Grocery bags are a very effective and often underused marketing tool. Bags are the perfect canvas for communicating a host of store attributes, from communicating a company’s brand position to promoting web sites, gift cards, pharmacies, signature bakery and deli products, photo processing and even product variety. I recently saw a grocery bag touting a store’s incredible selection of barbecue accoutrements! Bag designs are also a great way to announce grand openings and grand re-openings, or to introduce a new department or service. Seasonal holiday bags are an excellent idea as well.

In the end it is employees who make the difference. No amount of merchandising or advertising can be successful over the long run without a dedicated, knowledgeable staff. If employees don’t support your market position or advertising claims, your efforts will be undermined.

If you’re like most of us, you read less than half of what shows up in your inbox, and only decided to open this email after considering (1) the sender and (2) the subject line. In their book Successful Email Marketing Strategies, Hughes and Sweetser deem subject lines “the single most important element in a promotional email.”

Last October I attended the Heart of Leadership workshop in Seattle. One of the exercises was stand taking. What do I stand for? What is the commitment I am? (for myself, my organization, my company, my co-workers, my customers, my family, or any area of concern in my life) The power of stand taking happens when you announce out loud to others, what you stand for. I suspect blogging about one’s stands can be as powerful. Here are a few of my stands: • I stand for love and personal growth in my shared spaces. • I stand for creating a powerful, empowering, collaborative workplace based on love, mutual respect and accountability where team members are encouraged to be themselves and make a difference in their world. • I stand for creating innovative products and services that genuinely differentiate our clients in their market space…products and services that benefit their financial bottom line. • I stand for business relationships that are based on trust, mutual respect, collaboration and meaningful dialogue. Stand taking is an ongoing process. Stand taking helps bring our inner and outer lives together. I stand for writing interesting blogs.

Several of our customers have used posters, shelf signage, ad “drop-ins”, bag stuffer-style information sheets and web content to communicate to shoppers that they offer a wide variety of gluten-free items in their stores. For shoppers living a gluten-free lifestyle, all of these efforts are helpful and appreciated. If you attended our 2009 GPS (Green Positioning Summit) workshop in Phoenix, you heard Melissa McLean Jory, a well respected and nationally known expert in celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, speak on her mission to “increase awareness of celiac disease and help people navigate the gluten-free lifestyle.” If you’re interested in learning more about gluten-free living, view Melissa’s latest blog post. As Melissa explained during GPS III (click here to view Melissa’s presentation) there are thousands of individuals seeking places to shop that offer gluten-free products merchandised with gluten-free shelf signage. One of our customers, Sprouts Farmers Markets, is currently running a month long promotion featuring gluten-free items. From April 25th to June 2nd the Sprouts stores are featuring their “Gluten-Free Jubilee” event offering a 25% discount on gluten-free products sold in their stores. In addition, Sprouts is promoting on their website their Gluten-Free Guide, which provides information and shopping tips for [...]