Marketing_in_Action_-_Clear_&_Simple

Marketing in Action – Real Choices at Clear & SIMPLE Introduction Founded in 1999, Clear & SIMPLE is a professional organizing company that teaches home and office organization skills. Owners Marla Dee and Lisa Parsons try and convince homeowners and businesses that “Getting organized can be Fun, Simple, and Freeing!” The Clear & SIMPLE Systems boast a “user friendly” language to inspire and empower you to make the changes in your life that you long for. The systems came into this world through desperation. As a new Professional Organizer, Marla Dee struggled to find a language and way to teach the skill that came so naturally to her and that all her clients struggled with. The CLEAR & SIMPLE WAY was born. The company offers two major systems: (1) 1. The FOUNDATION: SEE IT – Take a look at where you’ve been and where you are now MAP IT – Make a Plan for where you want to go DO IT – Dive into the actions that create the transformation or change 2. The CHANGE: (S.T.A.C.K.S.) SORT TOSS ASSIGN CONTAIN KEEP IT UP SIMPLIFY Each of the above systems trains clients how to identify their problems with clutter and chaos and then shows them how to better organize their space. Clear & SIMPLE also offers workshops, individual consultation and needs assessment, and a variety of organizational skills books, kits and self-study courses. The certificate program is also available which enables you to earn a professional organizer certificate and start your own organizing business. Clear & SIMPLE has been successful but the increasing number of competitors in the industry and the growing number of internet Web sites on organizing could have a direct impact on its future success. With the current economy, consumers may also view Clear & SIMPLE as a luxury service and not a necessary expense, therefore, the organizing company may see a decrease in sales. Marla and her colleagues need to make their brand stand out among their other “neat” competitors with the increasing competition. The Intangible Challenge By selling a service, Clear & SIMPLE is selling an intangible item (an item that we can’t physically touch). So, how so does it market a product that isn’t there' Marketing a tangible product - something that can be seen, touched, tasted or experienced in some way - is typically straight forward. You can show the product, demonstrate its value and benefits, perhaps give the prospect a sample of some sort, and so forth. But how do you sell an intangible product or service, something that can't be seen or demonstrated' Here are 5 ways to market intangibles, and help make them seem more tangible to the prospective customers: • Create Trust: Because prospective customers can't take Clear & SIMPLE’s product for a "test drive," finding ways to create trust is especially important. The professional organizers, for example, can use their marketing materials to create trust by listing her credentials, sharing testimonials, explaining her methodology and demonstrating her expertise. • Humanize the Benefits: Make an emotional connection by demonstrating the benefits of what is sold. A professional organizer can show how good you'll feel after completing the program and how happy a person feels when they come home to a clean house. • Provide Useful Tools: Help prospective customers see the value in what is offered by providing useful tools. Clear & SIMPLE has done this by providing online tools under the free resources tab of their website such as a paper systems map and flow chart and a record retention guideline. • Keep it Simple: Intangible products and services can be perceived as being difficult to understand. Unfortunately, a person who is confused will avoid making a purchase decision. Do everything possible to make the product or service appear simple and understandable. • Use Metaphors: If people do have a hard time understanding what it is that is being sold, try using a metaphor to describe the service or the problems it solves. Even faced with the most intangible proposition, a company must find the unique selling point of its product/service or offering. Clear & SIMPLE is on the right track by asking its customers what impact it will have on them and then giving them suggestions of other impacts that may occur that they may have not even thought of. Standing Above the Crowd There is significant value in effective branding. Branding is one of the tools to use to help fulfill profitable growth. It is tough to sell intangible services such as advice and know-how. Well, it is even more difficult to buy! Consider that a buyer has to understand, evaluate, believe, and frequently convince colleagues and team mates to agree with them about Clear & SIMPLE’s (intangible) service. To put its experience, expertise, value, approaches, culture, business style, intellectual assets – and more – out there in a way that makes it easy for the buyer to buy, effective branding is a major help. Placing its “special stuff” inside of a well named, graphically reinforced, tightly described and precisely targeted “brand” can make all of the difference. (2) Effective service branding involves a set of ideas and activities developed by a seller with three primary objectives in mind: create perceived value for it, associate specific attributes and qualities with it in the minds of buyers, and increase mindshare about it. These objectives are very practical because they all lead to increasing revenues from the branded service. Revenue can be increased via branding by successfully appealing to more buyers which will increase sales and allowing the seller to charge more for the service based on its perceived value over competitors. Branding can also help generate good leads. If prospects know about and respect the services, they are more likely to read the articles, accept the event invitations, or take the phone calls. Effective branding helps to grab attention and create a context for remembering the company and/or service. The name of the service, the graphic identifiers, the taglines that reinforce the key message, and the integrated ways in which the brand is seen in the market are all vital to the success of the business. When a buyer is attracted to the service, quickly understands it, relates its value to their business problem, and sees themselves as the beneficiary of the value proposition, you have a winning situation in hand. Buyers are looking for services firms to do what they say they're going to do. When a company, such as Clear & SIMPLE, brands in a way that buyers value what it has to offer, it can command a premium for its services. Of course, branding alone does not build a service, but it is a key, and often an overlooked component. If a buyer believes they are going to receive great value, quality deliverables, risk reduction, and savvy experts, it will beat the lowest price just about every time. Done well, services are not a commodity and effective branding will always help companies stand out in the market space as a differentiated alternative. Conclusion Since Clean & SIMPLE has the challenge of marketing an intangible service, the best approach is looking at what it does have, rather than what it doesn’t. It needs to establish the key selling points of its proposition or define the offer up front and include what people will be most interested in. Defining the interests of its target groups and establishing an offering that relates to those interests is key. Effective branding can help Clear & SIMPLE stand above the crowd of competitors as it creates real clarity and drives differentiation, sharpens the focus on targeting and finding the “right buyers”, strengthens and unifies key messages about the service – and company, creates synergy inside the business among sales, marketing and delivery resources, drives new business and profitable growth, creates additional value for the company, and is a very powerful asset. The future is here and the world of marketing has shifted greatly in the last few years. The technology advances that have been made create a whole new marketing opportunity. Some companies are all over these marketing tactics already. Blogging, twittering, podcasting, social networking, email marketing, and video marketing are becoming more the media of marketing. Clear & SIMPLE shouldn’t forget the great marketing strategies it is using already as it can’t leave behind the old ways that work, but the move towards technology based marketing is approaching fast. Companies must take what has worked in the past and adapt those techniques and principles to the new age of marketing. Tammie Swanson October 2011 References: (1) clearsimple.com (2) marketing.about.com/cs/brandmktg/a/whatisbranding.htm