marketing for a builders providers

derossi

This sector has obviously taken a hammering recently and the business available versus competion means it's even tougher at the minute. I work in builders providers and we sell the usual but also do a retail side, think Atlantic homecare but better value. Recently we have been spending money on the usual advertising avenues in the media but we are finding it increaseinly difficult to get the footfall we had.

We are trying to increase the retail end of it to counter the drop in trade sales but it's difficult. The main problem we have is that we would not be known for certain product offerings or as a retail offering.

We do have confidence though in what we do offer but i would love some kind of promotional idea that would create a buzz but would not cost the earth. We have a massive range of tiles, Bathroom ware, a great garden deparment, floors and doors, paint department, lighting, household, plumbing, roofing, velux windows, decking and fencing, heating and solar,stanley center, tool department and other items. As you can see we cover pretty much everything one would need for their home.

I have exhausted my brain trying to think of some idea's and i probably need a fresh prospective on the whole thing. I suppose an outsider point of view. Something that will catch your attention and make you think of shopping with us.

So any thoughts?

blue4ever

where is the main spend of your advertising going at the moment?

derossi

mostly radio and newspaper advertising. Although i am still to be convinced of the value of advertising in the local paper.

Skipp

I think you need to step back a bit and consider what's different about your offering versus your competitors. The difficulty now is that every piece of communication has some kind of sale price attached to it or more often than not is being led by sale offerings. The race to the bottom driven by fear. Competing on price alone I suggest will have little impact because everyone is doing it.

So what separates your business from the likes of Woodies/ B&Q etc.

Here's a thought - If your core business is based on being a builders' providers - it is likely that you have special expertise and knowledge about all things DIY that exceeds your competitors; this because you deal with professionals. Your competitors can't credibly claim that position or anything close to it in my experience.

If this is the case, might there be an opportunity to run say mini talks / DIY DEMO'S in store by your highly trained staff about areas of interest to consumers.

Say for example you want to focus on selling Wall Paper - do a demo showing how to do it properly - less with the price - more with the value. Of course you could have an offer in store attached to it. Maybe you could get tradespeople along and without overselling them - offer consumers a chance to get their rooms wallpapered before Christmas at a special rate - Maybe there's a prize where someone wins their hall stairs and landing for free.

Show the tricks and tips of the trade - the people who really know! You could also upsell all sorts of things - the tools needed to do the job right - the materials needed and what the differences are between them etc

Just one example above that could be applied to pretty much anything I imagine.

Likelyhood is that more people will be thinking DIY, albeit begrudgingly - maybe you can tap into this in a unique way.

Guess in summary, I suggest you think more about what's different about your offering and press those buttons. It might take a little time but if it's done well you might even get to a stage where you could charge for these events.

For what it's worth!

derossi

Thanks for that skipp.

Loads of ideas are spinning around my head. Yes the price issue with regard to advertising is important to a degree but yes it is over used and boring. I think we need to be innovators at all levels at the minute.

I do think know that there will be a shift for the medium term in the type of customer that will come through the door and i know that this type of customer requires a different type of service which is the difficult part. Staff training is probably more prevelant now than at other times. These customers have different expectations than tradesmen.

What we have to do is to convince people that this type of business not only offers value for money, good products and a fantastic knowledge base. The bigger multiples as you mentioned cannot offer theses. Maybe thats the catch right there!

One other thing, Lets say for arguments sake that there was a big retail tile company for example. Now this tile company had many shops across Ireland and advertised quite frequently in the national and local media. This company worked off the premise of being an expensive but of good quali scratch that, lets say a better example would be they based their business model on their product being very inexpensive. This product though, unbeknown to most was of inferior quality. Their product was quite often seconds or thirds. Also lets say for example they upselled other products that where needed to install the said products. These where marked up to at least twice the R.R.P. This part is the catch so to speak. A lot of customers fail to see the woods for the trees on occasions.

Lets say as a business i would like to highlight this and use the fact that we sell a product that is only of premium quality and the other products needed are at least half(at full retail) than our competitors. Of course the example used is only made up in my head.

What is the best way to get the message across and legally how far can i go to put that message across? Thanks.

Skipp

Hi derosi,
You seem to be narowing your competitive set, if I understand you correctly. Earlier you indicated that your offering was along the lines of Atlantic Homecare but built on a heritage of a Builder Provider. The reason I state this is that the strategy you choose to run with would be influenced by your positioning in the market in which you operate. If it's just in tiles - then it'd require a particular approach. But if your market (as I understand it ) is broader then it'll require a different strategy.

Taking your Tile Competitor (example!!), I 'd caution about going head to head with negative advertising - It's expensive and consumers are slow to change opinions and even if they do they may not be attracted to the aggressor (you). Taking this on as a particular emphasis may also narrow your market opportunity amongst consumers i.e. they may JUST see you in tiles.

However there are other ways to tackle this. Take the high gound - do things that will demonstrate the premium quality of your tiles - provide consumers with better information - educate them about the differences between premium tiles - seconds or thirds - what they should look out for - how to tell the difference - e.g. get qualified interior designers to explain the difference. What about doing a video on your website about it

Or indeed as I suggested earlier - get someone credible in to talk instore about the whole area - canapes and a little wine for the ladies

The key is being consistent in how you present your brand and offering to the market

For what it's worth!

CallieO

Your website link?


Not only for sales and marketing reasons...there are loads of reasons for having an online presence....

And they are free now.........


oh and not narrowing your market - think niche and targetted

Skipp

Sorry Callio,
I don't understand your post here. Could you expand on your comment so that I can better understand?

Thanks

CallieO

Hi Skipp,

Do you have a web site and do you showcase your products.

You can have a web site up and running very simply. Interactive means that potential customers can ask questions and advice.

Added value by articles on how to do various jobs, hints and tips etc

Skipp

Thanks CallieO,

I do have a website but thought I'd hold back on promoting it. Just getting a feel for how the boards work and thought I'd offer a bit of assistance as I went through some.

derossi

Plenty there to digest and thanks for taking the time to respond. We have many departments in the store and as you can imagine the competition for each is quite significant at the minute. The tile example was just that.....

With regard to the media and our marketing our intended respondent really only is the walk in type customer and not the tradesman. The tradesman requires a different approach and our rep's deal with them very well.

Coming now to the end of the year the New Year sale is approaching. I was hoping to employ a different strategy by now but I feel I have left it too late to have a measured approach to it so I may have to leave it until March or April.

Currently I am thinking of a slight rebranding exercise...."build more for less”?

What do you think? Also the mind has come to a blank when trying to think of a catchy or appropriate but unique slogan and theme for the advertising. The media will be the local rags and a full page advertisement has been booked. I reckon I will probably put in 10 or 12 products with keen price points and advertise further in store offers? Any help or thoughts would be much appreciated.

blogprincess

Skipp wrote a great post on the opportunities to differentiate your business. Please don't ignore his ideas :mad: and please don't do the list of products and prices for your ads as you are thinking- if you ask anyone in the street about the price of a tin of paint, I bet they won't know..you need a vision for your business that just doesn't do price and that will help inform the marketing and advertising bit. Price is a zero sum game that adds no value in long term, unless you are absolutely the cheapest in the market, like Asda!

1. Understand who your customers currently are and why they shop at your place? - your customers are your biggest source of insight and definitely worth finding out what they think. Any basic marketing will tell you to focus on who buys from you and why? - more men than women? your biggest selling ranges? why? what else do you offer whislt consumers are there/sand pit for kids to play in, whilst their parents shop?/climbing frame/swing/insurance I know perhaps is a problem? Feragal Quinn understood customers brilliantly - see his book, Crowning the Customer...and see how he put customers at the heart of the business...
2. Get a few of your customers to talk to you about why they shop in your outlet and not at the competition? - do you offer anything different/better?
3. 'Build more for less' is catchy, but it focuses you only price...do you want to compete directly on price and if so, can you compete with the big players in the market, like B&Q? etc -
4. What else could you offer - Skipp's idea on DIY demo's is great. Think more about that?
5. Can you offer a 'call - out' and measure -it -up service for people who want to buy paint? or decking, so that they get the right amount of wood for a floor etc - you could charge them for it, but give them a refund when they buy in your store..
6. Tactical promo ideas like offering free paint stripper with paint bought, or a free DIY book with each purchase might be good to drive sales in short term, whilst you figure the longer term proposition out - recommend another book - ''Differentiate or Die'' - it is on Amazon and reinforces Skipps thoughts too
7. PR would be extremely valuable - have a spokesperson bring the tiles of rubbish quality - do not mention ''who'' sells them, but get a press release with you/owners/guaranteeing : ''TOP QUALITY TILES'' - No seconds. EVER. Guaranteed. Are there any awards or quality standards that your tiles meet, that your competitors don't? - promote that through PR and ads.
8. Try a flyer distributed in your area, promoting the store and what it offers, with advice and a token for a free tape measure, or something useful that they can pick up in store with a purchase of €50 to drive people into your shop
9. Pick one thing to hugely price promote and focus only on that in your advertising. Some unbelieveable offer that no-one could match...or give something free to every 10th customer
10. Think about loyalty programme - reward your existing customers.

I could go on.
GOOD LUCK
BlogPrincess

derossi

Just read your reply, fantastic by the way. I have to go out but i will give a more detailed response tomorrow. Thank you.

softwing

Hi. Just found your posting. Have you found a marketing person to work with? If not, I would be happy to discuss some ideas with you.
PM me with a contact number and I'll be happy to give you a call.

M

Senna

Can i just say i know which business the OP is from (from his/her attempted bargain alert thread) and your problems is customer service, it always has been and the change of ownership has helped a bit but not much. When ever i'm in there its impossible to get advice from a member of staff and even if you ask them where something is, they will only point to where it is, not take you over and show you. Also its still too slow at the tills, there could be 3/4 staff standing in the centre area chatting and one person taking money (still 10 times better than before).

Your wasting money marketing the business to the public without sorting out the service first, you might get more people in but they wont come back if the service is slow or unhelpful. Your company was making so much money from the builders that the public customer side was let slip, this is coming back to bite you in the ass. I know it was the original owners that alienated so much of the public but its still the same staff culture from what i've seen.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Feel free to kill me if i'm being over simplistic but the answer seems a tad obvious to me. You have existing relationships with builders who are having an awful time trying to find work and you have customers who want to fix up their houses!

Why not create a synergistic scenario where you can suggest / recommend a paint and throw in a half price painter (rather than drop the price of the paint - subsidize the painter) - likewise with all other products.

Marketing is pretty simple if you do something different people will take notice and talk about it. If you being seen to help the local economy you will most likely get plenty of local FREE press.

Better still your better known for builders getting stuff at your premises and the average punter will know that builders are very price sensitive so you don't need to mouth off like everyone else about being cheap. Also you will create massive loyalty with builders you find work for.

Gran Hermano

Shilling is not what I'd consider a marketing campaign.
I always go out of my way to avoid companies who do so.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Shilling is not what I'd consider a marketing campaign.
I always go out of my way to avoid companies who do so.

Is that aimed at softwing or the above? If the later please explain.

Gran Hermano

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Shilling is not what I'd consider a marketing campaign.
I always go out of my way to avoid companies who do so.

Fancy Dresser wrote: »

Is that aimed at softwing or the above? If the later please explain.

I was commenting on this type of 'marketing'
http://pie.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055485453


Not what I'd consider 'professional'.