MindValley Labs Internet Marketing Blog

My friend, Nika received a Facebook Message on her Birthday.

Hi there, How are you? First of all, let me wish you Happy Birthday in advance!

My name is Sheryl, marketing liaison for The Impulse and I noticed you will be celebrating your birthday soon.

In light of that I'd like to offer my services to help you throw a memorable party on your special day.

The message went on to describe why the Impulse restaurant was a perfect birthday venue and to offer Nika a bunch of discounts on drinks and food.

It was a brilliant marketing pitch. Nika did not know Sheryl, but did actually find her email so compelling so considered hosting a birthday at the Impulse.

So what was the Impulse doing? It seemed they stumbled upon a little know (almost covert) way to use Facebook for marketing.

It relies on the fact that Facebook makes Birthday Info easily accessible.

Here's what is going on.

The owner of a bar or restaurant welcomes guests into his establishment and hands out cards with his Facebook address and the words "Make me a friend on Facebook".

Now everyone wants bragging rights to knowing the owner of a hot downtown bar or restaurant. So I bet a lot of people would actually send the owner an "Add me as a Friend" invite on Facebook.

The owner replies. And he now has access to your birthday info. He does not really even have to know you personally.

Now, the owner can have his staff use a software such as FacebookSyn to grab his Facebook friend's info and plug it into a contact manager tool such as Apple's Addressbook. Sync Addressbook with iCal and Bingo! You know have a calendar view with the birthday's of all your friends neatly lined up.

Mine looks something like this.

I don't own a restaurant - I use this to simply help me remember to send birthday wishes to my friends (yes, I'm that kinda guy!)

But imagine this data in the hands of a savvy restaurateur. He can now send targeted Facebook messages to people a few weeks before their birthday and make them an offer.

That's smart marketing.

I have nothing against this approach. My friend Nika did not feel she was being spammed or sold to. In fact, she felt kinda honored to be remembers in this way.

Perhaps this is way this is such a powerful idea.

I wonder how soon before this starts going mainstream.

What do you think of this marketing approach? Thoughts? Share them in the comments field.

The full email Nika received is printed below with names and addresses changed to protect privacy.

Hi there, How are you? First of all, let me wish you Happy Birthday in advance!

My name is Sheryl, marketing liaison for The Impulse and I noticed you will be celebrating your birthday soon.

In light of that I'd like to offer my services to help you throw a memorable party on your special day.

If you have been to the Impulse, you will know that we are an ideal venue with the right touch of privacy for a birthday party be it small and intimate or over the top! If you have not been here, what better occasion to pay us a visit than having your birthday party here - of course if you would like to have a look at the place beforehand, just let me know and I am more than happy to show you around.

Just let me know your requirements and I will be more than happy to organize it, in whatever theme you want it to be. So let us take care of you and provide you with your choice of food, decoration, music and even live entertainment while you get ready to show up in your best outfit.

If you don't want to fuss and want a small get together, just choose one our varied drink packages (min 10 pax) that suit your taste and we will throw in a free birthday cake and a Flaming Lamborghini on the house!

Don't worry if you are already thinking of having the party at home or some other private venue, let us know as we cater for external events too!

Canapes and tapas, staffs to serve your guests, bartenders to whip up any of our delicious cocktails of your choice and live entertainments are just some of the things we can do for your external parties.

Hence don't hesitate to contact me with any requirements you may have as I am here to help so that you can sit back, relax and have a fantastic time on your special day.

Cheers!

Sheryl
Marketing Liaison & Supervisor
sheryl@xxxxxx.com
555-555 5555

Impulse Drink Packages

1) Liquor Package (any 2 bottles choices of) $ 500 ++
Johnny Walker Black Label, Jim Beam, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Bacardi Limon Rum and Absolut Blue Vodka

2) Champagne Package
3 bottles of Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut NV for $ 950 ++
3 bottles of Nicholas Feuilatte Reserve Particuliere NV for $ 880 ++

3) Beer Package $300 ++
4 buckets (5 bottles each) choices of
Heineken
Tiger
Guinness Stout

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About the Author

Prior to MindValley Media, Mike was the Head of New Ventures Strategy at eBay where he conceived of the strategies that led to the investment in Craigslist, the launch of Kijiji.com and the acquisition of Skype. Mike has an MBA from Stanford and previously worked for the Boston Consulting Group. He is also a certified Google AdWords Professional.

Check out other posts by Mike Reining

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