Advertising

Using Business Cards Differently for Non-Profits

Posted at April 20, 2011 // Advertising, Promotion, Strategy / Tactics, Web

Drawing on my previous experience with non-profit marketing, I found that the single most useful piece of marketing communication is a business card. However, I also see so many business cards done wrong. Why? Because they model it off of a corporate business cards, and that doesn’t really do justice to what business cards can do.

Why do corporations use business cards? Corporations don’t use business cards to market themselves. (Granted, everything does reinforce a brand. So, a natural company better have business cards printed on recycled paper.) At the core, corporations use business cards as a simple communication tool. They contain only the vital information. Rarely do you see more than name and contact information. Sometimes, you may even see a corporate motto, but that’s pretty much the end of it.

However, for non-profits, you don’t have the luxury to use a business card so simply. You have to make every piece work doubly hard for you. I would recommend the following layout:

Front: Basic logo, name, and contact information. This is the typical business card, including information like website addresses for your organization.

Back: Give one piece of trivia that would really get people excited, and the next time they could get involved. This gives them the reminder to follow up when they get home. Following up on the Complete Streets example gave earlier this week, one could easily put a trivia “Did you know” on the back. In addition, perhaps they meet on a monthly basis every Thursday. Use this business card as an invite. Or, if you print business cards locally in a simple printer (on-demand printing vs. printing by the thousands), I would suggest putting upcoming events. Use the business cards as an invitation to the events. You’d always have business cards with you, and this may be your most powerful marketing tool for your non-profit.

This worked well for me in the past. What do you think? Would it work for you?

Photo credit: Jim Larson

Quick Response… Slow in the West

Posted at March 31, 2011 // Advertising, Web

Wrapping up on the series on what we have learned thus far from the Japanese, honoring their thought leadership in the world of marketing, branding, and business. With hope, prayers, and donations, Japan will be back of her feet soon, and her people go back to a routine life of simply marketing, branding, and business.

A series on what Japan had contributed to marketing has to include Quick Response. Quick Response is better known by its short-form: QR code. It’s a barcode that can be read by readers, such as camera phones. General embedded in these codes are links to the web for more information. It was originally created by a Toyota subsidiary in 1994, and nowadays found everywhere in Japan. You can find these codes on tissue packs, flyers, chopstick wrappers, practically everywhere.

Japanese consume technology at a much faster rate than Westerners. QR code adoption is still low in the US. However, we are seeing more of them. We are beginning to see them on packaging, in-store signage, print ads, and even TV commercials. However, if the popularity of QR code in Japan is any indication of future adoption of this technology here in the West, the potential appears to be limitless!

To help the Japanese people who’s still struggling with the aftermath of the earthquake, consider making a donating from the following links. Thank you.
【Amazon.com】【Google Checkout】【American Red Cross】【International Medical Corps】【AmeriCares】 【Paypal】 【causes.com】

Photo Credit: Divergence

What does the future hold for QR (Quick Response) codes? (marcommics.wordpress.com)
Using QR codes (elkrapidslive.wordpress.com)
QR codes make your shopping experience interactive at Home Depot (jennstrathman.com)

Tags : QR

End of demographics targeting

Posted at March 19, 2011 // Advertising, Strategy / Tactics, Web

As marketers, we had long talked about demographics being somewhat limited as a mean of targeting. Two 25-32 males with 75 – 100K income in urban markets can still have vastly different buying habits. Perhaps one chooses to spend all his money on dining out while the other chooses to spend all his money on travelling to the country side. And well, apparently neither is spending on tech gadgets, which may have been what a marketer was trying to sell.

So, a few decades ago, marketers came up with the idea of psychographic. We want to target based on how they think and behave. However, traditional media still had a hard time bringing this idea into fruition. We can buy print ad on tech magazines, but really only the REALLY tech-savvy guys would have a subscription to tech magazines. That seems somewhat limited, and doesn’t help to grow the market…

In comes social media and the digital revolution. On digital and social space, it’s far easier to track what conversations you’re having. It’s easier to track what websites you’re going to. It’s easier to track what are you “liking” on Facebook. It’s a whole new world of targeting. As social media advertising is in its infancy, so is the concept of applying psychographic onto the social media space. But the potential is here. So, it’d be exciting to see how we can realize the potential.

This post is inspired by this TEDWomen presentation by Johanna Blakley, the Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center (a media-focused think tank at the University of Southern California):