Page 36 - Flathead Beacon // 12.25.13

36 | DECEMBER 25, 2013
BUSINESS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM

BUSINESS IS PERSONAL Mark Rifey

Fabrics, Books, Patterns, Notions, How To Use Calendar-

Classes & Finished Quilts
Based Marketing

W
HEN I SAY “CALENDAR to be ired. That doesn’t make it any bet-
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marketing,” I’m talking about ter – it just makes a few angry people feel
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using the context of historical better for a few minutes.
events and dates, holidays and current For a small local business, national
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events to spice up your marketing.
outrage is unlikely, but you could pro-
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a little fun and perhaps get the attention HAVE A “REASON WHY”
of those about to buy.
Recently, USA Today had this head-
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Facebook
Like any tactic, there are right and line following Nelson Mandela’s death:
wrong ways to use it – as the Spaghetti- “Mandela’s death likely to boost South
Os social media team found out on Pearl African tourism.”
Harbor Day and later had to apologize.
The point is not to make fun of the
While social media provides good mistakes that major brands make. Ev- Happy Holidays
and bad examples, keep in mind that eryone makes mistakes. There are plen-
your eforts in this area can be leveraged ty of examples to learn from.
in almost any media.
What you need to keep in mind is

WHY you are creating this content
DOING IT RIGHT
(doesn’t have to be an ad) in the irst from all of us at
Doing it right involves asking your- place:
self a few questions.
• To honor someone? Fine. Keep your
Q: Who will see it?
brand and schtick out of it. Stick to Bigfork Dental Center
A: If it’s good enough, everyone. If it’s
the topic. Say what you feel. The old
stupid enough, everyone.
GoDaddy always remembered Veter-

ans Day and the Marine Corps birth- T
With that in mind:
day - and you never saw their typically hank you for choosing our office for your
Q: How will you feel if everyone sees it? cheesy stuf in those pieces.
dental care needs. Wishing you a wonderful
Q: How will our customers react?
• To be funny? Make sure it really is holiday season and prosperous 2014!
Q: What will they be inclined to do?
funny, rather than funny at the cost of
Q: Will it make things better or worse for some group or individual.
Erin C. Price, DMD
your business?
• To provoke someone to buy - see the Joyce, Lois, Sarah, Brittnee, and Addy
No matter what, think it through.
prior two and then consider every bit 8289 Montana Highway 35, Bigfork, MT 59911 • 406.837.5611 • www.bigforkdental.com

Oreo is a good example to watch of copywriting experience you have.
what’s done right, but even they slip up Your message has to be focused on that
now and then:
reason – whatever it is.

HOW DO I KNOW I’M ABOUT TO CONNECT, RATHER THAN BE
DO IT WRONG?
“ME TOO!”
If your thought process is “Let’s use Ill-advised content aside, calendar-
their memory, our logo and wrap them based marketing is an efective tool

together in the lag in our marketing”, when used thoughtfully.
that would be wrong. Stupidly wrong.
The temptation is to do “me too”
This shouldn’t have to be explained marketing here. Things like a holiday-
to you.
themed sale on a holiday weekend are
Anyone who isn’t doing this in a not going to stand out in a crowd of me-
strictly robotic fashion has to have this too sales.
thought process going on:
Sometimes connecting national to

• Remembering Pearl Harbor - Good.
your local business works well. For ex-
• Slapping your lag-wrapped logo on it - ample, you might have Super Bowl-re-
Dumb.
lated promotion or event that encour-
While Spaghetti-Os managed to ages people to visit/buy and make note
apologize (and delete the earlier tweet), that you’ll be passing along a percentage
your goal is not to put yourself in this po- of Super Bowl related promotion/event
sition. Some found it ofensive, some stu- sales to a local youth athletic program. It
pid or at the least felt the message could doesn’t have to be football and it doesn’t

have done without the cheesy brand and have to be a percentage.
lag graphic.
In Columbia Falls, Timber Creek
No matter what, it distracted from assisted living facility hosts the Ro-
the reason for the post in the irst place tary “Brunch with Santa” community
– to encourage their customers to take a Christmas event in their public areas.
moment to remember.
While no one is selling assisted living
Numerous major brands have mis- that day, hundreds who would never

ired on things like this. In each case, you go inside otherwise get to see how nice
will see calls for whoever wrote the orig- the place is – planting a seed that might
inal tweet to be ired, or for their agency
sprout next week or years from now.

Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or
marketing problem? See Mark’s site, rescuemarketing.com, or contact him via email
at [email protected].