We have bears and bunnies in Woodbury. In 2003, on Memorial Day weekend a bear wandered up from the river right into our park and playground. It was in the news. But we were out of town. On Tuesday morning I went for my usual jog down to Wilmus Lake. I was catching the morning show on my radio headset. Deep in the woods, I heard them talking about a bear in Woodbury over the weekend. I looked around quickly and thought to myself, “What I am I doing in the woods?!” I cut the run short and set a record getting back to my home. In December ‘05, the bear was back. 10 inch long paw prints right in my neighbor's yard! It didn’t stay long. Maybe our taxes are too high here!
We also have bunnies. They live under Chuck’s deck. It sparked our marketing team to do more research! We saw a huge opportunity by offering Hibiscus to our new target market. Our product is consumable, relatively easy to grow, and has great potential for repeat purchase behavior. It’s practically recession proof.
But how could we reach our potential customers? I wondered, “How does Mother Nature market food to animals?” Immediately, an image sprang to mind of a deer coming cautiously out of the woods to get a drink at a brook fed pool of water. The deer sees and smells the water and is thirstier than she is afraid to die. As it turns out, Mother Nature uses Natural Marketing™! She uses the four P’s: Product, Place, Price and Promotion! Hiebing and Cooper put the customer at the center and call them the four C’s: “consumer wants and needs, consumer convenience, consumer cost and consumer communication.”
We decided to imitate nature, starting with a great product. And boy, do we have a great product! We’ve got a product bunnies really want. You might think that was an easy decision, but we’ve tried other products. Everyone knows that Bugs Bunny loves full grown carrots, right? Not our customers. Won’t touch ‘em! Even if you cut them in pieces. And it’s not like they don’t have options. The competition is fierce.
It seems like everyone is in our business. But we analyzed broad positions in our market. We selected a “more for less” position with a superior product in relatively short supply in the trade area. We’re not looking to make a name as a product leader or lots of money with operational efficiencies and economies of scale. We want to make a difference by building real customer intimacy with our little bunnies. Our tag line is “I’m lovin’ my Hibiscus fixes” and “Hibiscus kicks us.”
What about placement? We’ve certainly made it convenient. We’ve experimented with location and it makes a huge difference. For some reason, the plants near our window well never get eaten. The product is just fifty feet away from where our customers live with access by several routes. At first we actually thought our little bunnies weren’t interested. Our marketing department thinks they aren’t comfortable with the dim lighting and tight spaces, but I think it’s the spooky window well. When we planted more in a new spot on the other side of our deck, the difference was amazing. It’s like we threw a dart on the wall and painted a bull’s eye around it. Granted, our visibility could be better, but the traffic patterns are strong, especially just before dusk.
I know what you’re thinking: “Big deal, you’re giving it away for FREE!” Not exactly. There is a cost. First of all, to get it, the bunnies have to get out of their comfort zone under Chuck’s cozy deck. And they have to change their buying habits. We’ve done our market research. Last season, they left their tracks in the snow and the bunny trail leads from evergreen to evergreen and right over to Laurel’s garden which is a box as big as Walmart. Plus, it’s dangerous for bunnies to shop out in the open. We don’t want to be the cheapest in town but we don’t want to be the most expensive either. The worst case scenario happened just two weeks ago. A hawk actually swooped down and grabbed a bunny right off the ground. All that was left was red fur in the grass. We’re developing programs to address customer attrition, reduce risk and to improve the customer experience at point of sale to counter the fear factor.
What about promotion? We believe, like Philip Kotler writes, “advertising changes minds, but promotions change behavior.” We have to advertise but we can’t use English. Our bunnies speak another language. What about loyalty programs? We do believe in moving customers up the loyalty ladder but our findings show that this group doesn’t respond well to gimmicky frequency, relationship or membership marketing programs. You’ve got to approach them just right. We’ve tried other tactics like rewards, coupons, clubs, and prize drawings. Those things just don’t work with bunnies. They draw the wrong customer and the ROI isn’t there. We do promote by sampling and offering two-for-one’s but with such great internal operations and a strong product our best promotion is to manage word of mouth! You know, things like giving out promo items, co-op advertising, asking directly for referrals at just the right time and thanking our referral sources with rewards.
Developing our internet strategy is a top priority this year. We’re going to conduct e-mail campaigns but our database isn’t tuned up yet. We’re collecting e-mail addresses but bunnies have been a little skittish about providing this personal information so we’re building trust by developing a good privacy policy that we can post on our web site.
How is it working, you ask? Product movement started slow but turned into a fire sale, exceeding projections. Our bunnies cleared the racks like lawn mowers last season. Our raving fans keep coming back and multiply like, like…bunnies. Our biggest problem is inventory control and shrinkage! Yes, we found a great little niche.
By the way, we decided not to feed the bears! Not everyone with four legs and fur can be our customer!
P.S. If your marketing department doesn’t see opportunities like ours does, it’s time to give someone a wake up call. Call us now!
©2006 Paul Esch. All Rights Reserved. Paul Esch is President of Breakthrough Business Success, Inc. He works with leaders to improve performance and create sales excitement. Call him at 651-501-7979
Want to go it yourself using our "Seven Step Marketing Plan Work Book" click here: http://www.breakthroughbusiness.net/product_details.php?id=9
