Make some noise
Rob McGlennon of Deceuninck discusses the best way to market a niche product.
Before embarking on any marketing campaign, whatever the product and whatever the size of market, the most important thing to do is to make sure that everyone involved is clear on the objectives. Do you want to steal market share from your competitors? Do you want to raise awareness of your brand? Or do you need to grow the market you’re selling into?
Once everyone is clear on the objective it’s about identifying the right messages for the right audience. This is true of any campaign, but when you’re selling a niche product, it’s time to get specific. And it’s time to get noisy.
When you’re selling a niche product to a smaller section of a wider market there are a few things to consider. You need to let everyone already working in the sector know that you have a new product and you need to let customers who aren’t yet working in the sector know how easy and lucrative it could be for them to join it.
This might be more difficult than it sounds because sometimes this means breaking down barriers in perceptions that have existed for a long time. And finally, you need to work with the whole supply chain to create demand, desire and a point of difference for the homeowner.
In our case, we have just launched a new Heritage Window Collection that we’re sure will be the most talked about brand in 2017. The new range consists of heritage flush, sculptured and chamfered sash windows and doors. We’re not very far into the launch process but we have already started advertising, direct mailing and telling the industry’s trade magazines about our offering.
However, when we launch a new product, especially when it’s niche, our top priority is to look after the customers that sell it. That’s why we have such a comprehensive marketing support package to help our fabricators, and their installer customers, sell and to see their businesses grow.
The Heritage Window Collection customers, for example, will have access to a dedicated website (www.heritagewindowcollection.co.uk), a 44-page luxury colour brochure in both print and PDF format, a comprehensive image library, technical documentation for those more savvy consumers, bespoke showroom display stands and roll up banners, personalised mailers and drop cards, colour swatch books, and much more.
Some of this marketing support is for fabricators to sell the product to their installers, while some is for installers buying the product from our fabricators with the aim of creating desire and demand in the retail arena. All the while challenging outdated perceptions that PVCU isn’t a suitable replacement for timber.
It’s important to remember though, even with all the best marketing materials and advertising campaigns in the world, you can’t create demand for a product that’s not worth its salt. Deceuninck put months of investment into innovation and production, along with market research and collaboration with some of the UK’s top installers, to design our new range. Having such a high quality product range behind us makes the sales and marketing process easy.
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