Fayetteville Marketing

Apr 16

Smith Advertising Scandal and Our Response

By adminNo Comments

All of Fayetteville received a black eye when the U.S. Secret Service raided the offices of Smith Advertising last month. We will leave it to others to do the reporting and investigating. http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120413/ARTICLE/120419784?p=1&tc=pg

Misuse of funds is far too common among advertising agencies. We still get calls from customers of a firm claiming to be Fayetteville Advertising that sold advertising to local merchants who have yet to receive it. There is only one Fayetteville Marketing registered in Cumberland County, the firm owned by this family and represented by this website.

As we did in through the 1990s in Victorville California under Dennis Galbraith Marketing Services, this company does not buy, sell, or resell advertising products. That is where advertising companies get in trouble. We provide a service to merchants, generally resulting in a high rate of return. When we recommend that a company purchase advertising or marketing products, we often arrange the terms of the agreement on behalf of the merchant, but that is where it stops. By insisting that our clients sign their own contracts and directly pay their own bills, we have avoided even the suspicion of impropriety since starting in the business 20 years ago.

Through our various companies, we have proudly served growing companies across the nation, including New York, California, Washington, Oregon, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia. We have never been under any investigation or received any legal complaints from any customers in any state. It’s not hard to do, it’s just a matter of doing the right thing in the right way.

Advertising, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Our Services

Jun 22

Where Are the Independent Retailers?

By adminNo Comments

Like any military community, retail sales are vital to Fayetteville. However, those retail sales mean even more to the community when they are made by independent retailers who keep reinvesting in the community. The unfortunate fact is Fayetteville is largely dominated by large corporate chains and franchise operations. That isn’t to say that the local Midas or Subway owner doesn’t reinvest in the community, but a big share of the profit stays with the franchisor in Illinois or Connecticut.

Fayetteville continues to grow, and with that economic growth will come an increasing number of chain restaurants and big-box retailers. Sadly, many independently owned businesses don’t live up to the service standards imposed by corporate headquarters. Fantastic retail opportunities remain in Fayetteville, but they must be met with a level of cleanliness, timeliness, and professionalism that is better than the corporate chains. They will always have the ability to buy at lower prices, independent businesses must best their corporate competitors with superior service.

Customer Service, Restaurants, Retail

May 05

Radio Advertising Can Still Work

By adminNo Comments

Lots of things have cut into the prominence of local radio stations: iPods and MP3 players, satellite radio, internet, and all the wonderful electronic games and activities that are an alternative to music listening. Nonetheless, radio can still be a cost-effective way of reaching potential customers in the Fayetteville market.

Radio is often called “theater of the mind,” and that is a very good way of thinking about it when considering whether you can use radio to communicate effectively. I’ve used radio in a way that people would swear they could feel the carpet we were selling. In another case, I supported a visual image of what their yard would look like with the children happily playing in it, if only they would apply for the home improvement loan product we were selling.

Think about your objective. Are you committed to a long-term branding campaign centered around a clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Are you promoting an event? Are you trying to reach decision makers directly or influencers?

Radio can be great for supporting events. We used radio to turn around the San Bernardino County Fair in California. When they brought us in, the organization was down to its last opportunity to turn earn sufficient income from the fair to remain open. We used school tours and direct marketing to churches to promote the wholesome and educational nature of the fair exhibits. Then we used radio to stimulate a dialog about the fair within groups of family and friends. We knew the fair was not an impulse purchase and not something people typically did alone. It would need to be something groups of people would discuss before doing together. The campaign worked, and the fair received record attendance that year and every year thereafter.

Radio still works, if you start with clear objectives and know how to make it work to achieve those objectives.

Advertising

Mar 29

CarMax Piloting “Easy Shop” in Fayetteville, and Local Businesses Should Take Notice

By Dennis GalbraithNo Comments

According to a CarMax press release issued March 28, the organization has chosen Fayetteville and Raleigh to pilot its new Easy Shop program. CarMax Easy Shop allows shoppers to complete more of the car buying process while online. This includes quick financing approval, service plan selection, test drive and appraisal scheduling, and the ability to hold a vehicle or transfer a vehicle from another store.

Fayetteville and Raleigh were chosen “due to a strong history with the community and existing consumer awareness levels.” In other words, this retailing giant knows the value of our market and knows shoppers here are internet savvy and time sensitive. CarMax is one of the most successful automotive retailers in the nation with stores in 27 states. They do their homework, and when they say Fayetteville consumers need more online shopping service for autos, you can be sure the same is true for other durable goods as well as home improvement services.

The Easy Shop program is ground breaking for business, but CarMax knows consumers are already there and waiting. First exposure in our community means Fayetteville customers will come to expect a higher level of online service and transparency even faster than the rest of the nation. If you have any questions about how your business can profit by better meeting the needs of local shoppers, give us a call at 910-339-9700.

Auto Sales, Customer Service, Internet Marketing, Marketing

Mar 17

Small Businesses Fight Back

By Dennis GalbraithNo Comments

Big-box retailers have gobbled up market share in cities like Fayetteville, but small businesses are fighting back. As consumers shop across various websites, applications, and stores, large retailers are having a difficult time keeping up. Typically, there is no one in the store who knows what their own company says about its products online, and the website typically does not provide enough information. Smaller business with more defined product lines have an opportunity to deliver superior service. This is true online, over the phone, and in the store.

Particularly when it comes to higher priced items, many shoppers are tired of making shopping decisions with incomplete information. When they can work with someone who knows their product line, they are more likely to purchase accessories and warranties. They are more likely to purchase premium goods and services. They are less likely to abandon their shopping process altogether.

You can’t control what your competitors do, but you can control how you treat your customers. If you and your employees treat customers the same way big-box retailers to, you will soon be out of business. If you provide premium service that can’t be found elsewhere, you’ll likely do just fine!

Customer Service

Mar 03

What FaceTime and Google Talk Mean to Fayetteville Businesses

By Dennis GalbraithNo Comments

Currently, customers have four options for migrating from interactions with businesses websites to interactions with a human at the place of business: chat, phone, email, and walking in. Most businesses in Fayetteville are behind in adopting chat and many lack email options as well. Video conversations through Apple’s FaceTime, Google’s Talk, and other video chat solutions offer a great deal of promise for a fifth method of migration, but this is not something most businesses absolutely need to adopt over the next six months.

Here is how the five methods of migration stack up in terms of communication and circumstance:

Video chat is the closest thing to having the customer in the store. It allows the sales person to better enhance preference for the product, the store, and themselves. Video chat will never fully replace chat, because it can only be performed where the shopper is comfortable talking. Currently, chat is not cannibalizing email – the other silent alternative – but eventually it will. Similarly, video chat will eventually cannibalize phone calls, but the immediate impact will simply be more customer contact with the business.

Some businesses selling expensive items to shoppers far away perform a video walk around using a video camera, posting the result to YouTube, and sending the shopper a link. Imagine the increased effectiveness of taking the shopper through the video walk around live! The shopper can ask questions and ask for specific demonstrations and close-ups. This will make it possible to move the shopper much closer to purchase and will increase the percentage of shoppers willing to commit to a deposit before seeing the product. This will be particularly useful for unique products like art work and fine jewelry. It can be useful for perishable products, like nursery plants and produce at the farmers market. It will also be useful for selling used products.

Some Fayetteville businesses have an opportunity to expand their business radius. For high-ticket items, many shoppers are traveling farther than ever before. A great website is the first step to attracting businesses from farther away, but you must be ready to converse with those shoppers in the manner of their choice. Chat and video chat will be very important for these businesses. For example, there currently is no chat option on FayettevilleMarketing.com, our local business. However, chat is very prominent on RevenueGuru.com, the website that promotes our national business.

FaceTime can only take place between two users of Apple FaceTime. Google’s Talk is much more versatile; however, the vast majority of shoppers are not using any form of video chat at this time. Those who are certainly don’t expect most businesses to be using it yet. The need to help shoppers migrate from websites to the store through video chat will become ubiquitous within a few years. For now, it is time to plan, prepare, and start experimenting with video chat.

Marketing, Selling, Uncategorized, Video Chat

Feb 23

What Mobile Means to Durable Goods Retailers in Fayetteville

By Dennis GalbraithNo Comments

Mobile phones are impacting durable goods retailers even faster than the internet did. It took some time before online shopping for high-ticket durable goods (autos, motorcycles, marine, appliances, flooring, window treatments, etc.) took hold across the majority of consumers. However, the impact of mobile phones is skyrocketing, and the full story has not yet been told. The complete answer to mobile is not just having a mobile capable website but having an alternative to mobile functionality built into the in-store shopping process.

Apple's iPad, your in-store answer to smart phones?

Just this week, Automotive News announced that AutoNation, by far America’s largest auto group, will provide information on competitor’s vehicles and price within the store. Using iPads loaded with inventory information from both AutoNation stores and competing stores, AutoNation will be providing the same level of market transparency within the store that shoppers already have on their computers and smart phones.

Whether you sell cars, motorcycles, ATVs, boats, trailers, RVs, or planes, shoppers already have information about your competitor’s products in their purse or pocket via smart phones. The question is whether you want shoppers running away from the salesperson to secretly check the information on their phone or work with your salesperson. This will dramatically change the sales process. By discovering the competitive options with a sales rep can point out differences in the offerings. Differences might include:

Difference in use: miles, hours, visible wear
Difference in certification or warranty
Different trim package
Different options

Of course, the sales person is going to highlight the importance of features his unit has that the competitors does not, and minimize the importance of features not found on his unit. However, this sort of service will ultimately enhance the retailer’s status as a trusted advisor. I suspect some shoppers will begin abandoning their online shopping earlier, knowing they can get the same information from within the store with no dirty looks or having to be secretive about looking for it on their smart phone. It’s really this simple: Shoppers in your store can have access to your competitors through the private use of their small screen or in conjunction with your salesperson on a larger screen. One or the other is going to happen, and latter is better for both parties.

When you think about the number of new people coming into the Fayetteville area each year and the complexity of getting around our community’s many winding roads, you begin to understand how important smart phones are to Fayetteville shopping. My friends at AutoNation have the resources to pioneer this sort of response, but local retailers must be ready to adapt quickly. Fayetteville Marketing is rapidly investigating cost effective alternatives for local retailers. Our community cannot be left behind when it comes to a complete solution to mobile marketing.

Auto Sales, Home Improvement, Mobile, Selling

Feb 16

You Can’t Have a Great Video without a Marketing Strategy

By Dennis GalbraithNo Comments

A number of local businesses are using video on their websites, and that’s fantastic. Video can lead more site visitors to call, chat, email, or come into your store. It can also aid your search engine optimization (where you show up on Google, Bing, and other search engines). However, people shopping for air conditioning don’t need to see video footage of penguins. They need to know why they should buy from you rather than moving on to your competitor, who is just two clicks away.

Companies like LocalEdge (owned by Hearst) produce a great deal of content for small businesses with little regard for what each company’s Unique Selling Proposition. I’m sure companies like this that offer stock footage and canned solutions are capable of better than what we are seeing in the Fayetteville market. Videos simply can’t meet a business’ marketing objective if the objective is not clearly stated.

Video Introducing EagleRider to Prospective Employees

Whether you choose a standard video or a more engaging interactive video, a script cannot be produced until the objectives are clearly established. Here is an example we produced recently for EagleRider, the world’s largest motorcycle rental and tours company. Their objective was to include the video URL in their employment ads in an effort to attract more caring and professional applicants to the firm. With the objective set, we were able to produce a video moves the target market into action.

Advertising, Interactive Video, Search Engine Optimization, Video

Feb 09

Matching Operations and Marketing

By Dennis GalbraithNo Comments

There is an old saying among advertising agencies, “Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.” If your ads are great but your products or services are not, a bad reputation is the immediate result. Often times we need to start with customer service training before we can execute an advertising campaign, but to do so otherwise can be worse than just a waste of money.

Your unique selling proposition should be the focus of all your branding advertising and be reinforced with your website and point of purchase marketing. One local organization that delivers a great product but fails to match their marketing to it is the FireAntz Hockey team. What a fantastic event! Okay, the team struggles a bit in the standings this year, but winning has never been the most important feature in minor-league sports.

The FireAntz games are loud and exciting. It’s high energy, and everyone there seems to love it that way. This is a great entertainment product. But the website has no audio except a link to a YouTube video that is buried under the “multimedia” tab. For crying out loud, this is a fine video that should be on the home page. The video is dated October 15, 2009 and has only been seen by 2196 people, yet the FireAntz have over 3700 fans on Facebook. Maybe it’s because there is no link to the video from the Facebook page. If your product is all about “Let’s make some noise!!!”, then your marketing needs to make some noise as well.

The FireAntz appear to be a fine organization, and one we are fortunate to have in the Fayetteville community. It’s easy to poke at any organization when it comes to misalignments between marketing and operations, even our own Fayetteville Marketing. That is precisely the point. We all need step aside from the day-to-day operations once in awhile and take a look at how our operations and marketing can be better aligned.

Marketing

Feb 02

Purolator Filters Achieves an Award All of Fayetteville Can Be Proud of and Go to Market With

By Dennis GalbraithNo Comments

According to ModernTireDealer.com, The Purolator Filters plant here in Fayetteville received the Toyota Gold Award. The award is for excellence in quality, technical development, program management, delivery, invoicing, marketing, and warranty. I know from my years as an executive at J.D. Power and Associates that Toyota is internationally renowned for their quality assurance and supplier relations. This makes the award particularly prestigious. Purolator Filters has now won the Toyota Gold Award 10 times, more than any other supplier!

The award is something everyone at the local plant should be proud of and all of us as a community can take pride in as well. The approach to quality exemplified by local Purolator Filter employees is reflective of many workers throughout the community. This example should be repeatedly mentioned in economic development materials and in the marketing materials of other local companies looking to sell outside of our community.

Our heartfelt thanks and congratulations go out to everyone responsible for bringing this positive recognition to our community. We know there is a great deal to be proud of here in Fayetteville, including our ability to work hard and work smart. Our friends and neighbors at Purolator Filter continue to bring home the documented awards that prove it to the world.

Advertising, Manufacturing, Promoting Quality