Dear all,
Thank you for attending this week’s blog meeting, I would like to begin by going over the minutes from last week. Item one on the agenda is the headline, Debut Marketing would like to thank everyone who made a sterling effort by contributing titles and ultimately congratulate our winner, Holly Paterson of Skibo Technologies Ltd. Jolly good effort, big tick, smiley face and a gold star! Item two, how do you know the best way to market an offer?…
Well, from past experience this can not be done in the same way for everyone. Whether you know it or not, we all have a buying type. You might fall into the category of ‘money burns a hole in your pocket’ or perhaps you’re a carefully calculated, military style operation kind of shopper. Whichever you are, in the end it all boils down to the same thing – how susceptible you are to offers, deals, promotions, yellow stickers (other colours of stickers to denote savings are also available) and desire.
Q. Why do people buy things?
A. Mainly because of how it will make them feel.
Rather like the cult following Take That enjoyed back in the 90s and which we’ve seen sweep the nation once again, frugality has made an astonishing comeback of late and almost everywhere you look companies are trying to outdo one another with gimmicks and tactics. So now, more than ever, do we want to feel like we are getting a good deal when we shop. So let’s take a simple example and one that everyone is familiar with…food. Speaking of food, I’m hank! I don’t mean that I have been writing under a ghost name for this length of time or that I indeed masquerade as a man on Thursdays, I mean I am ‘hank marvin’ – starving. So let’s make this brief and to the point.
Let’s say that like me, you too are aware that your tummy is feeling a little neglected so head off to quash your cravings with a feast. You decide to buy a meal deal* containing a sandwich, chocolate bar, drink, yoghurt, piece of fruit, crisps and a drink. (To travelling truckers these* are feasts made famous by service stations, to us, it is our example of the day.) In the shop you have the same option marketed in different ways…
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One offer simply states the meal costs £4.99 (perceived as less than £5, our lowest denomination of note. This ‘not quite the whole next pound’ way of pricing is favoured when selling expensive items and is designed to make the buyer think it still costs £4 something as opposed to £5)
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Another says ‘by buying this you are saving 50%’ (Yay, a saving – result!)
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Another shows the deal as 1/2 the buy individually price (bracketed thought as above)
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And the last says you get free crisps and a drink – The usual price must be featured thus showing the saving, this is normally in small print area (Yay, a freebie – result!)
Ask yourself this, which one would I go for and why? There is no right or wrong answer, each one will appeal to a different type of buyer.
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The value for money conscious
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The perceived savings conscious
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The “wow that sounds good I could technically get two for one” shopper
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The something for nothing favourer
So think carefully who are you aiming your offer at. Like I said earlier, buying is done on desire, logic usually only comes into it when justifying the purchase. If you can offer your client a good, eye catching deal and make them desire your product then great! If you can do that and offer them logical reasons to buy then fantastic!
Now, next week I expect lots of beaming faces as you will all have doubled your sales.
