I was part of an interesting online discussion this morning with some of the top minds of the promotional marketing industry. We were discussing technology as it relates to the Royal Wedding and Promotional Marketing.
A comment was made:
“They said within an hour after the couple kisses there will be mugs on the
street with the photo of the big kiss. They went on to say the same will
happen with tee shirts.
My question is how in the world can they do that?”
The answer is simple. . . advances in digital technology. High resolution digital cameras take the shot, it is instantly emailed to a secret location where it is cleaned up, a official within the Royal Family approves the image and moments later, production begins.
This could never have happened in the days of Charles and Diana. Not that promotional marketing was not prevalent, it was. My mother still has the dual pack of playing cards, one with Charles on it, the other with Diana.
The difference today is, as marketers, we better understand that you are not trying to sell everyone the same product or service. However, those you do sell, are loyal buyers. Therefore, developing niche marketing tactics that satisfies their needs not only makes sense, but can be done cost effectively. Sell to a loyal niche and develop communication that speaks directly to them.
Think about it. Because the Royal Wedding items are produced digitally, you could even create a limited edition pieces that is numbered and therefore increase the value per piece and margins substantially.
If they produce 10000 mugs at $15.00 each of the first kiss, there is a gross profit of $15000.00. A nice sum of money for a few days work. . . . However,
if they produce 10 different limited edition numbered mugs at 1000 mugs
per set at $25.00 per piece there is another $10000.00 in gross profit.
This might incur an extra $1000.00 total cost to set this up, but you can increase your
profit by $9000.00 with really no more effort.
We did this years ago with variable couponing.
We had a database of 50000 people for a grocery store chain. We knew what
they bought and when based upon the data on their preferred shoppers card.
We produced 50000 shells and then variably imprinted different no-name
coupons based upon individual household buying habits and mailed them directly to them.
Previous coupon redemption rate was in the 3-5%. We were getting
consistently 3 to 4 times that based upon using variable data marketing to a niche market.
In a business that runs in the 10% margin rate, this is huge increase in business.
So figure out who your niche market is and what they want, the experts and the technology are available to help you gain market share without giving up margin.
