I work with gift cards. We are trying to prove the “incrementality” of our business. There is, of course, an ability to measure sales uplift–that being the amount spent above the funds on the card which equates to about 35% more than the baseline value. I maintain there are greater incremental sales gained from gift cards but don’t know how to measure. This would be the revenues we wouldn’t have otherwise gained from having the program. I think it is a fairly high incidence. Any ideas on how to measure or compute? Many thanks for your ideas.

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Jay’s Answer: You can also track: time from purchase to redemption (one of the hidden benefits to gift cards is not all the people who receive them ever use them), number of visits required to use up a card, cards with outstanding balances (people may not bother keeping cards with under $5 on them, for example), and interest (potentially) earned from having people prepay for cards.

Hi, I am embarrassed to say that I am a marketing professional but now that I have started my own business I have been very challenged with coming up with creative marketing strategy (website omitted).

I am really interested in word of mouth marketing and shoe string marketing for my beaded handbag business. I believe the competitive advantage of my products are that they are beaded by hand, very unique, and affordable. Do you have any creative marketing ideas on a start-up budget?

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Jay’s Answer: A few of comments about your website:

1. Your website is classy looking, but your pictures don’t allow me to see the bags. A close-up of the bag with better contrast between the background and it would be great.
2. I would prefer to see fewer pictures on the home page and better crafted copy. I don’t want to check back often - let me sign up and you email ME. I want to know about the materials, the exclusivity, the quality, how beautiful having the bag will make me feel.
3. Your catalog should provide dimensions of the bags as well as let me see if there are pockets, etc. There should be a PayPal button next to each purchase to allow me to buy it NOW.

For a start-up budget, you have a lot of choices.

• The social networking (Facebook, etc.) environment would be a natural.
• Write to various purse blogs (ex: http://www.purseblog.com/) about your new styles.
• If you have a friend who can shoot digital video, a 30 second piece showing a pretty woman holding & using a pretty bag. Place the videos on the various video sharing sites (Google Videos, YouTube, etc.).
• Advertise your bag on Craigslist.

Our bidets fit on any existing toilet and can dramatically reduce the need for toilet paper. I have approached hospitals, nursing homes, decorative plumbing showrooms, and contractors with little success. Our sales are abysmal. We have the best looking bidet out there our price is right in the middle compared to our competitors and still we are dragging. I have approached the medical field etc. We even have high rankings under all the major search engines. Please help!!!!!

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Jay’s Answer: If you have high search rankings, how’s your traffic? How many people search for bidet monthly?

A bidet is a product that’s ahead of its time in the US. Many people haven’t seen one, and few have used one. If they haven’t used it, odds are they won’t want one. Therefore, having people have the experience of using one would be ideal.

Start with a niche that needs your product: people suffering with hemorrhoids. A bidet is ideal for them. Start locally - your local proctologists, colon specialists, etc. Perhaps install one in their office bathrooms, etc.

Which of the following strategies is better for improving retail sales $;
A: take my best offer- 40% everything and run it the duration of my entire weekend sale
B: Take my best offer- 40% of everything and make it good only during my historical slow periods, Fridays, 8a-1p.

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Jay’s Answer: I’d pick choice "C": Do something dramatic. During the time period of your sale, your customer picks the discount by spinning a wheel, picking a piece of paper, popping a balloon, etc. The catch is that one of the random options is 100% off, the majority being 10%, and scattered other discounts. Take a picture of the 100% winner and put it in your window, ads, etc.

Long term, this isn’t a good strategy, though. You don’t want people getting trained to come in only for a discount, nor do you want to be known for low prices. You want to be known for quality, unique goods, etc. Short-term, it might be what you need to clear out older goods and generate some cash for your business.

I have owned a very successful furniture showroom in New York City (NYC) for almost 10 years and would like some ideas to increase my business. NYC has become a very tough and competive environment for high end furniture venues. Rents just have climbed to astromical levels and I need to increase traffic! I think that the NYC housing market at the median level is in big trouble. Any information on how we can increase our business would be greatly appreciated. We are not a chain store so we have to be frugal.

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Jay’s Answer: The obvious questions are: What makes the furniture you sell unique (or is it available at other stores in NYC)? How can you justify the "high-end" label/price for it? You mention competition - are other stores having similar problems (i.e., is there a glut of stores) or is the problem specific to your business? Who is your target customer (age, demographic, etc.)?

Obvious suggestions include: contacting (by phone, email, mail) your previous customers. Based on what they purchased before, tell them something that might be of interest to them now. The holidays are coming up - think entertaining. Do they need a new sofa? bed? Invite the furniture maker (if they’re local) to present at a show - invite the public to your art/furniture show, serving wine & hors d’oeuvres. Co-market with art galleries, jewelry designers, clothes boutiques.

If you’re feeling the pinch from Ikea - then you need to advertise why it’s worth paying $$ for products from your store instead of Ikea.

I’m working on a paper that recommends how to make a home service product “greener”. Any ideas?

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“Green” is often-used and poorly-defined term these days in advertising. To me is means that the life cycle of the product has less impact on the planet than other similar products. This could mean that: the packaging is using recycled (or easily recyclable) materials, ingredients that have few/no known negative side-effects, low embodied energy (didn’t take a lot of resources to produce it), disposing of the product has little (or no) impact (ex: it can be safely composted), or its manufacturer is utilizing better harvest techniques (ex: managed forests).

To make a product green, study its competitors and its life-cycle.

I am designing my own line of apparel and bags. How do I get high end department stores to carry my line? I am not sure where to start. What are the procedures and who do I need to contact.? I am brand new to this idea…so please be as specific as possible.

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Make friends with a local high-end store’s buyer. Find out how they choose their goods, when they choose them, where they find them, and manufacturers they enjoy working with. The more background information you get the better the plan you can create.

Test market your products at craft fairs. What is the reaction to your goods? Play with pricing to see what the market will bear. What are people looking for? Is what you’re designing that unique that you can build a brand, or would it be better to license it to another company and let them market it, and you focus on the design.

One of my friends is working as marketing trainee in a company manufacturing water filters. As a trainee, she is working on devising new promotion strategies to promote the brand and giving training to the sales and distributors team. How she should start her work in the field of marketing for a water filter brand (used in households) and what could be other ways to keep distributors happy about the product? Of course, the ultimate aim is to get more sales and give quality to consumer.

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Start with the product itself. Is it a top product compared to its competition? What makes the product unique in the marketplace - size? availability? pore size? independent water tasting results? installation ease?

Next, who are you targeting? Home owners? College students? Day care? Gyms? [you mentioned households, but that's not specific enough]

Once you’ve positioned the product with the proper marketing message, then share it with the teams. Help them to focus on the message clearly, sharing the benefits, clearly highlighting a comparison between other choices the consumer has. Focus on the key points: taste and safety.

You want the consumer to feel that buying your friend’s product is the obvious choice for their family. The distributors could focus on school PTAs (perhaps having the children sell them as a fund-raiser), health fairs, health clubs, and gyms.

I have recently joined in marketing department of a company which is into manufacture of cement. The brand is good but is a bit more costly as compared to the brands of other competitors. It is justified by the good quality our cement have. But what is the best way to send this message to the consumers through our communications? And what promotions could be run to support the brand?

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What specifically does an improved quality of the cement mean? Durable? Less likely to crack? More/Less flyash?

You need to highlight the key benefit(s) to the consumers. For example, if the cement is more durable, that would translate into stronger, more lasting foundations (that won’t need to be replaced as often). Perhaps it’s able to withstand acid rain, etc.

If it’s less likely to crack, then it’s great for both interiors (where a large surface area is hard to create) as well as for earthquake prone areas.

The flyash content would make it more eco-friendly.

The key is to identify what the consumer cares about for cement in general, and therefore highlight the benefit (especially when you have to get over the price concern).

I’m looking for some ideas for my denim line. The line designs jeans for women with large hips and a small waist. The jeans and pants have a unique sizing to provide an absolute fit for the contoured body.

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Hip Huggers

Lover’s Hand

Hip Fit