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McCurry Associates Marketing Idea Exchange ArchivesVolume 12 - July 18, 2002
Idea #1 - Train your new customers while they are young Frank Ponder, Bel Air Camera, Los Angeles, CA (www.belaircamera.com) We just had a class of 20 3rd graders and their parents in the store for lunch, a tour and a lesson. About 3 weeks ago, we gave their teacher 5 Single use cameras, and she assigned groups to shoot photos of each other expressing an emotion. We developed the photos, and she had the kids create a collage on 12 x 18 poster board. They also wrote poems expressing these emotions (some of them were quite deep). We hung those boards in our gallery, which is next to the classroom. The kids came in at about 10:30am. We talked to them about the different types of cameras, composition, and then took some digital photos and showed them how we develop them in the lab. They had lunch and cake. They all knew our TV jingle, so we shot them singing our jingle doing our trade-mark Can Can in front of the store. We had 8 parents join us for the day, and I'm sure the residual results we get are well worth the cost of lunch, cameras, gifts, and processing we spent on the day.
Idea #2 - Creative Promotion for Word of Mouth with Photo Students Mike Rausch, Colonial Photo and Hobby, Orlando, FL www.colonialphotohobby.com We made a deal with Print File to buy a thin version of their file box. Print file has an abundance of them and made us a volume deal. We imprinted them with our name and use it as a give-a-way for students. When they start a new semester of photo classes, they come in with a buy list. New students, if they let us put them on our computer and they purchase $50.00 or more, get the Print File case for free. It has our logo for them to carry around and it makes other students ask about it. Free, word of mouth advertising and a great item. A $14.99 value! Our cost, approximately $4.00, with imprint
Idea #3 - Feedback on last week's ideas from IPI Convention Gary Grinaker, The Photo Express, Bismark, ND Liked the ideas posted in this edition. I'm also glad you also tackled the idea of pricing. Just in case you share the idea again and want to credit it, Jim Schwarzbach of El Paso Texas took our sales idea of the little locket prints and went further with it, creating a template that automatically sizes and adds some copy. I think he is under priced as we get $15 a sheet plus $10 each for inserting the pictures into the lockets. It's a great example of a new digital product with a large profit margin. Every year we send a letter to all the jewelry stores carrying lockets. It's easier for jewelers to sell a locket if the customer knows they can come to The Photo Express to get a photo resized to fit. We tried something new as one of our two promotional activities this month. I sent a card for a free additional set of prints to all our current customers as a thank you for their patronage this year. It seems to be generating good will. My goal is to get customers who have used our other services to try our D&P. (Editor's Note: That's the way marketing idea exchanges work - one person expands on the idea of another - Thanks to Gary and to Jim for this profitable new service and method of marketing it.) Instructions for locket action: SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION Editor's Note: We received the following note from David Guidry of Lakeside Camera and Imaging - a true genius in our industry. What you need to know is that the keynote speaker at this fun weekend in New Orleans is Bill McCurry. His topic is "Steps To Success" with the following sub topics:
Rumor has it that Bill McCurry will be updating the successful Guerrilla Marketing For The Imaging Industry published by PMA. We hear that Bill will reveal some of his research for the new book at this event . . . this is just an unconfirmed rumor but we believe it is from a "reliable" source. More information is available at www.pmai.org/new_pma/information/divisions/activities/0802_sc_meeting.htm David's letter follows: Hello Photo Industry Friends, Please consider this a personal invitation from Sherry and me (and Susan) to come down to New Orleans to eat and drink well, have a good time and oh yea, learn some good stuff that will make your business grow and prosper. I'm talking about the weekend of August 23, 24 and 25, 2002. This is the 2002PMA South Central Division Meeting and no divisional meeting is more fun. (This is my opinion but it's true!) An added attraction in New Orleans this year is the recent opening of a 2,800 square foot addition to Lakeside Camera & Imaging (my store). It's a state-of-the-art processing facility featuring digital labs from two manufacturers and it's the largest freestanding thermal foil radiant barrier structure in North America. Please come on down for a visit. While you're at it, bring someone special and pass this invitation on to someone else. The more folks we have, the better the idea exchange. For more information, please send me an email and I will send you a meeting agenda. Hope to see you in August. David Guidry
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