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Envelopes = death.
February 4, 2012 —
We have been advising clients for many years now not to put brochures into envelopes, as a large and growing percentage of them get thrown away unopened.
Frankly, we’ve been telling clients not to put anything into snail mail at all, but that’s not an absolute rule.
I just retrieved an envelope from the garbage to prove the point. It was plain, with only a logo from a high-end appliance retailer (which I won’t name, as that might be apt to hurt someone’s feelings). Inside was an sales catalog, with some attractive pricing on hundreds of items. One could envision blanking out part of an outside panel to make it into a self-mailer with a wafer seal, letting it arrive minus the trash-me-now envelope. Would it be a wonderful piece? Maybe or maybe not, but drawing immediate attention to the 80-inch plasma tvs or Weber gas grills or KitchenAid doodads would be an inducement to break the seal and read further. The ROI of unopened deathvelopes is dismal.
Do you know a company (or non-profit, for that matter) who still use envelopes? Send them a link to this blog post, along with a polite note to remind them that the 1980s were a long time ago….
Older Entries
Grammar police? Yes, we are.
January 28, 2012 — We take some heat for rejecting employment candidates whose résumés and cover letters fail to measure up to our grammar/spelling/usage standards. We do not apologize; we were born this way. Besides, our standards have to be high, because we work for clients who expect it. Our emphasis on cover letters is not at all misplaced. It’s [...] continue reading »
Is your website a destination or a conduit?
January 16, 2012 — Hulu and Netflix are both investing hundreds of millions of dollars into original programming, instead of being just a conduit for content. The value of mere distribution is shrinking everywhere – it’s not a great time to be a wholesaler. Relevant question for your brand: can search engine robots find original content on your website? It’s not [...] continue reading »
Describe your prospect.
January 15, 2012 — Not as easy as it seems. I ask about your prospects, you describe your customers. Perfectly understandable. Brand stakeholders, from assistant brand managers up to the CEO, know customers. Survey them. Talk to them. Play golf with them. From there, it’s often an easy (lazy?) assumption that prospects are the same sort of folks, just unaware.Unenlightened. As [...] continue reading »
Your brand’s credibility formula
January 15, 2012 — Your brand’s credibility can be measured mathematically, by a simple equation: C = 100%/a where C is credibility, and a is the number of attributes that define your brand, such as low price, selection, service, unique functionality, high quality, and so on. Make yourself a list. Thus, Volvo, who is all about safety has street cred = 100%. [...] continue reading »
Want the simple secret to branding success?
January 15, 2012 — Ever notice how many teaser headlines, particularly in online display ads, invoke the words “trick,” “secret,” or “simple”? The simple secret to branding success, of course, does not exist. Nor, may I add, is there a “trick” to elections, religion, weight loss, home buying, marriage, public policy, child raising, mental health, investing, budgeting, radioactive waste, conflict [...] continue reading »
MBWT, enemy of branding
January 14, 2012 — MBWT is a crippling disease of branding: Marketing By Wishful Thinking. MBWT strikes brands large and small, old and new. You see the symptoms everywhere: the urge to stand for more than one thing, the assumption that if you say it they will hear it, the stupider assumption that if they hear it they will believe [...] continue reading »
What audience should you ignore?
January 13, 2012 — A brand can only stand out if it stands up and stands for something. Some one thing, ideally. It’s perfectly clear what Tiffany’s, Volvo, Will Ferrell movies and Las Vegas stand for – you have obvious expectations of any consistent brand. There are audience segments perfectly attuned to respond to their messages. The logical corollary is that [...] continue reading »
Our interns keep getting hired
January 13, 2012 — So we’re looking once again for ambitious, client-happiness-directed entry-level future stars to learn the branding agency business. It seems the economy is warming up. They’ll need excellent communications skills, of course. If you know good candidates, forward this to them; have them send résumés asap to internships@killianbranding.com. continue reading »
Keeping up with the tour group?
January 7, 2012 — The universe is evolving1. The world is evolving2. Life on earth is evolving3. Society is evolving4. Your business is evolving5. 1The universe was 14.7 billion years old last Thursday, and expansion keeps accelerating. 2Tectonic plates are still in motion. 3More than 99% of all the species that ever lived are now extinct. 4Slavery was acceptable; now it’s not. The [...] continue reading »
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