What is your holiday campaign strategy?

The holiday season is coming and it looks like a rough one to be honest. Sales were going down in the last year and consumers are not as eager to take out their wallets as easily as they used to. Shoppers are becoming more price aware, looking for deals and bargains instead of just buying whatever is on the shelves.

Businesses across the nation can not handle another dry shopping season and are looking to increase this years revenue by lowering prices and pushing ad campaigns.

Advertising Age reports that Kohl’s is one of the first retailers to engage a massive holiday campaign, targeting radio, TV, direct mail and social media as the leading advertising channels.

Direct email is also a strategy that the company is taking after doubling its consumer database during the last year. The company will focus on value and discounts while reminding shoppers how much money they are saving while shopping in their stores.

What is you holiday business plan? Do you have a holiday campaign strategy or are you feeling behind your competitors? If you are looking for an entertainment marketing agency that incorporates creative marketing using print, radio, television, out-of-home, web and much more visit www.wilengroup.com. We look forward to taking you to the next level.

How to make 7 million dollars using smart social media campaign

Well, the answer is pretty simple. First you gotta make a low budget horror film for around 15,000 bucks and then push it using a smart social media campaign convincing more than 1 million people to see it even before its release date giving you 7 million dollars from only 144 screens over one weekend.

Paramount Studios decided to use a different marketing technique for the low budget “Paranormal Activity” using Eventful.com a community based website allowing users to promote local events.

The company created online buzz around the film and asked users to share this buzz with their friends, stating that if 1,000,000 people demand to watch the flick, it will get a nationwide release.
Well, the plan worked and the movie got a million hits and a wide release. All the noise helped the movie gain over 7 million dollars for its limited 144 theater screenings.

If you are looking to get in the social media marketing business but don’t really know where to start, visit us at www.wilengroup.com. We can create personalized communication for your business and go beyond awareness, utilizing unique channels including social media, direct to mail, geo-targeted online advertising as well as TV and radio.

Oh, and just for fun...

Commercial Printing and the Internet

Remember back in 2000, when marketing industry experts were convinced that the Internet was going to destroy the entire print medium – rendering it obsolete as we moved towards a paperless society? Well, times have changed and although the Internet is now a permanent fixture in our lives, it has not brought a wrecking ball to traditional media – or the commercial printing industry.

In fact, web based solutions have actually helped the commercial printing industry thrive in the early stages of the 21st century by providing tools that help enhance the entire process of creating print collateral and getting it out to market.

Just consider the editing process. Years ago, a commercial printer would need to create a full, hard-copy draft of a print piece and have it delivered to the client for their review. If there were changes that needed to be made, the piece was marked up and shuffled back and forth until everything looked perfect.

With the Internet (and more accessible software technology) clients are now able to review documents online and email changes right back to the printer. This saves both time and money and makes the old way feel antiquated.

In addition, some commercial printers have given their clients the tools to create print media right from their own PC, and then submit them to the printer for production.
What we’ve learned from enterprises such as these is that the Internet is not something to be feared as a harbinger of the end of commercial printing. Instead, those who embrace new printing technology will see their customer base grow – especially as people become more tech savvy in the coming years.

Work with an industry leader in commercial printing. Work with Wilen Group. At www.wilengroup.com you’ll discover all the ways technology can help enhance the printing and marketing process. Let Wilen Group create a campaign that builds your brand and delivers the customers right to your door.

Social Media Marketing and your Business

Blogs, Twitters, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, these are not only social network channels – these are your new marketing channels. Yep, posting a classified ad in the paper is just not enough. Times are changing and your marketing strategies should also change accordingly.

You probably heard about social media marketing, a term that describes the use of online social networks for marketing. So what will you gain from social media marketing? Well, first of all you create buzz for your brand. Blogging for example, is a great way to publish news and information about your company. Twitter can help your followers keep track with hot new info and YouTube can help you promote your brand by using cool clips and videos.

Social media marketing is much relaxed and laidback than conservative marketing outlets. Just look at this blog! You can write what ever you like, and meet with your customers on a more personal, conversational level.



Of course that all of these social channels are free to use and open for everybody. If you are looking to get in the social media marketing business but don’t really know where to start, visit us at www.wilengroup.com. We can create personalized communication for your business and go beyond awareness, utilizing unique channels including social media, direct to mail, geo-targeted online advertising as well as TV and radio.

Billboard and outdoor advertising tips

When reaching consumers outside their home or office, you need to create a unique experience that captures attention and resonates with passers-by:

• Know your target audience. Don’t advertise how great you are. Try and think what the consumer wants from you.
• Know what you want to say. Your message should be short and it better be provocative. Provocative doesn’t necessarily mean naked people. No. It can be thought provocative, or have a provocative design.
  
• Know how to say it. Keep it clean and clear and use lively colors.
  
• Consider your location. A billboard advertising a Caribbean Cruise wouldn’t be effective in a low income neighborhood. But a sign advertising a new fashion store will work wonders in a shopping district. Any sign can have a great impact, but the location should help establishing the tone.
  
• Less is More. Yes, it’s a cliché, but there’s a good reason why it’s a cliché. Don’t go and sell your entire line of products or services in the poster. It will be difficult. It will hurt. You have to keep it as simple as possible.
• Be unique. Be creative. Be humorous. People love advertisements. Especially when they’re good. They can be fun, entertaining and you should also have a good time when working on billboard advertising.

If you need some more information or guidance regarding your company’s marketing, advertising and commercial printing, or if you’re looking for an agency that will provide you a state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, unrevealed data expertise and innovative direct marketing solutions that maximize ROI, you should definitely visit Wilen Group online at www.wilengroup.com and get your marketing going.

Get your ads to the right place with Geo Targeted Advertising

Let’s say you visit a random website. What is the first question you usually encounter before you are able to accesses the site? That’s right – the question is “where do you live.”

This question is pretty reasonable. If it’s an international company, this information will help them direct you to the right website and the right content. But sometimes there is more to it. This process is basically called Geo-targeting which means that a company is determining your geolocation on the globe. But we like to call it Geo Targeted Advertising.

When our clients take advantage of geo-targeted advertising, they are able to maximize their advertising capabilities and reach the right places and the most important potential clientele.

Just think of the possibilities. We know that internet advertising can get pretty expensive, especially if you have a local business and you don’t need surfers from New-Mexico clicking on your ad. But with geo-targeted advertising your ad will only show when people enter the right city, address, or it can even get as specific as a zip code.

Want more information? You're in the right place. With more than 30 years of leadership and innovation in all aspects of marketing for the cable television industry, Wilen Group has leveraged its formidable capabilities into an all-in-one marketing powerhouse and now we want to help you – the small business owner.

Use our relationship with the USPS and save money on postage

Your postman is a very nice person. You should really get to know him better. We like our postman. We like every postman out there. That’s why we’re capable of deeply penetrating the postal system by drop shipping co-palatalized materials directly into USPS.

Because our relationship with the USPS is so great, we even have on-site mail verification, which means that IMB code mailing is in process through machine camera verification. At Wilen Group, we achieve better than 98% penetration into the SCFs (Sectional Center Facilities) and BMCs (Bulk Mail Centers) for many of our clients. We know how to save your business 2-4 days on delivery, a substantial amount of time to get your mail into your customers homes, and also help you save money on postage.

Not enough? Let us tell you that one of our valued partners is projected to save over $7.8 million dollars in postal savings over a two year period. And you can’t really beat that.

Wilen Direct, a part of the Wilen Group, is your single source for all lettershop services, warehousing and distribution of all Direct Mail materials.