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Category: Blog Post

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Optimizing Your Pricing Strategy

When developing marketing plans for clients we must take pricing into consideration. To many, the obvious strategy would be to lower the price to increase sales. But as marketers it is our responsibility to ensure that any pricing changes are beneficial to the organization. Often the increase in sales volume needed to maintain profit margins makes lowering the price of a product undesirable to the organization.

For example, I work with Villain Theater and we currently have branded glassware for sale. When we first introduced our glassware, we had our large mugs priced at $18.00, pilsners at $15.00, and small mugs at $12.00. We sold a good amount initially, but sales quickly stagnated, leaving us to reconsider our pricing plan. We initially considered reducing the prices by 20% across the board in order to hopefully increase the number of sales. But since we have a limited available stock, we decided that it was better to increase prices slightly in order to increase revenue, even if it slightly decreased the number of sales. So we raised the prices to $20.00, $18.00, and $16.00 respectively. The sales have slowed slightly for the pilsners and small mugs, but the large mugs have continued selling at the same rate despite the higher price point. Overall, the higher prices have succeeded in increasing our daily revenue from the product.  

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Data Collection and Modern Marketing

For marketing professionals, metadata is one of the best things that happened in the past decade. For example, data such as click-through rates allow us to run A/B tests to inform design and content. Having clear data helps us make informed decisions to optimize performance and achieve metrics. Using small pieces of data like cookies can also improve performance by personalizing ads to fit individual users.

But as this sector of marketing has grown more prevalent, people are becoming concerned about how their personal data being collected and used. Frankly this concern is justified. There have been numerous companies over the years that have broken the trust of their consumers. Part of our new job as marketers is now to regain that trust. We can help rebuild trust by being more transparent with the consumers and only asking for information necessary for any given transaction. Part of this transparency is also admitting fault when mistakes have been made and quickly developing more effective practices.

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Expanding the Breadth of Services Provided as a Strategy for Growth

I have recently started working with a podiatrist’s office in North Miami. Wigley Feet is currently expanding its services provided in order to position itself as the one-stop-shop for all of their clients’ foot care needs. For example, to increase the breadth of services provided, Wigley Feet has recently opened a nail spa. They will also be opening a surgical suite in Summer 2021.

The addition of the nail salon and surgical suites will open up more segments of the market. Currently the main clientele at Wigley Feet consists of geriatric and diabetic patients who have more serious and sustained podiatric needs. In expanding the services provided, Wigley Feet will grow their client base to include more clients who have minor to moderate care needs. In this way, they will be able to build and sustain growth over time more effectively.

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Storytelling with a Purpose

Thank You Mom

In essence, marketing is storytelling with a purpose. Storytelling allows us to connect with the community on a deeper level–not just as potential customers, but rather as people. Stories can give the world a sense of who our brand is and what we value. One of my favorite examples is the Thank You, Mom campaign run by P&G during the Olympics. These ads are successful in connecting with their audiences with one of the most unifying life experiences, loving your mother. They are also very good at using products from the P&G family as props throughout. This campaign was effective in connecting the brand with feelings of honesty, safety, and familiarity As marketers, we are tasked with finding the right stories for our brands. The best stories will solicit emotion towards action.

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Brand Image and Representation

I am currently working with a podiatrist in North Miami who is looking to rebrand and expand his practice. As we start the rebranding process a key factor to consider is brand equity. Since I am working with a medical professional, his potential patients must see his brand as not only professional but also as trustworthy and compassionate. When I assessed the current brand, it appeared to be rather generic: nothing is terrible, but nothing is memorable. There is very little that separates him from other podiatrists in the area.

One of the easiest ways to improve his brand equity is to focus on the brand image. Almost all of the imagery used on the website/blog/SM posts are of white individuals. This is unrepresentative of the North Miami community which is 60% black (2010 US Census). Additionally, the Associated Skin Care Professionals website notes that this under-representation of POC individuals can lead to delayed treatment and misdiagnosis. So, by diversifying the imagery his brand could stand out from the competition while also providing necessary information to the community, all while increasing the brand’s equity.

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Increasing Social Media Engagement with Closed Captions

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

As marketing professionals, a core element of building an effective marketing campaign for is finding those small changes that can help your project have maximum impact. For example, with the recent movement on social media platforms from text-based to video-based content, we need to find ways to increase views and to encourage viewers to watch the video until the end. But most of today’s market uses a mobile device to access their social media accounts, and they casually scroll through the content, often while waiting in line at the store. In this public context, most users mute their devices, so it is critical that video content include subtitles to maintain the viewers attention.

Content Accessibility

Providing closed captions or subtitles to content not only increases the likelihood of an individual watching a clip in full, it will also make your content accessible to the hard of hearing and deaf individuals. As it stands many people in the deaf community feel underrepresented in social media platforms, in particular on Instagram.

Communicating Values

The simple addition of captions to your social media posts will not only increase viewership, it will also signal to the greater community that your brand values inclusiveness. Today consumers expect that organizations to value diversity and inclusion and by making your video content more accessible your organization proves this.

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Building Social Connections

In her wonderful TEDTalk given, Margaret Heffernan discusses the importance of building social connections within working groups. I consider myself lucky to have worked with organizations, such as Villain Theater, that really embrace the culture of helpfulness. I have been on a number of teams over the years, some of which focused on status and hierarchy while others emphasized cohesion and helpfulness. In the few years that I have been working with Villain, the theater has been able to expand both its programming and reach without changing its expenditures. We achieved this by encouraging individuals to lead projects that fit their strengths, and then working as a team to make sure the project goals were achieved. Working in such a supportive environment makes it more likely for individuals to bring innovative ideas to the table and to take risks, since they can trust on their team for support.

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Changing Community Behavior by Connecting to Established Norms

We all know that wearing a mask helps to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At this point, it’s common knowledge, but there are still individuals resistant to the idea. Under these circumstances, changing the attitudes of the public is one of the greatest challenges for health departments.

Some public health agencies are more successful in addressing this challenge than others, as reflected by the variation in mask compliance across the U.S. The most successful agencies have changed community members’ behavior by linking the mask-wearing to existing beliefs. For example, the Illinois Health Department had a successful campaign encouraging residents to wear masks by comparing them to wearing a helmet or seatbelt. Since they linked mask use to safety precautions that people already take on a daily basis, health officials could focus less on changing residents’ minds to changing their behaviors.