Just before Valentines Day, the timing was right to sell chocolates and loads of them.
A man set up a card table at 7 a.m. in a Hudson Valley business hoping to catch the attention of a large group of passersby. The presentation was colorful and selection was plentiful. You could say he had a lock on the lucrative market. Business should have been sweet, but instead it had gone sour. There was one major flaw with his marketing plan: He was selling to the absolutely wrong audience. The man had set up a mobile sweet shop at a busy gym during what is in essence rush hour.
It is true that the gym has 1,300 members, but the profile of a potential buyer was someone with a weight problem or someone with a vow to improve their health. Runners, weight lifters, and Spinners arrive at the gym at the awful hour of 5 a.m. to fight the battle of the bulge and ward off the winter blues.
Most passersbys consider it a show of strength to stare the candy down and ignore the sugar’s siren-song call. What could this wayward Willy Wonka have done differently to target this large group of potential customers? The most obvious answer is to think about what the target audience would want to have either before or after a workout. Perhaps sources of protein are the solution. But, the gym already does sell protein drinks and products, so they have the corner on that market.
While the term sweet spot originally came from sports (the spot on a club, racket, bat, etc., where a ball is most effectively hit.) it has a really nice ring around Valentines Day.
Perhaps this is too much of a hard-hearted evaluation of the candy man’s venture to capture chocolate loving customers. The sugar-laced scenario does beg an important question: Does your business set up shop in a high-traffic area appealing to the wrong audience? Does your company need an emergency SWOT TEAM? A wise tactical approach might include a thorough evaluation of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Most can benefit from this exercise to determine how their value proposition benefits customers.
Another business that has found their sweet spot is Live South. The real estate marketing company publishes a magazine, Living Southern Style, which showcases nearly 20 new residential communities. Company president Dave Robertson describes his high-end publication as a cash business. ”If communities don’t pay, they aren’t in the publication, which reaches a key demographic of buyers.”
Robertson has taken the time to carefully analyze his target audience. What’s more, he then takes his clients on the road. Live South puts on a real estate road show with the sales and marketing staff of each of the communities.
A recent event at the Hyatt Regency in Old Greenwich, Connecticut had an overflow crowd coming to kick the tires of upscale communities throughout Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and Florida just to name a few. Robertson understands that vacation and second homebuyers seeking warmer climates are currently located in the Northeast. Old Greenwich is not the only stop, so he cannot be accused of seeking customers in an affluent area who are in essence the cream of the crop. These shows also pull into Ohio, New Jersey, Boston and Washington, DC. They reach potential customers where they live and give Robertson’s clients hot leads of people seeking milder climates.
While this is a clearly smart strategy, Robertson’s website could reach the target audience on a year-round basis with digital video tours of each community. Not just overhead shots of sprawling southern golf courses, but real life interviews with current residents talking about what makes living in the community so appealing. These testimonials can showcase a lifestyle, which can be as important as the home a buyer will purchase. Customers want to imagine how a communities amenities fit in with their values and desire for relaxation and security.
In fact, a recent statistic in the New York Times stated that 80 percent homebuyers make purchasing decisions based upon Internet research and comparison-shopping. High quality web video can help communities seal the deal with customers.
There is no question that the photo-rich Living Southern Style magazine is a valuable sales tool for the communities it serves. The coffee table quality publication has a real place in an age of information overload.
Nonetheless, Live South is executing a marketing plan better than selling chocolates to the fit-conscious crowds. For all his heavy lifting, the Candy Man did not score one sale in a two-hour period. No one had the heart to tell him what he was doing wrong.
Roger Rosenbaum is the president of Rosenbaum Media Group LLC an Ulster County-based marketing communications company. He can be reached at: roger@rosenbaummedia.com
1 comment:
Well written article.
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