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Sandwich Board makes a Come Back

A few weeks ago, I noted more retail establishments than usual using people-powered sandwich boards to attract customers. It appears that this rather old fashioned tactic is making a coming back or business owners are determined to try anything for promotion.

Today, I saw a guy in a suit under a sandwich board promoting tax services. In my mind, going to get your taxes done is not an impulse buy. Seeing a signboard might make me contemplate having pizza for dinner, but taxes? Are there people driving around with receipts looking for a tax office?

The tax man with a sandwich board may, however, plant in my mind the geographic location of the tax office. But does it make sense? Track how your customers find you so you can see if your advertising is working. You can ask walk in customers, or set up different phone numbers or web pages so you can determine if the ad or sandwich board worked. The more you know about your customers, the better able you will be to target your marketing campaign.

Images.google.com has a variety of sandwich board images to entertain you.

Twitter news offered by AMA

As a past-president of the American Marketing Association Sacramento Valley, I am always delighted when the organization brings speakers to the membership that enrich the marketing field. Today the speaker on Twitter was Alejandro Reyes, Social Marketing Consultant & CEO of SacramentoMarketingLabs.com.

I agree with his sentiment that Twitter, like any other marketing tactic — web site, sales materials, public relations and the rest, should be authentic, build your brand, provide value to customers and be used strategically to differentiate your products and services.

You can follow my tweets on twitter @marketgal.

Fresh eggs reflect trends

It is said that the simplest things in life offer the greatest riches. In time for Easter, our young chickens just started laying eggs. The speckled brown egg shells are beautiful. We enjoy the fresh organic eggs that can be gathered at home rather than at the grocery store.

Many of my neighbors are raising chickens for organic eggs. According to the Ag Marketing Resource Center: “Organics have grown at a rate of nearly 20 percent per year for the last seven years, and industry experts are continuing to forecast additional growth.”

According to Amy Sung of Supermarket News in a Feb. 9, 2009 article: “The market for organic foods has looked unstoppable in recent years, with sales growing from $2.1 billion in 2003 to an estimated $5.2 billion in 2008 – a 142% increase – according to Mintel International Group’s Organic Food Report, October 2008. And, despite the deepening recession, many experts believe that sales of organic products will continue to increase in 2009, albeit at a slower pace.”

The organic market is definitely a trend worth watching for your family or your business. As a side note, when I admired the neighbor’s chicken coop, he referred me to Backyard Chickens for design ideas. Today’s world is rich in opportunity with an amazing array of online resources right at your finger tips. You can find almost everything you want to know online to stimulate fresh ideas and house fresh eggs.