The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Help wanted with difficult marketing client

9 Responses

1. Linda Barrett, All the Buzz Says:
   October 31st, 2006 at 7:23 pm

   The most difficult part of having a showroom is getting people to come to it. Encourage referral sources by inviting related local association members like NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry), HBA (Home Builders Association) and IFDA (International Furnishings and Design Association) out to the shop and hold demonstrations while they are there. Invite them for cocktail parties or have the manufacturer’s reps in for a demonstration and a cookout. Provide food, drink and door prizes. Also, invite associations to hold their meetings in your location. Once they see your quality product, they will remember it.

2. Monica Ricci Says:
   October 31st, 2006 at 7:49 pm

   Perhaps he could partner with an upscale home builder and put his kitchen and baths into a few model homes with marketing materials there to let people know that they are a special product and that they can request his product when buying a home. Along that same line, he could also partner with a home builder, and the two could co-brand by marketing the kitchens and baths as upscale and exclusive. For example, “Joe Smith Homes only uses XYZ Kitchens and Baths”. I hope this is making sense! ~Monica

3. Lisa Manyon Says:
   October 31st, 2006 at 9:14 pm

   My initial thought is a sales piece called “everything but the kitchen sink”. Build a tell a friend campaign around that where the customer enlists the help of current and previous customers to let their friends know he can help them with “everything but the kitchen sink”. If he also specialized in kitchen sinks, simply exclude any discounts or bonus related to sinks. Basically, he has a low investment and gets people who already like working with him to do the seling for him for a reward (to be determined by you and client).

   Although your client may have gotten this far by word of mouth, how far does he want to go? It’s obvious he sees the need for change or he wouldn’t have contacted you.

   There are other low cost ways to get his name out. He can partner with a local radio station to provide a dream kitchen makeover (or even bath). His cost is capped by what he’s willing to give and in exchange a trade deal is worked with the station for spots and promotional mentions.

   He could also support local Habitat for Humanity home projects by donating a few things to generate more word of mouth buzz and possible press opportunities.

   The best thing to remind him is that advertising and marketing is an investment and not an expsene. If he’s willing to invest, his business will grow, if he isn’t, it won’t.

4. Jonathan Steele Says:
   October 31st, 2006 at 11:11 pm

   Hi Karla,

   To help your marketing challenged client…

   Ask if he has ever had repeat and or referral business. If he is good, he probably has. Then ask if he knows what the life time value of a customer is. He probably will not. Encourage him to figure it out.

   Next ask what kind of tools he uses. Rockwell, Makita, Porter Cable. He will be surprised you know them by name too. Then ask why he picked those tools. He will say because they are the best. Then ask if the name is equated with quality in his mind. He will say yes most likely. Explain that’s branding.

   Then use the ‘if then’ duo. If he brands himself by getting his name out in front of people as an expert and he has a dovetailed (cabinet making term) marketing campaign, then those people who want that kind of quality will come to him.

   Expertise is best established by the print media. This is because people will reason, “If it is in print, it must be true.”

   I once heard a story of a group of soldiers in a class who challenged their commanding officer on a statement he made about a procedure. He said, “Let’s see what the book says.” It confirmed his statement. They all agreed he was right. An onlooker later asked, “Didn’t your write the book?” He did write the book but explained how since it was in print it was considered more credible.

   Let’s say your campaign is to market to home interior or kitchen designers. You also use newspaper and magazine articles and establish him as an expert on what he does. It has to be multifaceted as you know. Perhaps you could even ghostwrite an article for a local magazine on home design. When the designers read of him and then get his marketing packet, they will already know him and equate him with quality. Secondarily, the customers will ask their designers if they have heard of and or request him.

   When the expense of marketing is spread over the lifetime value of those customers, the ROI (return on investment) is quite large.

   I used to think like that. A savvy marketing person like yourself helped me to see the value of a solid marketing campaign.

   I did this with my dry stonemasonry business in upstate New York. The result, I had people calling from 3-4 hours away wanting me to do work for them. Many would say, “I heard you were one of the ten best in the state at dry stone masonry (building stone walls with out mortar).” Funny but my stone masonry was on such an exclusive development (Larry Rockefeller’s) in the middle of nowhere that only the richest folk from New York City would ever see my work. I had more work than I could handle. I also charged double the rate of every other stone mason charged. Making that kind of money allowed me to do the absolute best possible work money could buy. That is the power of branding. Think about it, people who never saw my work wanted me for my reputation or branding.

   And that marketing campaign cost me in the end, only a few dollars per ten thousand income. It was scary spending all that money to do it. It was one of the best investments I have ever made.

   Best wishes,

   Jonathan

5. Jay Scott Says:
   November 1st, 2006 at 2:30 am

   My suggestion would be to get a chef to do public cooking demonstrations in the demo kitchen. Promote the usefulness and versatility of the kitchen in this way. Perhaps eventually the chef would/could become the “spokes-model” for the company.

6. carol ruddick Says:
   November 1st, 2006 at 8:03 pm

   Since he has a showroom, do a one day special event. Possibly tie it into a Home & Garden event in the area or a “community happening”. Have the showroom set up with “before” and “after” scenarios, have experts available to answer questions, have plenty of written material for people to take home, and food is always appreciated by consumers. You could plan to do this in segments that would tie into a variety of seasons or events. And, don’t forget to get plenty of press releases out - both locally and regionally. If the event is different enough, you may also be able to get some TV converage.
   Good luck.

7. garthgibsondotcom Says:
   November 1st, 2006 at 9:22 pm

   Karla, seems like your client may be focused on the expense of marketing not the profits from marketing. So maybe you can focus on taking the expense away from your client. Can you take away some of the costs but let him share in the profits? Tell him you’ll pay for the marketing. How? Well you may have the funds but also think about who else would profit if the manufacturer profits, that group might be willing to put up the money for marketing.

   Kitchen cabinets are not the most exciting subjects to talk about but what about looking at the extremes of the industry.

   What are the high end kitchen cabinets that only 1% of your buyers can afford? Who bought them? Why? There’s probably a story there. Then look at the other end, what are the low end kitchen cabinets? Who’s buying them? Maybe you’ll discover a non-profit is buying them to help rebuild homes in war torn Iraq. Maybe they buy your cabinets of some religious specification. Now those are interesting stories.

   Buying kitchen cabinets and their installation can cause a lot of stress on families. How working with a mental health counselor to develop a Kitchen Cabinet personality tests.

   Not only relating personality types to kitchen designs but also being able to tell who’s going to experience more stress during a kitchen cabinet installation then on top of that how about providing family counseling during this stressful event. I guarantee no one is doing that and the media might gobble up a story like that.

   In fact speaking of gobble it’s holiday season time.

   Can you suggest the right and wrong ways to give kitchen cabinets as a holiday gift? Who’s been doing that already? Why?

   Can you do some kind of quirky survey?

   Is the desire to remodel a kitchen a sign that couples really want to remodel their marriage?

   Can you tell when someone will redesign their kitchen by their zodiac sign?

   Does the type of pet someone owns have any influence on the kitchen homeonwer’s design?

   When the man is the main cook in the family do the kitchen’s look different than if a woman were?

   Maybe as a charity event can you get families to bid on having a tv chef come to their house and cook a meal?

   Can you do an historical analysis of kitchens? How does the White House kitchen compare the Kremlin’s?

   I hope this helps.

8. Barbara Rozgonyi Says:
   November 2nd, 2006 at 4:37 am

   Hello Karla:
   Partnering with a non-profit and a realty group as the presenting sponsor of a local kitchen walk recently brought my kitchen and bath design client tons of publicity.

   This guy gets marketing - I’ve learned a lot from him. It’s so much easier when your client appreciates what you do and understands that your services will grow their business.

   Two edgy media ideas. . .
   We promoted the event with an online media guide. Posting the event on our blog attracted attention outside of the typical media zone.

   Even with all the media attention and event traffic, the best thing going for this client is - you guessed it - their referral base. Still, they know they need to maintain a rock solid, high profile community/media presence as the preferred kitchen designer.

   To accomplish that goal, we’ve integrated branding throughout the business so that the customer experience is as polished as the granite counters they install.

   In this market, sophisticated buyers appreciate high-end marketing and will be drawn to the showroom that invests in getting them there.

   The average upper end kitchen project in the midwest is around $90,000. How many more projects will your client engage with the stellar marketing plan you propose?

   Bet it wouldn’t take more than 1, maybe 2, to fund the investment in your services.

   One last thought . . . wonder how can he partner with top designers in your area to promote his cabinetry (i.e. their showrooms are his showrooms).

   Hope this helps!
   Barbara

9. Angie Says:
   March 31st, 2007 at 12:08 am

   My suggestion would be to get a chef to do public cooking demonstrations in the demo kitchen.

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