How do you reach your customer in a different way?

A few weeks ago, I bought a book from Al Shorouk Bookstore, and yesterday, while I was reading it at home, a bookmark suddenly fell out of it.

I looked at it carefully and liked it very much.

So what did I like about it?

If you follow my page, you will find that I often write posts about the pleasant experiences I go through.

So how do you reach your customer in a different way—and at a low cost?

What I liked this time is that this is a pharmaceutical company that produces lubricating eye drops for tired eyes—artificial tears.

Who uses them?

Among them are people who read a lot, especially on electronic screens or mobile phones.

So where will you find someone who reads a lot?

In a bookstore or online! So we go to the bookstore—and not only that—we place the product advertisement exactly where it is needed. While reading, the person will find the bookmark and think about whether their eyes are tired.

A good idea, right?

It would have been even better if the advertisement had been designed to be interactive. How? A person who reads enjoys details; you cannot just address them with two words and leave it at that.

There could have been a barcode or even a simple link: “If you want to know how to protect your eyes while reading, visit this website.”

The company’s brand is already present on the bookmark.

When visiting the website, the reader could find an article supported by statistics about reading, eye care, proper lighting, etc.—and how these eye drops help protect their eyes—providing real, useful information.

The link would direct to the company’s website so they can track visitor traffic, measure it, and retarget visitors on Facebook. They can then evaluate whether the campaign was successful or not. If successful, they continue working with bookstores. If not, they stop.

If it is very successful, they can expand to advertise on e-book reader apps, for example, on programs like Moon+ Reader and Kotobna, and so on.

If they want to measure the direct impact on sales, they could dedicate a small part of the bookmark to include a barcode with a 10% discount when purchasing the eye drops from pharmacies. At that point, they would know whether these campaigns are effective or just aimless spending.

Can you imagine the cost of this bookmark? Of course, it is very low compared to other advertising channels—even digital ads.

Thanks to Orchidia Pharmaceuticals and Al Shorouk Bookstores for this inspiring and unconventional campaign (from my humble perspective). Perhaps you can share the results with us.

You, too, can do this and more if you simply think about your customer and their daily life—observe where they go, what they like and dislike. There is nothing wrong with starting with some assumptions about them, then measuring based on the data you collect.

Interestingly, I actually use these eye drops, and my bottle had just run out. When the bookmark fell, it landed on the side that had the eye drop advertisement. I found that strange and wondered whether the pharmacy I deal with had sent this ad specifically to me!

This article was previously published on the page Thoughts On Business – by Taher Abdel-Hameed.