I love cookies. Particularly chunky ones with lumps of chocolate in them the size of icebergs. Naughty but very nice. I love bananas too. Residing at the opposite end of the healthy lifestyle spectrum, the humble banana is high in fibre, vitamins B6 and C, as well as iron and potassium. In fact, the banana is a veritable smorgasbord of healthy goodness.
Driving back from a long meeting recently, I topped up my energy levels with a gorgeous looking white chocolate cookie. Scrummy. But as I ate, I got a funny aftertaste. After initially writing this off due to tiredness, my second bite yielded the same taste. Bananas!
As intriguing a combination as this might sound, the cookie was not supposed to be laced with essence of banana. I even checked the packaging to make sure I hadn’t picked up a rogue bag by mistake!
On reflection, I thought I might like to try a banana-tinged white choc chip cookie in the future, but that moment’s eating experience was tainted beyond redemption. Simply put, my expectations were not met. No matter how nice my “Banookie” might have been, it wasn’t what I expected.
We all need to be aware of and manage expectations carefully. As a marketing business, we need to be fully aware of likely response rates to various types of marketing campaigns. We think our clients should be too.
Many businesses might be surprised to learn that according to the Institute of Direct Marketing, a normal response rate to a direct mail campaign is “only” 2.6%. Sounds awful doesn’t it? 97.4% of contacts don’t respond! So if your campaign managed a 2% response rate, is that a complete disaster? What if your campaign achieved a 5% response rate? The reality is that whilst a 5% positive response is great, most businesses would STILL feel disappointed that 95% of the letters/cards/postcards/flyers they had paid to be lovingly designed, printed and distributed were so quick to find the recipients recycling system.
Of course there are tactics we employ to ensure response rates are significantly higher, such as multi-touch campaigns or tightly integrating direct mail into other marketing activity. In this way Business Vitamins aim to ensure that at LEAST a 2.6% response rate is achieved.
And to ensure neither our clients or ourselves slip up, we'll also ensure we discuss what you can reasonably expect to achieve. You might be surprised how much!
Banana update:
Try peeling a banana from the bottom and you won't have to
pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. Apparently that's how monkeys do it. Also, take your bananas apart before placing them in your fruit bowl. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
Driving back from a long meeting recently, I topped up my energy levels with a gorgeous looking white chocolate cookie. Scrummy. But as I ate, I got a funny aftertaste. After initially writing this off due to tiredness, my second bite yielded the same taste. Bananas!As intriguing a combination as this might sound, the cookie was not supposed to be laced with essence of banana. I even checked the packaging to make sure I hadn’t picked up a rogue bag by mistake!
On reflection, I thought I might like to try a banana-tinged white choc chip cookie in the future, but that moment’s eating experience was tainted beyond redemption. Simply put, my expectations were not met. No matter how nice my “Banookie” might have been, it wasn’t what I expected.
We all need to be aware of and manage expectations carefully. As a marketing business, we need to be fully aware of likely response rates to various types of marketing campaigns. We think our clients should be too.
Many businesses might be surprised to learn that according to the Institute of Direct Marketing, a normal response rate to a direct mail campaign is “only” 2.6%. Sounds awful doesn’t it? 97.4% of contacts don’t respond! So if your campaign managed a 2% response rate, is that a complete disaster? What if your campaign achieved a 5% response rate? The reality is that whilst a 5% positive response is great, most businesses would STILL feel disappointed that 95% of the letters/cards/postcards/flyers they had paid to be lovingly designed, printed and distributed were so quick to find the recipients recycling system.
Of course there are tactics we employ to ensure response rates are significantly higher, such as multi-touch campaigns or tightly integrating direct mail into other marketing activity. In this way Business Vitamins aim to ensure that at LEAST a 2.6% response rate is achieved.
And to ensure neither our clients or ourselves slip up, we'll also ensure we discuss what you can reasonably expect to achieve. You might be surprised how much!
Banana update:
Try peeling a banana from the bottom and you won't have to
pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. Apparently that's how monkeys do it. Also, take your bananas apart before placing them in your fruit bowl. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
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Cookies? Oh dear why don't you call them biscuits so we all know what you mean.
ReplyDeleteBy the way the best way to keep bananas is in the fridge - prolongs their tasteful life.
Mike Portman
Have you ever tried to peel a banana from the bottom?
ReplyDeleteIt's almost impossible. When I did it the banana ended up mashed so I had to make a sandwich with it and that's not what I wanted.
@Mike Portman: Actually, I think there is a clear distinction between cookies and biscuits. We’ve had a board meeting to discuss this and cookies are larger, chunkier and thicker by design. Biscuits on the other hand are crisper, drier and where chunks of chocolate are present they tend to be smaller in chunkiness.
ReplyDeleteBananas go black in the fridge.
@Sprinter (!) - is someone making these names up? I peel from the bottom by using a knife to "top" the bottom centimetre of the banana off, allowing me to then peel the skin back easily. Also, try making a sandwich with banana slices - just as delicious as mushy banana without the mess. Another top tip from your friends at Business Vitamins.
ReplyDelete