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Peter Boulder of Pepper and Rodgers Group tells a story \rof a friend of his who recently visited New York City. His \rfriend spotted an ad that read something like: "Buy at our \rgrocery store and if the cashier doesn't smile at you \rwhen you check out, everything in your cart is free." \r\rImpressed, he made a straight line for the store in \rquestion and filled up his shopping cart with everything \rhe'd need for a week. \r\rTo his chagrin, the lady at checkout not only didn't smile,\rbut didn't even look at him. But there was some consolation \rin the situation, he thought, and he triumphantly claimed his \rbounty of free groceries. \r \rThe cashier, however, denied any knowledge of such a \rspecial offer. Puzzled, the visiting gentleman took out his \rnewspaper and showed her the ad. \r \r"Ah," she said, "look at that date! That's last week's\rpromotion!"\r \r So what's wrong?\rNow what was wrong with the grocery store's marketing \rapproach? For a start, of course, friendly customer \rservice, if you want to offer it, cannot be contingent upon \rcertain time slots or seasons of the year. Either it's part of your mission statement, your philosophy of business, \ror it isn't. That's pretty straightforward. \r \rBut let's say you're not really interested in the service-\rwith-a-smile concept. (A pity - but your loss!) You know \ryour cashier's only there for the paycheck, and that's fine \rby you, as long as she's competent at her job of \rchecking out purchases. You don't expect her to take \rany special interest in your customers, and you just have \rthis "smile or don't pay" gig once in a while as a stunt to \rbring a few more people into the store. \r \rThe question now is: how effective can this kind of\rmarketing tactic be? Well, in the case under discussion, it may not be the \rideal way of stimulating new business, but such a \rpromotion could serve some purpose, up to a point. \rConceivably, some new people, or those that haven't \rshopped for a while, will be attracted by the prospect of a \rwinning smile. \r \rThe result: a little more money in the cash registers, as \rlong as the promotion is running and the cashiers are \rcooperating. Even once the promotion is over, a few of \rthese people might have already become habituated to \rdoing their shopping there. Now, instead of friendly countenances (which, sadly, it\rdoesn't really believe in anyway), let's say that the store\rdecided to offer, during the period of the promotion,\rspecial discounts on certain products, or a brand new\rproduct for free with purchases over a certain amount?\r \rWhich of these two promotions is likely to be more \reffective in the long run? Surely, the second. Why? \rSimply because once the customers have been induced \rto sample the products on "special offer", and happily, \rthey find them to their liking, they will probably continue \rto buy them at full price, once the promotion is over. \rBiting the carrot\r \rNowadays, ambitious entrepreneurs dream up and \rimplement all kinds of ingenious incentives to drum up \rbusiness - contests, referral bonuses, points, loyalty \rprograms, you name it. Some types of viral marketing \ralso rely heavily on incentives to persuade people to pass \rthe message along. \r \rAll too often, the end result is disappointment - for\rentrepreneur and consumer alike. \r This usually happens when there's little real relation \rbetween the incentive and the product or service, and the \rproduct, in turn, falls short of the consumer's \rexpectations. Viral marketers and their willing agents \rmay succeed beyond expectation in whipping up mass \rhysteria about a new idea - which, in the end, turns out to \rbe a damp squib. \r Unfortunately, email publishers who offer incentives to \rprospective new subscribers, sometimes suffer the same \rfate. Disillusioned newsletter consumers are becoming \rincreasingly wary about biting the carrots dangled before \rtheir eyes. \r But if incentive and product are closely connected, at \rleast you have a chance of success. The most cynical of \rpeople will bite a carrot if they're genuinely convinced \rthat it's truly representative of a sumptuous repast ahead. \r If that conviction is then vindicated and everything's \raccording to their taste, they'll stay right to the end of the \rparty. \r It's hard enough, though, to produce scintillating content\rin your publication itself, without being forced to create\radditional "bait" or "teaser" material in the form of\rspecial reports or the like. And if your new readers are\rdisappointed with the final product, the most tantalizing\rincentives won't help in the end. \r You only have to look at the prominent news sites on the\rInternet that repeat virtually the identical stories week\rafter week, to get an idea of the challenge of producing\rconsistently good content on an ongoing basis. \r Yet, if you really want to succeed, this is precisely the \rchallenge which you, as publisher, must face. Good \rmarketing strategies are essential, but marketing is the \rmeans, not the end. \r A good marketer, they say, sells the sizzle, not the \rsteak.\r But without the steak, there's no sizzle! Azriel Winnett is the creator of Hodu.com - Your Communication Skills Portal. This popular free website is devoted to helping you improve your communication and relationship skills on all levels in \rbusiness and professional life, in the family unit and on the social scene.
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