Lesson #1: Pump Up Your Marketing with Promotions
Lesson #1: Pump Up Your Marketing with Promotions
If there was one thing van Stolk never had a lot of, it was money for marketing. The budget of his industry competitors for television commercials alone was more than van Stolk’s entire marketing budget. It was to that end that van Stolk sought to find other ways to get word of his company out there. It just so happened that those other ways also managed to lend themselves to the company’s edgy, alternative image. After all, the target market of Jones Soda were primarily a young generation of cynics when it came to conventional advertising.
In its 13 years in business, Jones Soda has become a master promoter, one which competitors continually look to for innovative ways to spread their messages. Jones Soda was one of the first companies to ever enter into a sponsorship deal with athletes in extreme and alternative sports. Before van Stolk, no company had ever thought to back snowboarders, skateboarders or BMX (bicycle) riders. From there, he went on to sponsor ballerinas, spelling bee contestants, and even a 10 year old gospel singer.
In addition to sponsorships, van Stolk came up with the idea to have two brightly-coloured Jones Soda RVs travel around the U.S. nine months out of the year. Especially meant to keep in touch with the 12 to 24 year old demographic, the roving RVs visit everywhere from small skate parks in the tiniest cities, to county fairs, to major competitions for extreme sports, including the X Games, handing out samples of their products. The RV drivers are also expected to study the children, noting which products they’re most interested in, and taking that information back to company headquarters.
The RVs even turn up to places where they are less than welcome, such as high schools, where teachers have had them removed much to the excitement of the school children. In fact, getting kicked out of venues often does more for the company’s rebellious image than staying and handing out samples. One of the RVs has actually been banned form Nassau County in New York, something its driver is quite proud of.
Van Stolk also learned quickly the power of online promotions, having turned the Jones Soda website into an interactive community, chockfull with “free stuff.” At little cost to the company, Jones provides consumers with hundreds of free downloadable goodies, including prize packages for contests that are electronic and downloadable. As a result, the company’s website has become a popular online hangout. So much so that when Jones Soda manufactured 6,000 bottles of its quirky Turkey and Gravy Soda, it sold out within just two hours of appearing online.
In its most popular contest to date, Jones Soda ran the 10,000th Label Contest. Fans voted for their favourite photo of the Top 20 that Jones Soda picked. The winner’s photo would then appear on a special edition bottle. In all, more than 5,000 votes were cast.
That is the power of Jones Soda’s promotions, and that is why other companies continue to look to van Stolk’s creations for inspiration.
Lesson 1 Pump Up Your Marketing with Promotions
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“Our competition spends over a billion dollars a year. We can’t play by their rules,” van Stolk once said. “When you’re marketing without money, you have to stay true to the fact that you need to make an emotional connection.”
If there was one thing van Stolk never had a lot of, it was money for marketing. The budget of his industry competitors for television commercials alone was more than van Stolk’s entire marketing budget. It was to that end that van Stolk sought to find other ways to get word of his company out there. It just so happened that those other ways also managed to lend themselves to the company’s edgy, alternative image. After all, the target market of Jones Soda were primarily a young generation of cynics when it came to conventional advertising.
In its 13 years in business, Jones Soda has become a master promoter, one which competitors continually look to for innovative ways to spread their messages. Jones Soda was one of the first companies to ever enter into a sponsorship deal with athletes in extreme and alternative sports. Before van Stolk, no company had ever thought to back snowboarders, skateboarders or BMX (bicycle) riders. From there, he went on to sponsor ballerinas, spelling bee contestants, and even a 10 year old gospel singer.
In addition to sponsorships, van Stolk came up with the idea to have two brightly-coloured Jones Soda RVs travel around the U.S. nine months out of the year. Especially meant to keep in touch with the 12 to 24 year old demographic, the roving RVs visit everywhere from small skate parks in the tiniest cities, to county fairs, to major competitions for extreme sports, including the X Games, handing out samples of their products. The RV drivers are also expected to study the children, noting which products they’re most interested in, and taking that information back to company headquarters.
The RVs even turn up to places where they are less than welcome, such as high schools, where teachers have had them removed much to the excitement of the school children. In fact, getting kicked out of venues often does more for the company’s rebellious image than staying and handing out samples. One of the RVs has actually been banned form Nassau County in New York, something its driver is quite proud of.
Van Stolk also learned quickly the power of online promotions, having turned the Jones Soda website into an interactive community, chockfull with “free stuff.” At little cost to the company, Jones provides consumers with hundreds of free downloadable goodies, including prize packages for contests that are electronic and downloadable. As a result, the company’s website has become a popular online hangout. So much so that when Jones Soda manufactured 6,000 bottles of its quirky Turkey and Gravy Soda, it sold out within just two hours of appearing online.
In its most popular contest to date, Jones Soda ran the 10,000th Label Contest. Fans voted for their favourite photo of the Top 20 that Jones Soda picked. The winner’s photo would then appear on a special edition bottle. In all, more than 5,000 votes were cast.
That is the power of Jones Soda’s promotions, and that is why other companies continue to look to van Stolk’s creations for inspiration.
Lesson 1 Pump Up Your Marketing with Promotions
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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