The Rebates are Coming! The Rebates are Coming! 7 Ways to Stimulate Your Business’s Economy
This past week the so-called “Economy Stimulus” tax rebate checks started to go out. Some of you with direct deposit may have already received your little slice of the pie.
I sure hope this is a good thing for catalogers!
It would be a shame if all the good citizens out there in the U.S. decide to use their windfall for something like paying off bills and paying down the all-time high consumer debt we’ve racked up.
Nah! Won’t happen! We’re a nation that loves to consume, so I think catalogers are OK.
In the meantime, I sincerely hope you’re factoring in said rebates into your marketing plans. If not, here are some last-minute tips to help you stimulate our economy.
1. Create a special e-mail campaign with the U.S. flag or in good old red, white and blue with a special discount to folks using their rebate checks.
2. Change your homepage to do the same. Forget your company’s color palette for a few weeks, and fly Ole Glory on your homepage with the copy, “Economic Stimulus Rebate Checks Accepted HERE.”
3. OK, so while Nos. 1 and 2 above are tongue-in-cheek (or maybe a bit snarky), you can certainly fit them within your own branding and make them work.
4. Make sure your call-center representatives have a great inbound offer to make when customers call.
5. Use outbound telemarketing to make contact with your customers and offer them rebate specials.
6. Get some package inserts printed — there are printers who can turn this around quickly for you — with a special rebate offer. Insert them into your outbound shipments ASAP.
7. If you’re about to go to press on a catalog run, quickly get a dot whack printed and have it affixed to your cover.
Jim Gilbert has been creating direct marketing programs that drive superior ROI for almost 30 years. Fluent in consumer or B-to-B, creative, operations, and analytics, he marries the strategic and tactical sides of direct and social media marketing in a seamless fashion that gets results. He's CEO of a multidiscipline direct marketing agency, Gilbert Direct Marketing, Inc., which focuses on direct mail, catalogs, DRTV, telemarketing, print, alternative direct marketing media and social media marketing. Jim has been involved in start-ups, expansions and turnarounds, and is an expert in helping multichannel marketers get to the "next level." He's a former adjunct professor, teaching direct marketing at Miami International University, and is President of the Board of Directors of the Florida Direct Marketing Association. Jim loves to talk direct marketing, and has done many lectures on direct and social media marketing.
