On Saturday I discussed the marketing in the Muppets revival and today I want to look at using Occasion Marketing just like the big retailers have been doing throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you look over the trends you willl see that Toys R Us is one of those retailers capitalizing on the growing trend to get buyers to continue to buy long after the Thanks-Giving holiday.
Toys R Us’s use of Cyber Monday is one example of how you can use ‘Occasions’ to effectively market. Not only have Toys R Us really got to grips with the power of social media, creating excitement around the holiday season and offering deals on Twitter and having a virtual flyer on a Facebook page.
It is not accident that Toys R Us is one of the biggest rising brands online right now and this has in part been due to the effective trick of utilizing occasion-marketing and that’s why Cyber Monday is being used right now to help retailers make additional bucks. And lets think about that for a second. Cyber Monday has actually only been around for a handful of years so its a completely made-up but highly successful event in the retail world.
So think about the kind of events/occasions you could use in your own marketing efforts. Maybe you could make the most of the next Cyber Monday. I know I received a few emails today from marketers telling me about some of the offers they had on certain affiliate products and there is no reason why you shouldn’t capatalize on the occasions as well.
Just think about the large marketing campaigns that happen around Christmas, Valentines Day, Thanks Giving, Easter. And it doesn’t even have to be a time of the year, it could be the Olympics or Oscars or pretty much anything. Using an occasion-marketing strategy allows you to know well in advance what you want to do, so you can plan everything meticulously.
Occasion marketing works because people tend to buy more when it resonates with something they are already psychologically predisposed to and related to. I don’t know why it works, it just does and retailers are very clever at making us part with our money. You can also be very clever about how you market your own products and services.
Obviously try to make your occasion marketing congruent to what you are selling because not all occasions are going to be relevant to your business and products. Typically cyclical occasions are more effective than unplanned occasions and the great thing is once you have experienced a good campaign you can build on it have successful events year on year.
Why not have a go at creating your next occasion-marketing event around one of your products or services.
To Your Success
November 29th, 2011 at 4:37 am
Hey Beth,
Excellent reminder of a great marketing tactic that most internet marketers miss completely, … I’m one of them!
I will be sure to pay more attention to this little gem in the coming weeks as Christmas and New Years fast approach!
Thanks for sharing Beth,
Kevin
Kevin DeRoo@kevinderoo.com´s last [type] ..Video Marketing – Making it Picture Perfect
[Reply]
November 29th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Hey Beth,
We used to call it Event Marketing back in the day, only without the integration of social media and other web 2.0 applications. It’s amazing how we can take an old marketing strategy, combine it with new trends in technology and social media to create a whole new marketing tactic.
Now that Cyber Monday has proven to be effective to a lot of retailers, I’m sure this is just the beginning of great marketing trend.
Excellent post. I will keep this in mind when I do a promo during an occasion or event.
Thank you for sharing.
Chris Kelly
Chris@edgesocialmedia.co.uk
[Reply]
bethhewitt80 Reply:
November 29th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
Glad you liked the post Chris, feel free to connect with me anytime. I assume you are in the UK
[Reply]
November 29th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
I completely agree with you Beth. In my 2012 plan I have carefully included a type of event marketing, where people can relate easily. Thanks for the additional tips.
[Reply]
bethhewitt80 Reply:
November 30th, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Your Welcome,
Beth
[Reply]
November 30th, 2011 at 12:04 am
I’m not into marketing myself, but it was so interesting to see the angles which retailers use to part us from our money. I think it’s true with anything in life: When you see that big wave coming, you need to be prepared to ride it!
Great post, Beth!
Blessings!
Martha Orlando´s last [type] .."He Sees You When You’re Sleeping, He Knows When You’re Awake . . ."
[Reply]
November 30th, 2011 at 5:00 am
Hey Beth,
This is really exciting particularly since it is uncommon here in Germany so it offers me the opportunity to introduce this in my area. Cyber Monday can be used for so many reasons and now close to Christmas seasons it is an opportunity to reach yet another target audience. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Elizabeth´s last [type] ..Are You A Network Marketer?
[Reply]
November 30th, 2011 at 5:13 am
Hey Beth! I actually have an ebook available on this because it’s such an important and under used technique! In fact, you don’t even need a “real” holiday. Plenty of occassional marketing happens “because it’s my wife’s birthday”, or “because the IRS wants more money” or “because its THAT time of year again” or “Because the Cardinals won the World Series”… etc… people LOVE an excuse to celebrate or focus on an event. Major brands understand this but smaller businesses rarely make good use of this technique. Great reminder to take advantage of this technique!
Kim
Kimberly Castleberry @ WordPress & Facebook Marketing´s last [type] ..American Based Businesses Beware!
[Reply]
November 30th, 2011 at 11:48 am
Thanks for an informative post Beth. It’s quite interesting.
Mary Hudak-Colllins´s last [type] ..Pretzel Jello Dessert
[Reply]
November 30th, 2011 at 11:37 pm
Hello Beth,
This is just so much information to remember! lol
In the same breath, what you have provided is very beneficial to the online marketer. I appreciate what you have discovered and sharing it with us:)
Thank you
Eldridge DuFauchard´s last [type] ..Remember the Thoughts You Had Right Before You Got on a Rollercoaster?
[Reply]
bethhewitt80 Reply:
November 30th, 2011 at 11:56 pm
Thanks Eldridge,
I will try less information next time
Beth
[Reply]