Tag: Marketing

We don’t want it

June 27, 2026

I just heard another commercial that bothers me. Have you heard about the companies that don’t want your money for what they are selling for a certain period? Most of these offers are for delayed interest payments.

Cindy and I enjoy these offers of no interest payments until a future date. What you may not know is that many of these contract’s state that the interest is only waved if you pay off the debt before the specified date. We use this to our advantage.

We accept the free interest period and divide out the total cost of our purchase, so it is paid off before interest is accrued. This is an easy way to establish credit when you have had problems or are new to being a responsible adult.

Sometimes these offers include a credit card that you can continue to use. Do not fall victim to this trap. The issue with credit cards is that they do not expire like individual loans. After the limited date offer expires, you may only have 30 days to clear your account to prevent being charged interest.

This is the concept of getting you to take out a charge card at stores. Our first Discover card was issued to us when we made a purchase at the Battlefield Mall Sears store. Recently we were given a Home Depot card on a similar type of deal.

We had a plan to clear up this cost within the allotted months. No, it and the Lowe’s card are in the lock box and kept until this type of offer comes again for another purchase. Stop and think for just a minute before you pay cash that is in savings when this type of offer is available.

If something happens and you need to use those savings for purchases that do not have this kind of deal, they will still be available. Being an adult is great isn’t it. The commercials I was talking about at the beginning of this column are from vendors that act like they are benevolent.

Everyone must earn a living whether you sell products or services like producing advertising commercials. We do have a capitalistic economy and buying and selling things is a legitimate way of making a living.

They are just marketing, but not as good at it as those companies that tell you openly that you will pay more if you do not pay it off entirely by the end of the offer. This is simply their tactic of choice. Honesty is the best policy. I’ve lived my life by this motto and I still endorse it.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

You must act now

June 26, 2026

On the news last night, the representative from the Better Business Bureau told us that scammers push you to act quickly. This morning, a commercial said the above phrase. There is a relationship between these two concepts. One of my first positions was as marketing director for a small company.

As I have done throughout my career, I read everything I could about my job. We used mailings, including catalogs, to encourage customers to call us. This was in the early days of the eight hundred numbers. We used one, and our owner thought we ought to have the operators offer buy-now deals to callers.

One chance to get a special price, and then the cost went up. I thought this tactic cost us more sales than it gained. Years later, as a sales service specialist, I advocated keeping prices the same until our vendors raised theirs. I believe you lose credibility when you pressure someone to make an immediate decision.

I know how to interpret sales at retailers. Some businesses begin each season with thirty to fifty percent off seasonal prices. At the end of each season, these same stores clearance these products at up to ninety percent off the original retail price.

My experience tells me that this is probably their cost of the merchandise. I say this because most companies would rather sell at cost than donate overstocked items for tax write-offs. Another thing I notice that most shoppers do not is that many businesses have private label items that compete with name brands.

Think about a few other things when you buy these store brands. Someone must manufacture them. It may be different companies, or it can be the same product that is sold by the original brand name with a different label. I’ve been to plants where I saw products with many labels in the warehouses.

My wife worked at a dairy many years ago, and this was the only brand of milk we would buy, even before she started there. She learned that they packaged another brand that came from the same tanks, and the only difference was the brand and the price. We still buy that lower-priced product when we can. Some of the plants I called on told me that there were differences in their product line and the store brands that they manufactured. The only way to determine this is to try the cheaper products and decide if they are as good.

Another fact I have noticed is that some retailers will suspend selling name brands to boost the sales of their own brand. Others simply refuse to sell higher-priced brands and stock only bargain-priced merchandise. We’ve noticed over the years that buying these cheap products can cause problems.

Certain brands of appliances and electronics in the big box stores are all made at overseas plants, and none of these products last as long as domestically made goods. When I was a kid, you did not want a Japanese-made radio, and many Chinese-made products are well known to have more frequent recalls than goods from other countries.

A Latin saying, “Caveat Emptor,” that you should know. The English translation is, “Let the buyer beware.” Become a perceptive consumer and learn as much as you can about how and why things are priced the way they are. It is a good idea to remember that we have a free market economy. That means companies set the prices at what they want. Market demand affects pricing, and we should always look for a sale.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

It’s beginning to look a lot like marketing

December 30, 2022

This is a time of year that we often hear the statement that Jesus is the reason for the season. Originally, December 25th was the date for a celebration of a pagan winter holiday. When the emperor of the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, he allowed the change of holidays to keep the people happy and alter the focus from debauchery to a form of holiness.

Yes, I said a form. Many of our traditions have been taken from other cultures and nations. The evergreen tree, ornaments, lights, the nativity scene, and gift-giving. According to our current culture, gifts began with wise men. Gold, myrrh, and frankincense are what they brought.

Today, the candy, toy, floral, electronics, and clothing industries use this concept of sharing with others to make a profit. They are not the only people who use the holidays to earn money. Christmas and New Year are not the only times of year to sell these products as well as food, alcoholic beverages, and decorations.

After graduating from college with a degree in Religious Education I was looking for a job that would support my wife and I. She began a position in direct marketing with a man from our church. He sold funeral supplies.

Yea, I had not realized that there was a market for clothing, flowers, and sundries for this field of endeavor. He was creating a catalog with new products and a unique line of items he was importing from Europe. They were not easily marketable to his current clientele. He needed photographs and a marketing strategy that was different from what he did at that time.

My experience as a photographer aided me in acquiring the position of marketing director. It lasted as long as it took me to create the new marketing materials and a ten-year plan. While my job ended after six months, my knowledge of marketing that I had gained for the effectiveness of this program has remained.

I wish I had written this commercial.

I have added to it with over forty years of sales and purchasing experience. I know that July is when you must order Christmas products. Spring brings its own marketing strategy for clothing, vacation plans, and outdoor supplies.

Christmas has been expanded to a time to market not just products but the not-for-profit industry. I am talking about what was once called charities. For 19 dollars a month you can help children with medical problems, the homeless, disabled veterans, animals, and countless other organizations that survive on the American market’s pension for helping others.

Be careful how you help these well-deserving people and creatures. If you want to help abused animals, donate to a local shelter. Do not agree to send money to an organization you have not researched or vetted thoroughly. Help a family that you know is struggling. Do it with kindness and anonymity.

Walk the streets and ask the homeless what they need. It is easy to give money. Can you contribute the time to help one person get back on the track they were following? Do not focus on what you think they should do. Help them make the decisions themselves. Start with your family and friends and let the love spread.

Time is more valuable than cash. Give it liberally to anyone who needs some of yours. If I had a dime for every minute I have given away, I would not just be wealthy. I would be able to help those that I am now reaching.

Do not take this the wrong way. I believe that we all should be in the business of serving others. My ministry has been one of doing what I can for the health and wisdom of others. You are now experiencing the latest incarnation of what Jehovah called me to do. Follow this page and see where He takes me in 2023.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger