Today I was listening to the radio and the daily trivia said that on this date in history in 1973 Helen Ready first appeared on the hit show “Midnight Special.” So I thought it would be interesting to talk about midnight specials as they relate to business and marketing.
Walmart Does it. Bars Do it. Department Stores Do it. Restaurants Do it too! What? They host “midnight specials.” Over the last two decades or so, midnight specials have become less frequent as so many establishments are open regularly past midnight. But some merchants still feel the urge to host a midnight special to lure their customers out at the witching hour. In fact, department stores have been known for holding annual clearance sales beginning at midnight and running until the next morning. Only to close for an hour or two before “regular hours” resume.
WalMart is notorious for Black Friday midnight specials and people often line the sidewalks waiting patiently (or impatiently) for the doors to open.
Stores host a Halloween Eve midnight special complete with costume regaled sales clerks, refreshments and spooky sounds playing in the background.
New Years Eve is another special opportunity for merchants to host their own midnight specials. When the clock ticks to 12:00 AM people can go to their favorite store and preview the “new Merchandise for the new year or take advantage of “last year’s” stuff that has been heavily reduced for clearance.
But why wait until Black Friday, Halloween or New Years Eve?
You can host a midnight special just about anytime and it can be even more successful because “everyone else” isn’t doing it at the same time. Create a VIP party and invite your best customers via a well crafted, quality postcard campaign. To easily track your campaign success, ask your customers to have to bring the invitation to gain admittance.
Other tips:
*Use email to remind them.
*And complement your invitation with flyers, sales letters and posters.
*Use mobile marketing to get their attention.
when planning your Midnight Special direct-marketing campaign, having a current mailing list of your customers, is the most powerful tool you can use to spread the word about your Midnight Special.
And let’s not forget Social Media. Be sure to spread the word on your Facebook page, LinkedIn events page and Twitter. Who knows, you might just meet some phone or internet customers who have never set foot in your establishment before.
For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to: http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/
