Case Studies

Breaking into a new market with different rules and competitors can be extremely profitable, or a complete disaster, if the company entering the market is not informed and prepared.  Chris Myers of Forbes sums it up well: “When teams try to apply their existing model to a new market, more often than not it ends […]

“How can a business survive if it doesn’t fully understand its customers and their preferences?” The answer is that a business can survive without a thorough understanding of what its customers want – but usually not for very long, and not without missing valuable opportunities. One of AIM’s previous clients, a commercial catalog distribution company, […]

Price often has a significant impact on the decision to purchase a product, but it is not the only factor that is important. Complex products and markets require a thorough analysis of available data before making snap decisions to raise or lower prices. One of AIM’s clients wanted to discover the price sensitivity of one […]

There are many things that can go wrong for a business when marketing and selling its products, and negative publicity is near the top of the list. Criticism tends to be more memorable than praise. When factoring in the ability to receive nearly unlimited information from the internet and improved capability to share information through […]

One of AIM’s clients was interested in new product ideas to help protect commercial hospitality property owners and operators from the problems of food-borne illnesses. AIM was asked to explore the various product and service options that might limit the liability and operations issues associated with food contamination. AIM’s client wanted to better understand the […]

Many organizations publish press releases to announce noteworthy events surrounding the company, its events, and its products. When information from a press release is featured in a print or online article, the company knows that its communications have reached someone, and that its public relations strategy is on the right track. However, depending on the […]

It’s hard to argue that employee satisfaction is the cornerstone of any successful business. No business wants its employees to become disengaged. Businesses should take steps to ensure that they are providing employees with the opportunities they need to reach their goals and contribute their best work. However, measuring employee satisfaction accurately is often easier […]

Direct mail is the soul of AIM. We subscribe to the Bob Stone principle of Response, “People won’t switch brands, try a new product or service, unless they have a reason. And there are only two reasons why people buy anything: to gain something, or protect what they already have. Keep that in mind, and […]

A product or company message is leveraged through media outlets, which have a vested interest in publicizing newsworthy items to the trade. AIM practices a public relations technique called “marketing public relations.” Unlike traditional PR, marketing PR has only one goal: response. One of our clients had a recall to a series of products. AIM […]

Quite simply, nothing should be done without an Internet component. The Internet, like the invention of the printing press, is revolutionizing our information sharing behaviors. Regardless of the tactic, a company should always figure an Internet component to supplement the marketing tactic. For example, a loyalty program run by AIM involved 2,000 distributors. In addition […]

He who has a thing to sell and goes and whispers in a well is not so apt to get the dollars as he who climbs a tree and hollers. Sage advice, found on a sugar packet! Advertising is the “big gun” in the marketing arsenal. Even in this age of ignoring advertising, what is […]

As the Internet becomes the preferred venue for many marketers, a dilemma arises: Do you push your message to customers and businesses using traditional tactics like advertising and direct mail, or do you follow the “new” mantra – create inbound marketing strategies and methods that will pull in customers searching for what they want? Customers […]

Many agencies that do media planning utilize complex equations using costs per inquiry, costs per exposure, and so on to develop projections. For example, most agencies deal strictly with the “price” of the media, which is the last factor that AIM considers. In fact, price is the least important factor in the equation. In one […]

AIM’s objectivity is a huge advantage when it comes to evaluating and recommending proper tactics. A company marketing a flexible piping system in fire protection called us in for consultation. His competitor was running full-page ads in major trade publications. After product evaluation and competitive study, AIM recommended direct mail. Initially skeptical, we assured the […]

One of our clients turns over their file for a customer mailing that they pull from their million-dollar Enterprise system. After each mailing we sent all undeliverable returns to the client, pleading with them to delete them from these records. But, their Enterprise system couldn’t delete the records! Eventually, AIM’s maintenance of the database became […]

In 1990, AIM published its evolutionary “Behind the Numbers” in Market Research Magazine. The article recognized the relationship between seers and readers of advertising as determined from the raw research studies available and included the “AIM Ratio.” While a simple ratio, the AIM Ratio revealed the relationship of readers to inquiries. That is, unlike seeing […]

Profiling is gathering characteristics and then using those characteristics to find others of the same ilk, whether people or products. A profile of the perfect customer leads to the perfect offer. While running a loyalty program, AIM was able to track purchases of a specific product for a client. The profile that emerged was that […]

Tracking has implications throughout the marketing process, from monitoring movement of customers to the dissemination of literature. One client called on AIM to evaluate their fulfillment system. The client had everything in place: collecting leads, sending out the literature, sending the leads to the rep sales force. Only one thing was missing: collecting them in […]

As your current markets experience the economy’s effects, your competitors are looking for fresh hunting grounds. Holding onto customers has never been tougher or more critical to success. The problem of retention, however, begins with understanding your own customer base. Recency, Frequency and Monetary (RFM) analysis can give you important insights into what keeps your […]

One client asked us to hone their message to a target audience of engineers; specifically, how manufacturers relate to engineers. AIM market research produced four concepts that their targets were interested in: A company that will be there for them for the long term, a company that would be responsive to problems when they arose, […]

Response contains another principle often overlooked in the marketing mix: conversion to response. In many cases, marketers drive for response and neglect the conversion-to-response ratios. One client wanted to create a package for recruiting students to its technology school. It had a control package that while it did well, needed refreshing. AIM studied the problem […]

AIM conducted one study on a client’s distributor customer base. Knowing this client, we also surveyed the distributor’s customers, the contractors. We painted a more accurate picture of the true size of the market. We presented privately to the National Sales Manager. “Where did you get these numbers?” he asked. “From your customers,” we told […]

Whether you are talking about readership of advertisements, response to direct mail, or response to a promotional program, to measure your ROI you will need to control WHAT you do, and HOW you do it. For example, we once placed 26 different 800- phone numbers (pre-Internet days) to measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign […]

Frequency is the preferred strategy, but sometimes, you can use frequency AND size in innovative ways. For example, one client had a very small budget compared to two major competitors who were running spreads in every issue of the two major architectural publications. The innovative AIM media strategy was to select just one of the […]

Reach can be defined in many ways. One of those ways is making sure you cover the “entire” marketplace. In examining one of our client’s customer files – a major distributor of products in one state – we asked ourselves: how is the coverage by magazines in that state compared to this customer’s file? We […]

Identifying the target is often the most important part of the marketing process. Many times, a company overlooks obvious information within their own database. For example, a software client marketing software to architects hired AIM to purchase media. In reviewing his records (by size of company in terms of employees and annual sales), we were […]