Marketing to marketers

[Chancer]

I was sending cold-email queries about a physical product to retail stores to gauge their interest and received surprisingly little feedback and no interest.

I know (roughly) how to market things to the end consumer but i presumed marketers will prefer a more technical and non-biased description of the product instead of the 'We're the BEST!' hype, so i made my email query in accordance with that.
Now, i have a question whether i made a mistake by presuming that?

As i said i got very little interest from the stores i send queries to, yet i know the product is good and by itself should not be the culprit.
So should i present and market products to marketers the same way as to end buyers?


(i presumed marketers will prefer - and make decisions - strictly on bare facts; please help me establish if this was a mistake and how to correct it)

Thank you

 

[Ron Killian]

Too many variables to say. First off, you probably already stated the main problem, cold emailing. Who's to say how many emails even got through. Coming from an unknown email, they might ave automatically gone into the spam/trash/promotions folder. Depends on how the email was worded, might have gotten deleted because it look like spam or junk mail. Or if you are even contacting the right person, or using the right email address.

No offense, but email is the lazy route to take. And probably the less effective. For the reason above and more. Even direct mail has a low response rate. Both are usually quite impersonal.

If you want to do it right you need to call on the phone or better yet visit them in person. Ramp it up more, get a booth at a related trade show. Then you could really get some feedback, good or bad. And get to know even more how they think.

Of course, just my opinions.

 

[ulterios]

One thing that I have learned over the years is that most marketers do not like people marketing to them. I guess they feel like they have seen all the pitches since they do them and they just can't look into a sales pitch from the outside.

You might have just not gotten the right people to market to. I would think that the factual approach would be the better method to use rather than the hype.

Ron brings up some good points and I think that the one on the wording of the email is key. The email, especially the title, might have not been the best and just gotten deleted before they even saw what you were marketing.

 

[SethTurin]

SethTurin

I read a statistic once that marketers actually respond to more advertising than people in other industries. I wish I'd bookmarked it. Can't find it now! Anyway, in my experience, INTERNET marketers love being marketed to.

 

[Chancer]

call on the phone or better yet visit them in person.

I have a problem with phones
That's the reason i chose to do business over the internet in the first place.

Visiting them also isn't doable at the moment - but when prototypes are tested we might visit a few in person.


Wording is key, i know and i did my best to word it as an honest query and not as a marketing letter. The response rate wasn't too bad (around 20%), but their interest was low.
By the specs i have sent them my product easily stands above all current competitors, yet the retailers said they are not interested.

Since the market exists, and my product stands above the competition i fail to see why they would not be interested.
They put in enough effort to tell me they are not interested, some even said the market is full of these products; but the market is performance driven and my performance specs are next-gen so how full the market is of other low-grade competitors should not matter.

I would think that the factual approach would be the better method to use rather than the hype.

I hate to be marketed to as well, hence the postulate about the factual approach, but from the responses i received i got a feeling the respondents did not put 2-1 together to see how my product stands above the rest.
In retrospect i understand they have hundreds of products and can't know all of their specs by heart. Maybe i should have compared my product to the current ones to indesputably show why it is better?


Thank you both guys, you're great :cheers:

 

[ulterios]

Maybe i should have compared my product to the current ones to indesputably show why it is better?

That might be a good approach. Find the top products out there and show why yours is better. Sometimes showing people something in comparison can make the benefits of a better product more noticeable.

Thank you both guys, you're great :cheers:

You are very welcome my friend. I know that Ron is also always offering tips, advice and help. Helping each other is one thing that helps this forum stand out from the others. :thumb:

 

[Ron Killian]

20% response? Very nice. What exactly did they give for a reason? You just say they were not interested. Could be price? Margins? Don't know you, no trust yet. They could be concerned it's new and it might not sell. Packaging of course is one of the most important aspects. Do you have packaging?

If you have a physical product you want to sell in retail outlets, you have an offline business, not an online one. Yes, an online presence could be a arm of that business, but not much if you or the product is new.

Plus if this is a new product from a new company, from what you are saying, online is not going to get your product in the stores.

It's not like you are asking retailers to buy the next gen ipod, or a new hot color furby.

I can understand not being good on the phone, many people are not. But from what you've said, you need to get good, get out of your comfort zone or get some one else to do it for you.

I did retail for little over 10 years. I went to trade shows and had interactions with supply reps. Buyers need to see it, touch it, demonstration, and see how it can make them money.

They also need to trust the manufacturer. That the products will be delivered on time, quality control, ect, ect.

Not trying to be negative, just saying, it will be a tough go trying to do it just online.

And of course just my opinions.

 

[Chancer]

What exactly did they give for a reason? You just say they were not interested. Could be price? Margins? Don't know you, no trust yet. They could be concerned it's new and it might not sell. Packaging of course is one of the most important aspects. Do you have packaging?

Most gave no reason - just 'we are not interested'. It could be the trust issue, i heard several times that some brands with such products lie about their specs and they might be thus unwilling to take a risk.
No packaging yet, i'm still in (or rather back in) design stage for a few more improvements.

On the flip-side i finally got some interest for the product
It's a step forward


Furbies?
This is the first time i heard of hot color furbies :lol:
Did those things actually sell?

If you have a physical product you want to sell in retail outlets, you have an offline business, not an online one. Yes, an online presence could be a arm of that business, but not much if you or the product is new.

Plus if this is a new product from a new company, from what you are saying, online is not going to get your product in the stores.

The thing is, selling on Amazon/ebay/my website would allow me to get a higher profit and sell at a lower price both at once.
Retailers are just for initial sales, after that web based sales should give me the most profit.
Physical stores in the sector seem to be dying slowly, so web sales will soon be the only option anyhow.

I can understand not being good on the phone, many people are not. But from what you've said, you need to get good, get out of your comfort zone or get some one else to do it for you.

I did retail for little over 10 years. I went to trade shows and had interactions with supply reps. Buyers need to see it, touch it, demonstration, and see how it can make them money.

I see your point; perhaps my best option would be to "sponsor" a team on an applicable competition. That would get publicity, show quality and alow end buyers and retailers to interact with the product at the same time. But i am still months away from that.
In the meantime i wonder how much a youtube/twitter (getting video presentations to the crowd) campaign can do?

They also need to trust the manufacturer. That the products will be delivered on time, quality control, ect, ect.

So would saying 'production is EU based' make a positive impact on the retailers? (my logic would be that EU is more reliable than China)


Thank you again

 

[Ron Killian]

Even though you seemed to have had a great response rate of 20%, it might as well have been 0% because no one told you why they were not interested. Not trying to be a jerk, but as you know, no one helped you or even gave you a clue. Did you ask any of them "why"? Maybe even get their name and call them or have some one call them, saying something like I only want your input, no pressure.

But I am confused now... All along you've said you want to get retailers to pick up your product. But now your talking about Amazon and Ebay. Which is it? Two different routes, no?

Actually seems like you might be going the harder route in the beginning. Wouldn't putting you products up on Amazon and Ebay be much easier? No need to bug people. Could be all done online as you want.

You even said retail does not look good anyways. So why bother?

At the very least Amazon and/or Ebay could, as you said make you some sales and money. And yes give you a track record. Prove the product or don't. Then, if it seems useful or possibly profitable, you could try the brick and mortar retail stores. No?

It's a great idea to have reviews and campaigns, but doesn't sound like you are ready yet. Not until you have a finished product with packaging. Great enthusiasm, just might be ahead of yourself? But good to think ahead.

I have NO clue if made in EU will have a negative or positive impact. I would think, how many retailers care where it is made, they of course care about price, packaging and margins. But I am not an expert, so just a guess.

Or get your product finished and get on Shark Tank

 

[ulterios]

I read a statistic once that marketers actually respond to more advertising than people in other industries. I wish I'd bookmarked it. Can't find it now!

The only articles that I have seen say the opposite but there are probably articles out there that have that. It might be someone that is targeting the "Marketing to other Marketers" niche. There's always articles around that state both sides of pretty much everything and maybe that was the writers experience.

Being in marketing in some form or another most of my adult life my experience has been the opposite. It's kind of like if you were a salesman and went shopping for a new television and the salesman was trying to give you his sales pitch as to why you should buy the TV today. Since you are used to the methods they are usually a waste of breath for the salesman trying to sell something to you.

Anyway, in my experience, INTERNET marketers love being marketed to.

That's good. You might be one of those types of people that are real good at marketing and can market anything to anyone. That's a gift and hopefully you are able to get the most out of it. Some people are just natural's at certain things so if marketing is yours then you should have a bright future.

I myself could use some help in the marketing department so if you want to share any tips then I am happy to hear them. I need my marketing efforts in 2017 to be better that 2016.

 

[joe]

What kind of open rates did you get?

You won't be able to know for sure if it's the copy, headlines or the emails didn't even get to them (went right into the spam inbox) until you have these metrics.

Cold emailing isn't bad but it's easier to ignore than "walk-in" or "cold call" - why don't you try that as well?

Marketing to marketers isn't different than marketing to general consumers. They are humans, driven by emotions just like everybody else - all you need to do is to understand their needs.

For example, if the retail stores need a new ice cream favor to sell - even if you send a bad cold email about that specific ice cream favor, you will get their attention.

Last thing, you mentioned that you want to get into retail stores, I am sure you already know that they get tens if not hundreds of such requests every day. So, you must stand out.

I hope it helps.