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Keep your marketing in perspective
Graham Hawkes
/ Categories: Miscellaneous

Keep your marketing in perspective

If ever there was a case of the marketing people going beserk, I found it in Whangarei in December.

 

I went shopping for a Christmas present for my wife, Wendy and headed for a well known jewellery shop with a corner location.  At first sight, it appeared that the marketing people had done a good job because the whole window on both frontages was covered with a banner proclaiming 50% off all diamonds and a host of other incentives.  That caught my attention, as all marketing is designed to do, but there it stopped.  Why?  Because the very stock which was discounted was covered up by the banner.  Try as I might, I could not see any of the wide range of diamond stock in the window.  Inside the shop, there was little to see, and short of asking the shop assistant to bring everything out of the window, there was no way that I could make a sensible choice.  So I went further down the street.

 

 

At Fishers on Cameron, all of the stock displays were easily accessible in the store.  I was approached by Tina, an extremely pleasant and knowledgeable sales lady.  I asked to be left alone to browse, adding that if something jumped out at me, I would buy it.  Tina did as I asked, but was right on my shoulder when I wanted to see something closer.  It didn’t take long to choose what I wanted, and soon I was on my way – a completely satisfied customer and, as it turned out, a very happy wife when the present was opened.

 

Like a lot of other shoppers, I like to browse, particularly when buying jewellery.  The first shop definitely lost an opportunity.  It is all very well having large banners enticing you in but you need to be able to see the merchandise easily – don’t cover it up with your message!

 

And by the way, speaking of covering things up, Fonterra decided about a year ago that they needed an opaque container to keep the sunlight out.  Like most people, I keep my milk in the fridge, so does it really need protecting from the sun?  I also like to see how much milk is in there – don’t you?  So for me the solution is simple.  I buy another brand whenever it is available.  Again in my opinion, marketing running amuck with no thought for what the customer really needs.

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