|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | FEBRUARY 11, 2004
By Karen E. Klein A Dead-On Marketing Strategy Even though a good many folks will need one sooner or later, funeral urns top few shopping lists. For a pair of artists, that's a problem Q: My partner and I sell artistic urns for the funeral industry. How do we get the word that our products are available out to families planning a loved one's service and cremation? There are 22,000 funeral homes in the country, and only the pair of us are available to spread the word, sell our unique product, and distribute it. -- M.H., San Francisco A: There are several options available to create an awareness-building campaign on a limited budget. What you are going to have to do is make some decisions about the most efficient way to proceed. First off, will you sell your products directly to families, or will you target your sales through funeral homes? Selling directly to consumers will be difficult, because your potential target market is huge -- yet consumers typically won't want to buy urns unless there has been a very recent death in the family. The advantage of using an intermediary -- morticians and funeral-industry suppliers in this case -- is that they will know the market and have distribution networks already in place. Also, notes sales consultant and coach Craig James of Sales Solutions, morticians "know how best to reach bereaved families, and they assume all the marketing and selling costs, leaving you to focus on your true passion -- designing the urns. The disadvantage is that it will cost you, probably quite a bit." SERIOUS UNDERTAKING. If you decide to sell direct, you must learn how families make decisions about purchasing urns. Where do they look for information on products and providers? To whom do they turn for advice? And what exactly are they looking for? James suggests that you contact the National Funeral Directors Assn. at 800 228-6332. You might try asking them how other providers of funeral-related products market and promote their goods and services, and which methods have been most successful. If you determine that selling through funeral homes is your best option, identify the largest chains or mortuary groups and target them first, James adds. If you're successful at selling them on your products, and they succeed in selling to their customers, you can leverage those gains with smaller operations. Steve Rapier of the Artime Group, suggests that putting together a marketing plan that relates the size of your target audience (whether it be funeral operators or the general public) to the cost of reaching it. "I would...focus on those methods that offer the lowest cost per thousand individuals reached. For instance, compare how much it would cost to reach your audience with marketing elements such as postcards, trade advertising, online advertising, key-word buys, and trade shows," he says. Make a chart that analyzes the most cost-efficient methods with the sort of frequency needed to create brand awareness. Adds Rapier: "Measure your results as you go against the realistic goals you set, and make future decisions based on performance." BOOK OF THE DEAD. Both James and Rapier recommend investigating trade magazines, both for their editorial opportunities and as vehicles for advertising. One such trade journal is Alliance. "Contact the editorial staff to introduce your product line and pitch a compelling story," Rapier says. As you start to analyze marketing options, think about first employing a local or regional strategy. This will allow you to keep costs down and to test your concept before undertaking the greater expense of expanding to a broader geographic audience. Says James: "It's better to establish a handful of strong relationships, then dozens of lukewarm ones." Have a question about your business? Ask our small-business experts. Send us an e-mail at smartanswers@businessweek.com, or write to Smart Answers, BW Online, 45th Floor, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Please include your real name and phone number in case we need more information; only your initials and city will be printed. Because of the volume of mail, we won't be able to respond to all questions personally.  Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues.
BW MALL
SPONSORED LINKS
Buy a link now!Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
 Copyright 2004, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version
