19/03/12

Shedding light on the simple business of marketing

by Neil Lakeland chairman, Chartered Institute of Marketing, Kent branch

Good marketing doesn't have to be complicated. This theme keeps coming back whenever I talk about marketing and what it means.

It was demonstrated effectively by a company which had got its marketing mix, message and key selling points exactly right.

The first element is to be totally clear about the product you offer - what market are you in? The company is a photographic studio but, rather than structure communications and key selling points around photographs, it switched its focus to the business of memories and telling a personal story.

This had the immediate effect of bringing emotion into the eventual purchase decision. Customers now decide not with the rational side of their brain but with their heart.

Next, the firm thought about pricing structure to incentivise purchase. By selling a gift experience at one price, but stating its value was significantly higher, customers felt they were getting a bargain.

However, to fully realise the value of the gift experience, the balance left - once the photography session was removed - had to be used against a framed photograph.

This meant the company gained footfall by incentivising and relying on product quality to sell itself.

Rather than discounting or compromise, it was confident that once the customer was in the sales funnel the end result would nearly be guaranteed.

Indeed, this notion was reinforced throughout the experience by conversations and customer testimonials.

The firm also made sure it was the only place where people could get their photographs.

Locking down the distribution method, an increasingly difficult task in these days of digital technology, is vital to ensure a constant revenue stream.

In addition to its framed photos, the company only offered for sale a selection of photos on a non-printable memory stick.

If you want to own the memories which it created for you, the only place you can buy them is from this particular studio.

Finally, promotional efforts ensured the business topped the search rankings for key phrases. Through cleverly targeted offers, it managed to up-sell so that not only did I come away with the free 7x5 photo but bought two others.

This case highlights the 4Ps of marketing - product, price, place and promotion.

The effect of these working together made me, the customer, happily part with money for two products which I did not think I needed but now cannot imagine living without. Clever marketing achieved very simply.