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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Are You a "Copy Cat" Advertiser


Quit copying me or I'm going to tell on you! Ok, now that you are in touch with you inner child, let's chat about how un-clever most advertising really is these days.

Recently, in my mailbox I received a coupon pack from a company that specializes in sending coupons to consumers - I won't say who, but their name rhymes with "Zal-Pak". Normally, the whole pack finds its way to the garbage, but since consumers are responding more to coupons these days (and, let's face it I'm also a consumer) I decided to look at the offers.




This brought in multiple-personalities (no comments please) as I looked through the pile:
1. A consumer
2. A business owner
3. A consultant.


As a consumer, I felt overwhelmed. As a business owner, I chuckled and as a consultant I laughed out loud (figuratively). Why?

I counted 5-6 coupons from competing companies (in several industries - auto service, house cleaning, pizza).

As a consumer I looked for the best deal and discarded the rest. As a business owner, I thought of how horrible it is to commoditize my business down to the lowest common denominator (price) and would have been quite upset with the advertising person as my coupons are up against my competition...IN THE SAME MAILER!

As a consultant, I'm continually surprised at how companies continue to "copy" their competitor's advertising and expect to grow their market share.

"Copy Cat Advertising" only commodifies your products & services to price-only considerations.

It is time to think outside of the mailbox and get smart about how you communicate with your customers.

But how? Here's a couple of steps:


Need help? Yes, we can help. Don't need help but have worthy commentary? We'd love to hear it!




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