Marketing to the over 35's..... Help!

AdamS:

I can't remember who it was but, as someone once said - "Marketing is the art of selling rubbish to idiots"

Probably one of the idiots.

BAND'OH!:

I've never been one for marketing as it insults my intelligence; I am quite capable of making my own choices.

Just to play devil's advocate here, I feel the same way, and so does everybody else I know.  Yet, companies still spend huge money on marketing and advertising?  Are the companies throwing their money away?  Or does advertising only work on the "other guy/gal" (and of course, the "other guy/gal" also says he's immune to advertising - kind of like every one thinks they are a good driver, it is always the "other guy/gal" who is driving crazy)?  Or could it be that we don't like to admit publicly or even to ourselves that we are swayed by flashy images which tickle our base instincts?

Stan

Perfectly put Stan. Being influenced by marketing is not something you can opt in or out of.

I don't know what you mean? 

You can only buy what's being offered and some brands look alternative but are still marketed to a consumer. 

I'm in my mid 50's and agree with many comments already made, it's definitely getting harder to crack marketing.

What we do in the car industry is to try and understand our customers as much as possible, i.e. where do they buy their clothes, what magazines, newspapers they read, media influences, genres of music, age, career position, what sports they like etc so we can build a profile picture and see what common links there are.

We also "log" every enquiry and follow up (without stalking) on regular basis and focus hard on our big spending customers, as they are always lucrative.

Teaming up locally with other "like minded" brands and companies for open evenings and or "work-shops" etc (I appreciate this may not work as you have a wider geographical customer base)

Having an active Facebook, Twitter and Instagram page with say weekly updates showcasing products, facts, snippets of information and pointers.

What I do know is that you are a great company and you have a friendly and professional team working for you. 

Please keep it up and good luck Lee.

 

I agree with all the negative comments about marketing, with this exception...you can't and won't buy something you don't know exists. The purpose of marketing, to people like me, is primarily to let me know the item exists. After that, the marketing can tell me about it, or I will seek out info online or such if it interests me, but without knowing the product is out there it's hard to sell it to anyone.

The difference between cars and audio visual is the car is more of a consumable and publicity for luxury cars will be because of a new must have version which coincides with the customers three year buying cycle. Direct advertising of Beoplay seems excessive because there is not enough news beyond a new colour of something you already have which doesn't need replacing.

I am 38.

It is difficult for me to say...

I mostly agree with Jeff when he says that marketing plays an important role in informing people of the existence of a product.

Maybe this means that it does not make much sense investing too much in it, but it is more important to keep a communication channel open.

Personally I am quite happy to receive newsletters (as far as they are limited to not more than one every two weeks) and even paper mail.

I am also quite happy when my dealer calls me to inform me about new products or the possibility to test something new.

In the end I finish purchasing what I test, if it is suitable for my home and for my wallet

Thank you all so much for your replies, and also the kind words about what we've already done to date.. I found it quite embarrassing!

Over the weekend I'm going to write some long posts about where I am now, what's changed, and where I'm going. I think it'll make a fairly interesting read, although I'm not looking forward to typing it all...  

Sometimes I wish I could teleport you all into the local pub, buy a huge round of drinks, and sit at a big, circular table for a long debate with no keyboards involved!!

Anyway - thanks again. I've very much taken on board what's been said so far, and it's given me a clearer idea of marketing in 2017.  

Lee

9 LEE:

Sometimes I wish I could teleport you all into the local pub, buy a huge round of drinks, and sit at a big, circular table for a long debate with no keyboards involved!!

Lee

You should join us on Lake Garda on the 7th October 🍺🍺🍺

Simonbeo:

The difference between cars and audio visual is the car is more of a consumable and publicity for luxury cars will be because of a new must have version which coincides with the customers three year buying cycle. Direct advertising of Beoplay seems excessive because there is not enough news beyond a new colour of something you already have which doesn't need replacing.

Or maybe do need to replace because it's broken and can't be repaired.

 

Duels:

You should join us on Lake Garda on the 7th October 🍺🍺🍺

Right!! Please join us!!

Here's a report on Proctor and Gamble giving up on digital/web advertising and noticing no difference to sales:

http://wolfstreet.com/2017/07/28/procter-gamble-slashed-digital-ad-spending-what-happened-next/

Graham

9 LEE:

Someone said earlier something like "I don't know, I'm in the US".  Well, the US leads, and we follow in the UK. We always have. So what's working in the USA right now will be working in the UK some time in the near future.  I'd love to know how it's going over there.

Not convinced about this Lee.

We have online stores in the US, Australia, UK, Sweden.

The US and UK stores perform very differently. In the US, they are very reactionary. They buy on impulse, particularly if they see a special offer/Groupon/limited deal. But, they often very easily change their mind and have full credit card protection over there, meaning they get a full refund (from their card company), without quibble. This helps propel the impulse purchase.

In the UK, people are *much* more wary and sceptical. People do look for a bargain, but over here people are slower to react, take advice from recognised brands and have less card protection so aren't quite as impulsive.

We've found that marketing direct to end users in the UK is very tough. We do our marketing via association. So, we work with bigger brands that they trust to get our message across.

Targeting Google AdWords does work well for us, plus Facebook marketing can be effective but it's very hard to get right.

 

Hmm...

Be there with the B&O I am looking for. Being biased by living in Denmark the B&O I wanted turned up on the private market pretty much.

When I had some money I got Beolab 6000 and 8000 from UK delivered. Just as easy as getting them here. The only other thing was a Beogram 6500 as they just don't show up private for sale and a bought up collectors for second hand B&O stores. 

So be there where people are looking privately like gumtree in the UK. In Denmark second hand B&O stores advertise on DBA.dk which are the Danish answer to gumtree.  That is one way. 

Usually the internet search is what I use the most looking when I look and now if as my 6500 and 6000 1981 yes do the job for me and Dillen serviced it. 

Where do you go to find B&O in the UK? 

Amazon? Ebay? Google? Some third party site? Facebook are for entertainment and to relax so brand awareness is where you find it though target the user groups takes a while to learn and get right. 

Though social media is a full time job but can be automated and needs constant updates.

Using the Facebook pixel is a must as it will collect the data and find more of the same people in the important categories View content, ad to cart and Purchase.

But demonstrations would do good to introduce the magic of B&O in video formats and share that on social media.

 

Duels:

It would be interesting to hear from John at B&O Manchester whether his excellent YouTube reviews have actually resulted in increased sales for the store.

Hi, sorry I've not logged on for a while! 

 

It has helped sales, partcurarly Play products with younger customers. I have had a few nice Multi-Room sales from the channel too and one chap who came to listen to BeoLab 50 (and bought them!)

 

I often get people popping in just to look around, I've even had people mention Richard the dummy head and had 2 people ask for a self with me. (All a bit odd if you ask me!) 

 

I do get people from out of the area and other countries emailing and calling me for advice, it's really cool. I always encourage people to go to their local store if they are not near to me so hopefully it's driving footfall a tiny bit everywhere.

 

John.