Contributions to Profit: Plan for 2007, Part II
1. Convert prospects to triers using promotions. Promotions are a powerful way to acquire customers and offer something beyond merchandise to stimulate the first sale — and beyond.
Before you mail any new promotion or offer to acquire customers, always do your math up front. Ask, “What are the potential profit and loss ramifications of my offer?” Then calculate best- and worst-case scenarios in a spreadsheet. Look carefully at your offer’s initial return on investment. Just as important, project out these scenarios to the downstream lifetime value of your initial promotions.
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
