Personal selling is an effective way to manage customer relationships. Sales personnel act on behalf of the producer/manufacturer. These sales personnel tend to be well trained in the approaches and techniques of personal selling. However sales personnel can be very expensive and should only be used where there is a good return on investment.

Sales promotion on the other hand, tends to be thought of as being all promotions not including advertising, personal selling and public relations. Examples of sales promotion are BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free), couponing, dollars-off promotions, competitions, free accessories, introductory offers and other methods. Each sales promotion should be carefully compared with the next best alternative.

Public relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to start and maintain goodwill between an organization and its public. It is relatively inexpensive in comparison to other promotion methods, successful strategies tend to be long term and plan for all possible outcomes.

Direct mail is another element of promotion mix. It is very highly focused upon targeting consumers based on a database. The mail is sent out to potential consumers and responses are carefully monitored to maximize ROI (Return on Investment) both short and long term. One example is using subscribers to a Cat magazine would definitely be more likely to buy cat health insurance than non-cat owners.

Participating in Trade Fairs and Exhibitions are very good approaches for making new contracts and maintaining old ones. Companies will seldom sell much at these events, but it aims to increase awareness and to encourage trial of their products. Trade fairs and exhibits offer the opportunity for companies to meet with the distributors and end users.

Advertising is a paid for communication. Newspapers, magazines, journals, television, movies, radio and the internet are used to spread the information. The images, words and feelings help to develop attitudes, create awareness, and transmit information in order to gain a positive response from the target market.

Sponsorship is where an organization pays to be associated with a particular individual, event, cause or image. For example, ROLEX sponsoring the US OPEN or PEPSI sponsoring the SUPERBOWL. The target market relates the positive aspects of the sponsored individual/event to the sponsor. WARNING: Negative aspects can also be transferred, so choose wisely.

 Just like a cake mix, the ‘ingredients’ of the promotional mix are then integrated to form a unique but coherent campaign.

Promote Away,
Samuel Carrara

I am giving two seminars in December in Charlotte, North Carolina to help local business owners to get more leads and customers. If you are in the area, or can find a way to get there, come on by to help your business.

Come Think Outside The Box, for more information visit: http://www.localcharlotteleads.com

I’ll help you grow your business,
Sam Carrara

“Raining? On the weekend?! C’mon!” That’s what I thought when Typhoon Ondoy (International name: Ketsana) reached Manila. The sky was pitch dark and poured rain as if there was no tomorrow. I was really upset that day because weekends are used for quality family time usually spent outside the home. I wasn’t aware of what was happening beyond the four walls until the heavy rain turned into a drizzle. We looked outside and saw the flood water was about ankle-deep and thought to myself that it didn’t rain that much until my in-laws called for help. The home office, located at the basement was flooded! The water was knee deep and everybody was moving as fast as they could to save things from pieces of furniture to important documents. A line of bucket was formed from the nearest drain to the basement to drain the water faster. When a little sunshine peeped through the heavy clouds, we were realized that the storm was over – or so we thought.

Heavy rains came again but this time it was scary. The rain was pouring hard as if there was a flock of birds flapping their wings. The sound was deafening. The water rose faster, flooding our garage in a couple of minutes. We decided to evacuate the house when the water reached our foyer and seek refuge from my parent’s house located at a much higher place. I emailed everybody I know if they were affected by flooding and got instant messages that some of them are trapped on their rooftops and others trapped in their cars. Never had Manila been hit by such a devastation, people were unprepared for this degree of calamity.

Facebook.com and Twitter.com became the hotline for help and rescue in Manila. People sending out shout outs asking for help or telling people they are okay. These sites also became the channels for asking donations after the storm subsided. According to news reports, 80% of Manila was under (and some areas after two weeks from the storm are still flooded) flood water after the typhoon left. The President declared Manila and neighboring provinces in a state of calamity and rescue efforts were done as soon as the flood waters were still. Private corporations pitched in to help by giving out immediate relief effort such as food and clothing. The Army was deployed for rescue especially to hard hit areas such as Marikina, Cainta and Pasig. People from these areas sought shelter at public schools. Seeing them first hand was really heart breaking and grateful that we weren’t hit that hard. People lost loved ones and properties during this calamity. Babies were crying for food, old people were given immediate medicine due to some of them were soaked in water for hours. Most of them didn’t have time to save any of their property, all they have for now is the clothes on their back.

Because of the Internet, young Filipinos were the frontrunners in the relief efforts. Every Filipino I know has a cell phone and has at least the basic knowledge how the internet works. They gave time to volunteer and pooled money to buy food and other necessities for the affected families. Techie savvy people set up a Google document of a list where to donate money and drop off points for in kind donations. People where blogging about what damage they saw in their area and asking more people to help out. Filipinos leaving overseas also made donations in cash and in kind. This is what makes me proud to be Pinoy everybody helps out everybody in times of crisis. It doesn’t matter in what economic class you are, whenever you need help on something they won’t hesitate and won’t ask anything in return. They would even put a smile on their faces even if they are suffering.

This calamity brought a nation together, helping out one another without any expectation of any pay. Now that rehabilitation of the areas have started, I hope and pray that the spirit of reaching out and helping will continue until most of the affected families have settled.

If you would like to donate money to help in the area, Samaritan’s Purse is helping there:
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Giving/Project_Donations/

Thank you,
Samuel Carrara

There many factors that a manufacturer has to decide of what strategies it will use in placing its products. Will it use direct or indirect channels? Single or multiple channels? What type of intermediary will it use? How many intermediaries at each level to use? Which companies to use as intermediaries to avoid intrachannel conflict?

Marketing Mix- Place

Aside from the strategies to be used, the manufacturer will also have to consider some factors in choosing a distributor (intermediary). Such as the knowledge of the distributor of the target consumer and segment, the compatibility of the manufacturer and the distributor in terms of policies, strategies and image, the track record of the distributor and training and support the distributor will require.

There are many types of intermediaries such as wholesalers, agents, retailers, the Internet, overseas distributors, direct marketing (from manufacturer to user without an intermediary), and many others.  The wholesalers are the ones who break down ‘bulk’ into smaller packages for resale by a retailer. They buy from producers and resell to retailers. They take ownership to goods and provide storage facilities. The wholesaler will also often take on some of the marketing responsibilities.

On the other hand, the retailer has a much stronger personal relationship with the consumer. The retailer will hold several other brands and products and will often offer credit to the consumer. The retailer will also give the final selling price to the product.

Agents are another distribution channel. An agent will typically secure an order for a producer and will take a commission. They do not tend to take title to the goods. This means that capital is not tied up in goods. Agents can be very expensive to train. They are difficult to keep control of due to the physical distances involved, and can be difficult to motivate.

The Internet has a geographically diverse market. The main benefit of the Internet is that niche products reach a wider audience. Using e-Commerce technology provides easy payment and shopping. In today’s market, there is a paradigm shift in commerce and consumption which benefits distribution via the internet.

Determine the Place Where They Can Buy It,
Samuel Carrara

Although competing on price is as old as mankind, the consumer is often still sensitive for price discounts and special offers. Price has also an irrational side; something that is expensive must be good. Let’s discuss the four main policies or  strategies in putting a price on a product. Another important factor is that you want your customer to choose you based on value, let others race to the bottom in a price war.

PREMIUM PRICING
Use a high price when there is something unique about your product or service. This strategy is used where you have a substantial competitive advantage. Such high prices are charged for luxuries such as traveling in a private jet or taking a vacation at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

PENETRATION PRICING
The price charged for products and services is set artificially low in order to gain market share. Once this is achieved, the price is increased.

ECONOMY PRICING
This is a no frills low price. The cost of the marketing and manufacturing are kept at a minimum. Supermarkets often have economy brands for soaps, canned goods, etc.

PRICE SKIMMING
Charge a high price because you have a substantial competitive advantage. However, the advantage is not sustainable. The high price tends to attract new competitors into the market, and the price inevitably falls due to increased supply.  For example, a company introduced an environmentally sustainable plastic. The company will sell the plastic at a high price, for which other companies will eventually produce the plastic. By the time there are other companies producing the plastic, the original producer will decrease its price and others will eventually follow. This is also known as “stair step.”

Marketing Mix- Price

Determining a price for a product is not limited on those strategies alone. There are still other policies/strategies that can be used to price a product:

PSYCHOLOGICAL PRICING
This strategy is used when the marketer wants the consumer to respond on an emotional, rather than rational basis. For example, when a container of cleaning spray is priced at $2.99 rather than $3.00. The penny “lost” is made up quickly with volume as people see the two dollars and miss that it really is three dollars.

PRODUCT LINE PRICING
Where there is a range of products or services the pricing reflect the benefits of parts of the range. For example a beauty salon, a basic manicure could be $10.00, basic manicure with high-end nail polish $13.00 and basic manicure with hi-end nail polish and 15 minute hand massage $15.00.

OPTIONAL PRODUCT PRICING
Companies will attempt to increase the amount customers spend once they start to buy. Optional extras increase the overall price of the product or service. For example movie houses will charge for optional extras such as guaranteeing a seat of your choice. These “upsells” increase the total profit on the sale drastically as the initial sale already covered your fixed costs.

CAPTIVE PRODUCT PRICING
Where products have complements, companies will charge a premium price where the consumer is captured. For example Gillette will charge a low price for its MACH 3 starter packs and recoup its margin from the sale of the MACH 3 disposable blades (regular and Turbo).

PRODUCT BUNDLE PRICING
Here sellers combine several products in the same package. This also serves to move old stock. For example a supermarket can bundle a shampoo, conditioner and hair serum (old stock).

PROMOTIONAL PRICING
Pricing to promote a product is a very common strategy. For example a three pack of chocolate pudding Jell-O for $2.87, and then you will get a cup of their Cinnamon Roll Jell-O Pudding (new product) for free.

GEOGRAPHICAL PRICING
Geographical pricing is evident where there are variations in price in different parts of the world. For example strawberries when in season can cost $12.00 in California while when you buy the same strawberries in New York it will cost you $15.00. Cost differences can be attributed to affluence level of the customer, overhead costs, shipping, and may other factors.

VALUE PRICING
This strategy is used where external factors such as recession or increased competition force companies to provide “value” products and services to retain sales. A great example for this strategy is the value meals at McDonald’s. (Though the value meal now seems to eat more money out of your wallet than it used to.)

With so many ways to price your product or service, which would you choose? I suggest to differentiate yourself from your competition.

How Much Is It?
Samuel Carrara

Marketing Mix- Product

CORE PRODUCT is the BENEFIT of the product that makes it valuable to you. For example, when you buy a car, you can travel anywhere at your convenience. Your convenience of traveling anywhere and anytime you want is the BENEFIT of buying a car.

ACTUAL PRODUCT is the tangible physical product. The car that you bought is the ACTUAL PRODUCT. With leather seats, an iPOD dock, sun roof, 17 inch mag wheels, etc.

AUGMENTED PRODUCT is the non-physical part of the product. It usually consists of lots of added value, for which you may or may not pay a premium. Using the same product, the car dealership gives you an offer to finance the car by paying 10% down payment and the rest will be payable in 12 months with 0%. Or if you decide to pay the full price of the car, the dealership will give you a 25% discount on all repairs and services. The financing of the car and the discount on the repairs and the services are the augmented products which the buyer will not have to pay for it but an added value of the car.

Which of these benefits does your target market really care about? Have you asked them? Your important benefit and theirs may not align.

Understand Your Product,
Samuel Carrara

The Marketing Mix is probably the most famous marketing term. The term became popular after Neil H. Borden published his 1964 article, The Concept of the Marketing Mix. Borden began using the term in his teaching in the late 1940’s after James Culliton had described a marketing manager as a “mixer of ingredients.”

Marketing Mix Overview

The marketing mix set a set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that work together to achieve company’s objectives. These controllable tools are the four Ps of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. These four Ps are the parameters that the marketing manager can control, subject to the internal and external constraints of the marketing environment.

The goal is to make decisions that center the four Ps on the customers in the target market in order to create perceived value and generate a positive response. Think of it like baking a cake. Flour, eggs, sugar and butter are the ingredients for the cake. Mixing them with the right measurements will produce a not-too-sweet soft moist cake. But if you add more sugar or separate the egg whites and make soft peaks, the cake will turn out different – a sweeter and lighter cake.

Over the coming weeks I will go more in depth of each aspect of the Marketing Mix. I actually took a cake decorating class recently and have been experimenting with different cake icing flavors and what to decorate. Just when you think you have the “right” mix, your can add something different and see how your customer (target market) reacts to it. These split tests can help your marketing mix to better match your intended audience.

Marketing Mix It Up,
Samuel Carrara

Example Nike+ Pouch

Lately I have had to run farther than normal for the Nike+ to show I have run a 5K. After the first time I went to recalibrate the sensor, I thought I was okay. The next day I had a 5K race and at the end the Nike+ said only 4.2 kilometers, way too short. Then I remembered that my youngest child a few days ago said, “What’s this,” as she was taking the sensor out of the pouch. I checked the sensor after the race and found out it was upside down!

I placed the sensor right-side up. Then I went to recalibrate the Nike+ again, it worked correctly this time. So now I should be good for my runs for awhile. Recalibrating applies to business also.

Regardless of how large or small your business is, you need to occasionally need to recalibrate the business (systems, customer service, order process).

Why would you need to recalibrate?

• Brand image changed
• Better technology available
• Other new products you can cross-promote
• More employees so different communication needed
• As “copy-cats” abound, nichifying your products for the long-tail
• Many more reasons are possible.

Taking all of these new aspects in mind, do these Action Steps:

• Write down a brain storm of some changes that can be made to better meet the need of your target market.
• Then order these changes by complexity and time required.
• Immediately get the easiest three done to get some immediate impact for your company.
• Then make a plan to do one more change each week or month.

Recalibrating is not a one-time event, any time your business changes drastically it is good to examine the changes. Also an “Annual Checkup” helps to increase efficiency of the business. What can you improve right now?

Recalibrate,
Samuel Carrara

Product Life Cycle- Decline

You may also discontinue the product, liquidating remaining inventory or selling it to another firm that is willing to continue the product. Unit costs may increase with the declining production volumes and eventually no more profit can be made. There is intense price-cutting and many more products are withdrawn from the market. Profits can be improved by reducing marketing spend and cost cutting.

Every firm in the cosmetics industry has the similar product as yours. It has obtained some loyal customers thats why you have continued to produce the lipstick even though there is increase in production cost. Smoothe, another cosmetic company, is about to introduce an eye shadow-lipstick that changes color with a higher SPF and a moisturizer with Vitamin E.

Lipstick Tombstone- Death of a Product

There are three things you can do: 1) Continue to produce the lipstick for your loyal customers; 2) Add new features to the lipstick to rejuvenate it or 3) Sell the lipstick to another firm that will continue to produce it. What would you do?

Innovate or Die,
Samuel Carrara

p.s. The product doesn’t have to die, just be aware of what is going on and move faster than your competition. Or you may sell off that product line and go into something else just as the decline starts.

Product Life Cycle- Maturity

At this point, market saturation is reached and prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products. It is important to maintain or increase market share at this stage of the life cycle through brand differentiation and feature diversification (how can you be different in a way that the end use consumer cares). Maybe some features like this picture?

Lipstick with features of a Swiss Army Knife

Now, let’s use the same product from the last blog entry about Product Life Cycle: the lipstick that is both a moisturizer and sunscreen that changes color depending on the wearer’s body temperature. The lipstick is in every woman’s purse and becomes a household name.

All major cosmetic companies are about to start or have started to introduce similar lipsticks. And this has prompted you to further drop the price to keep your customers and attract even more. To keep customers loyal to your brand/product you add new features to the lipstick like being waterproof or bundling the lipstick with matching eye shadow or blush. Is all this enough?

Help Your Product Mature and Not Die,
Samuel Carrara

Product Life Cycle- Growth

Your advertising and distribution channels have paid off! More consumers are aware of your product in the market and competition is on the rise. Other manufacturers will think of a product that will compete with yours and this will result in a price decrease.

Lipstick with Sunscreen

Picture this, say you came up with a lipstick that is both a moisturizer and a sunscreen that changes color when you change body temperature – when you feel hot your lips will turn hot red and if you feel chilly it turns into neutral pink. You gave samples at Target, WalMart and other stores for customers to try. Anita Wantaproduct, editor-in-chief of American Fashion picked your product as the new “IT” thing of the season.

Because of the feature article in American Fashion, people will become aware about the lipstick and everybody (well at least the women) will want to have one or two for each purse. Lancome and Maybelline came out with a similar lipstick but in a different shade. This may prompt you to reduce your price from the original $10 each to $8.95.

What do you think will happen next? Will it continue to rise and be an item in every woman’s purse? Or will it be just another ordinary lipstick?

Grow Your Sales,
Samuel Carrara

p.s. I don’t think they should directly compete with the other products and lower their price, but that can be discussed later.

Product Life Cycle- Introduction

For product awareness to pick up, the manufacturer should advertise the product using print, video and audio advertising, along with multiple channels of distribution. They can also spread the word by giving out samples of the products (think of sample booths at Costco or Sam’s Club).

Also non-traditional methods of spreading the marketing message like social media (online videos, social bookmarks, community posting and many other ways) are more ways to help create product awareness. This is a crucial stage in the products “life” it can become the next Cherry Coke or will be discontinued like Pepsi Blue. Both shown below with comments:

Pepsi Blue was launched in the mid2002 and discontinued in 2004. Even with the heavy publicity by Britney Spears and the bands SEV and Papa Roach, it failed to be a household mainstay.

Cherry Coke on the other hand, is the first flavored Coke introduced by Pink Floyd to a test audience at the 1982 World’s Fair. Cherry Coke is available in most of Europe, New Zealand and Japan.

Introduce Your Product,
Samuel Carrara

So I took the plunge, if you Twitter add me as a friend with the button below or from the side bar of this blog:

Twitter Follow Me

Then send me your 140 characters of welcome.

Tweet, Tweet,

Sam Carrara

In theory, it’s the same for a product. After a period of development, it is introduced or launched into the market (bird drops the seed on the ground); it gains more and more customers as it grows (shoots out leaves and roots); eventually the market stabilizes and the product becomes mature (little seed became a big tree); then after a period of time the product is overtaken by development and the introduction of superior competitors, it goes into decline and is eventually withdrawn (death of tree).

Product Life Cycle

To say that a product has a life cycle is to assert four things:

1. That products have a limited life,
2. product sales pass through distinct stages, each facing different challenges, opportunities, and problems to the seller,
3. profit rise and fall at different stages of product life cycle, and
4. products require different marketing, financial, manufacturing, purchasing, and human resource strategies in each life cycle stage.

However, you must remember that a product life cycle even under normal conditions, to all practical intents and purposes often do not exist. Dhalla & Yuspeh in 1976 criticizes the product life cycles states that:

…clearly, the PLC (Product Life Cycle) is a dependent variable which is determined by market actions; it is not an independent variable to which companies should adapt their marketing programs. Marketing management itself can alter the shape and duration of a brand’s life cycle.

So, the life cycle may be useful as a description, but not as a PREDICTOR; and usually should be firmly under the control of the marketer. The important point is that in many markets, that product or brand life cycle is significantly longer than the planning cycle of the organizations involved.

For more about the product life cycle visit: http://www.samcarrara.com/marketing/product-life-cycle-overview/

The Product Journey,
Samuel Carrara

Mimis Cafe

We have enjoyed eating at Mimi’s before but this visit was different for a few reasons:

1. They had a great appetizer, meal and dessert choice menu that was only $12.99, I ordered the corn chowder, half rack of ribs and brownie sundae. My wife ordered the garden salad, BBQ salmon and apple crisp sundae. Both meals were delicious.
2. The wait staff and managers really seemed like they wanted you there. Multiple times they asked if we wanted something. Once they asked if we wanted an extra helping of mashed for one of our kids and I was jealous of the worms in the dirt dessert cup they get (candy worms in chocolate pudding with crumbled oreo on top). My wife asked and they brought one out for me. My mouth is watering thinking about the delicious food again.

In addition to the feeling that they want you there and providing excellent customer service, the variety of breads are yummy. I prefer the carrot nut bread myself. I just checked their website and it is funny, but smart, that they are on Facebook and Twitter. It is a great way for them to get their name and marketing out to more people.

Great Customer Service and Yummy Food,
Sam Carrara

• A much more attractive website design and graphics
• More regular posting and posts that fit with the theme of marketing more like one of the most looked at posts: http://www.samcarrara.com/marketing/product-life-cycle-overview/
• Chances to have guest posters
• Opportunity for you to test the WordPress plugins we made
• Contests to win prizes
• And more…

If you have suggestions, post a comment here.

My Alexa ranking has slipped a little since I haven’t posted in awhile, but I have come to understand much better the way they calculate their numbers since the shakeup.

Redesign in Progress,
Samuel Carrara

There are numerous people needed to make a resort like the Playacar Palace successful. Some mornings we would get up early enough to see a bus come to the hotel loaded with the hotel workers. These people include:

• Check-in staff
• Baggage handlers
• Maids
• Restaurant check-in
• Cooks
• Wait staff
• Bar tenders
• Pool staff
• Maintenance
• And many more…

All of the workers have customer service at the top of their mind, always have smile on their face and genuine interest in you. It is like they went to “Palace Resorts University,” they all are like this. Some asked “where are you from,” “how did you like…” and “how can we help you?”

There is a real difference between real customer service and “faking it.” Go to your local fast food restaurant employing a minimum wage employee, he/she just cares about doing the minimum to get a paycheck. There is a real difference between the Palace experience and minimum wage experience.

The other part is consistency. We have gone to four of the local Palace resorts and they are all the same high quality. Consistency is very important.

The two main lessons here are:

1. Genuine interest
2. Consistency

Above is just a shadow of the Great Customer Service provided by Palace employees.

Genuine Interest and Consistency,
Sam Carrara

Over the next few days I’ll give a few highlights of the trip and maybe a few pictures, BUT this will be a relaxing trip. This area is known as the Mexican Riviera. Some of the topics I hope to cover about the trip are:

• Customer Service
• Sales
• Exclusivity
• Recharge

Mexican Vacation,
Sam Carrara

• BlinkList
• BlogMarks
• Blue Dot
• Buzka
• Clipmarks
• Cogenz
• Connectbeam
• CoReap
• de.lirio.us
• del.icio.us
• Digg
• Diigo
• Feedmarker
• Furl
• Google Bookmarks
• iloggo
• Jots
• Linkademic
• Linkroll
• LookLater
• Lookmarks
• ma.gnolia
• MarkIt
• Mr. Wong
• Netvouz
• pligg based sites
• Raw Sugar
• scuttle based sites
• Shadows
• Simpy
• Spurl
• Tagseasy
• Yahoo! My Web
• Zurpy

Get Social,
Sam Carrara

Please add your favorites to this list.

I started listening to a podcast by Michael Campbell on http://www.internetmarketingsecrets.com

He breaks down what is Web 2.0, how to use it and how to profit from it. I would recommend that you read his blog and listen to his podcast.

Here is a short (partial) list of Web 2.0 properties:

• Digg
• Stumbleupon
• Furl
• Reddit
• Slashdot
• Mr Wong
• Blip.tv
• Technorati
• And many more…

2.0 and Go,
Sam Carrara

This video is already viral because: (15,622,475 views as of this post)

1. Entertain- You want to see how they will be able to adapt the original video by Michael Jackson. That many guys in orange as zombies is scary.
2. Controversial- At the beginning there is a scared “woman,” of course here it is a guy! This is a prison that uses positive reinforcement to create change in prisoners, most people think the opposite should happen in prison.
3. Slick or nor- The video is simple and zooms in and out at needed times. Not Hollywood quality, but a well rehearsed production.
4. Simple- They took the video and added some simple titles on top.

Some “take aways” from this video- Get it done and release it, it doesn’t have to be perfect. If people like it they will ask for more. They have produced more videos including songs- I Need A Hero, Hero, Do The Hustle and 24 videos total. And here’s a few words why they are doing this- “Some people really can’t believe that this prison dance actually is happening and it has proven to be an effective tool for transforming extremely negative people into positive individuals.”

This video I rate as Four Viral (out of five). This is a classic rework of the original that I watch every six months or so.

Thriller,
Sam Carrara

This is Web 2.0, having your customers telling you what they will buy. You can win $2,500 for having your shirt design picked. Read the article in print (June 2008) or online while it’s still there at:
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080601/the-customer-is-the-company.html

Then searching around I saw a great video interview with Jake Nickell and Jeffrey Kalmikoff from Threadless. Simple questions, simple answers but insightful. Watch the video at:
http://www.horsepigcow.com/2008/05/06/the-whuffie-factor-threadless-interview

What is the Marketing Lesson here?

1. Ask your customer’s what they want, give it to them.
2. Repeat!

Web 2.Shirt,
Sam Carrara

Yesterday was Memorial Day, but we should remember that they service not one day a year, but all year round. We may be sleeping, eating, driving to work, enjoying time with family and they are out there Serving.

The video below has over 24 million views because it is well done and reminds us to “Remember Me.”

Thank you,
Sam Carrara

p.s. Please thank a veteran or presently serving service member.

Before I get into what we did, here’s how to save a little money on your trip:

• Traveling by Car- Use the more fuel efficient one for longer trips. Our Dodge Grand Caravan gets about 18 miles to the gallon and the Honda Civic gets around 34 to 35 miles to the gallon. The trunk space on the Civic is huge.
• Hotel costs- You should get a AAA (Automobile Association of America) membership, or your local equivalent. Many hotels have special rates for AAA members that save you 10-15%. You can also get special rates as military, government (state and federal) and check the hotel websites for other online only specials
• Museum and Zoo fees- Ask for a military or student discount if it applies to you. If you plan to go to the same place alot, some places have annual memberships which will also save you money.

Here’s what we did:
Friday night I looked at flying to Orlando for a short Disney trip. Just flights would be $317 per person each, let’s see what else. Busch Gardens Williamsburg looks good, but it is about five hours away, too long in the car for this short of a trip.

How about about a two day trip to Columbia, SC? It’s only one and a half hours away, sounds good. We slept in a little on Saturday and headed down to Columbia. We ate lunch and spent the afternoon at the Edventure Museum. (http://www.edventure.org)

Some of the exhibits at the Edventure Museum include:

• A three story boy named Eddie, you can crawl inside him and see his spine, stomach with food inside, his brain, etc.
• World of work- Be a farmer and milk a cow or pick peaches, put on a fireman’s jacket and ride in their truck, build at a construction site and more.
• BodyWorks- Brush Eddie’s teeth, find out what food is good for you, play a large game of Operation, and see how your joints work.

There’s more, look at their website to see what else they have. On Sunday we went to the Riverbanks Zoo. (http://www.riverbanks.org/) It was a good Zoo for kids and had lots of animals. We were there about four hours and then headed for home. It was a good short trip and we have Monday to just relax around the house and at the community pool.

Take time with Family,
Sam Carrara

This video could become viral because:

1. Entertain- The video shows lots of smiling faces and some you may recognize. Some of the people in the video include goalkeeper David James, supermodel Claudia Schiffer, London’s new Mayor, Boris Johnson and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
2. Controversial- This video is about affecting climate change. Together they have one message – little actions can make a big difference on climate change and together we can. It has a good message and is trying to appeal to a broad audience.
3. Slick or nor- This video uses classic cuts from one person to the next piecing together a message. It helps you see these are real people like you and me by towards the end people are laughing and showing clips that are almost like outtakes.
4. Simple- Create a script, ask people to say some of the lines and piece it together. No special effects were necessary, just real people wanting to raise national awareness about a Global issue- Climate Change.

This video I rate as Three Viral (out of five). The video has a good message, but there are more viral ones to come.

Together,
Sam Carrara