Amazon Prime Day

Get your digital copy of Hillstrom's Total Package for just $0.99 ... it's virtually free!!

Remember what I call the "Great Eight"?

• Audience.
• Awareness.
• Acquisition.
• Welcome Program.
• Anniversary Program.
• Optimization Program.
• New Merchandise.
• Existing Merchandise.

The new Marketing Leader needs an answer to each of the Great Eight. The Anniversary Program is one of the hardest for my client base to wrap their brains around.

There are at least three ways that Anniversary Programs pay off.

First, customers typically possess an element of seasonality. The customer who buys Outerwear in October is often likely to buy Outerwear the following October. The smart marketer takes advantage of this fact.

Second, customers who buy at Christmas typically buy at Christmas the following year. Everybody knows this and takes advantage of it, no need to spend more time on the subject.

The third component of a credible Anniversary Program is an event that moves the needle. I experienced this first-hand at Nordstrom with their Anniversary Sale. Go look at their 10-Q statements and look at July sales. It's stunning. Nordstrom does Christmas business in July. Does your brand generate Christmas business in July?

If you don't like the Nordstrom example ("Kevin, you are biased by your history, nobody else can do the kind of business you did, your example is unique and special, give us an example that is guaranteed to work for us, ok?"), then just look to Amazon Prime Day.

Do you realize that the first Amazon Prime Day was in 2015?

And today Amazon does Christmas-like business in July.

Sound familiar?

If you are a credible marketer, then you have your version of Amazon Prime Day or Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. If you aren't credible, then you grumble and blame somebody else.

The new Marketing Leader crafts an Anniversary Program plan from DAY ONE. This is purely a marketing-driven endeavor, so it's on the marketer to get something credible done early in his/her tenure.