|
Archive 2001 *
Archive 2002 *
Archive 2003/4
|
| Dec. 20, 2000: |
|
Casinos often
embark on campaigns to make themselves "friendly." But be careful. Trying
to legislate friendliness and respect sometimes backfires. Murray Raphel,
writing in Direct Marketing Magazine, tells of a department store that offered
a gift certificate if their people didn't say "Thank you for shopping with
us" at the checkout counter. When one customer complained that a clerk forgot
to say the phrase, the clerk responded, "That was last month's
campaign." |
|
Dec. 11, 2000: |
|
More about trite words and phrases. The casino business abounds with "in"
language. For example, "Complimentary room, food and beverage...upon your
arrival... should you desire to extend your stay." Replace these honkers
with "Your room, meals and drinks are on us...When you arrive...if you're
staying longer." See how easy it is? |
|
Dec. 1, 2000: |
| In
your letters to customers, keep your words, sentences and paragraphs short.
And stay away from the tired old phrases that businesses often use. How many
times have you seen these three? "We are in receipt of...Enclosed please
find....We are forwarding." Instead, write, "We have... I'm enclosing...We
are sending."
top |
| Nov. 24, 2000: |
|
Nov. 24, 2000: What is the offer? It's not, as some think, the entire sales
pitch. Offers are strictly dollars and cents. In other words, the offer is
the price of the product or service you're offering. But don't stop there.
Every offer needs a "proposition" to close the sale. The proposition is the
benefit you'll get if you accept the offer. You've probably heard the line,
"Sell the sizzle, not the steak". The proposition is the sizzle. |
|
Nov. 16, 2000: |
|
A couple
of years ago I wrote a column in IGWB magazine entitled, "The 12 best lines
in casino marketing." I still get requests for information about these sales
gems from the people who write casino direct mail and advertising. The lines
included "You play the tournament machines free, without a dime of your own
money at risk," and "Skip the lines at the front desk and check in at the
VIP Lounge." But the best one is the two-word sentence I use in the closing
paragraph of every letter I write. It's simply, "Thank you." |
| Nov.
8, 2000: |
| Do
you want to improve response to your direct mail? Then take a pencil to your
copy and eliminate the adjectives. They are like barnacles, weighing down
your message. Loose slots, exciting table games, fantastic entertainment
and luxurious rooms are so ordinary they are insulting. Instead, put your
prospect into the action by using word pictures. I devote a chapter to this
in Secrets of Casino Marketing called Make
Them See and Feel the Action. |
| Nov.
1, 2000: |
|
The gambling business still has a lot to learn about selling on the
Internet--and the lessons will be expensive. Meanwhile, here's the ironic
kicker. Want more traffic on your Web site? Want more e-mail response from
your customers? More and more companies get both by sending...direct
mail.
top |
| Oct. 23, 2000: |
|
Years
ago my pal Dave Zamarin did a research study that confounded me. He found
that casino customers put discounts and giveaways near the bottom of their
preferred list. On top were items such as “overall cleanliness”
and “friendly employees,” and it wasn’t even close. Bottom
line: your customers come to your casino to have fun. Clean, fresh surroundings
and friendly, respectful employees help fulfill that wish. Ignore this reality
at your peril. |
| Oct.
9, 2000: |
|
The copy
in casino brochures, direct mail and advertising is supposed to create dreams.
But no dream was ever created by repeating trite phrases and meaningless
words. The following silent killers drag down the message: Strike them from
your material: quality, fun-filled, affordable, great, fabulous, world class,
and room, food and beverage. Show no mercy.
top |
| Sept. 15 2000: |
|
I admire
the handful of casino marketing directors who disdain mass marketing lifestyle
studies and exotic faraway markets. Instead, they simply divide casino customers
into “Knowns” and “Unknowns.” Because the
“Knowns” are rated players with an established worth to the casino,
the return on investment is predictable. They commit their budget first against
this segment. With the dough that remains, they go after the
“Unknowns.” Usually, it’s the other way around. |
| Sept.
5, 2000: |
|
You don’t
spend advertising money to be a good guy or to fatten the portfolios of rising
young artists and writers. The only reason you advertise is to increase room,
food, beverage and casino revenue. Make sure the creative people working
on your business understand that before they write a line or draw the first
rough layouts.
top |
| Aug. 25, 2000: |
|
“Subject
to availability.” You see that tired old phrase all the time in casino
mail and print ads. It’s grim and it’s negative. Do yourself a
big favor--never use it again. Instead, try something like this: “Rooms
are selling fast and we’d hate to see you miss out because we’re
filled. So don’t wait. Phone us right now, while there’s no
problem.” Now you’ve turned “subject to availability”
into a persuasive call to action. |
| Aug.
18, 2000: |
|
When a customer or a prospect opens your mail they want to know two
things: (1) what’s the deal? (2) what’s in it for me? Make sure
you answer those two questions--fast. After you’ve answered them in
the first two or three paragraphs, load the rest of the letter with benefits.
Some direct mail writers are so overcome by their own creativity that they
beat around the bush trying to be cute and “lead” the prospect
into the offer. Forget that. Hit the prospect right between the eyes the
moment he opens the piece.
top |
| Aug.
12, 2000: |
|
Aug. 12, 2000:
Do you want your advertising to build casino revenue, sell rooms, push the
food, create traffic or build database? It can do one or two of those things
very nicely. But the more you chop it up the less effective it
becomes. I
know every department howls for help and it’s hard to resist throwing
money on all directions. But if you have a limited budget, resist it. And
don’t try to make the decision all by yourself. Ask your agency and
your own ad director for opinions (that’s why you hired them). Make
the tough choices early on, otherwise your ad budget gets sliced so many
ways it does a lousy job in all areas.
top |
| July 24, 2000: |
|
An enduring myth in the casino business is that--in a tough market--
you have to give away the store. The fact is, most customers rate value and
personal attention just as high as they do discounts. More in some cases.
It’s easy to give things away. The challenge is to sell at a fair price.
The problem casinos face when they start discounting is the same problem
retailers face when they drop prices. Rather than build loyalty, the discount
destroys it. Customers who once had “favorite” stores wind up chasing
all over town to find the deepest discounts. What to do? Increasingly, commercial
hotels are keeping their prices steady but adding value. Free breakfast buffets,
free coffee, free cocktail hour and free morning newspaper delivered to your
door are staples of the new “added value” tactic. So before you
panic and drop your room price, think what you could add to sustain the regular
price. If you’ve pushed “quality” in your ads, prove it.
top |
| July 11, 2000: |
|
Advertising
directors often make judgments on ad sizes by instinct. An ad expert once
told me that “serious” advertisers should buy full pages in magazines
or in newspapers or run the risk of looking unimportant. Cahners Publishing
Company studied 500,000 business-to-business inquiries generated by print
advertising and found that as ad size increases, so do inquiries. No surprises
there, until you take a look at the NUMBER of inquiries by ad size. Cahners
found a full page averaged 119 inquiries, a half page 101 and a quarter page
92. So while a full page cost almost four times as much as a quarter page,
it produced only marginally more. In cost per inquiry, the full pages averaged
$20.44 each. The quarter pages brought in inquiries for $7.97 each. Another
study by Starch showed similar results. Bottom line: quarter pages are
the size champs
top |
| May 14, 2000 |
|
Some casinos wash their hands of all responsibility when they hire
out their advertising. They mistakenly think ad agencies have a magic that
transcends business sense. But they don't. Casinos are deceptive. They seem
easy to understand but if you don't have some basic knowledge of the factors
that affect profit, you'll produce advertising that has no effect. |
top |
|
|