What if your limited edition drop was an offer and not a product?

Sendero ran an offer drop that turned into a consolation discount that flowed into Black Friday. Let's take a look.

First, priming the drop pump. (This email was forwarded by a friend, virality!)

Subject Line: 300 FREE HATS, It’s Coming.

What I like about this email:

• Movement! The gif is eye-catching, highlights product, and slowly reveals the message. So much dopamine.
• Personality! This is true with everything Sendero puts out, they know their voice and they speak in it (and personality is part of building a cult brand).
• FOMO! Date, time (timezone math warning included), and code. Everything you need to put it on your calendar (free reminder marketing) and get hyped.
• Attachment! The CTA "Scope Your Hat Now" encourages you to start shopping, which means picturing yourself wearing the hat of your choice, which means getting attached to the idea of getting it. (Am I saying this from personal experience? Yes, yes I am.)

Everything is about getting you queued up to try to snag yo' hat, but in a way that feels like a friendly reminder vs. a pushy sales team trying to hit quota. (Can you have a quota when the thing is free?)

But did you get a free hat?

No!

I put my code in at 9:00 am eastern (8 central (I tried before but it wouldn't work)) and by the time I got to payment all 300 hats were claimed (thanks, in part, to forgetting I wasn't signed in to my first payment method attempt and having to go back).

I messaged my friend that I missed out at 9:01. Not even Taylor Swift sold out that fast.

BUT!

They had a consolation prize ready to go. There was a message (don't remember exactly where, I was too dejected to think to screenshot it too) that said the 300 free hats were gone, but you could use code 20HATS to get $20 hats (a 37.5% discount (and yes, I got myself a $20 hat—one I had saved thanks to an Instagram ad weeks before)).

AND!

If you were a new addition to the mailing list thanks to this offer drop, you got a 15% discount email too.

Then a reminder (if you hadn't used it) that it was expiring soon.

And then Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

SO!

Without needing to run a product drop (though there were new releases around this time (and pre-orders)), Sendero was able to use an offer to:

• Flood the site at one specific time
• Giveaway 300 free hats in a minute
• Turn the losers (a.k.a. me) into potential paying customers with a consolation code
• Probably get a bunch of new email subscribers that would be enticed to shop more with another discount code
• That would probably expire just in time for their Black Friday sale (up to 60% off) to start

Sendero captured attention for nearly the entire month of November.

With one promo code offer drop.

Speaking of that Black Friday sale...

Notice what the fine print says?

It's the one time of year we do sales... don't miss out!

I talked about this with Sephora on the linkblog. They only do 2 sales a year, and they are highly anticipated events with brand fans (one is conveniently timed before the holiday shopping season really pops off too).

Some brands (JCPenney) are always running sales, and this can devalue brand perception. Why would someone buy when a sale isn't running if they expect you'll have one in a matter of days?

Generations are garbage.

Most demography is made up nonsense that isn’t true.

I think it’s often done to sell consulting services and to make marketing seem like they’re creating generations. The truth is I don’t really believe—with one exception that I’ll come back to—there’s much difference between Gen X & Gen Y. Between the Millennials & Gen Y.

Being young has different meaning in one context, which is the pre- and post-digital era [BiP (before iPhone) and AiP (after iPhone)]. That’s the only demarcation that’s real.

-Leonard Brody

More thoughts related to my previous post:

Aim to create moments of delight for everyone involved in crafting the story of your brand, customers and team members alike.

Brands are built on relationships. And relationships are built on attention. Giving and receiving. Pay attention to your customers.

More from how “To Make Your Business Stand Out This Christmas”; or, how to do marketing any time of year:

If your employees create a welcoming and warm atmosphere, it can make your business stand out from your rivals. This means you must invest in your people and ensure they are happy and motivated, even at this most stressful time of year in retail.

Make work fun for them

It’s about experience—before, during, and after purchase.

Every touchpoint with your brand writes another line in your brand’s narrative with that customer. And many of those touchpoints are facilitated by a team member.

How “to make your business stand out this Christmas”; or, (for this part) how to market your business any time of year:

Part of the battle to make your business stand out happens before the customer arrives in town or begins browsing online. If you can capture the attention of your target audience in advance, they are more likely to keep an eye out for your brand.

speak to the people most likely to buy from you. Target them with content that will entertain them, touch their emotions, solve their problems or add value to their decision making.

People don’t know about you. Until they do.