Reaching Curacao 2010 - The Report

But how many people are we talking about? what media is best to place this particular advertisement in?

It is obvious that we need (more) hard data on Curacao for good strategic and marketing decision-making.

At MarkStra Caribbean we are on a mission to make a difference by collecting market related data for Curacao (doing surveys) and making this available in a report to selected parties or via presentations.

The first report is Reaching Curacao 2010, containing:

• Size of Curacao market segments
• Our total combined spending on different product categories
• Our use of radio, television and newspaper and new media in Curacao by age, sex and social-economic class (SEC), and time most watched or listened
• Where we shop and roads most travelled by age, sex and SEC
• Global trends regarding media attitudes and generations! Yes, the generations are different.

Reaching Curacao 2010 - The Report is available at the special introductory price of ANG 1.500 if bought before June 1, 2010.

How is the Report different from the Event? It provides more detailed data:

• readership and audience by age, sex and SEC for all media
• more detailed data about spending on product categories
• more detailed information about media attitudes

Worried that you will have paid for the information while everybody else copies it?

• Valid concern. We will select the companies who can buy the report.

Thinking about ROI? If the report helps you:

• place two 3colx25cm ads better, you will have made your money back
• make a better decision about sponsoring radio newscasts for two months you will have made your money back
• reduce the one debate about market potential or guesswork about market size, you will have made your money back

Methodology

Reaching Curacao 2010 - The Event

You can see the quality of our work and to enable small businesses to get at least some info. We hope to see you and your business development and marketing staff there!

Reaching Curacao 2010 - What is it?

Reaching Curacao 2010 - The Report

Reaching Curacao 2010 - The Event

Register for Reaching Curacao 2010 the Event May 18th at Hyatt Regency Curacao

To reserve your copy, please contact us at tlacruz@markstra.com or call 767-3085.

Reaching Curacao 2010 - Media Survey Methodology and FAQ

Methodology and frequently asked questions before the event.

Methodology

• March 2010 was the 2nd time we conducted a survey about media usage as part of a Caribbean wide effort. The first was time was February 2009.
• The same survey has been done in at least 10 Caribbean countries at the same time.
• It's a telephone survey, among 320 respondents, representative of Curacao. We have made sure that each age group, sex and educational status is represented in roughly the same proportion as in Curacao. In addition, we have tried to make each group large enough so that we can base some realistic conclusion on the findings. If you only have the responses of 10 males between the age of 18-24, you cannot base much of a conclusion on that.
• Respondents were selected from our database (panel) and from random telephone listings. Why not just telephone listings? Because increasingly people do not want to answer questions from 'strangers'. Increasingly, around the world, market researchers are moving towards 'panels'.

What did we ask?

• newspapers most read the past month
• radio and tv stations listened to/watched each time of day
• ownership of several items, including computers, internet, cellphones, BlackBerry/Iphone
• use of internet
• use of Facebook and frequency
• most visited local website and frequency
• roads most travelled (2009)
• mode of transportation (2009)
• geographic areas most shopped (2009)
• demographics: age, sex, education, economic status (working, retired, student, etc.), profession, size of household

What can we report?

• all of the issues above by age group, sex and education. We have developed a system to determine Social-Economic-Class (SEC) based on some of the demographics above. We report that, instead of education.

How exact is the data?

• At a sample size of 320, the margin of error is around 5%. That means, if we find that 35% of all respondents reads newspaper Z, you can be 95% certain that the exact number is between 30% and 40%. Not exact enough? Consider what you are basing your media placement decisions on now...

Why didn't we use a larger sample size to provide more exact numbers?

• Cost. After Reaching Curacao 2010 The Event and The Report, we will see what the appetite is for this type of studies. If it is big, we will do larger surveys. We certainly hope it will be!
• ROI. When a research agency puts 1000 radio&tv monitoring boxes in households in Holland, advertisers stand to gain 100x more from the exact data these produce, than they would in Curacao. Why? Because the Dutch market is 100x larger and conducting a survey in Curacao is not 100x cheaper than in Holland. We can let ourselves be demotivated by the limitations of a small market or we can try to make the best out of it.
• For more information on this subject: Survey sample sizes in small markets

Reaching Curacao 2010 - what is it?

Reaching Curacao 2010 - The Report

Reaching Curacao 2010 - The Event

Register for Reaching Curacao 2010 the Event May 18th at Hyatt Regency Curacao

Six tips to decrease marketing waste and increase your ROI.

With oil at 100 dollars a barrel, we can barely afford to produce waste, including marketing waste. What can you do?

1. Find out who your true target customer is, so you can focus on her in all your marketing efforts. Be detailed, specific. Try to describe her in terms of demographics, lifestyle, friends, family. Then think of someone that you know who fits that description and finish the picture.
2. Think of what will really help her and how much she can or is willing to pay for that benefit. Again, be specific. Everyone has insurance. How does your insurance product help her better than the commodity insurance product?
3. Think of how you might influence that person best. Best bet: ask her what she really reads and watches and who or what she really listens to. Read, watch and listen. Not just skim, see or hear.
4. Find out how many people there are in that target segment. Then you know, for instance, if it's worth your while to place an advertisement in the national newspaper or to approach her via her club or gym. The latter is produces less waste and gives your more opportunity to interact with and influence her directly. It is more effective. It may even be less expensive and more fun.
5. Find out and decide if, realistically, you can grow your brand and how. If you have a very large market share it may not be easy. But, if you find alternative uses for your product, that can produce growth. If you can't, focus on another product.
6. Then calculate, calculate, calculate. Calculate your target sales and the resulting ROI. Is your planned effort worth it? Or is to bound to be just "marketing waste"?

The greening of marketing: the 60-30-10 rule

When I started MarkStra in 1995, the Guerrilla Marketing Handbook by Jay Levinson and Seth Godin provided ingenious, effective, practical and low-cost marketing thoughts and tips for my own company and our clients. Here is one:

"When planning a direct mail campaign, remember to follow the commonly known 60-30-10 rule.

• Sixty percent direct mail success lies in using the right mailing list;


• Thirty percent depends on your making the right offer (that is, an offer that satisfies the customer's needs better than the competitor and provides value to him or her);


• Ten percent depends upon your creative package"

Between 1995 and 2007, the price of oil (and consequently also of our marketing material) has risen from just over US$20 per barrel to US$100 and the environment is under pressure.

Have you stopped to evaluate if its worth it, both for your bottom line and for the environment, to produce some of the super-creative marketing material we marketeers strive for? Especially when you know that super-creative material is not exceedingly effective in attracting customers?