Lessons from a Frame Store
What does framing artwork have to do with marketing?
More than you think.
I’m sure that each of you has, at one time or another, purchased a painting, a limited edition print or art quality photography. Do you remember your trip to the frame store to get it framed?
First, the attendant helped you decide which frame fit your decor and the artwork. Then, just when you felt that you’d finished your selection, she said “You can enhance the picture even more by adding some mattes.” She took creme and green mattes, overlapped them and you could see the green color jump out of the picture. Then she replaced the green matte with a blue one and the picture took on that blue hue. The picture didn’t change. Yet the look and feel changed dramatically with the different mattes. That’s what marketing is.
The benefit you provide, whether it’s image, innovation or time-savings, is the picture. That doesn’t change regardless of what market you’re serving. How you craft your message around that benefit is the matte. It’s how you can target different markets without changing your offering. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Ford has recently been advertising the “smart truck.” In addition to a host of other things this truck will help you track your tools. Amazing! How can Ford tailor its message for a variety of buyers. Here’s a couple of examples.
For those buyers who love innovation and simply have to have the latest and greatest, their current campaign of brains over brawn will work nicely. Innovation buyers typically view themselves as bright, cutting-edge folks. The current ad appeals to these buyers.
How does that ad attract other buyers? Let’s say that your a contractor who’s tired of the wasted time, energy and money involved in replacing tools that are either lost or stolen or someone who wants to be considered a savvy business person, will this ad attract you? Probably not. How could Ford use the matte concept to attract these time-conscious buyers?
For the time-saving (dependability) buyers the ad might read:
Time is money and Ford is going to save you both. Our new smart trucks are designed to help you spend more time generating revenues instead of searching for and replacing lost tools. You get all this and the quality you need to handle any tough job you have.
For the image buyers the ad could say:
Consumers like to buy from successful business people. Our smart trucks let your buyers know that you’re successful, that you’re using the best tools available for the job. Don’t leave buyers in doubt about whether they’re dealing with the best in the business, your Ford smart truck will tell them everything they need to know.
Three different messages – Ford’s innovation message and two that I’ve suggested for time-saving and image buyers. The product, the smart truck, didn’t change, but the message has been tailored for the market Ford wants to attract.
The natural tendency is to think that we need different offerings for different markets. It’s counter-intuitive, but all we really need to do is reframe one offering for the markets we target.
The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier. In today’s blog I used Step 4, See Similarities, to take a lesson learned at the frame store and apply it to marketing. For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm.
If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com. Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.
On November 17, 2009, the Cottleville-Weldon Springs Chamber of Commerce has graciously invited me to present an expanded version of Common Pricing Errors at their breakfast meeting at 7:30 a.m. For more information visit http://www.cottlevilleweldonspringchamber.com/
It’s here! The Pricing for Profit Blog. For 20 years I’ve watched talented, hardworking people like you provide tremendous value to your customers without getting compensated for that value. My reason for writing Pricing for Profit was to help you and others break the bonds of industry pricing so that you can get compensated fairly for the value you provide. That’s why I’ve launched the Pricing for Profit blog. You can find it at www.furtwengler.com. Enjoy! Tags: Ford, Ford trucks, framing pictures, image, innovation, Marketing, marketing lessons, marketing offerings, offerings, saving time, time-savings
