AhSome Advertising!

Recently, yours truly and John Dawe spoke at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. We presented to an advanced writing class, and illustrated the importance of writing and marketing for the internet; we also demonstrated best practices for traditional marketing efforts.

The class is working on marketing pieces and content for Ah! Some Chocolates, a local Chocolatier and who has an online store as well as a brick and mortar store and cafe.

Some key points that were discussed included:

> Marketing pieces should have a common theme for branding purposes; for example, colors, fonts and tones should all be consistent to convey a similar branding message.  An email marketing message should have a similar look as the website itself.  Traditional brochures should employ similar color schemes as the website as well.

> The goal of each item photo may vary, depending upon product.  For example, if you are capturing the essence of the beautiful design and delectable taste of the custom hand-painted chocolates, photos should capture every tiny detail, and “click to enlarge” features should include the appropriately-sized photo so the picture does actually enlarge, and is not distorted once it is enlarged.

> Set clear marketing objectives.  What is your ultimate goal?  To encourage people to visit the cafe?  To persuade people to buy from the brick and mortar store?  To drive traffic to AhSomeChocolates.com?  To ask people to join the mailing list?  Depending upon your goal, your marketing message and medium may be very different.

> If you are marketing your online store, your message may change based upon your target audience.  For example, if you are doing Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing for custom chocolates as potential wedding favors, your ad text would look very different than one for, say, a box of chocolate turtles that can be used as a thank you gift.  The buying cycles are quite different for the two products; in the former case, the decision process is a much longer one, and you are likely marketing to a bride-to-be.  In the latter case, the decision process is relatively short, and the consumer may be a secretary or a working mom; time may be of the essence, so you would want to highlight a value proposition such as a discount or fast shipping.

These are just some examples of “Ah! Some” techniques you can use, regardless of whether or have an online store, a brick and mortar one, or both.  Good luck on your path to sweet success!