We are on a mission to improve Girl Power Hour so we can be a better resource for you! As we head into 2011 we are launching our second GPH survey to find out more about you and your interests. The survey will launch today December 16, 2010. Each person who completes the survey will be entered to win a one night luxury stay for two at Hotel Bellevue’s Nouveau Bed and Breakfast, a $50.00 food & beverage credit, and an Ultimate Girl Power Hour Swag Bag.
We can’t improve Girl Power Hour without your help and appreciate all your feedback and input. The information collected will not be sold and your privacy will be kept.
The link to the survey can be found here, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter. Thank you again for your support in 2010, we look forward to seeing you in 2011 and we are thrilled to have Hotel Bellevue sponsor this survey!
Year after year I search online, window shop, and ask my girl friends for ideas on holiday gifts. This year I decided to create my own list and get the Power Team’s suggestions on their best gifts they will be giving this holiday. With Christmas just around the corner, hopefully you already have all your gifts wrapped and ready to send or give, but if you are still stuck on what to give. Here is a fun list of ideas collected just for you. Not your normal list fyi.
FOR HER: A gift certificate for a blow out from Swink, trust us every girl loves great hair. $30.00 http://www.swinkstylebar.com/
FOR ANYONE: Photo Book of the year gone by from www.Kodakgallery.com
FOR HER: Roll Out Flats for that busy gal running all over town. $14.95 Read more
Our Anniversary party is 1 week away. After days, weeks, even months of planning Champagne Wishes, I am proud to say we have created an amazing event for you. Our team has worked extra hard to make this event a wish come true. (Shout Out to the awesome Power Team) This event is more than celebrating another birthday; it’s an event to honor each and every person, business, and organization that has supported GPH over the past three years. If you haven’t purchased your ticket yet, purchase them ASAP on our website. While purchasing your ticket, we’ve also given you the option to donate to YWCA and receive a one year subscription to Seattle Met!
Don’t forget…men can attend this event!
Because there will be so much going on, I’ve created this handy little cheat sheet just for you. Please be warned, I was unable to list absolutely everything about the night, there is just too much goodness to list!
You can also expect great ambiance, decor, and music from Jeremy Nail and DJ Mars One. Watch out for the Report Shoes display wall and be ready to pose for photos on the red carpet, network, toast champagne, celebrate GPH, support YWCA, and much more. Don’t forget to bring your business cards and… cocktail attire is encouraged.
How do I win that iPad??
“Check in” on Whrrl at the REPORT Footwear Showrooms once you arrive to the G3 party for a chance to win an iPad! You can join the Girl Power Hour Society to get hot GPH recommendations on your mobile phone, and read recommendations of all the things you can do at the G3 party like scarfing on the best gourmet burgers and fries you’ve ever had from the Buns on Wheels mobile food truck! To get Whrrl, download it from the app store for iPhone or go to m.whrrl.com on any phone with a mobile browser!
Hey, I want to take a Town Car or Shuttle, how can I do that?
Shuttle Express has provided a discount to those wanting to arrive at G3 in style. Click here for details and booking options.
See you next week!
On behalf of Girl Power Hour I would like to personally invite you get your ticket to the REPORT Footwear Launch Party next weekend. If you like shoes, especially shoes that are fashion forward you need to be at this Girl Power Hour event. I’ve probably driven my Facebook friends a bit crazy with continuous updates about this event and shoes, but seriously the REPORT Footwear Launch party is pretty incredible. Besides the fact that the shoes rock, REPORT is a local company from Bellevue! This is their first store and it’s less then 20 minutes from my door step and probably yours too. I’m kind of obsessed with this event because, yes I love shoes but I also love the fact I’ll be able to chat with friends, network, and enjoy some bubbly.
14 Reasons why you must join us at the REPORT Launch Party!
1. Latest trends from REPORT Footwear
2. 20% off any item purchased that evening
3. $25 gift certificates given to the 1st, 25th, 50th, and 100th guest
4. 5% of proceeds from the night will go to the charity City of Hope
5. Wine from Girly Girl Wines
6. Champagne from Barefoot
7. Appetizers from Pearl Restaurant and Bar
8. Cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes
9. Nero Beverage Samples
10. Door prizes including shoes, gift certificate from Gene Juarez, and more!
11. Networking Opportunity
12. SWAG Bags for 200 People
13. Helpful REPORT staff to help you choose your perfect shoe
14. Did I mention shoes???
When: August 29, 2010 from 7:30PM-10:00PM
Where: Bellevue Square Mall 2042 Bellevue Square- 2nd Floor at the REPORT Store near Guess and Express. Enter at that entrance only please.
Cost: $10.00 for GPH Members and $20.00 for Non-members
August 29th is also the last day of Bellevue Fashion Week and another great reason why you should come celebrate with Girl Power Hour. If I haven’t persuaded you just yet, please email me with any questions or for more reasons to attend. I look forward to seeing you! PS… Check out the cool photos I posted with this blog!
Want more info? Email me at zong@girlpowerhour.com!
If you’ve attended more than a few Girl Power Hour events, you’ve probably received a swag bag filled with goodies. This month I wanted to highlight how small businesses and even large ones use swag in their promotional marketing mix. A business’s promotional mix includes everything from contest, coupons, and sampling. Swag in the promotional mix has become quite popular, I believe you will only see more fun and creative giveaways. As a small business you can find success in swag marketing. The most important things to know about swag:
Let’s define swag. Swag’s acronym is “Stuff We All Get” For all you GPH attendees it’s all the stuff you’ve received in our swag bags including: promotional products, flyers, and free samples.
When used correctly, swag marketing can influence and change your customer’s behavior. That first free product that your potential customer receives could be the first of many products he/she buys from you. Swag that is given away should be directed toward the target audience for the product or service.
There are 8 Types of Swag: Awards/Gifting Suites, Business Gifts, Commemoratives, Incentives and Premiums, Direct Mail, Prizes, Promotional Giveaway, and Traffic Builder. Understanding these different types can help you build a strategy for your marketing plan, save you cost, and over all build beneficial relationships with your audience. I will cover a few types that I find most important.
Awards/Gifting Suites
What is this: This type of swag is given to recipients of awards or persons of influence. An example is Oscar Gifting Suites. The purpose of these is to provide items such as designer dresses, jewelry, and beauty products to actors, actresses, and influencers. The reason why companies spend tons of money on this type of swag promotion is to place their products and services in the hands of trendsetters and people in the spotlight.
How to use this to market your product/service: When placing your product or service in this type of swag, be sure to understand how relevant and how much your swag is valued at. For product placement in the gifting suites, you will pay a higher price in the thousands to have your goods placed. For the 2010 Oscars, nominee swag bags included $45,000 all inclusive deluxe South African safari from Premier Tours, $17,000 getaway to the Monte Carlo Beach Hotel, a HGTV Green Home Mattress by Serta, a Tiffany cat collar, just to name a few. In your own city I would advise you to find events that cater to your audience whether that is an award banquet where you can give your products to local influencers or charity events. Another example is providing your swag items to an event that may have the same elements or is themed around your product; if you provide wedding services why not donate swag to wedding events in your city or to events with a high demographic of women.
Promotional/Giveaway
What is this: This is a promotion given away without charge to the recipient. The main purpose of this swag is to create awareness of the product or service. The product/service given away as swag needs to be meaningful and have value attached to it.
How to use this to market your product/service: Beauty products do a great job at using swag in their promotional mix. They give away little cute sample sizes and always leave you wanting more. It’s important to package your sample swag so that it’s easy to use, simple, and dummy proof. If you are a new business it is crucial to do many promotional giveaways to gain awareness!
Traffic Builder
What is this: This is a promotional product or item to drive traffic to your retail store, venue, or even website. Last year at an event a friend of mine received a flyer that invited him back to their store for a free pair of jeans. He used the flyer to visit the store and got his free pair of jeans and purchased a t-shirt! The goal of this type of swag is to get people through your doors.
How to use this to market your product/service: Offer a swag item that is noteworthy. If you don’t have anything you consider noteworthy, create something! The swag has to tie in with your business or company. Other successful examples I’ve seen is salons offering free haircuts to new customers ($50 saving) free classes for first time guest, free products just for visiting, free appetizers, and even free shipping on e-commerce websites.
I highly suggest that if you offer a flyer as a swag item, the offer must call the recipient to act. I have seen a flyer too many lost in the shuffle because recipients didn’t care for the 10% off coupon.
I could probably go on and on about swag suggestions and ideas! The most important thing I want you to remember about swag marketing is making your item enticing and relevant. I would love to hear your swag success stories as well as give advice for creative ideas for swag. Email me at zong@girlpowerhour.com
Marketing 360 is a 360-degree perspective of marketing and business for women.
Remember when you created your dream guy at 13? You formulated all these characteristics for him including his job, his age, his looks, his income, his race, even his car. Understanding your target audience is almost the exact same thing. Your target audience is who you market your product and services to. This group makes up the core buyers you seek and desire. Sometimes you are able to define this group other times this group evolves and defines itself. Over all as a business owner, account executive, director, or manager of any sort it is crucial for you to understand your audience or audiences. If you married your dream guy or have recently found him, it’s probably because you knew what this person looked like. You could spot him in a crowd and upon meeting him you knew right away he was the one. We can say the same thing about knowing your target audience. If you understand who your target market is, you then know how to spot them and deliver your product into their hands.
Now many of you might be asking….How do I define my audience….how do I find this dream guy? There are two main ways to understand your audience. You can get quantitative research which is data already collected about your audience. These reports usually include measurements of data, percentages, and figures about your market. An example of this is the census. The census provides you with an in-depth report of a profile of a community, city, or even state where your business might be located. Qualitative data is information that you receive after doing your own research. This kind of research is done to understand how your audience behaves for example why your customer buys or how they feel about certain products. Performing qualitative data can be done by focus groups, surveys, sampling, in-depth interviews, and observation research.
After collecting your quantitative and qualitative research you are able to create a demographic profile of your audience. Demographic data consist of information such as age, sex, marital status, family size, education, geographic location, occupation, life style and hobbies. With all the research collected you can create your customer demographic profile. I like to name my demographic profile with either a name or by a category Gen Y, Gen X, and so on. Here is a profile outline you can use.
Demographic Profile (Dream Guy)
Name: Andrew
Age: 26-53
Sex: Male
Marital Status: Single, Never Married
Family Size: 1
Education: College/Some Colllege
Geographic Location: Seattle Area/Home Owner
Occupation: Business Owner
Hobbies: Travel, Out Doors, Adventure, and Cooking
Other Information: Must be kind, smart, fun, supportive, creative, and liberal.
The more we understand our customers, the better products and services we can provide. I also highly suggest being proactive in watching your audience’s trends and behavior and updating this to their profile. The most important thing about understanding your audience and their demographics is the ability to understand their buying process. Knowing their buying process allows you to place your product or service in the path of how they purchase. Your product will not be seen in their site of vision unless you know who they are.
If you are still looking for that special person; define for yourself how they might look like. You’ll be more likely to spot them!
Good luck on getting to know your target audience, comments and questions can be sent to zong@girlpowerhour.com
Suggested Readings:
Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, by Paco Underhill
Divide and Conquer: Target Your Customers Through Market Segmentation, by Harry Webber
*Zong spent two years at Nielsen Media doing demographic profiling for Nielsen TV Ratings.
