turn to the ‘hoity-toity’ for recession sales

Part 2 of an occasional series

One strategy for beating economic downturns is targeting so-called “recession-proof” markets for your offerings. One such market may be affluent consumers, but surveys show even this group has been stingy in recent months.

If you are considering a new campaign targeting the rich, your timing could not be better. Affluent consumers are regaining confidence and are expected to show it by taking a fresh look at their investments and engaging in a spending spree after the elections. Successfully capturing a share of this splurge will require careful planning, targeting and differentiation.

“Now is the time for luxury marketers to start to build excitement for their brands by picking up the pace of new product introductions and more aggressive branding campaigns. As the tide starts to turn, marketers that are out in front of the shift can take advantage of greater exposure to luxury consumers as their more cautious competitors take a lower profile and pull back in terms of advertising and branding,” says Pam Danziger, president of the research firm Unity Marketing and author of “Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience.”

Audi of America is betting on renewed strength in this market and actually increasing advertising spending while Detroit, as a whole, is cutting back. The company is using mass reach television programming such as the Super Bowl, Olympics and Academy Awards.

Mass reach advertising, however, is not an option for most local and regional advertisers. If you are in this group, you need to find cost-effective vehicles within your own sales territory. Before placing ads, you need a marketing plan that identifies the demographics of your ideal targets, outlines what problems your offerings solve, determines what messages and imagery will resonate and ascertains the favorite and most relied upon information vehicles used by this audience. This isn’t an easy proposition, according to Colin Grimshaw, writing in Brand Republic . “They are not easy to find, they are time-poor and poor consumers of media.” He explains, “The further up the affluent scale, the less time is available for media consumption.”

define targets

Generally speaking, affluent incomes begin at $100,000 annually (about 20 percent of U.S. households) with the ultra-affluent income earning $250,000 and above. Your target audiences may include:

• Inherited wealthy. Born into money, the British call them “Country Casuals.”

• Entrepreneurs. Business owners who have earned success.

• Nouveau riche. This group may include entrepreneurs, but also lottery winners and other “new money” individuals and families.

• Social climbers. Often middle-aged men with blue collar backgrounds who
  have worked their ways up corporate ladders and may have packed away healthy 401(k) balances.

• Successful with consciences. A sub-group of the above – usually middle-aged women – who spend and invest with social or environmental interests in mind.

• Mass affluent or “comfortable.” Usually “married, living in a two-income household with a white-collar job and one child,” says David Ellis, CNN/Money staff writer. This group falls between the middle class and wealthiest of consumers.

• Wannabes: This pretentious group can’t afford what you offer, but they’ll buy it anyway if you provide financing.

reach out

Once you identify your targets, data are available to help you reach them. Below are some tips for effectively reaching the affluent, but the vehicles and methods you choose will depend on the results of your market research.

• Referral programs. Word-of-mouth is very important to this audience, but you need to take proactive steps to encourage referrals from your best customers and influence people. Incentives may work, but be careful to comply with applicable regulations. In any event, avoid questionable gimmicks that make you look sleazy.

• Direct mail. Mailings are very effective, but entirely dependent on having a well-researched list, time-sensitive offer or incentive and a call to action. For best results, tie advertising to the mailing (e.g, “watch your mailbox for…”).

• Upscale magazines. Magazines have been a bright spot among otherwise slumping print circulation figures, but be sure to review audit numbers to make sure your targets are subscribers.

• Personal interaction. Make sure the CEO gets off his or her, um, chair and visits with likely prospects. “Rich people expect you to come to them,” Damian Thompson, project director of TME 360 told Brand Republic. At the very least, add personal letters from top brass to regular mailings.

• Exclusive offers. Pamper your targets with first class invitations to private lunches, events or viewings. Consider loyalty programs and exclusive log-in areas on your Web site. “Affluent consumers like to be acknowledged as special (smarter, more sophisticated and so on), and they respond well to the notion of exclusivity,” says Kim T. Gordon, author of “Bringing Home the Business.”

• Look the part. Offer VIP visitors to your office bottled water and a glass or coffee or tea in a ceramic mug. Add a delicious pastry or treat. Prepare for off-site meetings by sending your representatives to charm school if you must, and bring first quality collateral material to use as a “leave behind.” Your advertising agency or corporate communications counsel can’t be blamed because a rude or unkempt employee or other bad impression cost you the sale.

Submit your comments to creative@cocoboston.com.

more cheap marketing ideas

The fall print edition of COCO COnnec+ions (subscribe) lists a dozen free or inexpensive marketing ideas. Here are few more:

• Get out of the office! Take your key staff to chamber of commerce networking mixers, open houses and civic functions, and bring business cards. Your competitors are visible and making a windfall at your expense.

• Write a monthly column. If your local newspaper won’t use it, put it on your Web site or someone’s blog.

• Make your packages useful or reusable. Instead of an envelope or folder, give clients and prospects a bag with your logo on it. Your name will be seen everywhere.

• Issue an “Annual Report.” No need to mention financials, just list your donations, civic involvement, innovations and other successes of the year.

• Make fax cover sheets do double duty by using them to ask for referrals or list new products.

• Be original. Bring marketing in during the earliest stages of a new product launch and give the offering a unique name. If you must use an off-the-shelf (i.e., “canned”) marketing program at least create an original name for it. This will differentiate you from others using the same program.

Submit your comments to creative@cocoboston.com.

your letters

Regarding your August story, “develop a crisis communication plan now; IndyMac Bank wasn’t prepared; are you?,” the feds could go after Schumer, but because he is an elected official they probably won’t.

Try writing a letter that causes a run on a bank and see how much “time” you get in federal prison.

There is no question that his letter caused the “run” on the bank.

W.G.
Haverhill, Mass.

Submit your comments to creative@cocoboston.com.