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5. CROSS-MARKETING BASICS Using others businesses’ customer base
•
Prepare promotional materials brochures, posters, coupons
•
Find businesses or places where targeted audience appears
•
Agree with the business or institution that ‘owns’ the audience and place
•
Distribute and try to control the materials
•
Brochures with coupons to hotel guests in their rooms
•
Commission-based customer referral
•
Email promotion to travel agency list
WHAT
WHEN
HOW
E.g.
Non-competing complementing businesses have access to a high number of your targeted
customers and are willing to cooperate with you incentives, information improves their service,
etc. Placing promotional materials or announcements
at other businesses’ locations to communicate to high number and similar types of potential
customers
TRAFFIC PROMO 5
Coffee shop, juice shop, gift shop, restaurants trying to promote their
businesses to numerous aquarium visitors, also managing their image
by showing they ‘care’ about a marine non-profit organization
175
Always look for other businesses or institutions such as a tourist bureau that encounter a high number of people that could potentially become your customers.
When you look for these, think about two criteria. First, is the customer base they encounter significant and worth cooperation? Mainly, is their customer base a good fit with you type of
customers? Would their customers be interested in what you have to offer?
Second, would this business possibly agree to cooperate with you? How will you motivate the other business to cooperate? Could offering your products to their customers improve
the overall service the other business provides?
Do not be afraid to give the other business a commission if they bring you new customers.
– 2.2 PROMOTION: Traffic Promotions –
Would cross-marketing work for your business? If ‘yes,’ then which businesses are
candidates with which to do cross-marketing?
176
CROSS-MARKETING EXAMPLE: AGRI-TOURISM OPERATOR WORKING WITH A CRUISE SHIP
TRAFFIC PROMO 5
Step 3:
… will receive promotional materials, such as brochures, discount
coupons, etc., to motivate them to try an attraction in this case a coffee-
making tour once in town
Step 2:
… after arrangement between a
cruise tour operator and the ‘marketer’ in this case
an agriculture tourism operator …
Step 1: Selected passengers of a cruise ship,
immediately before arriving in port, …
177
This is a typical example. Think of how many people come in on a cruise ship. How much money do cruise ship passengers have to spend money that they are willing to
spend and looking forward to spending while on their vacation?
What is the main customer need of these people as they arrive in your town? What can I see and what can I do during my one day here? Among several hundreds of potential
customers on these ships, some would certainly be interested in your products or services. They just may not be familiar with what you have to offer, or they might be
aware of your products or services, but find it too difficult to get themselves to your location.
You need to promote your business among these people and you have to make it easy for them. A cross-promotion with a cruise ship can involve just dropping off brochures or
coupons. Or, it can also involve you coming to the ship to pick people up or bringing the product right to the ship.
– 2.2 PROMOTION: Traffic Promotions –
Would cross-marketing work for my business? Who are good candidates to cross-market with?
178
6. NEW VENUES MARKETS BASICS ‘Going where the action is …’
WHAT
New venues:
•
Develop a mobile, yet attractive, product display andor assure location
•
Find out schedule of targeted audience
•
Agree with the other business on cooperation, if needed
•
Proactively market in advance to target customers
New markets:
•
Research what businesses schools, restaurants, etc. use your product type
•
Find out what products are missing, pricing, buying factors price, quality, freshness, etc.
•
Prepare ‘value proposition’ and make contacts
•
Bus trip from hotel, sales booth at a cruise ship
•
Delivering to schools
•
Selling on consignment in a gift shop
•
New export markets, Internet sales
WHEN
HOW
E.g.
•
Regular sales times and locations are misaligned with availability of most customers
•
Likely to make money by taking the product to the “bulk- user” often, lower per unit price, but higher unit sales
•
Organizing special sale events at special occasions or frequented locations, specifically inviting audience
•
Totally new way to reach customers, particularly selling in bulk, also called wholesaling
TRAFFIC PROMO 6
179
Many small businesses are entrenched in the way they sell their products. Often, these ways are quite passive
Øfor example, sitting in their location and waiting for customers to come in and pick up a product from the store shelves.
Many products, though, can be sold in larger quantities, for example, to other businesses or at special venues to which a large number of people come. This requires, however,
proactively finding new potential venues, customers, and even markets and approaching them. Especially with food products, selling in bulk to school cafeterias, restaurants, etc.,
should be considered.
What is meant by new ‘venues’ and markets is simply trying to sell in bulk to other businesses or finding a completely new market for example, new locations for exporting
your product. This promotional method is not about increasing the traffic at your store. Rather, it is about getting out of your store not for good, just in addition to selling in-
store and going to where the traffic is, or going to businesses that will buy in bulk from you.
These promotional techniques are closely related to business-to-business selling, or wholesaling topics covered in detail in the section 3.2. These few pages on new venues
and markets complete the section on traffic promotions and emphasize the point that you should consider expanding the ways in which you sell your products if you want to sell
more.
– 2.2 PROMOTION: Traffic Promotions –
What new ventures and markets are available to you? Would these fit your products?
180
NEW VENUES MARKETS EXAMPLES
Easily mobile sales booth enables you to transport your products to high
traffic venues as needed A one-time sales event can bring
together high numbers of otherwise hard-to-reach customers
TRAFFIC PROMO 6
181
Here are some basic examples. On the left, setting up a sales booth in places ‘where the action is’. Ideally, it is placed where the target market will pass by the booth on a regular
basis. When sales take off at a different location, the sales booth can simply be moved there to that new location.
The photo on the right, shows the use of a special sales event to attract a high number of customers to one place at one time. This is useful if you do not have a permanent selling
location. Depending on the location of the event, you might consider cross-marketing activities. For example, hold an event in cooperation with other companies, such as
hotels and restaurants.
– 2.2 PROMOTION: Traffic Promotions –
Imagine you are a producer of black pearls and want to sell directly to the
end-customer. How would you go about it?
182
NEW VENUES MARKETS: EXAMPLE OF A PEARL PRODUCER FINDING WAYS TO SELL TO END-CUSTOMER
Pearl setting
Sales training
Marketing initiative 1
Making finished jewelry
to enhance the product and
increase prices Marketing
initiative 2 Hiring and
training staff in marketing
and selling skills
Marketing initiative 3: ‘NEW VENUES MARKETS’
Organizing special ‘min-fair’ when a
ship arrives, with in-advance
promotion
Special sales, with proactive
invitations from various
customer lists
Huge opportunity because of
developed tourism
Opening own store with other
island items, to be done later on
NUKUORO PEARL farm,
Micronesia: Originally only
a pearl producer with
no marketing
Cruise ship fairs
Setting up own
store Export to
Palau Special
sales events
skills and sales outlets. Now improving its marketing.
TRAFFIC PROMO 6
Background situation:
183 – 2.2 PROMOTION: Traffic Promotions –
First, read the text box on the background and situation. This pearl producer has very little capital and marketing experience and few skills. Yet, they strive to find a more direct
access to end-customers in order to keep a higher share of the final selling price. It is admirable that a community on a remote Pacific island realizes that they need to sell
more directly. If they can do it, other natural producers should consider it also if appropriate to their needsstrategy.
After setting pearls and training people to do the marketing these two initiatives are here just for the context, they then have to find new venues and markets through which to sell
their pearls.
Some possibilities are listed on the right. Notice that the option of opening a store is postponed, as it would require too much investment and commitment. You can do more
direct selling even without having a permanent store.
Section 3.2 ‘Business-to-Business Selling’ provides more information on how this producer thinks about hisher selling strategy and the types of selling outlets to consider.
Is direct selling appropriate for your business?
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7. ADVERTISING BASICS Communicating big time
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