At times, Marketers can be real Bozos…….or is it BOGOS?

Striving for creativity can unleash the best and worst in marketers and while I’m not afraid to make mistakes, I try to avoid outsmarting myself as much as possible.

Folks working in the marketing space will agree that we have to be sharp as tacks to stay ahead of our customers. The possibility of successfully slinging out points or miles as a temporary bribe is declining by the day. Loyalty Marketing has to evolve beyond the idea that every customer has a price on her head and re-focus on a broader value proposition.

A critical element of delivering the value proposition is communications. We have to grab consumer attention and hold it just long enough to make our point. That forces marketers to reach further for something new and often the results don’t translate well.

The question: is it a good or bad idea to use our own lingo in the ads we create?

Driving down a crowded South Florida highway this week, I saw a huge billboard with an ad that shouted “Publix BOGO” and included the URL needed to find the deals of the week. The same day, I caught an ad on TV from Payless Shoes that touted their BOGO offers. A quick search online revealed that Kohl’s and a few others are running on the same track for the moment.

As a consumer, I don’t mind finding deals and saving money. And the billboard did grab  my attention. It just struck me that a little success in using “insider’s” verbiage could unleash a wave of awkward ad copy.

So, while it’s kind of cute-sy to adopt our trade lingo in customer facing ads, I don’t know how far we should go and, in particular, if the idea translates to Loyalty Marketing.

Imagine if we tried any of these in our promotional emails for our rewards program:

• Earn quick and enjoy the burn!
• We offer the  highest earn velocity around!
• Help us lower our CPA and we’ll give you more CVP!

It just doesn’t translate well, does it?

Ouch, was that my foot that I just shot?