A lesson in advertising

[Entourage]

Imagine you're the head of a clothing retail store, which tailors to men and women of ages 30 - 65.

How do you succesfully market your product towards others? How do you catch one's attention? And how do you let your advertisement wander around their thoughts even though they have seen it countless hours ago. HOW do you get someone to enter your store?

This is a salespitch I will use tomorrow at a client of mine who asked this specifically.

You have to ask yourself? Why do people (especially women, as this is their major clientelle) buy clothes? Is it to protect themselves from rain & wind? Is it to impress others? (notice how I ask questions; this is the perfect method of making your client believe the idea you've laid out in front of them is actually their idea, speak out your thinking process!!!!)

No, the reason why people buy clothes is to value themselves. To make themselves feel good, especially mothers, besides buying groceries, necessities for the house, paying the bills and giving their kids an allowance, a single purchase can make their day. "I bought something for my self today"

Starbucks uses a similar method, Starbucks is a place where indecisive people make 12 choices and pay 8$ for a cup of coffee to make themselves feel good. Is it the dopamine in your head? Is it the euphory you enlive? (make a comparison with something succesful)

Their clientelle consists mostly of women aged 30 - 45, but as we've seen before, if you have a product that sells to 8 year old kids, you use 12 year old models. 8 year olds look up to 12 year olds, simple human nature. How do we bring up the nostalgia with your clientelle? In which era did your average 45 year old woman feel good? Was it 18? When they were still insecure, and had a lot of competition in school? Or 30? When they finally left childish things behind? How much does human nature miss childishness?

We believe 26 year olds cater best to your clientelle, they have just finished school, found a job, probably got married, bought a house... The world was at their feet. 26 year olds is what your business needs! (Tell them they need you!)

We all know sex sells, but how do you convey sex without becoming tasteless. Erotica, that's why 50 shades of grey was an enormous succes for women. Being able to have sexual thoughts without feeling embarassed of it. In order to stay in people's minds, you have to shock them!

Men like visualizing, women like being lead on, the suggestive aspect of erotica (what's going to happen next?)

With this info, we present you our project

A motion picture, where a woman, is kissing herself, actually, barely touching her lips, accompanied with a grotesque soundtrack, the beat building up until the viewer finally gets to see the climax of the kiss. No, the camera pans down, you see the woman in a barok-like mirror, the room becomes darker, you hear a ticking sound (before it's to late) - the woman writes in the mirror ...

"COMPANIES NAME" - Love yourself

What do you think guys?

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

Not sure what you're looking for exactly?

I could tell you how awesome you are (while making humorous references to Mel Gibson)or I could tell you how I would sell
their clothes :smxB:

 

[Entourage]

Hahaha, I'm not looking for validation! Simply trying to spark a discussion relating to human psychology and marketing! Tell me, would you use the same approach given this product?

 

[DennisD]

I must say I don't like your pitch very much. I know The whole things feels very disjointed, there's no main point or natural flow. If there was (and I'm not seeing it) you need to communicate it better. I know it's late in the day but I'd consider reworking it.

In the beginning your main point is:
People make clothing purchases as a personal present to themselves, to make them feel good.

Out of NOWHERE you start jumping into "we all know sex sells" and start talking about 50 shades of grey.
I'm left wondering what in god's name would a commercial with two women about to kiss do for their brand. Am I missing something? Is the clientele bisexual?

"Starbuck is a place where indecisive people make 12 choices and pay $8 for a cup of coffee."
What are you trying to say here? All you're doing is insulting your clients who probably drink starbucks. I say leave starbucks out of it. It's not like your communication of this message helps your reveal of the erotic message you deliver at the end.

All in all it sounds like a pitch coming from an unsure young branding "expert" who thinks he knows more about advertising than he does. Listen, I don't know you so I'm not saying you ARE this way... but it's how I feel after that pitch.

I'd go pick up a few copywriting books, and use the principles in that to craft your next pitch.

Let us know how it goes.

EDIT: My point of view comes from my experience working with the CMO at an ad agency. I edited all the video pitches we sent to fortune 500 companies for 3 years. We pitch large level American companies, and so that's where my expectations lie. From the sound of your english you don't live in America, so for your target demographic you might do very well with this pitch. I can't pretend to know anything I don't have experience with.

 

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[Entourage]

Thank you VERY VERY much! Not sure how I came off writing this, but my salespitch is definitely not as grotesque and 'inventing the water' like as it seems re-reading it. Anyway, it is not supposed to be like that. Will definitely rewrite it.

The idea is very simple, it's a store located on the outskirts of major cities in my country, not a store you walk in to to check out if they have anything pretty to wear (ie. You have to make a conscious choice to visit it). I tried to use the shock factor, by having a girl kiss herself (valueing herself) to inflame curiousity with people that see the ad.

Once again, in all honesty, the pitch will not be delivered to her in the same tone as it was delivered here, I do however realize some methods I'm using do sound like a young brandings' expert. Thanks for clarifying that, and if I may be so humble to ask, how would you do it differently?

Thank you!

 

[FastNAwesome]

I love it, I'd be sold on this.

I'd love to see the ad when it's produced.

And I think that your pitch also subtly communicates you know your craft very well. Very nice.

 

[Entourage]

I love it, I'd be sold on this.

I'd love to see the ad when it's produced.

And I think that your pitch also subtly communicates you know your craft very well. Very nice.

Thank you! Albeit I don't believe I know my craft yet, if you've read my progress report you'll notice I am trying to get to know my craft

This is just my first pitch to a relatively large client. Out of the 36 meetings we've had with clients we've closed 27 or so. I'm just really, really nervous on this one. On the telephone she made clear she is not interested in clever advertising, she's interested in sales. And maybe that's what I have to use in this pitch. "Sure, we can fiddle with your publicity, if you want 12% more efficiency. But if you want to do extraordinary things, I believe we have to do extraordinary things. Change the content!"

Just a few brainfarts, in all honesty.. My adrenaline is pumping.. And the meeting is 16 hours from now... Uuugh

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

Still confused (must be the lack of a drink in my hand)...

Is this a store you're consulting for? Trying to land the client, and this is your
sales pitch to them for video (commercial) marketing?

If that's so - does this person own one store? Multiple stores? Is it a high
end boutique or a low end stylish store? How long have they been in business?
What is their average sale per visit? How much of that is profit? How many times does
a client visit the store per year? How long do they keep a client? (In the end what is
their average lifetime value of a customer)

If you're looking to pitch them this would be the first information you need
to know.

But above and beyond that I would run a perfect customer model. Who
is the perfect customer? It has to be embodied by ONE person that you
speak to in your marketing. Not the thirty sixty five year old man woman
who lives on the north south side and works in the east west working as
an insurance bus driver supervisor.

(can you see how crazy this starts to sound when you include EVERYONE
in your marketing?)

NO - You are talking to Suzie. Suzie is 42 years old who works at a dental
office and makes 42,000 per year. She has two kids in high school that
constantly tell her how out of style she is and a husband that's only home
for date nights on Friday. She likes to dress up but doesn't know where
to start and can't keep up with the fashion of the day. She'd love to look
her best but doesn't know where to start.

This obviously I just pulled out of my a$$ but through customer statistics
you should know who your perfect customer is. Then you develop marketing
that speaks to that person specifically which is how you get inside someone's
head. You know their hopes and dreams and fears and frustrations and you
solve their problems. You put their thoughts into words, pictures, and emotions
and show them that you can complete them.

I could go on and on but I'm still unclear what you're looking for brawg - let's
hear it.

 

[Entourage]

Still confused (must be the lack of a drink in my hand)...

Is this a store you're consulting for? Trying to land the client, and this is your
sales pitch to them for video (commercial) marketing?

If that's so - does this person own one store? Multiple stores? Is it a high
end boutique or a low end stylish store? How long have they been in business?
What is their average sale per visit? How much of that is profit? How many times does
a client visit the store per year? How long do they keep a client? (In the end what is
their average lifetime value of a customer)

If you're looking to pitch them this would be the first information you need
to know.

But above and beyond that I would run a perfect customer model. Who
is the perfect customer? It has to be embodied by ONE person that you
speak to in your marketing. Not the thirty sixty five year old man woman
who lives on the north south side and works in the east west working as
an insurance bus driver supervisor.

(can you see how crazy this starts to sound when you include EVERYONE
in your marketing?)

NO - You are talking to Suzie. Suzie is 42 years old who works at a dental
office and makes 42,000 per year. She has two kids in high school that
constantly tell her how out of style she is and a husband that's only home
for date nights on Friday. She likes to dress up but doesn't know where
to start and can't keep up with the fashion of the day. She'd love to look
her best but doesn't know where to start.

This obviously I just pulled out of my a$$ but through customer statistics
you should know who your perfect customer is. Then you develop marketing
that speaks to that person specifically which is how you get inside someone's
head. You know their hopes and dreams and fears and frustrations and you
solve their problems. You put their thoughts into words, pictures, and emotions
and show them that you can complete them.

I could go on and on but I'm still unclear what you're looking for brawg - let's
hear it.

Love it! Thank you!

This is a chain of stores, 16 in Belgium (keep in mind how small Belgium is)

I have set up a business model where we try to position ourselves as a broker between businesses and media. I.e. We get paid on commission for sales we make for the media, yet we still try to find the best for our clients. (instead of offering the more expensive alternative.)

I am trying to land this client, but if I were completely honest with them and my self, fiddling with their publicity will not make that much of a difference (they have optimized it from as far as I can tell.) It's above average, very good quality. But the funny thing is, they cater towards the Suzie you have set as an example. The median client visits their store 3.4 times a year (that's their problem). Most clients are recurring though, they prefer a mass of clients over loyal customers. That's their painpoint, and that's what I want to adress. To hype their stores so the mass will want to re-visit them more often (through my advertising idea).

And given the model of Suzie, I believe this advertising campaign EXACTLY adresses the clients' painpoints.

 

[PatrickP]

I would go to the store and when a women/girl comes out with bags of clothes ask her why she buys her clothes there.

 

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[Entourage]

My own mother is a shopper there. She says it's price/quality. A few of her friends who I've interviewed said the same. The reasons to shop are well enough, to motivation to lift them from their asses is not enough. They shop whenever they realize "I want to buy some clothes, haven't checked out xyz in a while.. Hmmm..."

 

[PatrickP]

Ok so why did you talk all about emotions and a girl kissing herself, erotica and all that other stuff?

I have to agree with what the other forum members said above that the first post was weird and disjointed.


I would go with Hey good selection and good prices. After all this is exactly what your research group told you.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Man, I like this dude. You're killin' it Belgium, good work.

So check it out, there's really only 3 ways to grow a business:

more customers,
more money per customer,
more customer visits

(or all 3!)

3.4 doesn't sound like a horrible number compared to many
other businesses - I'd be curious to know how much each visit
is worth.

Let's solve one problem at a time. My guess would be it would be
easy to get more customer visits if they had some kind of successful
customer appreciation program. Deeper discounts, easy communication,
more reasons to come in.

If they're targeting that 42 year old hot mom Suzie, than maybe having
a wine tasting or some kind of event once a month or once a week.

We have a store in the city here that literally has a different theme every day.


People go in there just to see a different theme. They sell hippy crap but it works
ridiculously well for them. They have an extremely loyal band of followers. The trick
is communicating with those followers. You could e-mail them but e-mails are very
quickly declining. Even with a loyal following you'll MAYBE get a 40% open rate.


Maybe it's different in Belgium, if they do e-mail with waffles or whatever but here
in the states they rarely get read. I feel we have a decent open rate and we're only
hitting 10-15%.


You other option is text message marketing which is hot right now. This is where
the opportunity is because text message open rates are still 96% (craaazy) so your
little boutique collects phone numbers and sends out a text for special events once
a week or whatever. Just a thought.


More money per visit? This all comes down to their sales force and offers. I always
struggle when I go into the Buckle expecting some hot chick to dress me up and I
get some young punk guy who ends up making me feel real good about myself and
makes me buy more crap "Yo bro you're lookin hot in that outfit, you're going to need
a belt to go with it" - and I inevitably reply "Really? Yeah man, get me a belt to go with
it" .. voila... spend more money...


But here's the final one - what they're looking for: more customers. I don't know much
about them or their marketing but from my experience the easiest way to get more customers
is to get the word out about happy clients. People who visit their all the time, testimonials
in advertising, hot looks, all that jazz. Provide some cool content with their website and
commercials. Have them answer frequently asked questions on style and such. The more
value you provide in marketing the more people will want to do business with you.


It's a lot to explain so sorry I'm being kind of vague, but does this help at all?


I'm working here all night preparing to meet with some clients of my own so I'll be slow
to respond but I'll be around.

 

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[Entourage]

Are you kidding me? I love your advice!

I was trying to fill in the customer visiting aspect of their business, by trying to rebrand it. Hype it, we can accompany that in the meantime. But I simply can't walk in there proposing to remodel her entire marketing strategy, we'll have to do this in increments.

Seeing as their advertising budget is around 1.2 million euro each year, they do a lot of grotesque stuff, but micromanaging their advertising (text, email, etc..) is a good idea. They do however do a lot of following up through direct mail in the post though. (Not sure of how offering waffles with the mail is a good idea, hahaha).

I'm not sure they would like the theme idea, or wine idea.. These guys are a selling factory, they don't focus a lot on the tiny details, but of course, if they approve of my advertising campaign, I can definitely suggest it in the future.

The average customer who walks in spends 132 euros (which is rather high compared to the competition.)

Would you say the marketing idea (branding) I have laid out in the original post would be enticing enough to make you curious and make you want to visit the store?

And no problem, if I'm keeping you from your work, please say so! I greatly appreciate your advice though!

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Hmmmm...

It sounds like so far what you're doing is working well. You've closed the majority
of your deals so you've got the sales pitch down and you know what you're doing.

I like the tagline "Love yourself" but in advertising and marketing it's all a test - does
it work? The only way you can find out is by rolling it out with a large sample size.

But I could see working "love yourself" into all sorts of marketing. The direct mailing
pieces, the commercials, customer loyalty programs, everything telling the clients to
love yourself with the subtle hint that "loving yourself" means you need to shop at
Belgium Waffle Boutique (or whatever they're called).

Don't be married to any of the ideas you pitch them though. You have to have a
lot of different ideas to throw at them and say "what do you think about this?" or
"we've done this in the past that worked well"

I think what you've done so far is freakin' fantastic - go in there with that same
confidence and close the deal. They obviously are spending money and probably
spending much of it on stuff that doesn't work. There's no use in attacking the
stuff that doesn't work because they will get defensive - but you can suggest
some things that are working NOW.

With an ad campaign that large you could emulate large international clothing
companies. They spend millions on customer research - take advantage of what
they do and implement it into your pitch.

When is your meeting? I'm excited to hear about how it goes down. I can't
solve the equation without all the variables but maybe what I've given you so
far would be some good ammunition to be prepared with.

To answer your question: I'm not an older chick with self esteem issues so it's
hard for me to relate to loving yourself. Although I do like chicks who make out.
I can relate to that part.

Haha let me know what else I can help with my good sir!!

 

[Entourage]

Don't be married to any of the ideas you pitch them though.

Thanks, I needed this!


My appointment is in 14 hours! And thanks, you've done a lot for me this evening, if I can ever return the favor...

Now it's all a matter of pumping up my confidence. I'd love to be able to verbally close this tomorrow, best feeling in the world!

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

I don't need/want anything. Take that back, it'd be nice to see you become
successful. And don't ask me if you should "learn how to code" - we get
enough of that crap with all the newbies around here :smxB:

Get that deal brawg, let me know how it went tomorrow. I'll be working on
closing a couple deals myself here - maybe this old timer will show you how
it's done (or you'll kick my a$$, one of the two)

 

[Entourage]

Perfect, sounds like we've got a bet!

And it feels nice knowing that trying to stimulate an interesting discussion in this forum does not go lost. That's why this place has sucked up 95% of my internet activity!

 

[DennisD]

Thank you VERY VERY much! Not sure how I came off writing this, but my salespitch is definitely not as grotesque and 'inventing the water' like as it seems re-reading it. Anyway, it is not supposed to be like that. Will definitely rewrite it.

The idea is very simple, it's a store located on the outskirts of major cities in my country, not a store you walk in to to check out if they have anything pretty to wear (ie. You have to make a conscious choice to visit it). I tried to use the shock factor, by having a girl kiss herself (valueing herself) to inflame curiousity with people that see the ad.

Once again, in all honesty, the pitch will not be delivered to her in the same tone as it was delivered here, I do however realize some methods I'm using do sound like a young brandings' expert. Thanks for clarifying that, and if I may be so humble to ask, how would you do it differently?

Thank you!

Hey man, I'm actually not that good to be able to help out. The most expertise I have is being able to tell when something's 'off.' I'm still developing my skills in this area myself. The only advice I can give is this: Treat your pitch the same way you'd treat any direct sales message (after all, you're selling their services.) These are some tips I picked up from an old friend/mentor. I'm not sure HOW to implement it expertly... but it's really all I've got.

1) The sole purpose of the first sentence is to get them to 'stay tuned' while you deliver the second sentence. The sole purpose of the second sentence is to get them to stay tuned for the third sentence, etc. Along the way you want to sell them.
2) Make accurate and true statements to get them to agree. Get them to say 'yes' to themselves over and over again. When you ask for them to work with you they're more likely to say 'yes'.
3) Deliver your message in the fewest words possible, but no shorter.
4) Make your presentation as long as you need to in order to get the sale but no longer than that.

 

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[mags]

Wow. This is such a great and VALUABLE read. This has to be the core of why anyone is selling anything.

 

[Entourage]

Just came back from the meeting!

I did not close the sale I first intended to, why you ask?

Because they were already making progress with the SAME IDEA I had? I knocked her off her feet! What her team did in 1 month of brainstorming, I did simultaneously in my self. She had a lot of tough questions, and I answered every one of them correctly.

I did manage to close a social media deal, of which the details will be laid out later, but it'll be probably a 25k work of which 20k is pure profit.

Kungfustuve, Dennisduty! Thanks, your advice was priceless!

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Rock star!

What do you intend to do with their social media? Manage
Facebook, twitter and stuff? Or is there a hot social network
in Belgium?

 

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[Entourage]

The mainstream social media, facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc...

I'll just outsource it to a few indians on elance (fastlane, baby)

And in the end, it's a negative outturn, but positive for longterm relations!

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I'm sure if you can find a few dedicated companies you do all their marketing for it would be pretty simple. Life would be good.