Tom Feltenstein, one of the original marketers for McDonald's, spoke to retailers Tuesday about the importance of what he called “neighborhood marketing” and the “four walls” approach to business.

The author of 11 books, Feltenstein said traditional marketing approaches are obsolete, and that instead of a “trickle-down” approach of mass-marketing-starting wide and eventually reaching regional, market-wide, neighborhood and personal outlets-future marketing strategies should appeal to an individual in his/her “four walls.”

In four-walls marketing, a store's immediate appearance and behavior are evaluated when any customer walks in. Store events, comfort, merchandising, cashwrap and even restrooms are observed by shoppers and could influence positive-or negative-word-of-mouth, he said. Property-line marketing, the next tier up, could comprise what a customer sees when he/she drives up. Neighborhood marketing takes into account local surroundings.

Feltenstein advocated three key marketing tools within a retailer's four walls. The first, the internal customer, is the staff. “Your frontline is your bottom line,” he said. “Hire sunshine.”

The second is internal merchandising. Redefining the P.O.P. as the “point of persuasion,” he urged retailers to monitor every sphere of influence their employees have, from the phones to a bulletin board to the greeting offered when people come in the door.

The third marketing tool Feltenstein spoke of was data capture-including contact lists, birthday lists and frequent-shopper lists. A retailer's job, he said, was not to make the customer remember them, but to make sure the customer couldn't forget them. Contact customers within 45-60 days of a purchase, he said.

Feltenstein closed by giving a “battle cry” for retailers in 2006: “My headquarters is inside my four walls. My internal customers are my fellow revolutionaries. My neighbors are my allies. My neighborhood is my battleground.”

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