Extraordinary Genius

Next, everyone starts to discuss the marketing of the cards.

Advertising was a must. But which media should they use andwhat type of advertis.e.m.e.nts was more suitable.

“I feel that advertising on the City’s TV stations will besufficient. Within one month, everyone in the city will know about ourmembership and shopping cards. Also, local TV stations’ advertising slots arecheaper. We had advertised with them before our opening, and the results aregood.” Fu Guangzheng said.

Li Zekai had a different opinion: “Advertising on the city’sTV stations are a waste of money. We only need to let people know about thisevent. I think that giving out leaflets is the simplest and most effective way.All this while, we have employed many people to give out leaflets. We can alsosave on advertising.”

“How can we just rely on leaflets alone? We are selling SVIPmembership cards and high-value shopping cards. The targeted market is big clients.Have you seen any big clients taking leaflets on the streets? They are alldriving.” Fu Guangwei retorted.

“We can place the leaflets on their cars. I have seen manycars with leaflets and brochures on their windscreen.” Li Zekai argued.

“Ya. If it is you, will you read it? The leaflet will eitherbe thrown on the floor or into the bin. No one will bring it into their cars. Ithink the best way is to promote it outside of our supermarkets. We can use abig blow-up doll and loudspeakers. The cost will be meager, and it will beeffective. It will also attract more customers. In the supermarket, we willannounce it over our P.A. systems and posters.”

Fu Guangwei’s way was considered traditional. This was whattheir family used in Hong Kong, and it was quite useful. But Fu Guangwei didnot know that his family used this method was because TV advertising was costlyin Hong Kong, and they had many compet.i.tors.

But in China, the advertising fees were not high, and TaiHua Supermarket still does not have any compet.i.tors. Tai Hua Supermarket hadjust opened and still did not have a stable customers flow. This was why FengYu was more inclined to TV advertis.e.m.e.nts.

But it was not worthwhile to advertise on the City’s TVstation. Feng Yu still feel that they should advertise on the radio andnewspaper.

“I think radio and newspapers are most suitable toadvertise. Firstly, the viewership for the City TV stations is not high. Thosebusinessmen do not have time to watch TV. They will just read the newspaper atwork or listen to the radio while driving. After work, they will either meetclients or go out to relax. Only a handful will watch TV. Even if they were towatch TV, they would only watch CCTV.”

“Currently, the newspaper is the mainstream source ofinformation. No matter whether if you are a worker, businessman, civil servant,or an ordinary person, you will still read the newspaper. Even in our company, thenewspaper is everywhere.”

“Brother Feng, have you ever thought about the literacy level?There are still a lot of illiterate people.” Fu Guangzheng reminded.

Fu Guangzheng was in China for quite long and seen many illiteratepeople. Some of them were even leaders. Newspapers might be the mainstreammedia, but there were still people who don’t read them.

“I know there will be people who can’t read. But most ofthem are in the countryside and rural areas. There are not many of them in thecities. You are in China for quite some time. How many illiterate people haveyou seen? The cities have been organizing night cla.s.ses for adults for manyyears. I admit that there are still illiterates in the cities, but they areonly a handful. We can also work on our advertis.e.m.e.nts to prevent this.”

“Newspaper advertis.e.m.e.nts still can be different?” Li Zekaifrowned.

“Of course. For instance, we can include humor in ouradvertis.e.m.e.nts. I believe all of you here have read comics, right?” Feng Yuasked.

“Yes!” Fu Guangwei raised his hand excitedly. But when henoticed everyone staring at him, he lowers his hand weakly. “I really readcomics. My favorite is .”

“Brother Feng, do you think those people at work will havethe time to read comics? Those are for kids.” Li Zekai said and gave a distantlook at Fu Guangwei.

Fu Guangwei was p.i.s.sed, and he stared at him back. WhichHong Konger has not read before? You still dare tocall yourself a Hong Konger?!

“I am not talking about those fighting comics. Have you allseen those 4-panel comic strips? Using 4 panels to tell a simple and funnystory. For example, the first panel can show a man looking for a parking lotalong the road. The second panel shows another man driving into our carpark,and the first man is laughing at him for wasting his money. The third panelwill show the man who had entered the carpark taking out a SVIP membershipcard. The final panel shows that man who parked in the carpark leaving andshowing off his SVIP card where he had parked for free!”

Fu Guangzheng and the rest heard what Feng Yu said andfrowned. This will show the benefits of their membership cards and seems a lotmore interesting. When people read newspapers, they will also look at thepictures. But all of them were not sure if this would work.

“I am only stating an example. We still must hireprofessionals to do it. But I can guarantee that this type of advertis.e.m.e.ntwill attract people easily and people will remember it. Another advantage ofadvertising in the papers is we can buy the advertising slots by days or weeks.TV advertising requires us to buy the slots for a least a month. I know onedesign firm that is about to come up with this type of advertis.e.m.e.nt.”

“That’s true. The TV stations will not allow us to advertisefor only a few days unless we are paying them a high rate. But it will increaseour cost.” A Deputy General Manager said.

“The other media is the radio. The radio advertis.e.m.e.ntsshould be aired during the morning and evening peak hours. Our target segments arethose who are driving and their pa.s.sengers. While driving, most people willhave the habit of listening to the radio.”

Now, the standard accessories that were fitted in cars werethe in-car radio. Those cars that are fitted with CD players were consideredluxurious vehicles.

Even before Feng Yu came back to this life, there were a lotof people still tuning in to radios. Even if the cars were fitted with DVDplayers, people would still prefer radio. That’s why advertising on the radiowas the most effective way.

“For radio advertis.e.m.e.nts, we should find someone which arecognizable voice. I want to recommend someone. Zhao Zhongxiang. I have workedwith him before, and he is not expensive.”

“How long should our radio advertis.e.m.e.nts be and what shouldwe do?” Fu Guangzheng asked.

“We can use a longer duration for our radio advertis.e.m.e.nts.Even if we are not selling our cards, we can use those slots to promote ourother products. There is a good opportunity to sell our cards coming. It isTeachers’ Day soon!”

Translator’snotes:

Dragon TigerGate

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