Word of the Week: Consumer

For some reason, whatever I read this week, the word ‘Consumer’ keeps popping up, generally in the context of a customer. It makes it an ideal candidate for an Achieve Marketing Word of the Week.

Meaning of the word Consumer:

Dictionary.com defines it as

• a person or thing that consumes

• Economics: a person or organisation that uses a commodity or service

• Ecology: an organism, usually an animal that feeds on plants or other animals.

According to the Collins Dictionary, it’s a noun and is defined as

• a person who buys goods or uses services

It’s origin dates back to 1375-1425 for earlier sense ‘Squanderer’.

In Marketing terms…

In marketing terms, a consumer is often used inter-changeably with the word customer.

In this context, a consumer is an individual who buys a product or service for personal consumption or use. They make the buying decision and can be influenced by advertisements and marketing.

Once they make a decision as a consumer, they become a customer.

So I guess strictly speaking, a customer is not the same as a consumer - for example, a child would be a consumer of Haribo jellys but the parent is the customer.

But not all things in marketing are so clear cut, as the parent could be influenced by the child (Pleeaase Mum!) and make the buying decision as a consumer.

As long as consumer is consuming a service rather than another human being, (in the ecology term), I think consumer and customer can be used interchangeably.

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Outvesting - Got €50 for a Start-up?

I’m on twitter every day - sometimes to share interesting information that I’ve come across, sometimes I just read what others are saying.

One interesting tweet that I saw and acted upon came from @Eirepreneur. He spoke in less than 140 characters about the idea of outvesting.

Definition: out-vĕst’ing/ The act of committing money to a business while expecting to get nothing in return, other than the satisfaction of giving a leg up to Irish entrepreneurs.

So James put forward the idea of 100 business owners pledging €50 each, getting the €5,000 and then looking for submissions from start-ups for the cash. What a great idea.

€50 buys you what in Dublin today? An early bird dinner, a pair of jeans? (depending on where you buy them!), a round of drinks for about 8 people or a trip to the doctor/dentist.

Donating one little brown note can make a huge difference if you add it with 99 other brown notes. This will be an enormous help to a start up. If I had that money when I first started, it would have been a huge benefit to me.

I’m in. Are you?

If you want to be, check out http://outvesting.org/. If you’re on twitter, follow @outvesting and the hashtag #outvesting.

Thesaurus Tuesday: Day-to-Day

I’m currently working on three marketing activity plans. Within that context, I find myself saying to myself or my clients, ‘day to day’ activities are the lifeblood of any plan. Three little words to summarise all the tasks, chores and worries that comprise a day.

If I’m saying it so much, then why not use it as a Thesaurus Tuesday? As it’s a little phrase, could it be there is no real alternative to our much loved descriptive idiom?

I decided to think a little bit more about it. Something that occurs every day is said to be day to day. It also conjures up images of boredom, the mundaneness of life. In addition, I’ve seen it applied in the circumstance where there was no thought or regard to the future.

When I thought about another phrase to use, I found it quite difficult. Could I really have found a group of words that has no real alternative?

Thesaurus Tuesday Word:

Day-to-Day

Suggested alternatives to day-to-day

• Daily

• Continuously

• Regularly

Thesaurus in action

We lived day to day during those heady college days, worries were a thing of the future.

Our daily lives consisted of fun times, who needed to worry?

or

I didn’t need to be involved day to day in the business as long as I got figures at the end of the very evening

I wasn’t involved regularly in the business so long as the figures were emailed at the end of every day.

Can you think of an alternative to the ones above for day-to-day?

Monday Makeover: Birds Eye Salmon Fish Fingers

Usually the Monday Makeover is a text based makeover, given that I’m a copy-writer. However, I’m also a marketer and I have to say that I really like the Birds Eye Salmon Fish Finger ad.

I think that the guys who created it did a really good makeover job on advertising the trusty, reliable (dare I say boring) fish finger. Firstly, one must thank the Birds Eye product team for coming up with the slightly posher version of the fish finger. But let’s face it, coming up with an ad to promote it wouldn’t necessarily have been the easiest task of all.

And okay, the guys went back to basics - ‘inneundo sell’s’ but this ad does what it’s supposed to do - get people’s attention to the product.

Watch it HERE: Birds Eye Salmon Fish Finger Ad.

Some people do not like this ad - I’ve searched on the Internet and some people really dislike it. But TV ads are supposed to entertain as well as promote a product. I’d bet if you did a brief survey, the majority of TV ad watchers (I’ll discount the Skyplus people who fast forward the ads!), will tell you that there is a new fish finger. This ad promotes a new version of an old product in a completely different way.

It’s cheeky with its M&S-esque sultry voice but it’s also a good production - that two second wait before the two other fish fingers faint is classic TV.

Say what you may - but Birds Eye Fish Fingers has definitely had a makeover!

Have your say - what do you think of this ad?

Featured Friday: Photographer Insurance Package by Heritage

Due to the success of last week’s Featured Friday - Swine Flu Tool-kit by Healthforce, we are back with another Featured Friday.

This week it is Heritage Insurance Group.

A fellow member of the BNI Abbey with me, Derek Balfe impresses me every time I talk to him. Derek along with his partner Stephen Brack set up Heritage Insurance Group, a commercial insurance brokerage in 2008, during  the early stages of a recession.

They have done extremely well over the last year. As other small businesses have gone to the wall, Heritage has taken on new staff members, introduced a new division to the company and sales continue to grow.

They are an academic dream, a living success story. Their success is due in no short measures to their dedication and undying focus on the customer. Invariably they get cheaper rates on all types of commercial insurance but they take the time to listen to their customer’s needs. That’s the huge difference between them and other brokers. If you don’t need certain coverage, then you don’t need to pay for it. You pay for exactly what you need.

They get you a quote based on your needs and budget, not just budget. They check the small print!

Photographer Insurance

Just lately, they’ve launched an insurance package specifically for photographers & videographers - both amateurs and professionals.

They can get a quote for  you to cover your equipment, liabilities and professional indemnity insurance - all in one page.

Derek and Stephen will be at the Photovision show this coming Tuesday, 8th September, where over 1000 photographers will be in attendance. If you are one of those photographers, I recommend that you pop over and say hello. Two nicer guys you wouldn’t meet…even if they are in insurance!!

Go to www.camerainsurance.ie for more information on this particular package.

For more information on the other range of commercial insurance they cover - visit their website at www.hig.ie. They’ll be around for a long time.

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Good News Thursday: Drogheda Arts Festival

Things haven’t been so hot and busy on the good news front. In fact, very little good news has come across the desks at Achieve Marketing. We could be in a silo - but all we hear at the moment is Lisbon Treaty and Nama. Good news? oh dear!

But we have one good story to report. The Drogheda Arts Festival organised by the Drogheda Borough Council Art Office has just been short-listed for a Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Award. We were instrumental in the copy-writing of the application form and are thrilled that they have gotten this far.

The Drogheda Arts Festival started 6 years ago and goes from strength to strength. When I was Marketing Officer for the Droichead Arts Centre, I was on the periphery of the organisation. It takes time, stamina and strength to organise a five day festival over the May bank holiday.

It’s one of the first arts festivals to appear on the National calendar and they certainly kick start it off in style.

The Local Government awards take place in October and from all of us at Achieve Marketing, we wish them the very best of luck.

A good news story indeed.

Word of the Week: Boot camp

Everywhere I turn, there is a boot camp - whether it’s social media boot camp, career boot camp, management boot camp, ‘Be your own boss’ boot camp.

It’s everywhere at the moment. While I understand the logic behind organising a boot camp, I didn’t know where the word came from or it’s actual meaning. So this week’s Wednesday word of the week is ‘Boot camp.

Meaning of the the word ‘Boot Camp’

According to Collins Dictionary, it’s a noun and it means:

• A centre for juvenile offenders with strict discipline and hard physical exercise

According to Dictionary.com, it’s also a noun and defines it as

• a camp for training recruits

It adds a little bit more information:

1. A training camp for military recruits.
2. A correctional facility that uses the training techniques applied to military recruits to teach usually youthful offenders socially acceptable patterns of behavior.

While there are lots of management ‘boot camps’ around the world, I am hoping the training element rather than the correctional facility element is key to promoting the boot camps!

The word comes from America and is dated around 1940-1945 (dictonary.com)

Finally, there is no dictonary equivalent to bootcamp (all one word!).

Thesaurus Tuesday: Despite

This past summer I’ve been helping, or should I say trying to help a friend with her thesis. I’ve played the role of the proof-reader, examining what certain sections are all about, prodding and probing to make sure the thesis is a great document.

It has reminded me of my own time doing my thesis - Relationship Marketing in the Airline Industry.

One word that I kept using over and over was ‘despite‘. The word was used quite extensively in the Literature Review, as back in 2002, relationship marketing was a topical subject. Some academics advocated it while others waved it off as a fad.

Not wanting to use the word ‘despite’ over and over, I had to come up with a few alternatives:

Tuesday Thesaurus Word:

Despite

Suggested alternatives

• Notwithstanding (my personal favourite)
• Even though
• In defiance of
• In defence of
• Undettered by

Thesaurus in Action:
Despite the paramedic’s best efforts of resusitication on the scene, the casualty passed away.

Even though the paramedic did his best on the scene, the casualty passed away.

or

Despite a  perceived link between loyalty and profitablity, a profitable customer may not be a loyal one.

Nothwithstanding the perceived link between loyalty and profitability, a profitable customer may not be a loyal one.

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Featured Friday: Flu Stop by Heathforce

Last Friday, I wrote but somehow didn’t save the new Featured Friday! Not sure what happened but it’s always good to rectify a problem when you’re aware of it!

So without further ado - welcome to Featured Friday. The day where I post some information on a company that has a new product or service; has inspired me or others or is marketing in a very different way.

This inaugural edition features Flu Stop by Healthforce.

Healthforce is an occupational health and safety company - with a difference. It is nurse led rather than doctor led. The founder Anne-marie Graham was injured while working as a senior nurse so understands how injury and incorrect procedures can literally change a persons life.

Thankfully she started her own business to help others not encounter the same problems that she did. Always focused on the customer, she has created a tool-kit for Irish SMEs and corporates to give information, advice on prevention and management of Swine Flu.

With Swine Flu now classified as a Pandemic (worldwide problem), it’s yet another challenge for employers in an already challenging climate.

What you get with Flu Stop:

• 1 hour risk assessment consultation on H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus
• Information & materials on management
• Information & materials on prevention
• Helpline (manned by nurses) for any queries or concerns you have
• Company policy tailored to your individual organisational needs
• Full insurance review and advice to ensure that you are fully covered
• Access to best industry rates on sanitisation products

Priced at an unbelievable €99, Swine Flu provides companies with peace of mind and solutions on how to effectively prevent and manage Swine Flu, ensuring it doesn’t affect your company’s productivity and competitive edge.

Call 01 639 4967 for more information or visit http://www.healthforce.ie/swineflu/

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Happy Autumn! Plans are Afoot….

It’s official - Autumn is finally upon us. We have dew on the cars in the mornings, the nights are drawing in, the leaves are starting to fall from the trees and the children head back (excitedly!) to school.

Shelley once wrote “There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been.”

Autumn is a great time to start afresh - bring balance back to life. With this in mind, I’ve decided to do something different. Each day, I’ll write a blog on a certain category.

Monday: Monday Makeover

A makeover of an ad, sales letter, article etc to help business owners or marketing execs to engage better with their readers.

Tuesday: Thesaurus Tuesday

I’m often asked for another word as a business-owner might have used the same word over and over again. So this little blog will feature one word and how we can use another word to have the same meaning.

Wednesday: Word of the Week

Words fascinate me. The spelling, the pronunciation, the meaning, the double meanings. Similar to Thesaurus Tuesday, it will be a little bit of fun with one chosen word.

Thursday: Good News Thursday

I’m finding it difficult to get good news but I shall continue to look…even if it’s just one story!

Friday: Featured Friday

I go to many networking events, I follow many great companies and entrepreneurs. Fridays will feature a company that has inspired me, inspired others, has a great idea or product or is using a different way to market their business.

It will be a day to celebrate others.

With the new season upon us, what are you going to do?

P.S. Yes I  know that technically Autumn started in August…but I like to think that August is part of the Irish summer.