When "Nothing Works Anymore" (Part 1 of 5)
A colleague of mine (a bridal show producer) recently noted that some longstanding clients feel that "nothing works anymore" with respect to their marketing efforts. They're frustrated because they're making the same investments as before, but no longer seeing the same results.
If you've always marketed your business vigorously (through bridal shows, wedding publications, wedding web sites, etc), what does it mean when marketing that once performed well no longer seems to work?
Four questions can help you determine what's happening:
(1) Are there more companies competing in your category?
(2) Are there fewer brides in your market?
(3) Have you adjusted your tracking for the impact of the web?
(4) Could your marketing materials, advertising or media mix use a revamp?
External factors like (1) and (2) can render the marketing you’re doing insufficient to achieve the results you want – even if it was previously sufficient.
Consider (1). If more competitors have entered your market, then the same level of marketing investment won't get the same attention. A rough analogy: it's like you’ve been speaking to be heard clearly above five people's voices, but now you need to be heard above 10. If you want to be heard above a larger group, you will have to shout louder. In marketing terms, that means doing more to achieve the same level of communication.
Professional marketers have a name to define and measure the “shout percentage” of your marketing. It’s called share of voice – that is, the proportion of all the messages received by your target audience that come from your marketing.
If the number of competitors marketing to your customer increases, and you maintain the same level of media investment, then your share of voice declines – even though you’re continuing to invest.
It's frustrating to have to invest more to accomplish the same goal. But, if you're facing more competition for the same number of potential customers, you may not have a choice.
How do you know if you're facing increased competition? It's not always obvious when changes happen in your market, because they may happen gradually. Wedding vendors also typically enter and exit the market all the time, masking the net trend. And, in some categories (e.g., photographers, event planners), companies often shift their mix of wedding and non-wedding business throughout their lifespan.
If your region has experienced economic growth, though, that could easily attract more vendors to your category – whether to join what they perceive as a better wedding market, or for other reasons (housing opportunities, job change for a spouse, e.g.). If these newcomers are experienced wedding professionals, they'll likely hit the ground running with marketing programs, plus a budget tailored to make headway in a new place – which means they'll be very effective at stealing some of your time at the marketing microphone.
On the flip side, an economic downturn can also attract new – and hyper-competitive – vendors to the "recession proof" wedding industry. (Who hasn't seen price-bombing newcomers advertising on craigslist.org?) As many regions in the US seem poised for an economic slowdown, competition for brides from hyper-aggressive newbies is likely to heat up.
Have you noticed more vendors in your category in your local wedding publications and bridal shows? (The representatives and owners of these businesses can also be a great source of information.) What about your local networking groups?
It’s useful to keep tabs on your competitive environment as part of your normal business practices. This way, you can tweak your marketing before it becomes less effective – rather than incurring the cost of waiting and reacting once your business has slowed. (As a wedding professional, you’re marketing to customers who’ll book as much as a year or more out, so the consequences of waiting and reacting can be very costly.)
One way to research this over time is to track the number of companies you find doing a web search on your category+market -- a useful habit to acquire to get a sense of changes in your market over time. (Plus, you can check your own rankings for important key words at the same time!)
Next post: could your market be shrinking?
If you've always marketed your business vigorously (through bridal shows, wedding publications, wedding web sites, etc), what does it mean when marketing that once performed well no longer seems to work?
Four questions can help you determine what's happening:
(1) Are there more companies competing in your category?
(2) Are there fewer brides in your market?
(3) Have you adjusted your tracking for the impact of the web?
(4) Could your marketing materials, advertising or media mix use a revamp?
External factors like (1) and (2) can render the marketing you’re doing insufficient to achieve the results you want – even if it was previously sufficient.
Consider (1). If more competitors have entered your market, then the same level of marketing investment won't get the same attention. A rough analogy: it's like you’ve been speaking to be heard clearly above five people's voices, but now you need to be heard above 10. If you want to be heard above a larger group, you will have to shout louder. In marketing terms, that means doing more to achieve the same level of communication.
Professional marketers have a name to define and measure the “shout percentage” of your marketing. It’s called share of voice – that is, the proportion of all the messages received by your target audience that come from your marketing.
If the number of competitors marketing to your customer increases, and you maintain the same level of media investment, then your share of voice declines – even though you’re continuing to invest.
It's frustrating to have to invest more to accomplish the same goal. But, if you're facing more competition for the same number of potential customers, you may not have a choice.
How do you know if you're facing increased competition? It's not always obvious when changes happen in your market, because they may happen gradually. Wedding vendors also typically enter and exit the market all the time, masking the net trend. And, in some categories (e.g., photographers, event planners), companies often shift their mix of wedding and non-wedding business throughout their lifespan.
If your region has experienced economic growth, though, that could easily attract more vendors to your category – whether to join what they perceive as a better wedding market, or for other reasons (housing opportunities, job change for a spouse, e.g.). If these newcomers are experienced wedding professionals, they'll likely hit the ground running with marketing programs, plus a budget tailored to make headway in a new place – which means they'll be very effective at stealing some of your time at the marketing microphone.
On the flip side, an economic downturn can also attract new – and hyper-competitive – vendors to the "recession proof" wedding industry. (Who hasn't seen price-bombing newcomers advertising on craigslist.org?) As many regions in the US seem poised for an economic slowdown, competition for brides from hyper-aggressive newbies is likely to heat up.
Have you noticed more vendors in your category in your local wedding publications and bridal shows? (The representatives and owners of these businesses can also be a great source of information.) What about your local networking groups?
It’s useful to keep tabs on your competitive environment as part of your normal business practices. This way, you can tweak your marketing before it becomes less effective – rather than incurring the cost of waiting and reacting once your business has slowed. (As a wedding professional, you’re marketing to customers who’ll book as much as a year or more out, so the consequences of waiting and reacting can be very costly.)
One way to research this over time is to track the number of companies you find doing a web search on your category+market -- a useful habit to acquire to get a sense of changes in your market over time. (Plus, you can check your own rankings for important key words at the same time!)
Next post: could your market be shrinking?
posted by Laurie at 9:04 AM
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