Why Wal-Mart Is Paying Me to Shop Their New Store

The day after tomorrow, our long-awaited $14 million Wal-Mart Supercenter opens its doors.

Finally.

It's been six years since Wal-Mart announced their intention to build a new store here in Pullman, Washington.

Most folks in town - consumers, business owners, civic leaders, etc. - welcomed Wal-Mart's announcement, anticipating a much-needed boost to our local economy directly and indirectly, as new businesses open nearby, seeking to benefit from all the new traffic brought in by the behemoth.

Predictably, a vocal minority of Wal-Mart haters - university profs and poseurs proposing to tell me where I should and should not spend my own money - mustered their troops and managed to delay the inevitable by a few years. Their polarizing antics cost our fair city several years' worth of tax revenues from Wal-Mart, estimated by some to be as much as $500,000 per year.

But that's all behind us now. Today, local residents received in the mail a five-dollar Wal-Mart gift card. No strings attached. Just activate your card, then come in and spend it like cash.

Can you think of a surer way to get people to come in and sample the store?

In 1923, Claude Hopkins - considered by many to be the father of modern advertising - wrote that "(t)he product itself should be its own best salesman. Not the product alone, but the product plus a mental impression, and atmosphere, which you place around it. That being so, samples are of prime importance. However expensive, they usually form the cheapest selling method."

So, Wal-Mart is tapping a tried-and-true technique to introduce local shoppers to their new Supercenter. What will happen? Customers by the thousands will enter the new store for the first time and redeem their $5.00 gift cards. One suspects that more than a few members of the anti-Wal-Mart crowd, despite their posturing, will be among them (though undoubtedly they'll limit their purchases to five bucks, just to give 'em what-for.)

Wal-Mart will measure the effectiveness of their "sampling" program by the tens, more likely hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional purchases made by these same customers this week, and in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

Wal-Mart's associates have received extensive training to ensure that they make each customer feel welcome, even special. Wal-Mart's consumer researchers and merchandise buyers have seen to it that their shelves are stocked with stuff people want to buy, at prices they're willing to pay.

To the extent that their customers' expectations are met or exceeded, the new Wal-Mart Supercenter will thrive. Call it capitalism, free enterprise, or laissez faire with a dash of caveat emptor, I wouldn't trade ours for any other system on earth.

An Opportunity for Any Station in Any Market

Take the total population of your market or listening area. Divide that number by 365.

The result equals the average number of birthdays taking place in your market every day. The actual number obviously will be lower on some days, higher on others. But the point is, every day represents an opportunity to wish some of your listeners a Happy Birthday.

It's easy enough to start a WXXX Birthday Club - have your listeners register via email or a form on your website - and give them some recognition on the air and online.

You might even draw one name each day to win a birthday prize: a cake, a birthday meal, a special gift, etc. - traded in whole or part with advertisers who help sponsor the promotion.

Fun, simple to execute, and it likely would mean a lot to each day's celebrants. What's not to like about that!

An Opportunity for Radio to Shine

Every year local newspapers and magazines across America conduct their annual reader polls -- "best of" surveys in which their readers are asked to rate local businesses and other entities.

The results of these reader polls generally serve to promote good business throughout the community.

They also provide beaucoup opportunities for (surprise!) ...selling advertising.

Typical survey questions include:

Who's your favorite local TV news personality (sportscaster, weatherperson, etc.)?

Who in town makes the best pizza (hamburger, salad, sandwich, dessert, etc.)?

What's the best Chinese (Korean, Greek, Mexican, Italian, etc.) restaurant?

Favorite bakery (ice cream shop, watering hole, Espresso stand, wine bar, place to meet the opposite sex, etc.)

Favorite local doctor (optometrist, massage therapist, bank teller, college professor, insurance agent, city official, etc.)?

It's not uncommon for a poll to contain dozens of retail categories: clothing, furniture, appliances, lawn and garden, hardware, gifts, jewelry, hair salon, fitness club, book store, auto dealer, tire shop, service shop, drug store, supermarket, meat department...the list can go on and on....

They might also ask who has the friendliest staff? ...the cleanest facility? ...the funkiest decor? ...the best smell? ...the most attractive waitress? ...the best bartender?

Obviously this is just a representative sampling of the types of companies and individuals that can be included in a "Best of [Community]" poll.

But what a marvelous opportunity! It's loaded with benefits and no negatives that I can think of. (OK, so the losers don't get to say they're #1 this year. So what? They might be on top next year, if they work at it.)

At the end of the survey, results are tallied and the winners receive framed certificates to display proudly in their businesses, for all the world to see. It creates a lot of buzz, both for the business community and for the media outlet conducting the survey, whose logo appears on every award certificate.

So why is it that - in most of the markets I'm familiar with anyway - this promotion always seems to be the exclusive province of the print media? ("Ol' Smudgy," as my friend Jay Mitchell likes to call 'em.) Because it's easier for them to conduct a survey?

I'm sure there must be exceptions where the local radio station is running this show, thereby positioning itself as a community leader. I just don't know of any.

But it's a real opportunity for Radio to shine, my friend.

And so easy to put together!

•Let salespeople and air staff help create the survey form, identifying the obvious categories along with a few esoteric ones for fun.
•Write some promos inviting listeners to visit your website and fill out the survey form.
•Take printed copies to remotes.
•Pass them out at supermarkets, shopping malls, anywhere large numbers of people congregate. •Email them to listeners.
•Offer some nice prizes in a random drawing from among all completed surveys. (Great way to build a loyal listener database for future promotions.)

Make it fun, make it worthwhile for people to fill out the questionnaire, and you'll get lots of participation.

Then, make a big deal of announcing and saluting the winners. Use some trade and take 'em out to dinner to present the awards. Create "theater" by broadcasting the presentations. Or literally, take videos and upload them to You Tube and your own website. Share them on Facebook.

Make it as big a deal as you can imagine, and you'll ride on the goodwill for a long time to come.

Best of all, you'll get to do it again the next year.

And the next.

Once you've staked this promotion as YOURS, it'll stay yours for as long as you want to keep it going. And if one of your local print media is already doing a Readers' Poll...do your own anyway. (In the words of the late, great radio sales trainer, Jim Williams, "What the heck's wrong with two good things?")

A favor. If your station is doing this promotion, now or in the future, would you drop me a line and let me know about it? Thanks.

And good selling!

Happy Ground Hog Day....

Tried to locate an ad I recorded 15 or so years ago, featuring one of the co-owners of a family grocery store, the fellow who ran the meat department. He used to have a one-day sale every February 2nd, built around a special price on ground hog. (Ben's delivery was the key to making the spot funny and memorable: "Not GROUND hog. Ground HOG! Pork sausage.)" I'll upload the ad if and when I find it. In any case, you might want to make a note on your January 2010 calendar to pitch the idea to a grocer or butcher shop in your market. It's corny. It's fun. It can sell some groceries and meats, too.