May. 6, 2009 at 12:03pm

Piggyback your way to results

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Advertising, Special Events
No comments

“Someone pushed it. We’re on our way.” Brilliant. And a timely lesson on my commute earlier today. I was looking at the back end of a Staples delivery truck featuring a large, red “Easy” button.

The truck graphics show two tried and true techniques for stretching a budget in good times and bad.

#1: Piggyback on what you’re already doing.
In your case, piggybacking may not be painting delivery trucks. But perhaps you’ve realized 3,000 friends were coming to your campus and not one thought to ask them for referrals. That’s the confession a client made recently during a lively discussion about opportunities to piggyback on a special event.

Overnight, our client created a promotional flyer to include in the packet each visitor received. She also wrote sales message into the emcee’s remarks and hung a banner on the outside of the building. She added to what she was already doing and reached prospects without spending a lot of money.

We brainstormed other ways to piggyback: refresh on-hold messages, post radio spots on the Web site, place brochures in the waiting area, put stickers on outgoing mail, script frontline staff. Not rocket science, but too often overlooked.

#2: Make it creative.
Remember the “rule” of direct mail that effectiveness is one part list, one part offer and one part creativity? Creativity is a magnifier. It can be the answer to how to do the same old thing and get a different result. I’m thinking of the creative quality of an ad, flyer or sign. Smart creativity multiplies effectiveness. It engages. It gets your message noticed and remembered. Like the “Easy” button.

Combining piggybacking and creativity is better yet. Sometimes it takes a truck to drive the message home.

Comments (0)

Add your comment below