Chicken and Egg

Advertising reinvented

2005-12-09T17:28:08+01:00

How Online Advertising Can Help The Small, Independent Retailer

This news comes on the back of similar news that best selling author, Alan Bennett, has spoken out against the likes of Amazon and Waterstones for killing-off small, independent bookshops.

The main point being made is that the lifeblood of regional business communities is being destroyed by larger corporates muscling in and taking the lions’ share of trade.

The claim that larger chains are responsible for decimating the smaller operator raises an interesting dilemma. After all, supermarkets are major sources of trade and regional employment across the UK and are established more often than not through working in concert with local town centre management schemes.

However true this might be, it really doesn’t help you if you are an independent business owner competing against the might, significant buying power and well-established brands associated with large high street chains..

So the question is - As an independent business owner how do you ensure you get sufficient footfall in your store - ensuring you meet your sales targets?

Mainstream advertising (e.g. Display Advertising, Direct Mail etc) often carries significant cost with poor – or at best unquantifiable – returns. As a small independent retailer every penny counts and you often find it difficult to identify a truly cost effective way of attracting new custom.

Why not consider a new online advertising technique which has been developed to use the power of the internet to attract new customers directly to your store?

BluRoute has a uniquely-powerful capability to actually target customers within specific catchment areas (down to a single post code if required!). Conversely it also allows the customer to support the regional business by telling us – where they live and what products and services they are interested in. Everyone wins!

The BluRoute service is part of the overall marketing mix for UK businesses, sure, but it does represent one of the most targeted, cost-effective and results-based options currently available online and in the country.

Why Wouldn’t You?

Our service offers demographically, geographically and customer-preference assisted options, which quite literally drive business to your door on the High Street.

This gives customers the choice to use the larger chains – or not – and also promotes small regional businesses across the UK on a no results, no fee basis. Our service is proving to be one of the most effective parts of the marketing plan of many UK small regional businesses looking to compete and win business – from both their direct competitors and large corporates.

Check us out here to see how we can help you win more business and drive inquiries and customers to your door. Today. Now!

Advertising reinvented

2005-12-09T17:28:08+01:00

How Online Advertising Can Help The Small, Independent Retailer

This news comes on the back of similar news that best selling author, Alan Bennett, has spoken out against the likes of Amazon and Waterstones for killing-off small, independent bookshops.

The main point being made is that the lifeblood of regional business communities is being destroyed by larger corporates muscling in and taking the lions’ share of trade.

So the question is - As an independent business owner how do you ensure you get sufficient footfall in your store - ensuring you meet your sales targets?

Why not consider a new online advertising technique which has been developed to use the power of the internet to attract new customers directly to your store?

Why Wouldn’t You?

Our service offers demographically, geographically and customer-preference assisted options, which quite literally drive business to your door on the High Street.

Check us out here to see how we can help you win more business and drive inquiries and customers to your door. Today. Now!

UK High Street Casualties.

2005-11-12T12:12:11+01:00

Don’t become yet another High Street Casualty. Act Now!

What do Waterstones, HMV Stores, House of Fraser, Kesa (Comet), Topps Tiles, Ethal Austin, Focus, Maplin, Wickes, B&Q, Next, John Lewis (Oxford Street) have in common?

Answer - they are a random selection of well-known High Street names that have suffered from reduced or below target sales or reduced profitability in recent months.

In some cases, this has led to cut backs in advertising expenditure, freezing of staffing levels, redundancies, and/or breached (or renegotiated) banking covenants.

And there are (or perhaps I should say were!) others - like Allsports and Furnitureland, both of whom are examples of High Street names that have recently been forced into administration.
And for each recognised Brand there are many, many more small (but equally as important) local businesses suffering the same fate.
In September, the CBI reported the fastest year-on-year decline in Retail Sales for 22 years – the second time they have reported such a decline in the last 12-month period!

“Bricks and Mortar” appears to be suffering whilst “On-Line” is blossoming with sales growing to a record £1.5 billion pounds this year (a year-on-year growth of more than thirty per cent).
Our questions to you are:

How do you drive customers to your premises in today’s competitive market?

How do you gain competitive advantage over other High Street retailers, many of whom are probably utilising the same advertising and promotional methods as your business?

Our proposition is:

“Why Wouldn’t You” want to encompass the strength of “On-Line” marketing and use it in association with the up-sell and cross-sell benefits of traditional “bricks and mortar” selling.

How?

BluRoute offers one of the most cost-effective, innovative and revolutionary ways to engage with prospective customers that is available to you today.

With BluRoute you can target new customers without the need for a costly web-site, without the need for costly up-front and recurring fees and without the need for expensive marketing overheads.

Our online marketing service offers the following benefits – no matter whether you are large or small, selling to customers locally, regionally or nationally, are a high street brand or a life-style business:

• Low cost customer acquisition: No results - No fee!

• Demographically targeted web marketing: you talk to customers who have told us that they want to receive products and services just like those supplied by you.

• Use of on-line Promotional tools – targeting prospective customers in accordance with the customer profile information you give us - driving inquiries and hot prospects to your retail outlet.

• Provision of customer demographic information in respect of active customers for use in later marketing campaigns.

We believe BluRoute represents a real opportunity for you to gain competitive advantage in the battle for customers. “Why Wouldn’t You” want to consider this low-risk form of online advertising? No results - No fee!

Bluroute is effective, targeted, relevant and creates value and desire in equal measure. Simple.

For further information on how BluRoute can transform your offline sales through online advertising – which hits your local, regional and national markets – log onto BluRoute here today and let’s get your business talking to customers.

“Why Wouldn’t You”?

Comments

Help for every UK business especially the smaller ones

2005-11-12T11:54:26+01:00

Online Advertising Can help every small businesses, Independent Retailers and service provider.

We have read recently that the Cornish branch of the Women’s Institute (WI) have claimed that superstores are destroying trade at village shops which shops they assert are the “lifeblood” of local communities. In making this claim they have urged people, wherever possible, to use local shops rather than out-of-town supermarkets.
This news comes on the back of similar news that best selling author, Alan Bennett, has spoken out against the likes of Amazon and Waterstones for killing-off small, independent bookshops.

The main point being made is that the lifeblood of regional business communities is being destroyed by larger corporates muscling in and taking the lions’ share of trade.

So the question is - As an independent business owner how do you ensure you get sufficient footfall in your store - ensuring you meet your sales targets?

Why not consider a new online advertising technique which has been developed to use the power of the internet to attract new customers directly to your store?

The BluRoute service provides business with a uniquely-powerful capability to actually target customers within specific catchment areas (down to a single post code if required!). Conversely it also allows the customer to support the regional business by telling us – where they live and what products and services they are interested in. Everyone wins!

Why Wouldn’t You?

Our service offers demographically, geographically and customer-preference assisted options, which quite literally drive business to your door on the High Street.

Check us out here to see how we can help you win more business and drive inquiries and customers to your door. Today. Now!

Comments

Todays Paper

2005-08-31T17:53:36+02:00

Today I went through the paper to look at adverts it's amazing that every advert is a promotion or offer of some sort for which companies have paid a fortune for but will only get exposure to the readers for a day.

Surely it would make sense it they could put these promotions in front of an audience that wanted them or if they did not want them that day could keep them until they needed them.

It would also make sense if the advertiser received information on everyone who actually used their promotion.

Even better, the advertiser would only pay for that information if a consumer actually used the promotion.

Promotions in the Daily Express today 31st August were for Privilege Insurance, Lloyd's insurance, Smart Cars, Churchill Insurance, an underwear clearance sale from Ethel Austin and a property show at the NEC giving discounted tickets.

Specsavers were in there in a two for one offer along with another eye company, Ultralase giving away a free DVD.

Onward to some more Dell computers, Renault, Travel Shop, Orange,
Bank Loans, More insurance Car this time,and then loads of readers offers an amplified radio-Turntable, Digital Talking alarm clock (How could they!) Alarm clock are bad enough on there own but one that talks to you Urrrrr.

Then There was the superb value art canvas!

Ever onward to all the stair lifts, Walk in Baths nnd mobility trolleys.

Today there was not much from PC World, Dixons, Currys or B&Q usually there are two or three pages of them.

These marketing guys must wake up and smell the roses.

There is a new route to market for all these guys and every business small or large, local or national to promote themselves.

It's Called BluRoute.

It's very clever, fun and easy to use and you can build a promotion, plan and submit a campaign in minutes.

So if you know anybody who wants to create a New Route to the Market and gain new customers BluRoute's for you

Anyone can register as an affiliate free introduce advertisers and earn an income from the prints undertaken by consumers.

So go for it "Why wouldn't you"

Mr Wheelie

Comments

Yesterdays paper

2005-08-23T17:18:47+02:00

“OK where is yesterdays paper?” I asked my wife

“It’s been thrown away in the re-cycle bin, they will be here soon so if you want it you had better be quick”

I rushed out into the road “Too late” I saw the sack being thrown into the truck..

So the promotion I saw in yesterday’s paper was confined to the bin. It was a terrific offer for a new digital movie camera with £150 off list price.

Upset? I was livid, to have missed the bargain just before I was going on holiday too.

Not only that I would think the advertiser would be even more upset to know that he had missed a sale, especially with the cost of the full page spread in a national paper, outlay on the design time and the campaign costs.

Now what if the advertiser had put his promotion on BluRoute as well as in the paper?

That would have been different because it would have been on the internet for as long as he wanted his campaign to run, and would be there for all registered consumers to see and use when they wanted.

All that is free until, as a consumer. I printed off the promotion to avail myself of the offer now that’s got to be terrific news.

As a consumer I registered on BluRoute to receive promotions from everything I have an interest and cameras is one of my categories so I would still have the promotion on my PC, print it and gain all the information about where to obtain it from. That’s all free as well!

So it’s a win for the advertiser and a big bonus for me as I can save money on my camera and an even bigger bonus I can stop shouting at my wife!

With the web you get what you get
With BluRoute you get what you want
BluRoute a New Route to Market

Comments

Imagine This

2005-08-22T17:40:15+02:00

This morning the postlady knocked at my door as she had so much stuff she could not get it through the letter box.
"Where has all this come from?" I asked.
She replied that she thought most of it was offers and promotions from companies trying to sell me stuff.
I took the pile inside and started to go through everything and came to the conclusion that not one of the companies sending out this stuff knew who I was or what I wanted or even what I was lookig for.

There was an offer from three credit cards, Barclaycard, Virgin and American Express and I already have all three.

There was a company offering me garden plants and I hate gardening.

The Sunday Times was asking if I would like to Join their Wine Club and I am already a member, and love their wines.

One was nearer the mark asking if I wanted to win a mobility scooter, I am over 60 I agree but I hope it will be some time before I need to win one of these machines.

There was a lot of other stuff that I will go into on later blogs and I have decided to use this as a discussion theme to go forward.

Imagine saying to the post Man or Lady for that matter. Please sort all the direct mail out and only deliver to me what I want, when I want it so that the promotions are of some use to me.

Well imagine no longer.

BluRoute have done exactly that, as an advertiser you can build your promotion on the system and they send it to registered customers all free of charge and you only pay if the consumer prints your promotion. Absolutly brilliant.Every one of those companies listed above could use this system

And look at all the paper and trees that would save.

I will give some more examples over the next few days.

Mr Wheelie

Comments

Imagine free advertising

2005-08-15T18:20:07+02:00

I am a small business man

I wanted to image a world I could advertise my services on the internet and didn’t have to pay unless I get a result.

I had been planning to do a direct mail shot and then looked at the costs of:-

1) Having to pay to plan the campaign
2) Having to pay to write the promotion
3) Having to pay to print the leaflet
4) Having to pay for distribution.
5) Having to wait to see if I get a result
(And it’s always less that I hoped)
6) Having to imagine what the cost per acquisition would be.

Well I don’t have to imagine any longer I now use BluRoute

BluRoute allows me to register, build a promotion, plan as many campaigns as I wish and they will deliver them to targeted consumers waiting for the promotions on a local or national basis and even better the consumer pays for the printing!

Even better still I don’t pay a penny unless my promotion is printed.

I have started to use BluRoute and it’s great fun and I had a great time using the tools supplied for designing and building the promotion.

I also registered as a consumer and there are offers on BluRoute that I have been able to use and I have already saved myself £20 off a case of Virgin Wine.

Cheers

Mr Wheelie

Comments

Chicken and egg

2005-08-13T13:05:37+02:00

What comes first The Chicken (Advertisers) or the Egg (Customers)

With commercial online marketing a web site needs visitors to purchase (Customers) and advertisers to sell their wares.

Advertisers don't want to pay to advertise on a site unless the site has visitors.

The visitors wont come to the site unless there are goods or services that they want to buy.

Who was the first person on Friends Reunited and who did they reunite with?

Who put the first item on E-Bay and who bid for it?

I think I have found the answer.

A new UK system, BluRoute where an advertiser, registers free, can build a promotion and submit marketing campaigns on the web free, so no result no fee.

These promotions are then delivered to targetted, local or National consumers who have registered to receive them and when they use the BluRoute service I receive their demographics and a new customer as well.

It's absolutly amazing and have already gained new customers from the system.

I have a small company based in Ringwood cleaning Wheeliebins and I have always had great difficulty in targetting customers at a cost relevant to the small charge I make for my services BluRoute solves all these and I can see that it will also change the way that all business will do on line marketing in the future.

I can see that this system will create a level playing field for all businesses allowing every SME to advertise and know the exact results of its marketing spend and if that particular promotion does not work, never mind,do another one, it's free unless a result (New customer) is obtained.

All it takes is free registration, a little time designing the promotion adding text and images but this is nothing compared to the time, costs and negative results obtained from normal advertising.

If you have a business, any business especially small in the UK it really is worth using "Why wouldn't you" it's FREE.It's simple to use you don't have to be "Tecchie", anyone can do it.

As an advertiser you are the chicken and as sure as eggs are eggs the eggs (New customers) will follow

Have fun & kind regards

Mr Wheeliebin

Comments