The Handit2 Network Celebrating 10 Years: Using Both Cutting Edge Technology and Clunky Paper Surveys to Measure ROI in an Offline Environment

The Handit2 Network was founded in 2006.  Back then, smartphones  were only carried by techies and alpha lawyers/bankers (remember the Blackberry?).  Cameras, pagers, GPSs, and Ipods were all separate units.  Texting was solely a Blackberry innovation.  Surfing the web on a mobile device was excruciatingly slow. Social networks were your neighbors and your friends, not something you found online.  Facebook and Twitter were just getting going, Instagram and Pinterest didn’t exist yet.

Our first client - Juicy Juice, sampled to moms via meal assembly kitchens across the country

A lot has changed the past 10 years, but from a sampling standpoint, the value proposition at the Handit2 Network has not changed:  approach your target consumer in places where they physically congregate with their peers, and surprise them with a relevant sample they were not expecting, handed to them by a trusted source.  Examples:

• If you want to reach moms, reach her via her mailbox at daycare centers
• If seniors are your target, find them in senior centers
• If fitness enthusiasts love your product, reach them in health clubs

As the bells and whistles available in our pockets and on our computers have continued to evolve and advance, we at the Handit2 Network have cherry picked the best tools for our offering and integrated them into what we do.  This includes the following:

• Digital request of promotion feedback, photos, videos (submissions via email, text or social media submission using hashtags)
• Digital curation of brand feedback, photos, videos, making public dissemination by the brand easy if you choose to
• Post-program digital distribution of coupons  (via venue email blasts and social media)
• Prize offering/management to maximize feedback, photo, video submissions and coupon distribution (incentivizing the venue and consumer)
• Digital data collection for ROI measurement, completely customizable to answer brand questions related to awareness, trial, and conversion

While the above advances are great, the irony is that a segment of the population is happy to provide feedback (or buy a product, or take a photo, or fill out a survey), if they don’t need to fiddle with their computer, or receive a call or email from us.  These people would rather fill out an old fashioned paper survey.  We love these people too, and our 2016 offerings provide any consumer (or venue owner) the ability to interact with your brand regardless of their technology access, competence, preference, or privacy concerns.

Our challenge has been to build solutions for 2016 that are measurable and effective (not necessarily sexy).  The simultaneous use of cutting edge digital tools and clunky paper surveys, customized according to what is important for the brand, are proving to answer the challenge.   We now do both with every program we run in order to help you measure program effectiveness.

To learn more about our business and/or ways to measure sampling ROI, download our latest deck, email us at info@handit2.com or call 303-532-4437.   Target-specific information can be found here:

• Hand it to Mom - daycare centers, preschools, pediatricians, OB-GYNs, birth centers, WIC facilities, childbirth classes, newborn care classes, lactation classes, midwives & doulas, mommy & me classes, kid fitness, elementary schools, camps, birthday party venues, boys & girls clubs, music/theater venues, dentists, family doctors 
• Hand it to Millennials - college rec centers, college health clinics, health clubs, rock climbing gyms, yoga, dance & ballet studios, spin studios, swimming pools, tutoring centers, gymnastics, martial arts, cheerleading
• Hand it to Women - hair salons, nail salons, tanning salons, dance studios, OB-GYNs, spas, women-only health clubs, yoga studios, barre classes, pilates, dietitians & nutritionists, weight loss centers, acupuncturists, dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons, chiropractors, cooking classes, hair removal / electrolysis, massage therapists
• Hand it to Men - health clubs, martial arts studios, barber shops, boot camps, military fitness facilities, extreme fitness classes, boxing centers, urologists, police stations, fire stations
• Hand it to Seniors - senior centers, retirement communities, senior classes, country clubs, churches, audiologists, cardiologists, health clinics
• Hand it to Pet Owners - Kennels, animal shelters, pet friendly hotels, pet adoption agencies, veterinarians, pet hospitals, pet grooming, pet training
• Hand it to Athletes - health clubs, dance studios, community rec centers, martials arts studios, yoga studios, pilates, military fitness facilities, boot camps, extreme fitness classes, sports medicine, physical therapy, personal trainers, muscle gyms, racquet sports, swimming pools

8 Steps to Disruptive Product Sampling

Reach Your Target Demographic, Reduce Waste and Maximize Your ROI

There are many tactics available to the brand marketer when it comes to putting a sample in the hands of consumers.  Whether the effort involves sampling in a grocery store, on a street corner, at a festival, by mail, or some other tactic, the ultimate goal of the marketer is to disrupt consumer purchasing behavior in such a way that handing out a sample drives that consumer to buy the product they just tried. Marketers call this successful outcome ‘conversion’.  The higher the conversion, the better return on investment the marketer will enjoy from the sampling effort.

          

While any sampling effort will lead to conversion, here are 8 steps you can take to maximize conversion:

1.  Have a Great Product - This may seem obvious, but a great product packaged in a beautiful, easy-to-open sample package is the first fundamental step to sampling success.  Conversely, a bad product (or poorly designed sample) spells doom for your campaign and your ROI analysis.

2.  Target the Right People - The next step is to zero in on the audience that is most likely to buy your product.  If your target is moms of toddlers, daycares are a fantastic place to reach them.  If seniors are your niche, how about senior centers?  Grocery store sampling is great if your product is for the masses, but if your target is moms for example, how do you keep a 70 year old man from asking for a sample?

3.  Target the Right Geography - The next step is to choose your geography carefully, especially if your product is newly launched.  If your product is available only in Whole Foods, it only makes sense to sample your product in geographies where Whole Foods are located.  Sampling in an area where the product is not available creates confusion and frustration for your target.

4.  Choose a Relevant Location - While geography is important, another aspect of location is the actual location where the sampling is taking place.  Sampling at the ‘moment of need’ is the best case scenario and should inform what locations you choose to sample from.  If your brand is a shampoo, target locations where showers are taken (such as a health club, spa, rec center, hotel, or at home).  If your brand is a snack for kids, go where the moms are (and where kids like to snack), such as schools, rec centers, martial arts studios, or gymnastics facilities.  

5.  Have Informed Evangelists (Or Let the Product Speak for Itself) - In an ideal world the person accepting your sample is receiving it from someone who knows both the product and the target consumer well.  This ‘pie in the sky’ scenario is found at industry trade shows (where the company founder is often working the booth), but for most consumer sampling you typically have to make a choice among the following:

• A trained ambassador - This is someone who is paid to distribute your samples.  They typically don’t have a relationship with the person receiving the sample.  They may or may not have an authentic, emotional connection to your brand, but they are trained to act like they do!
• An influencer - This is someone who has a pre-existing relationship with the target consumer (such as a health club manager or a daycare director), but may have little experience with your product.
• Neither (let the product speak for itself) - Some samples are so good and/or simple that you don’t need a person there to explain the product.  These types of products work well in subscription boxes or other sampling by mail strategies.

6.  Avoid Duplication - Leverage tactics that don’t encourage duplication.  Some tactics (such as subscription box sampling) inherently reduce the risk of duplication (one sample per shipment). Others (such as festival or street corner sampling) encourage duplication as the ambassador may be trying to ‘unload’ the samples during the hours of their shift.  With venue-based sampling, we have learned that sending fewer samples than requested to each venue, and sampling just one flavor per venue (instead of 3 for example) is an easy way to discourage duplication.

7.  Avoid Waste - Some tactics (such as sunday newspaper sampling and e-commerce mail order sampling) encourage waste by sending samples to people whether they want one or not.  Some of these samples end up in the garbage.  Other tactics such as venue-based sampling allow the consumer to leave the sample if they don’t want it, allowing another interested consumer to receive it.

8.  Surprise and Delight - Perhaps the most important aspect of effective product sampling is reaching your target consumer unexpectedly, at a time of need that disrupts their typical patterns. Asking your target to register online to receive a sample is the opposite approach that encourages unrelenting ‘freebie seekers’ to come get your sample (or any sample) because it’s free.  Some of these ‘virtual customers’ are registering for every free sample available on the web. Avoid these customers by finding your target while they are going about their day, and surprise them with a delightful sample that meets an unfulfilled need. These people are the ones you want, they are not looking for free stuff.  They are open to trying out new solutions that help them with their busy lives. If someone they trust hands them something unexpectedly that fits their tastes and lifestyle, they will pay you back over and over again by becoming a loyal customer.  

The Handit2 Network focuses on disrupting consumer behavior with our venue-based product sampling. Venue-based sampling offers unique access to consumers, reaching them where they live, work, and play. The venues have close ties with the brand’s target audience. The venues benefit from this type of sampling because they love offering their customers an unexpected gift.

Venue-based sampling is more cost effective than many other sampling tactics. We eliminate the need for brand ambassadors as the venue staff functions as the brand ambassador. Consumers like this model as they receive the product sample and information from someone they know and trust.
             
The Handit2 Network’s sampling strategy has several other advantages:

• We target relevant demographics – We focus on venues that attract moms, men, women, millennials, athletes, seniors, and pet owners.  We can filter venues based on local demographics such as income, ethnicity, or other demographic variables
• We can geotarget around stores that sell your product – Provide us with a list of stores and we’ll only target venues within 1/3/5 miles etc of those stores
• We reach ‘real’ consumers – We reach your actual targeted consumer in the real world, not virtual freebie seekers who will go to great lengths just to get something for free.
• We create buzz – We encourage consumers to share their brand experience with their family and friends both offline and online, generating highly sought after word-of-mouth advertising.
• We surprise consumers – Consumers are excited to receive an unexpected, yet highly relevant sample in a place they frequently visit and trust.
• We can incorporate new and/or trendy venues – We are monitoring consumer trends and constantly replenishing our network with new venues such as spin studios, extreme fitness studios, pole dancing studios, etc.  Want tattoo parlors?  We’ll build a network for you.
• We spend your budget wisely – Multiple samples are shipped to a single venue (minimizing shipping fees), there is little sample waste, and valuable and measurable feedback is collected from venues and consumers.

If you are interested in sampling your brand to unsuspecting consumers, email us at info@handit2.com or call 303-532-4437.

The Handit2 Network Can Help Get Your Brand on the Back-to-School Shopping List

Back-to-school shopping (from preschool all the way through college) is the second largest retail event for merchants behind winter holidays (www.nchannel.com). Some 15 percent of shoppers said that a full 100 percent of their back-to-school purchases were influenced by coupons, sales, and promotions (www.statista.com). With the school shopping season starting in August, now is the time for your brand to leverage this opportunity.

The National Retail Federation’s latest survey shows optimistic back-to-school spending trends with 29 percent of households with school-age kids planning to spend more money than last year on back-to-school purchases (www.nfr.com). In addition to school supplies and clothing, moms are making purchasing decisions for items such as: classroom supplies, lunchbox staples, after school snacks, diaper bag/backpack necessities, etc.

One way to take advantage of this trend is to reach mom before she makes her purchasing decisions.  Our sampling programs allow brands to reach moms in places where they naturally congregate such as: daycare centers/preschools, schools, summer camps, rec centers, kids fitness facilities (swimming, gymnastics, dance, martial arts), boys & girls clubs, pediatrician offices, and others.

If you are interested in taking advantage of our unique approach to reaching mom, email us at info@handit2.com or call 303-532-4437.

The Handit2 Network Can Help Your Brand Connect With Millennials

Millennials are defined as the generation born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s (in other words currently ages 10 to 35). They are well-educated, opinionated and digitally-savvy. Millennials are very team-oriented and band together to socialize. Millennials will overtake Baby Boomers this year as the nation’s largest living generation in the U.S. with 75.3 million members, according to recent population projections released by the U.S. Census Bureau (pewresearch.org).  How can marketers capture their attention?

Their extremely social mindset means that millennials have different (and higher) expectations regarding the way brands engage with them and deliver on customer experience (Huffington Post). It is very important to understand the social component when marketing to millennials; they log into their social media accounts 3 to 4 times on average each day, sharing comments and experiences with their friends. Millennials are taking their need to be social into the fitness world too by engaging in group fitness. The communal environment is very important to them when it comes to working out. Millennials favor togetherness over competition.

Our Hand it to Millennials channel can help your brand reach millennials via our venue-based sampling services. Reach millennials in group exercise classes such as high intensity interval training, aerial fitness, indoor skydiving, indoor rock climbing, stadium cycling, yoga and martial arts. We can also reach millennials in places such as health clubs and college rec centers.

If you are interested in sampling your brand to millennials, email us at info@handit2.com or call 303-532-4437.

Handit2 Network Launches ‘Hand it to Pole Dancers’ - your brand can get a grip on this hot workout trend

‘Hand it to Pole Dancers’ - your brand can get a grip on this hot workout trend

Women across the U.S. are taking part in a fun, new fitness trend, pole dancing! This high intensity, full body workout combines strength training, endurance and flexibility. It’s an artistic and athletic form of dance and fitness that is a great way for women to feel sexy and confident while toning muscles and losing weight.

Women are getting their friends together to experience this fun workout as a group. Lulu Stripton, owner of Dance Your Pants Off Fitness Center in New York, says that “women love pole dancing because it is a great way to strip away the extra pounds.  While many women get on the pole with ease, the more advanced techniques such as the armpit hold, brass monkey, and helicopter really show how creative and athletic pole dancers are.”  Pole dancing has become so popular that The International Pole Dancing Association is pushing for pole dancing’s inclusion in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Our Hand it to Pole Dancers channel can reach women in standalone pole dance studios, as well as health clubs and fitness centers that offer pole dancing classes. We provide your brand with direct access to these fitness-minded women. 

For information about sampling your brand to a customized, targeted group of consumers, email us at info@handit2.com or call 303-532-4437.

Fetch! Unleash Your Brand’s Potential by Sampling to Pet Owners

Fetch! Unleash Your Brand’s Potential by Sampling to Pet Owners

The pet industry is booming! 68% of U.S. households own a pet, which is equal to about 82.5 million homes (APPA Pet Owners Survey). Pets are increasingly being treated as members of the family with pet owners spending billions of dollars a year on their pets. A majority of that money will be spent on food, supplies and over the counter medication. Pet industry growth is projected to rise 4% annually through 2018.

With the economy recovering, it’s prime time to target pet owners who desire the best for their furry family members. The Handit2 Network can help you reach your target pet audience through our venue-based sampling promotions. Our Hand it to Pet Owners channel reaches pet owners where they naturally congregate:

• Pet Friendly Hotels
• Pet Boarding Facilities
• Pet Adoption Agencies
• Pet Spas/Groomers
• Pet Hospitals
• Pet Training Facilities
• Veterinarians

If you are interested in targeting pet owners, email us at info@handit2.com or call 303-532-4437.