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.

No matter how busy you are it’s critical to take the time to understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Make it a part of your process to clarify the purpose of each marketing activity, using the five steps below.

Wikipedia defines positioning in this way: “…Positioning is something (perception) that happens in the minds of the target market. It is the aggregate perception the market has of a particular company, product or service in relation to their perceptions of the competitors in the same category. It will happen whether or not a company’s management is proactive, reactive or passive about the on-going process of evolving a position. But a company can positively influence the perceptions through enlightened strategic actions.”