See Andy's other stuff:

Contact Me >>

Newsletter #891: The “Stop Overlooking These Opportunities” Issue

[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

Smart marketers know the biggest opportunities are in all the little, boring, everyday stuff. Right now, you’re missing a simple chance to do something great. How you could do it:

1. Your online forms
2. Your receipts
3. Your delivery options
4. Check it out: This Is Why I’m Broke

1. Your online forms

Most websites feature multiple forms — contact, subscribe, tell-a-friend, order, etc. — and most look the same. But over at Purina, they’re doing something cool with the CAPTCHA (the process of proving you’re not a robot spammer) on their forms. Instead of asking you to decipher some illegible words, they ask you to list attributes that come to mind when you think of their brand. It’s a fantastic way to get instant market research from fans and customers, and it still keeps out the spammers.

The lesson: Your forms are a natural opportunity to engage and learn more from your customers. Think about adding newsletter opt-ins, extra questions, or a little personality to take advantage of them.

Learn more: Ries’ Pieces

2. Your receipts

Retailers hand out reams and reams worth of paper as receipts every day — why not make them something useful, worth saving, and worth talking about? In Brazil, Hellmann’s teamed up with a local supermarket chain to print recipes on receipts. When a customer purchases Hellmann’s mayonnaise, the register notes the other items they picked up and prints custom recipes combining the ingredients. That’s some pretty cool technology, but there are a ton of low-budget options too. Get started by using yours as tickets to special events, as places to leave feedback, or as a place to promote other cool stuff you’re doing.

The lesson: The biggest opportunities are in the things everyone else is doing the same. What fits that description in your industry?

Learn more: Ad Age

3. Your delivery options

Just because you’re a brick and mortar business doesn’t mean the only places you can meet customers is in your store or online. For inspiration, think like Walmart and P&G. They teamed up to borrow an idea from the food truck craze to create mobile stores in Chicago and New York. Together, their truck makes it easy for curbside customers to purchase household items and have them delivered straight to their door. They also set up a special Twitter handle to track the truck’s location and let fans request the truck come to their neighborhood.

The lesson: There are a bunch of partnerships and sales channels that can help you meet more customers. Which ones haven’t you explored yet?

Learn more: Brandchannel

4. Check it out: This Is Why I’m Broke

This place is impulse shopping heaven. Use it to explore the many bizarre, goofy, and oddball products you can blow money on — complete with links to buy ’em!

Check it out: This Is Why I’m Broke

[contact-form-7 id="27185" title="contact-form 3 TellAFriend-Post"]