The other day I was window-shopping in my neighborhood and dropped
into King Jewelers in Aventura. I happen to have been born with a
“Jewelry Gene”. All of the sparkle and glitter of the jewelry, shining
through the glass cases, made my eyes light up!
As I walked around
the store, I picked up a couple of brochures. They were beautifully
made, with a glossy finish and cardstock. I couldn’t help but
wonder…why were they sitting on a counter? Why don’t they mail them to
their top customers? One of the brochures I picked up was for Chanel;
it featured their J12 Chromatic watches. The cost to make a brochure of
this caliber is not cheap. The high gloss, heavy paperweight, with folds
inside AND a sleeve… not a cheap project at all.
Another one I
picked up was for King Jewelers. It was a book really, with 70 pages of
Harry Winston, Chopard, Judtih Ripka, and Jaeger-LeCoultre gracing the
pages. Printing brochures and catalogs like this is expensive. The way I
see it, they’re missing an opportunity to send them to their best
customers. I would think that if you were a high-end jeweler, you would
have a database of customers that have purchased from you, right? Why
not take at least 100 brochures (since you’ve printed them anyways) and
send them to your top spenders now, before the holidays.
Direct Marketing is still the most targeted way to get to your prospects, especially with luxury products.
There’s
obviously a reason why these high-end jewelers continue to print these
brochures. Yes, almost everything is available online, but it doesn’t
always give the same effect that a printed brochure or catalog does. The
great thing about having something printed is that customers can touch
it, feel it, and turn through the pages. They’re more engaged. One of
the great things about Direct Mail is that you can include a response
device or an involvement piece. It gets your prospective customers
involved with the product, and makes them more inclined to purchase
something.
A lot of people see Direct Marketing as dead. I don’t
believe that is true. Nor do I think that it’s going anywhere. The trick
is, knowing how to do Direct Marketing the right way
, that will help
drive results. What are your thoughts? Do you think that Direct
Marketing is still very prevalent today? Let us know what you think.
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