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McCurry Associates Marketing Idea Exchange Archives
Volume 16 - August 15, 2002
Idea #1 -
Feedback on Bill McCurry's Note on Privacy:
Ken Sutton, K. Ellis Photocenter - North Dartmouth, MA -
I cannot agree more with Bill's advice
to SHRED everything. We have 0 (zero) customer's loose prints hanging around. We
once were accused of "Keeping" a customer's print. Another bonus of a
shredder is refused prints. Any customer who refuses prints, we shred them right
in front of them! Customer says, "I don't want that print, I'm not going to
pay for it." We ask, "Are you sure?" If we get an affirmative
answer, into the shredder.
Also, a tip from a recent Kodak Small Business Seminar.
Printed price tags on merchandise. We used to have handwritten price tags on our
Merchandise. That was easy, especially with used gear which constantly changes.
Seems silly, but sales of used equipment went up substantially right after we
put computer printed tags. Yes, it could be just a coincidence.
Idea #2 -
Making an Idea Better, Making More Money
Brian Noble, Noble's - Hingham, MA - (www.noblescamera.com)
This idea originated from Gary Grinaker,
The Photo Express, Bismark, ND. It was taken from him by Michael St Germain of
Concord Camera, Concord, NH who made some changes to it. I took it from Michael
and made additional changes.
Editor's note: so you can see Gary's/Michael's/Brian's work,
Chris Lydle has posted it for us at http://www.photoimagenews.com/NoblesPassportInformation.pdf
The concept is to give the travel agent a pre-built brochure
that answers their customers' questions about getting a passport. The brochure
states that for passport pictures, "Noble's makes the passport photo
experience the easiest and quickest on the South Shore." Noble's locations
are on the back, along with a coupon for Noble's quality finishing which is
imprinted with the travel agency's name. This gives the travel agency a bigger
motivation to hand these out and helps Noble's track where they come from.
Editors Note: You'll also see information on
borrowing a lead lined bag for your film while traveling. An interesting
concept. The customer comes in, buys the film from you to pick up the bag then
returns the bag while dropping off the rolls for finishing. The bag acts as the
magnet to bring them to your store with the exposed film.
Idea #3 -
Notes from Bill McCurry
1. It's off the topic of marketing, but
you need to know. Current news media reports are telling your employees that
their employer may not be computing their overtime correctly. Recent court
decisions have almost universally gone against management in determining if
employees are eligible for overtime. The most significant case is Radio Shack in
California who must pay $29.9 million plus penalties for "manager's
overtime" since the court held they weren't acting as true
"managers" but really as "salespeople". The Pepsi case in
New Jersey is estimated to cost $100+ million
Suggestion is to read the article http://www.c-n.com/news/c-n/story/0,2111,601409,00.html
then review your employee policies with your local counsel.
2. Now a marketing idea - Many have asked when PMA or some
other industry group is going to start promoting photography like the "Got
Milk?" program. That's way beyond PMA's current resources and nobody's
coming forward to write a check. However, there is someone who is promoting
photography today! That's your local mail man. The USPS recently released new
37cent stamps featuring the black and white work of "20 of our country's
most influential photographers." Send someone to your local post office and
buy lots of these stamps and start using them immediately. Why? Two important
benefits for you. First, they will get your mail seen as the images are unique.
Secondly, the post office tracks stamp sales by subject. If this proves to be a
"best seller" then future photographic commemorative stamps could be
in our future. If there are poor sales, this could be the last series. Support
your industry and get your mail noticed in the bargain. Do it today!
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