan.com.

Now Chris is someone who blogs daily and pretty successful (I might add)—he draws approximately 50K readers who subscribe to his RSS blog feed daily. Chris favors the side of blog post frequency over quality posts, but as a side note he does claims that he thinks of way more valuable and relevant ideas to write about than he has time for…which should be the case if you’re passionate about your blog focus or have expertise in the field or industry you’re promoting!

So Chris Brogan’s formula for blogging is definitely worth checking out if you’re considering starting a blog for your small business or non-profit.

Tags: blog formula, blog strategy, blogging tips, chris brogan, Google blog tips, social media strategy, social networking tips, web marketing tips
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