As I was saying yesterday, pricing is an important marketing tool. Price-cutting, if not handled carefully, can seriously affect our customers’ concept of the value of our products.
Take theatre tickets. A £50 price tag tells our audience that this is a large scale West End musical. £20 says it’s a mid-scale play in a local venue. The price doesn’t guarantee that you’ll like the show but it indicates the production values. There is no point in selling a top West End musical at less than £50 because customers will think it must have cheap sets and three people in the chorus.
So, when the National Theatre sells seats for £10 that would normally cost £35 or more, potentially this undermines theatre audiences’ expectations. Not about the NT of course, because their audience know their reputation and that they have a subsidy, both of which guarantee something more substantial than the typical small-scale arts centre product normally available at that price. The problem is that people who have heard about the £10 tickets may no longer be sure whether they are being ripped off by the usual price at other theatres or whether other low priced tickets might also actually be high value productions.
The NT have a sponsorship deal which can be used to explain the low price without undermining the value of the tickets but they made too little of this and too much of the way £10 tickets would fill empty seats, implying those seats were currently overpriced.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Saturday, December 30, 2006
The Price of Marketing
What was that DVD you were given for Christmas worth? Did your relative love you enough to pay £15 for it or did they shop around because they only wanted to spend a fiver on you? Zoe Williams said in The Guardian that pre-Christmas sales and the internet were destroying our sense of what gifts are worth. In a similar vein, the editor of Music Week recently bemoaned the way Tesco had been selling Lily Allen’s CD for a fiver earlier in the autumn, saying it undermined the value of CDs.
Now you may feel that it’s all to the good that the cost of over-priced products is forced down. The problem is, price has always been an important part of marketing and if our customers cannot get an indication of the quality from the price, we have lost a useful marketing tool.
Discount offers are useful but they work best when they can be judged against a standard price and when there is a clear reason for them. That’s why an end-of-season clearance works so well.
My experience is that price-cutting may boost sales short-term but customers soon adjust their expectation to the lower price and then further discounts are needed to gain sales. Compare the way jars of instant coffee keep dropping in price and sales keep falling too, while the cost of a latte at your favourite coffee house, despite the competition, goes up and up.
Unique, or at least specialist, products will continue to command a premium price. The victims of price wars are the products in the middle that are neither top sellers nor in a niche market. These will suffer most if they are made to seem overpriced by continuous Sales and pile-them-high-sell-them-cheap supermarkets.
Now you may feel that it’s all to the good that the cost of over-priced products is forced down. The problem is, price has always been an important part of marketing and if our customers cannot get an indication of the quality from the price, we have lost a useful marketing tool.
Discount offers are useful but they work best when they can be judged against a standard price and when there is a clear reason for them. That’s why an end-of-season clearance works so well.
My experience is that price-cutting may boost sales short-term but customers soon adjust their expectation to the lower price and then further discounts are needed to gain sales. Compare the way jars of instant coffee keep dropping in price and sales keep falling too, while the cost of a latte at your favourite coffee house, despite the competition, goes up and up.
Unique, or at least specialist, products will continue to command a premium price. The victims of price wars are the products in the middle that are neither top sellers nor in a niche market. These will suffer most if they are made to seem overpriced by continuous Sales and pile-them-high-sell-them-cheap supermarkets.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Customer Service or Bribe?
If you get poor customer service and the business gives you a voucher or some other monetary compensation, does it then become good customer service or just a bribe?
I say 'bribe' unless the business makes clear that they understand what made the service poor, gives you a genuine apology and tells you how they’re going to improve in future.
I say 'bribe' unless the business makes clear that they understand what made the service poor, gives you a genuine apology and tells you how they’re going to improve in future.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Farewell Ricky
Sorry about the gap in my blogging. Someone very close to us died recently of cancer at the ridiculously young age of 49 and it has left us all in a state of shock.
Ricky Knott was a remarkable man for what should be unremarkable qualities but aren’t. He was the sort of person interested in others first and himself a long second. Someone who asked after your health, even when he was the one dying. A person with a ready smile for all he met. Someone always fascinated by life and always positive in his approach to it. He was the sort who walks in to a room and says ‘There you are’ rather than ‘Here I am’. As I say, qualities that should be commonplace but are so rare that he was the most popular person I knew, and every one of the 30 odd people who have so far left memories on his memorial website http://richardknott.info has commented on them. He wasn't a marketing man but we can all learn a lot from him.
Ricky leaves a widow and three lovely daughters who are a tribute to him. The gap in the lives of those who knew him cannot be filled.
Ricky Knott was a remarkable man for what should be unremarkable qualities but aren’t. He was the sort of person interested in others first and himself a long second. Someone who asked after your health, even when he was the one dying. A person with a ready smile for all he met. Someone always fascinated by life and always positive in his approach to it. He was the sort who walks in to a room and says ‘There you are’ rather than ‘Here I am’. As I say, qualities that should be commonplace but are so rare that he was the most popular person I knew, and every one of the 30 odd people who have so far left memories on his memorial website http://richardknott.info has commented on them. He wasn't a marketing man but we can all learn a lot from him.
Ricky leaves a widow and three lovely daughters who are a tribute to him. The gap in the lives of those who knew him cannot be filled.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Getting Text Marketing Right
Karen Fricker asks in To Text Or Not To Text on the Guardian’s website
whether using text messages to market theatre performances is a good idea.
I think it's an excellent idea, with the following provisos. The recipients must give their permission (which is a legal requirement), the marketers must make it easy for them to stop receiving the texts and thecommunications must be of genuine use to them. The last point is probably the most important. As with mail, it is only junk or spam if you’re not interested. If the texts are targeted to people according to their previously declared interests (new productions going on sale, late offers, particular genres, etc), then there should not be a problem.
Well, there might be one problem- the marketer must not abuse the fact of being given permission to text by bombarding the recipient. An online CD retailer fell foul of this a little while ago. At first, they found that the more frequently they emailed their list of people who had asked to receive news, the more CDs they sold, until they were emailing once a week and doing very nicely. But they carried on increasing the frequency, eventually sending a daily email, and suddenly their business collapsed. Their customers simply got annoyed and voted with their feet.
The optimum number of emails seems to be no more than once a week and I suspect that the same applies to texts. I propose that, when someone subscribes to receive texts, they are not only asked what they are interested in but also the maximum number of texts they want to receive in a month.
whether using text messages to market theatre performances is a good idea.
I think it's an excellent idea, with the following provisos. The recipients must give their permission (which is a legal requirement), the marketers must make it easy for them to stop receiving the texts and thecommunications must be of genuine use to them. The last point is probably the most important. As with mail, it is only junk or spam if you’re not interested. If the texts are targeted to people according to their previously declared interests (new productions going on sale, late offers, particular genres, etc), then there should not be a problem.
Well, there might be one problem- the marketer must not abuse the fact of being given permission to text by bombarding the recipient. An online CD retailer fell foul of this a little while ago. At first, they found that the more frequently they emailed their list of people who had asked to receive news, the more CDs they sold, until they were emailing once a week and doing very nicely. But they carried on increasing the frequency, eventually sending a daily email, and suddenly their business collapsed. Their customers simply got annoyed and voted with their feet.
The optimum number of emails seems to be no more than once a week and I suspect that the same applies to texts. I propose that, when someone subscribes to receive texts, they are not only asked what they are interested in but also the maximum number of texts they want to receive in a month.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Velasquez and Spamalot- Time Well Spent
I celebrated my birthday with a visit to London to see the Velasquez exhibition at the National Gallery and Monty Python's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre.
It was a most astonishing experience to see faces dead for hundreds of years staring at you as if they were alive. Velasquez had extraordinary skill at capturing expressions and painting them with just enough but not too much detail, so that you engage with the painting and fill in the rest. Whether it's the mesmerising portrait of Pope Benedict as frightening as a cornered rat or the immense sadness in the eyes of Kingh Philip IV, it was hard to break off one's gaze.
Spamalot on the other hand was a laugh from start to finish- a very funny spoof on stage musicals combined with the familiar Python comedy about class. Tim Curry is superb as King Arthur, darting between naive enthusiasm and lugubrious resignation.
On my deathbed I may look back and think of all the time I have wasted, but I could never include the time spent in art galleries or theatres.
It was a most astonishing experience to see faces dead for hundreds of years staring at you as if they were alive. Velasquez had extraordinary skill at capturing expressions and painting them with just enough but not too much detail, so that you engage with the painting and fill in the rest. Whether it's the mesmerising portrait of Pope Benedict as frightening as a cornered rat or the immense sadness in the eyes of Kingh Philip IV, it was hard to break off one's gaze.
Spamalot on the other hand was a laugh from start to finish- a very funny spoof on stage musicals combined with the familiar Python comedy about class. Tim Curry is superb as King Arthur, darting between naive enthusiasm and lugubrious resignation.
On my deathbed I may look back and think of all the time I have wasted, but I could never include the time spent in art galleries or theatres.
A Change Of Image For Panto
I'm quietly pleased to see the extensive positive coverage of this year's pantomimes. Stars from the US- Patrick Duffy and Henry Winkler- are welcomed and Mark (Shopping And Fucking) Ravenhill is writing a family panto.
In my early days at The Mayflower, the great panto producer Paul Elliott managed to sign up Dudley Moore to star in our panto. The day it was announced, the nationals reacted with a unanimous conclusion that Dudley's career had reached rock bottom. Even The Guardian, with its regional origins, rdiculed him for being reduced to appearing in the 'seaside town' of Southampton. (Whereas in fact, Southampton is a prospering city with one of the most successful pantos in the country- and no beach.)
How times have changed. Now that top theatrical names like Ian McKellen, Simon Callow and Nigel Havers have chosen to appear in panto, suddenly the media are finding new respect for this great British tradition. It's taken a long time but the hard work Paul Elliott put into his vision of a kind of pantomime that took itself seriously as theatre has finally paid off.
In my early days at The Mayflower, the great panto producer Paul Elliott managed to sign up Dudley Moore to star in our panto. The day it was announced, the nationals reacted with a unanimous conclusion that Dudley's career had reached rock bottom. Even The Guardian, with its regional origins, rdiculed him for being reduced to appearing in the 'seaside town' of Southampton. (Whereas in fact, Southampton is a prospering city with one of the most successful pantos in the country- and no beach.)
How times have changed. Now that top theatrical names like Ian McKellen, Simon Callow and Nigel Havers have chosen to appear in panto, suddenly the media are finding new respect for this great British tradition. It's taken a long time but the hard work Paul Elliott put into his vision of a kind of pantomime that took itself seriously as theatre has finally paid off.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
It's Not Just Marketing, It's M&S Marketing
Marks and Spencer’s recent financial success is a result of classic good marketing. First point to make though is, no matter how good the marketing, you won’t get very far unless you can deliver a good product. M&S, already excellent at food, have done a great job at improving the quality of their clothing.
Their advertising campaign exploited this very well. On the food side, the slogan ‘it’s not just food, it’s M&S food’ hits the button, and the advertisements make the food look positively sexy. On the clothing front, the use of Twiggy, Erin O’Connor and other top models in stylish advertisements makes M&S instantly fashionable- and appealing to a wide age range. The campaign is said to have driven an extra 18 million people to the stores.
Then there’s the Offer. Let’s not underestimate the power of the ‘3 for the Price of 2’, ‘Buy one get one half price’ offers and the introduction of many good quality products at low prices.
Finally there’s the spend. We love the idea of the underdog triumphing but the truth is, the biggest army nearly always wins the war. With the second biggest advertising spend of any retailer- over £60 million and a third up on the previous year- M&S were bound to make an impact.
Their advertising campaign exploited this very well. On the food side, the slogan ‘it’s not just food, it’s M&S food’ hits the button, and the advertisements make the food look positively sexy. On the clothing front, the use of Twiggy, Erin O’Connor and other top models in stylish advertisements makes M&S instantly fashionable- and appealing to a wide age range. The campaign is said to have driven an extra 18 million people to the stores.
Then there’s the Offer. Let’s not underestimate the power of the ‘3 for the Price of 2’, ‘Buy one get one half price’ offers and the introduction of many good quality products at low prices.
Finally there’s the spend. We love the idea of the underdog triumphing but the truth is, the biggest army nearly always wins the war. With the second biggest advertising spend of any retailer- over £60 million and a third up on the previous year- M&S were bound to make an impact.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Who Should The Customer Trust: Jaded Hacks or Ordinary Punters?
People who market theatre shows are too worried about the professional critics. They fret about bad reviews and pounce on good ones for often meaningless quotes. I think they give far more weight to the critics than a typical theatre-goer does.
Many factors affect someone's decision to buy a ticket. A bad review could put them off but, in my experience, if they like the subject, the star or the author, this will be much more influential. Then there's word-of-mouth. Whose reviews would you rely on more when making your decision to go to see a show- professional theatre critics or members of the paying audience? I disagree with Ian Shuttleworth who writes in Theatre Record in favour of the critics.
A paid reviewer himself, he defends his peers against what he imagines are the key criticisms of critics, namely “reviewers offer a distorted view of the plays they write about: we get in free, so we're not beholden to the show, and we're paid to write about what we think rather than how everybody else in the audience seemed to respond.” His response is basically “damned right”.
Actually my concern about professional critics is that, because they get in free, they lose the sense of what going to the theatre is like for “ordinary punters”, as Mr Shuttleworth describes us. For us, the experience starts with choosing a show maybe once a month, based on what we like (genre, actors, writers and so on) and on recommendations. We then go through a sometimes difficult process of buying tickets and journeying and then buying a programme and maybe a meal. All of this is a big investment. Consequently we are predisposed to enjoy the show and if we don’t we will feel the disappointment more acutely.
Mr Shuttleworth says this is why the audience is not to be trusted as much as the professionals. To me, it’s symptomatic that his experience is that “far more often you'll see stuff that's not especially distinguished one way or the other.” On the contrary, I find that the shows I see are generally be good to excellent, which I don’t find surprising given the process they and I go through before reaching the theatre. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have thoroughly enjoyed shows about which I have read lukewarm reviews.
Compared with a regular ticket-buying theatre-goer, the professional critic is a hack who sits through whatever he or she is paid to see, a frothy musical for example even if they would never dream of paying to see such as show. And they see numerous shows each week. “Jaded” may not be a fair word to describe a group of people who clearly love theatre but they are bound to develop a more critical standard than the rest of us and condemn many fine shows to being “average” in their terms.
Professional critics are important. Their experience and knowledge give us insights that are helpful in understanding a play and, when they are enthusiastic, their command of language makes them very persuasive. But I do give more weight to what members of the audience think because their reaction is likely to be closer to my own and therefore more helpful to me. My advice to theatre marketers: Ignore the jaded hacks and encourage audience power.
Many factors affect someone's decision to buy a ticket. A bad review could put them off but, in my experience, if they like the subject, the star or the author, this will be much more influential. Then there's word-of-mouth. Whose reviews would you rely on more when making your decision to go to see a show- professional theatre critics or members of the paying audience? I disagree with Ian Shuttleworth who writes in Theatre Record in favour of the critics.
A paid reviewer himself, he defends his peers against what he imagines are the key criticisms of critics, namely “reviewers offer a distorted view of the plays they write about: we get in free, so we're not beholden to the show, and we're paid to write about what we think rather than how everybody else in the audience seemed to respond.” His response is basically “damned right”.
Actually my concern about professional critics is that, because they get in free, they lose the sense of what going to the theatre is like for “ordinary punters”, as Mr Shuttleworth describes us. For us, the experience starts with choosing a show maybe once a month, based on what we like (genre, actors, writers and so on) and on recommendations. We then go through a sometimes difficult process of buying tickets and journeying and then buying a programme and maybe a meal. All of this is a big investment. Consequently we are predisposed to enjoy the show and if we don’t we will feel the disappointment more acutely.
Mr Shuttleworth says this is why the audience is not to be trusted as much as the professionals. To me, it’s symptomatic that his experience is that “far more often you'll see stuff that's not especially distinguished one way or the other.” On the contrary, I find that the shows I see are generally be good to excellent, which I don’t find surprising given the process they and I go through before reaching the theatre. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have thoroughly enjoyed shows about which I have read lukewarm reviews.
Compared with a regular ticket-buying theatre-goer, the professional critic is a hack who sits through whatever he or she is paid to see, a frothy musical for example even if they would never dream of paying to see such as show. And they see numerous shows each week. “Jaded” may not be a fair word to describe a group of people who clearly love theatre but they are bound to develop a more critical standard than the rest of us and condemn many fine shows to being “average” in their terms.
Professional critics are important. Their experience and knowledge give us insights that are helpful in understanding a play and, when they are enthusiastic, their command of language makes them very persuasive. But I do give more weight to what members of the audience think because their reaction is likely to be closer to my own and therefore more helpful to me. My advice to theatre marketers: Ignore the jaded hacks and encourage audience power.
Poor Customer Service From Theatres
Why don’t theatres offer refunds? I took a chair back to Staples six months after I bought it. They refunded without question. Even the traders on Southampton’s Friday street market (one of my clients) give refunds.
Theatres are unique in my experience at taking your money months in advance and refusing to offer the basic customer service of a refund if you change your mind. I worked in theatre for many years and still provide marketing consultancy to the industry, so I understand that there are reasons why it is difficult. On the other hand, since I have been working with other kinds of businesses, I realise that everyone has difficulties in giving refunds.
Theatres argue that someone may ask for a refund because the price has gone down. Yet when Marks and Spencer refund you the full price on a jumper six months after purchase, there’s every chance they will only be able to sell it at the sale price. And, just as you probably won’t be able to get your size at the lower price, so you won’t be able to get as good a seat. As a compromise, theatres could offer to refund at the current rather than the original price.
Theatres say their finances are such that they can’t risk being left with a lot of unsold tickets. I wonder how many tickets they imagine will be returned. Have they so little confidence in their shows that they worry the word-of-mouth will be so bad that tickets will be returned in droves? Shops are often stuck with returned items that are unsaleable. But shops offer refunds because it encourages people to buy if they know the item can be brought back. I believe theatres would find their extra sales gained far outnumber the loss from refunds.
What it comes down to is customer service. It seems every field of business has learned to treat the customer as King except the live entertainment industry. Put aside the rare occasion when someone might want a refund on a whim, most people need a refund because they were expected to buy their tickets months in advance and then something unanticipated crops up nearer the time- illness, a family crisis, an unavoidable meeting, whatever. Can it possibly be sensible business practice to punish your customer for something that’s not their fault?
The industry does have a nerve complaining about people selling tickets at a profit on ebay or via touts when they provide no means to sell them back to the venue.
As a halfway house, perhaps theatres could at least offer a sliding scale of refunds as the date of the event approaches, similar to holiday companies. Or maybe a significant charge to offset the anticipated losses. Many local theatres do at least offer exchanges and, slowly but surely, ticket agents are bringing in exchange websites.
Of course, theatre ticketing is complicated by the fact that to offer refunds may require the agreement of a visiting promoter. Theatres that produce their own shows don’t have this problem and now's the time for receiving venues to start negotiating.
Theatres are unique in my experience at taking your money months in advance and refusing to offer the basic customer service of a refund if you change your mind. I worked in theatre for many years and still provide marketing consultancy to the industry, so I understand that there are reasons why it is difficult. On the other hand, since I have been working with other kinds of businesses, I realise that everyone has difficulties in giving refunds.
Theatres argue that someone may ask for a refund because the price has gone down. Yet when Marks and Spencer refund you the full price on a jumper six months after purchase, there’s every chance they will only be able to sell it at the sale price. And, just as you probably won’t be able to get your size at the lower price, so you won’t be able to get as good a seat. As a compromise, theatres could offer to refund at the current rather than the original price.
Theatres say their finances are such that they can’t risk being left with a lot of unsold tickets. I wonder how many tickets they imagine will be returned. Have they so little confidence in their shows that they worry the word-of-mouth will be so bad that tickets will be returned in droves? Shops are often stuck with returned items that are unsaleable. But shops offer refunds because it encourages people to buy if they know the item can be brought back. I believe theatres would find their extra sales gained far outnumber the loss from refunds.
What it comes down to is customer service. It seems every field of business has learned to treat the customer as King except the live entertainment industry. Put aside the rare occasion when someone might want a refund on a whim, most people need a refund because they were expected to buy their tickets months in advance and then something unanticipated crops up nearer the time- illness, a family crisis, an unavoidable meeting, whatever. Can it possibly be sensible business practice to punish your customer for something that’s not their fault?
The industry does have a nerve complaining about people selling tickets at a profit on ebay or via touts when they provide no means to sell them back to the venue.
As a halfway house, perhaps theatres could at least offer a sliding scale of refunds as the date of the event approaches, similar to holiday companies. Or maybe a significant charge to offset the anticipated losses. Many local theatres do at least offer exchanges and, slowly but surely, ticket agents are bringing in exchange websites.
Of course, theatre ticketing is complicated by the fact that to offer refunds may require the agreement of a visiting promoter. Theatres that produce their own shows don’t have this problem and now's the time for receiving venues to start negotiating.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Ravello- Tranquil Village or Global Brand?
Ravello is a village in the mountains of the Amalfi coast. They don't seem to do a lot to market themselves, even the signage is poor, but Ravello has a clear brand- "a tranquil place for relaxation". It shows that you end up with an image even if you do nothing. And there's no questioning Ravello's popularity, which makes it wise to venture up the steep, winding roads in Spring or Autumn.
It's a wonderful place to chill out, sipping a glass of wine or coffee in the Piazza or strolling round the numerous gardens. Ravello's main cultural activity is provided by the Concert Society who promote twice weekly events in the gorgeous Villa Rufolo. Did a clever marketeer advise them that classical music would be the perfect choice to enhance its brand image? I somehow doubt it.
Best of all on our recent visit was the view from our balcony at the Hotel Parsifal, a lovely family-run establishment with an excellent restaurant.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Refunds are a Good Customer Service
I also write a blog about the arts. In the unlikely event that you'd like to see my views on Ticket Refunds, Professional Critics and Tom Stoppard's Rock'N'Roll, go to Paul's Arts Blog.
Taste The Weasel
"At Sainsbury's, we only ever use butter in our fresh Taste The Difference pies. We are the only supermarket that can say that." (Advertisement)
Not as impressive as it sounds when you work out that only Sainsbury's make Taste the Difference products! It's a classic example of a 'weasel', so called because weasels suck the inside out of an egg but leave the shell intact. In other words, it looks good but actually it's hollow.
Not as impressive as it sounds when you work out that only Sainsbury's make Taste the Difference products! It's a classic example of a 'weasel', so called because weasels suck the inside out of an egg but leave the shell intact. In other words, it looks good but actually it's hollow.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Copywriters shouldn't copy, they should be original
Do you look at advertisements for theatre shows? Here are some questions about the copy.
Is every production really a ‘smash hit’? Perhaps lazy writers could stop reaching for the nearest cliché and actually come up with a description that makes an emotional connection with the reader.
What law says every noun has to be preceded by an adjective? The fact is, if you put a superlative before every noun, the law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty quickly.
And what’s with all those quotes? Your potential audience are not stupid- they know you could have selected the lavish praise out of context- even if you haven’t! In any case, the review was by someone they’ve never heard of in a paper they’ve no respect for, or else they would probably have read it already. Don’t waste the space.
Speaking of which, who cares who designed the lighting, apart from the lighting designer’s mother?
The Big Question: do they actually want you to go see the show?
Is every production really a ‘smash hit’? Perhaps lazy writers could stop reaching for the nearest cliché and actually come up with a description that makes an emotional connection with the reader.
What law says every noun has to be preceded by an adjective? The fact is, if you put a superlative before every noun, the law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty quickly.
And what’s with all those quotes? Your potential audience are not stupid- they know you could have selected the lavish praise out of context- even if you haven’t! In any case, the review was by someone they’ve never heard of in a paper they’ve no respect for, or else they would probably have read it already. Don’t waste the space.
Speaking of which, who cares who designed the lighting, apart from the lighting designer’s mother?
The Big Question: do they actually want you to go see the show?
What will the customer think?
One of our leading regional theatres has just brought out its latest season brochure. The cover makes it look like a flier for its Christmas show with no mention of other attractions in the top half. News flash- not everybody will put your brochure at the front. Anything lower down is liable to be obscured by other print in the display rack. The back cover commits the cardinal sin of not having the venue name at the top. Do they think print never gets displayed back to front?
The brochure’s layout consists of boxes with no fluidity. The print is too wordy and too small for the older reader that comprises a significant proportion of the theatre audience. The ‘hot spot’ of the inside back cover is wasted on customer information rather than selling a show.
I’m not talking about some seventh level of marketing enlightenment here. Everything I’ve highlighted fails at the first step towards good marketing, namely: ‘Look at it from the customer’s point of view’.
The brochure’s layout consists of boxes with no fluidity. The print is too wordy and too small for the older reader that comprises a significant proportion of the theatre audience. The ‘hot spot’ of the inside back cover is wasted on customer information rather than selling a show.
I’m not talking about some seventh level of marketing enlightenment here. Everything I’ve highlighted fails at the first step towards good marketing, namely: ‘Look at it from the customer’s point of view’.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
One Price Tells All
Saw a Kenwood electric tin opener in John Lewis for £12.99. Saw the same item in a mail order catalogue for £27.99. Result: whole catalogue in the bin. Lesson: in these days of easy price comparison, you can’t afford to let one price be uncompetitive or it destroys customers’ confidence in the rest.
Redundancy Reveals Heart of Business
We all know job security is a thing of the past. When costs need to be cut, getting rid of people is now a relatively easy option, nevertheless how a company handles redundancy, even when it’s unavoidable, goes to the heart of how they conduct their business.
Ex-Daily Telegraph man Kim Fletcher wrote recently about being made redundant, “Having sacked and been sacked, I know it is the sacked who question their competence, lose their self esteem and wonder what they will do when the pay-off runs out.” At the very least, these people deserve to be treated with compassion by their former employers but sadly this isn’t always the case.
Not even the world’s most powerful businesswoman was protected from being unceremoniously discarded earlier this year. Ex-Chief Executive of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina describes how “the board did not have the courage to face me. They did not thank me and they did not say goodbye.”
It’s a very similar experience to that of a Southampton woman I met recently who was the victim of cost-cutting. She was assured she was good at the senior management job she had been trusted to do for over fifteen years but nevertheless, on “legal advice”, her company mobile was seized, she was marched out of the office, offered no expression of sorrow or thanks, and given a neutral reference. Legal no doubt, but civilised? I don’t think so.
Fortunately some companies do manage to operate both legally and with humanity. Early in my working life, my employer had to make cuts because business had slowed down. The manager was in tears. He was reassuring. He wrote a great reference. I was still out of a job but I felt a lot better about it. It’s good business practice because remaining employees are more likely to be loyal to a compassionate company. Lack of respect for people by a company’s management breeds a cynical ethos, a dispirited workforce and ultimately lost customers.
Having talked to a number of people who have been made redundant, I have some advice. Don’t think you are safe because you are a key employee: you can’t get more essential than Carly Fiorina. Don’t regard your colleagues or boss as friends: when the chips are down, they will think of number one. Never keep anything personal at work: you may be rushed out so quickly you will never get access to emails on your PC or numbers on your mobile.
And always remember: if you do find you are treated like a commodity rather than a human being, the shame is on the company, not on you.
Ex-Daily Telegraph man Kim Fletcher wrote recently about being made redundant, “Having sacked and been sacked, I know it is the sacked who question their competence, lose their self esteem and wonder what they will do when the pay-off runs out.” At the very least, these people deserve to be treated with compassion by their former employers but sadly this isn’t always the case.
Not even the world’s most powerful businesswoman was protected from being unceremoniously discarded earlier this year. Ex-Chief Executive of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina describes how “the board did not have the courage to face me. They did not thank me and they did not say goodbye.”
It’s a very similar experience to that of a Southampton woman I met recently who was the victim of cost-cutting. She was assured she was good at the senior management job she had been trusted to do for over fifteen years but nevertheless, on “legal advice”, her company mobile was seized, she was marched out of the office, offered no expression of sorrow or thanks, and given a neutral reference. Legal no doubt, but civilised? I don’t think so.
Fortunately some companies do manage to operate both legally and with humanity. Early in my working life, my employer had to make cuts because business had slowed down. The manager was in tears. He was reassuring. He wrote a great reference. I was still out of a job but I felt a lot better about it. It’s good business practice because remaining employees are more likely to be loyal to a compassionate company. Lack of respect for people by a company’s management breeds a cynical ethos, a dispirited workforce and ultimately lost customers.
Having talked to a number of people who have been made redundant, I have some advice. Don’t think you are safe because you are a key employee: you can’t get more essential than Carly Fiorina. Don’t regard your colleagues or boss as friends: when the chips are down, they will think of number one. Never keep anything personal at work: you may be rushed out so quickly you will never get access to emails on your PC or numbers on your mobile.
And always remember: if you do find you are treated like a commodity rather than a human being, the shame is on the company, not on you.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Turning Bad News Into Good PR
A hotel was recently exposed by the local newspaper because their contract cleaners were paying below the minimum wage.
They reacted with classic examples of the wrong and right way to handle bad news. The first reaction by a ‘spokesman’ was, “It is standard practice that all outsourcing suppliers are required to sign … a requirement to honour all required statutory obligations to staff.” That gave every appearance of squirming on the hook, when what people wanted to know was: are you an ethical company or not? Are you sorry? What are you going to do about it?
The right way to limit the damage came two whole weeks later, by which time one sensed the hand of a good Public Relations company in the response. The hotel had “taken the decision to terminate all contract agreements” with this particular cleaning company. They went on to reassure us that they took their staff responsibilities seriously and that their policy was that “all employees be paid a minimum wage”.
The lesson is, when there’s bad news, it needn’t be a disaster provided you admit straightaway that you were wrong and let people know you’re putting things right. The hotel in the end strengthened its reputation. On the other hand, if you try to cover up, blame someone else or simply prevaricate, you can do untold damage to your company.
They reacted with classic examples of the wrong and right way to handle bad news. The first reaction by a ‘spokesman’ was, “It is standard practice that all outsourcing suppliers are required to sign … a requirement to honour all required statutory obligations to staff.” That gave every appearance of squirming on the hook, when what people wanted to know was: are you an ethical company or not? Are you sorry? What are you going to do about it?
The right way to limit the damage came two whole weeks later, by which time one sensed the hand of a good Public Relations company in the response. The hotel had “taken the decision to terminate all contract agreements” with this particular cleaning company. They went on to reassure us that they took their staff responsibilities seriously and that their policy was that “all employees be paid a minimum wage”.
The lesson is, when there’s bad news, it needn’t be a disaster provided you admit straightaway that you were wrong and let people know you’re putting things right. The hotel in the end strengthened its reputation. On the other hand, if you try to cover up, blame someone else or simply prevaricate, you can do untold damage to your company.
Ethics are Good for Business
These days more than ever we expect ethical behaviour from the people to whom we give our custom. Woe betide the company that’s found out getting its £70 trainers made in a far eastern sweatshop for 40p or including GM ingredients in its organic produce.
This even applies to marketing, a profession often thought to lack scruples. You may be surprised that the American Marketing Association commands “Marketers must do no harm.” (And, no, I don’t know if people who advertise cigarettes are allowed to be members!) “Honest, truthful and decent” are the watchwords of British advertising. Even my small consultancy finds it sensible and proper to vet clients and try to avoid those who appear to act unethically.
Bigger companies need built-in controls. I was surprised earlier this year to encounter a Board of Directors who let their Chief Executive do whatever he wanted, including on employment issues, without questioning the moral basis for his decisions. Boards should be concerned about more than the bottom line. They should set ethical standards for their management and enforce them.
Behaving ethically may be good Public Relations but behaving unethically is bad for business.
This even applies to marketing, a profession often thought to lack scruples. You may be surprised that the American Marketing Association commands “Marketers must do no harm.” (And, no, I don’t know if people who advertise cigarettes are allowed to be members!) “Honest, truthful and decent” are the watchwords of British advertising. Even my small consultancy finds it sensible and proper to vet clients and try to avoid those who appear to act unethically.
Bigger companies need built-in controls. I was surprised earlier this year to encounter a Board of Directors who let their Chief Executive do whatever he wanted, including on employment issues, without questioning the moral basis for his decisions. Boards should be concerned about more than the bottom line. They should set ethical standards for their management and enforce them.
Behaving ethically may be good Public Relations but behaving unethically is bad for business.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Booking Fees: Irish Good, English Bad Marketing
Back from a short trip to Ireland. I could go on about the friendly people, the beautiful country and the superb food at Man Friday in Kinsale, but this is supposed to be a blog about marketing and PR. So, instead let me tell you that advertisements for Riverdance show the full price the customer pays for the ticket including booking fee. I don’t know if this is a legal requirement or simply an ethical promoter but it is absolutely how prices should be displayed. The customer has no interest in what part of the ticket is the cost of the seat and what is the fee taken by the ticket seller. We just want to know how much we will be paying.
UK legislation requires that the original price or ‘face value’ of the ticket be given as well as the fee applying. I know this is an attempt to clamp down on excessive fees by agents but where the primary seller is charging a fee, then frankly the distinction between ‘face value’ on the ticket and extras is meaningless.
A more distressing distinction between ticket price and booking fee occurred recently in our area when a G4 concert was cancelled. The Manchester-based agency Ticketline gave a refund on the ticket price but not the booking fee! What a way to treat a customer. It’s like John Lewis saying we’ll refund you the cost to us of the faulty furniture but not our mark-up. The Office of Fair Trading have said that refusal to give back additional fees in the event of cancellation constitutes unfair terms. Any self-respecting promoter should not deal with Ticketline- and ticket buyers should avoid them whenever possible.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Is It Art? Marketing Modern Art
Southampton City Council’s Art Gallery has just bought a painting by Bridget Riley, one of our greatest artists. It will fill a gap in what is the finest collection of 20th century British art outside London. From an art lover’s point of view, it would have been nice if the reaction from the local paper hadn’t been ‘Is this really worth £¼m of your cash?’
It’s not that questions like Is It Art? and Is It A Waste of Money? aren’t worth asking- they may even sell newspapers- but, after 50 years, I wish they’d change the record!
Of course there’s no such thing as bad publicity in the sense that at least the purchase got high profile coverage. If nothing else, it shows the Gallery is important and it will lead to more visits. But good publicity is better. This story could have been about the benefits of modern art to the community (Tate Modern has shown the way). We could have read about the extra visitors to what is already a major attraction, the added appeal to investors of a city of culture, oh and the art itself- the opportunity for we locals to see a major work of modern art and get emotional and intellectual stimulation from engaging with it.
As an art-loving PR person, my advice to any regional Public Art Gallery which buys a new work of modern art is- get in first with a sympathetic journalist who will write a positive story before the local government reporter gets hold of it and makes it a story about the crazy spending Council.
It’s not that questions like Is It Art? and Is It A Waste of Money? aren’t worth asking- they may even sell newspapers- but, after 50 years, I wish they’d change the record!
Of course there’s no such thing as bad publicity in the sense that at least the purchase got high profile coverage. If nothing else, it shows the Gallery is important and it will lead to more visits. But good publicity is better. This story could have been about the benefits of modern art to the community (Tate Modern has shown the way). We could have read about the extra visitors to what is already a major attraction, the added appeal to investors of a city of culture, oh and the art itself- the opportunity for we locals to see a major work of modern art and get emotional and intellectual stimulation from engaging with it.
As an art-loving PR person, my advice to any regional Public Art Gallery which buys a new work of modern art is- get in first with a sympathetic journalist who will write a positive story before the local government reporter gets hold of it and makes it a story about the crazy spending Council.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
What People Want is special marketing
I can buy the same books as millions of others at Amazon but I feel special because the computer recommends books to me according to what it believes I like. A well marketed theatre tells me about shows as soon as they go on sale because I am a valued customer, knows the seat I like to sit in, and offers me a special price or access to a ‘sold-out’ event because I have joined a loyalty scheme.
So often Seth Godin notices what others don’t or puts into words the thoughts you have but haven’t articulated. His blog entry What People Want is a great example. How true that most people want to be the same as everyone else but just a little bit better.
The need to be different but without drawing too much attention to oneself is something we have to be aware of in marketing. Now we are able to know so much about our customers, we can offer each of them the same products and services their peers are buying but in a customised form that will make them feel special.
So often Seth Godin notices what others don’t or puts into words the thoughts you have but haven’t articulated. His blog entry What People Want is a great example. How true that most people want to be the same as everyone else but just a little bit better.
The need to be different but without drawing too much attention to oneself is something we have to be aware of in marketing. Now we are able to know so much about our customers, we can offer each of them the same products and services their peers are buying but in a customised form that will make them feel special.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Christmas in August- Great PR
When Harrods announced its Christmas department was open for business, the season of goodwill Christmas didn’t just come early for its customers, the shop itself received a massive Christmas present in the form of media coverage. Whoever does Harrods’ PR must have written a very persuasive letter to Santa Claus (presumably c/o St Tropez rather than Lapland).
I don’t doubt there are some people who want to buy Christmas fairies in August but it was still a brilliant publicity stunt to launch the department in the middle of a heatwave. They couldn’t have got much more media coverage if Harrods’ owner Mr Al-Fayed had sat naked on top of a Norwegian fir! It’s a lot better than a press release saying ‘There are less than 150 shopping days to Christmas.’
The best publicity stunts work because they are grounded in reality but are at the same time bizarre. In this case, we are already familiar with shops beginning Christmas sales in September. It seems early but unremarkable. Yet the idea that people might buy Christmas decorations in the summer was one step beyond and it couldn’t be ignored.
The other factor which made this so clever is timing. August is traditionally the media’s ‘silly season’ when there is less news than usual and they are crying out for stories. No matter if no-one goes into Harrods for Christmas decs as a result of the publicity- they'll remember the name of the store.
You don’t have to write to Santa Claus to get good media coverage. When I was running PR for The Mayflower Theatre, my best publicity stunt was the hunt for the perfect bum. Again it started from a genuine story- we had to test all the seats to decide which needed to be refurbished. Instead of simply getting someone to do the job, I decided to announce that we were looking for a seat tester. The qualification of course was the sensitivity of their bottom.
Out went the press release (in the summer) that we would be auditioning bottoms. Widespread coverage resulted, including a photo (of my bottom) on the front page of your favourite evening newspaper and a TV news story of me opening the applications (I made sure applicants included photos) as well as the audition itself. The headline wrote itself- Bum Job!- and everyone knew that The Mayflower cared about customer comfort.
See my Top Ten Tips on Writing Press Releases
I don’t doubt there are some people who want to buy Christmas fairies in August but it was still a brilliant publicity stunt to launch the department in the middle of a heatwave. They couldn’t have got much more media coverage if Harrods’ owner Mr Al-Fayed had sat naked on top of a Norwegian fir! It’s a lot better than a press release saying ‘There are less than 150 shopping days to Christmas.’
The best publicity stunts work because they are grounded in reality but are at the same time bizarre. In this case, we are already familiar with shops beginning Christmas sales in September. It seems early but unremarkable. Yet the idea that people might buy Christmas decorations in the summer was one step beyond and it couldn’t be ignored.
The other factor which made this so clever is timing. August is traditionally the media’s ‘silly season’ when there is less news than usual and they are crying out for stories. No matter if no-one goes into Harrods for Christmas decs as a result of the publicity- they'll remember the name of the store.
You don’t have to write to Santa Claus to get good media coverage. When I was running PR for The Mayflower Theatre, my best publicity stunt was the hunt for the perfect bum. Again it started from a genuine story- we had to test all the seats to decide which needed to be refurbished. Instead of simply getting someone to do the job, I decided to announce that we were looking for a seat tester. The qualification of course was the sensitivity of their bottom.
Out went the press release (in the summer) that we would be auditioning bottoms. Widespread coverage resulted, including a photo (of my bottom) on the front page of your favourite evening newspaper and a TV news story of me opening the applications (I made sure applicants included photos) as well as the audition itself. The headline wrote itself- Bum Job!- and everyone knew that The Mayflower cared about customer comfort.
See my Top Ten Tips on Writing Press Releases
Monday, July 31, 2006
French Lessons in Web Marketing
Just back from a lovely holiday in the South of France. Thanks to cheap Flybe flights (under £100 if you book early) from our local airport to Perpignan, we’re becoming very familiar with the bit of Mediterranean France near to the Spanish border. Our villa was in the Corbieres hills looking across a rugged, tranquil valley at one of the many ruined castles in the area. The highlight of our holiday though was a trip to Carcassonne, a huge intact walled medieval city high on a hill. It was like going back 800 years.
While in the region, we went to a couple of chateaux to try the wine. If you eat at L’Hospitalet, they let you drink as much of and as many of their wines as you like for free. If you like one, you can buy a case in the shop next door. An excellent marketing ploy.
The best meal we ate was at the restaurant attached to the Lastours chateau. It was called La Bergerie and as long as their superb chef Philippe Singer remains there, you won’t be disappointed. When we got back home, I wanted to tell everyone about it so I tried to find its website. It doesn’t have one! But worse, Google turned up a local English-speaking residents’ website where a few months ago members were busy slagging off the food there, I guess before Philippe arrived. As I suggested in a previous blog, this is the future of word-of-mouth and it shows you have to make sure you know what people are saying about you online and engage positively with them.
While in the region, we went to a couple of chateaux to try the wine. If you eat at L’Hospitalet, they let you drink as much of and as many of their wines as you like for free. If you like one, you can buy a case in the shop next door. An excellent marketing ploy.
The best meal we ate was at the restaurant attached to the Lastours chateau. It was called La Bergerie and as long as their superb chef Philippe Singer remains there, you won’t be disappointed. When we got back home, I wanted to tell everyone about it so I tried to find its website. It doesn’t have one! But worse, Google turned up a local English-speaking residents’ website where a few months ago members were busy slagging off the food there, I guess before Philippe arrived. As I suggested in a previous blog, this is the future of word-of-mouth and it shows you have to make sure you know what people are saying about you online and engage positively with them.
Driving Customer Relationship Management
I went to a presentation at the Institute of Direct Marketing the other week. It was about Customer Relationship Management in the car industry. Since we’re talking about the second most expensive purchase in many people’s lives and one they only undertake every three years or so, I wasn’t sure what the relevance might be to other businesses but…
In a campaign for Vauxhall Opel, prospective customers received a dozen communications- emails and postal mailings and the odd phone call- in the build up to their purchase. It was shown that, provided the messages were relevant and varied, people were very happy to receive regular contacts. Not only that, they were willing to part with quite a lot of useful personal information. The net result was 3 times the sales conversions compared with a control group who received no communications. Lesson: Regular tailored communications work.
The Toyota campaign made the same point. They spent a lot of time tailoring their communications to their customers’ level of involvement- whether they are prospects, new, established, lapsed.
Talking of customising your marketing to your customers, where do Toyota’s best ideas come from? Customers. They found that whereas 5 out of 6 ideas that came from ‘brainstorming’ within the office failed, 13 out of 14 ideas generated from observing customers succeeded.
Word Of Mouth Plus The Internet
In a further piece of research, Toyota identified Word of Mouth from friends and family as the most important influence on a customer’s choice of purchase and the internet as the biggest source of information. These facts are not surprising in themselves perhaps but put the two together and you throw marketing as we have known it on the scrap heap. In future, customers will be talking to one another on the internet and ‘friends and family’ become a vast network. The implication is that businesses will have little control over the message potential customers are receiving about their product.
To take theatre as an example, at the moment producers and venues rely enormously on mailings, print and press advertising to attract an audience to a new show. They are well aware that, once the show has opened, word-of-mouth generated by people who have seen it and then talk to their family, friends and colleagues has an effect. Even so, most people don’t know someone who’s seen the show and continue to be influenced by media coverage and marketing.
Supposing as soon as the first preview has taken place, lots of the audience are spreading their views about it far and wide across the internet? Even today, some people are checking what the word on the web is before purchasing their tickets. Imagine what will happen when there’s a lot more opinions available and the majority of theatre-goers are using them as a major source of information.
It’s clear we will need to use many new ways and techniques with which to market to customers and these will involve listening to, responding to and opening up dialogues with them.
In a campaign for Vauxhall Opel, prospective customers received a dozen communications- emails and postal mailings and the odd phone call- in the build up to their purchase. It was shown that, provided the messages were relevant and varied, people were very happy to receive regular contacts. Not only that, they were willing to part with quite a lot of useful personal information. The net result was 3 times the sales conversions compared with a control group who received no communications. Lesson: Regular tailored communications work.
The Toyota campaign made the same point. They spent a lot of time tailoring their communications to their customers’ level of involvement- whether they are prospects, new, established, lapsed.
Talking of customising your marketing to your customers, where do Toyota’s best ideas come from? Customers. They found that whereas 5 out of 6 ideas that came from ‘brainstorming’ within the office failed, 13 out of 14 ideas generated from observing customers succeeded.
Word Of Mouth Plus The Internet
In a further piece of research, Toyota identified Word of Mouth from friends and family as the most important influence on a customer’s choice of purchase and the internet as the biggest source of information. These facts are not surprising in themselves perhaps but put the two together and you throw marketing as we have known it on the scrap heap. In future, customers will be talking to one another on the internet and ‘friends and family’ become a vast network. The implication is that businesses will have little control over the message potential customers are receiving about their product.
To take theatre as an example, at the moment producers and venues rely enormously on mailings, print and press advertising to attract an audience to a new show. They are well aware that, once the show has opened, word-of-mouth generated by people who have seen it and then talk to their family, friends and colleagues has an effect. Even so, most people don’t know someone who’s seen the show and continue to be influenced by media coverage and marketing.
Supposing as soon as the first preview has taken place, lots of the audience are spreading their views about it far and wide across the internet? Even today, some people are checking what the word on the web is before purchasing their tickets. Imagine what will happen when there’s a lot more opinions available and the majority of theatre-goers are using them as a major source of information.
It’s clear we will need to use many new ways and techniques with which to market to customers and these will involve listening to, responding to and opening up dialogues with them.
Danger! Designers At Work
Designers are not marketing people. They don’t expect to know about marketing. In my experience, they don’t even pretend to. So why do so many business people- even marketing people- forget this simple fact? Why do they give designers free rein to use their brochure or a website as the canvas they would have been painting if they’d been prepared to starve for their art?
Take some examples.
Have you noticed how many pieces of theatre print due for bulk distribution- season brochures, fliers- do not have the name of the product at the top? Of course you haven’t. You didn’t notice them because, when they are put in racks, you could only see the top! Similarly why do they not have the name on the back? In the design studio, the world is perfect and designs are placed on walls. In the real world, print gets displayed in racks the wrong way round.
How often have you seen print in a 10 point sans serif typeface with hardly any space between the lines coloured pink out of orange or whatever? Beautiful to behold and very trendy but why didn’t the designer know that tests have shown most people find it difficult to read text unless it’s at least 12 point against a contrasting background? Answer: because to the designer the text is just one more building block in the quest for the perfect pattern on the page.
Look at websites.
The ones that pull every trick out of the bag may look stunning but why didn’t someone tell the designer that visitors to websites have no patience. Most people aren’t going to wait while those flash images download. They’ll be on to another site. While we’re on the subject, how often do you find all the interesting stuff down the right-hand side? Research shows that most people’s eyes travel down the left-hand side and flit across a couple of words of a headline or sentence as they go. They don’t even look at the right side!
Don’t blame the designer.
It’s not their job to be marketing people. It’s up to the client to know about marketing. If the client doesn’t have the knowledge, then don’t rely on the designer, employ a marketing person that does.
I think the problem is that we have too much respect for creativity. Creativity makes a difference and it is worth hiring a good designer, but if you want to sell your product you must get the basic marketing right first. Designers may want to be Michelangelo but businesses must want to sell.
Take some examples.
Have you noticed how many pieces of theatre print due for bulk distribution- season brochures, fliers- do not have the name of the product at the top? Of course you haven’t. You didn’t notice them because, when they are put in racks, you could only see the top! Similarly why do they not have the name on the back? In the design studio, the world is perfect and designs are placed on walls. In the real world, print gets displayed in racks the wrong way round.
How often have you seen print in a 10 point sans serif typeface with hardly any space between the lines coloured pink out of orange or whatever? Beautiful to behold and very trendy but why didn’t the designer know that tests have shown most people find it difficult to read text unless it’s at least 12 point against a contrasting background? Answer: because to the designer the text is just one more building block in the quest for the perfect pattern on the page.
Look at websites.
The ones that pull every trick out of the bag may look stunning but why didn’t someone tell the designer that visitors to websites have no patience. Most people aren’t going to wait while those flash images download. They’ll be on to another site. While we’re on the subject, how often do you find all the interesting stuff down the right-hand side? Research shows that most people’s eyes travel down the left-hand side and flit across a couple of words of a headline or sentence as they go. They don’t even look at the right side!
Don’t blame the designer.
It’s not their job to be marketing people. It’s up to the client to know about marketing. If the client doesn’t have the knowledge, then don’t rely on the designer, employ a marketing person that does.
I think the problem is that we have too much respect for creativity. Creativity makes a difference and it is worth hiring a good designer, but if you want to sell your product you must get the basic marketing right first. Designers may want to be Michelangelo but businesses must want to sell.
Touts- Bad Boys or Bad PR?
Following a kick up the backside from Culture Minister Tessa Jowell, the ticketing industry may finally stop whingeing about touts (also known as scalpers) and actually do something about them.
Touts are bad for the industry’s image. Unlike official sellers, they do not mention the original ‘face’ value of the ticket, they have been known to lie about the position of seats and in some cases sell tickets they don’t even have. People who buy tickets from touts have no right to a refund on the event of cancellation.
Are We Being Served?
It seems major agencies will introduce some kind of returns system in September and concert promoters will create a joint website for exchanges. Astonishingly, for a customer service industry, too many producers, promoters and even venues have shown no concern up to now for the individual or group booker who is unable to attend a show. So how can they complain if those tickets end up in the hands of touts?
To their credit, some producers, agencies and especially venues do want a better relationship with their customers. The trouble is, they are fighting against a whole industry mindset that thinks each show has its own discrete market. A customer relationship beyond the current show may not matter for presenters of the big name artist tour or the blockbuster musical but agencies and venues rely on repeat business.
What The Industry Can Do
The industry can do more to eliminate touting. Controlling the tickets allocated to promoters, artists and sponsors would help. Insisting, in the style of airlines, that only the person named on the ticket gets entry would be another.
The fact that touts can sell at inflated prices shows that those prices are too low. Promoters and producers could sell their best seats at much higher prices, counterbalanced by lower prices for the inferior seats.
The government could also help. They could adopt the nanny-style approach of saying no ticket can be re-sold at all. Or they could accept the reality that ticket prices like any other commodity are subject to supply and demand and try to control the situation by making it a legal requirement that all secondary agents (which touts are) register and conform to a code of conduct.
Touts are bad for the industry’s image. Unlike official sellers, they do not mention the original ‘face’ value of the ticket, they have been known to lie about the position of seats and in some cases sell tickets they don’t even have. People who buy tickets from touts have no right to a refund on the event of cancellation.
Are We Being Served?
It seems major agencies will introduce some kind of returns system in September and concert promoters will create a joint website for exchanges. Astonishingly, for a customer service industry, too many producers, promoters and even venues have shown no concern up to now for the individual or group booker who is unable to attend a show. So how can they complain if those tickets end up in the hands of touts?
To their credit, some producers, agencies and especially venues do want a better relationship with their customers. The trouble is, they are fighting against a whole industry mindset that thinks each show has its own discrete market. A customer relationship beyond the current show may not matter for presenters of the big name artist tour or the blockbuster musical but agencies and venues rely on repeat business.
What The Industry Can Do
The industry can do more to eliminate touting. Controlling the tickets allocated to promoters, artists and sponsors would help. Insisting, in the style of airlines, that only the person named on the ticket gets entry would be another.
The fact that touts can sell at inflated prices shows that those prices are too low. Promoters and producers could sell their best seats at much higher prices, counterbalanced by lower prices for the inferior seats.
The government could also help. They could adopt the nanny-style approach of saying no ticket can be re-sold at all. Or they could accept the reality that ticket prices like any other commodity are subject to supply and demand and try to control the situation by making it a legal requirement that all secondary agents (which touts are) register and conform to a code of conduct.
Monday, July 03, 2006
How To Win At Penalty Shoot Outs
How come Germany won their quarter final penalty shoot-out and England didn’t? One reason is research. I read in The Guardian that their goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had access to a database of 13,000 penalty kicks. Information extracted told him who takes Argentina’s penalties and how they take them. The result was, he saved two out of four spot-kicks and, even when he didn’t save the shot, he always went the right way.
Database research is just as vital to successful marketing. You have to know your market, what they want, how they behave and how to reach them.
That’s the goalkeeping sorted. Now all we need is a way to improve the England team’s shooting.
Database research is just as vital to successful marketing. You have to know your market, what they want, how they behave and how to reach them.
That’s the goalkeeping sorted. Now all we need is a way to improve the England team’s shooting.
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