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Grandma’s marketing
Management, the Web and creativity: Did Grandma do it? Is “conducting Grandma’s marketing” a smart move by traditionalist entrepreneurs aware that old systems that worked back in the day still work well or are we talking about obsolete choices, things that are archived in an old place full of dust and spider webs? Before anything, we pay attention to breakthroughs and innovations at all costs: the hope that by making different choices we will obtain better results can transform into a dangerous practice for both retail and manufacturing businesses because sometimes it isn’t enough to change your choices, but we must restructure managerial tools. Here are some new indisputably useful practices, however, only if they are implemented in a vast and precise management plan. Without this plan, the efficiency of these practices would be frivolous: Viral Marketing, Multi Level Marketing, Guerilla Marketing, Ambient Marketing e W.O.M. (word of mouth) Marketing… here’s the problem. Be careful when we come into our offices to propose a costly new W.O.M Marketing program. Grandma would be so angry! Grandma’s Marketing is centered on creating relationships, doing well and making it known that this is our plan. Simple! Creating conditions so that people spend the time to refer other customers to our stores and clients that testify to the quality of our products and services. Substantially creating a reputation through word of mouth. However, the real point is this: can we think of a system that bases itself on what has already worked in the past and make it more efficient and powerful while at the same time practical and less costly? The model I am referring to starts with a system that directly connects, like an intense and efficient flux of word of mouth, all the interior design business protagonists: manufacturers, retailers, architects and interior designers, technicians, consumers. At the heart of this network of relationships there is the product and the plan, both focused on the client to inform, advise and seduce.
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The base of this new network marketing approach between professionals and businesses is based on motivational research that has involved over two thousand studies of project planning, hundreds of mid to high-range interior retailers as well as interior design and construction material consumers. If we really want to distance ourselves from the terms used by Grandma’s Marketing, the system can be described as an innovative and creative fusion between BtoB, Visual, Web and Network Marketing. Said like this, we quickly understand that it is actually very tough! The non-conventional premises are: in the showroom money is made with what one cannot see; marketing brings the organizational layout to life, therefore it is not a static strategy but rather a dynamic process; exchanging business cards with planners and private companies transforms into a Business Network relationship and service platform; development has ceased if it always remains the same. It occurs to planners to give services to increase loyalty. This creates trust between customers but also helps them to manage relationships with their territory because nobody teaches them how in university. The objectives are: guarantee more notoriety in the showroom at capped prices; involve and create loyalties between professionals providing network marketing support to improve their work; create an accessible gallery to the public that amplifies visibility of the locations and creations; locally develop manufacturer marketing with a collaborative network with the objective of increasing business opportunities; intensify efficient communication and contact with potential clients. This approach aims to bond traditional marketing techniques with new multimedia tools and their interaction with a third generation Digital Marketing platform based on the most applied and advanced Social Network technologies in the professional world of design in a creative way. DesignYourMind is a new system that has already been created and tested by G&M and will launch in the coing months of 2013.
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The new fuel (that doesn’t pollute) is the tenacity of the retailer managing the system in collaboration with manufacturers that support selected retailers. Because, by now it is clear, manufacturers are selecting retailers. And the retailers that know how to evolve will be selected by the market and planners. If the manufacturers and retailers offer reciprocal and solid support, the design product will obtain a new meaning, new markets and a new era. But above all, they will have the most direct and less costly tools. Therefore it is essential that creativity means “thinking unconventionally” and that management means “creative method”, or rather a dynamic process in constant evolution without scaring the boss – whether it is a manufacturer or retailer – because even there where there has been a generational change, even the older folks still have authority and must be put in a position to create understanding and trust. Following this metaphor, sons and daughters can point out new tools, and the parents’ experiences suggest that good methodologies never let you down. The methodology can be acquired by manufacturers and by retailers to develop and strengthen business opportunities to the point of “working with other company’s clients” in complete coherence with the famous “word of mouth” of Grandma! And if, as Grandma used to say, “who has time does not wait for time” is true, we can offer the necessary tips to get ahead of the competition. In this era of flying time, all advantages are resources that are transformed in profit. Cynthia Petrangeli c.petri@designyourmind.it
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Therefore it is essential that creativity means “thinking unconventionally” and that management means “creative method”, or rather a dynamic process in constant evolution without scaring the boss.
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