In artistic sports like ice skating and gymnastics, there’s a score for skill and a score for presentation.
Marketing is pretty much the same. It’s the idea AND how you express it.
Now, without the skill, or good idea, the presentation is irrelevant. But, make no mistake, presentation matters.
It’s often the difference between gold, silver and bronze. Or a pitch that hits its target or misses. Not by a mile, maybe only an inch. But misses all the same.
Here’s an example. KB Toys recently announced that it would no longer accept its gift cards. Competitor Toys-R-Us saw an opportunity and today announced it would give KB gift card holders a coupon for 15% off at Toys-R-Us. Nice idea, nice gesture.
Except that’s not quite what it said in its pitch to bloggers and its press release.
Instead it announced the “great news” of its “gift card exchange program.”
Except “great news” is a bit of an exaggeration. It’s not an exchange — it’s a 15% off coupon. With a fair number of restrictions.
Why wasn’t the company more honest? I realize the corporate wordsmiths are probably cringing, but the truth is that Toys-R-Us is capitalizing on the misfortune of its competitor as well as helping the potential customer. Everybody gets that.
So why not just tell the truth? In a perfect world, Toys-R-Us might accept the KB gift cards in a true exchange. But the world isn’t perfect, and that would be a bad business decision. But it can give the KB gift card holder some value in exchange for trying out Toys-R-Us, and that’s better than nothing, which is what the card is worth at KB Toys.
Say so. “We wish we could simply accept the KB gift cards at our stores, but we just can’t afford to do that,” said Toys mucky muck. “But we can offer this discount to encourage KB shoppers to try our stores and experience all that Toys has to offer.”
I also wish the coupon didn’t have all the restrictions. A gift card wouldn’t. How cool would it be if you could use the discount for any single item you wanted.
It’s not just what you offer. It’s how you say it.
Sometimes that makes all the difference.
Yep, rotten presentation. Especially with all the restrictions. I can understand the higher-end items, but diapers and formula?
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The service at my local Toys-R-Us is so consistently poor that it would have taken an equal or near-equal exchange of a KB gift card to get me in the door. (That is, if I had a KB card.)
That’s one thing I really don’t like about TRU.
It seems like everytime I get a good coupon, you can’t use it on the things I would buy (diapers, formula, etc.).
Or when there is an offer to get a free gift card or product with a minimum purchase, you can’t include diapers, formula, etc.
They have slightly lower prices on these baby essentials, but hold it against you if they have a promotion.
I also don’t like their strict return policy.
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