The Best Time To Change - When You Don't Need To

By Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter

It's that time of year - I can almost guarantee I'll get at least one phone call from a panic-stricken local biz owner needing help RIGHT NOW to CHANGE their whole marketing strategy because they're in trouble. They're in the fourth quarter and their numbers are down, down, down. They'll want magic and want it quick...and want it cheap, thank you (You charge how much, Mary? But I can get free help at the University! Click.)

Even if I had a magic wand - it takes a while for any marketing strategy to work - and it's certainly not going to save you by year-end, if you've not even thought about change until October.  But, some people realize the time to change is when they don't have to (and they still have profits and customers.) 

For example:  the designer, Eileen Fisher.  She's going after a younger crowd - but it's not the usual mindless devotion to younger women demographics.  She's also keeping her "old" clothing pieces. 

Ms. Fisher has a loyal following of "moderately affluent middle-aged women" (as the NYT puts it) but she also has a problem (real or perceived - but in marketing perception is reality.)

In the new Off Broadway show, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” written by Nora and Delia Ephron, a character muses, “When you start wearing Eileen Fisher, you might as well say, ‘I give up.’ ”

It's a funny line - but it's also targeted to the New York crowd.  Here in Albuquerque, Eileen Fisher still plays just fine - and we've not given up (even as our waistline seems to be giving out...)  And, I take exception to the following as well.

but for the fashion-conscious, Eileen Fisher clothes had as much style and shape as a burqa. To them, the line was designed for graying bobos who dabbled in ceramics and had lifetime subscriptions to The New Yorker.

See? Perception.  And, what is fashion-conscious these days?  If it's 51-year-old Madonna running around in rabbit ears...well, hand me the burqa.

Fisher is making significant changes but she's not throwing out everything (including a loyal customer base) and starting over.  Instead, she's looking for new ways to mix in what she already offered with some new pieces - reflecting how today's woman really shops (regardless of age). They did some market research - “We were surprised at the eclectic way that people were putting things together,” Ms. Fisher said. “We discovered that they are the same shoppers who may buy a jacket from Chanel and a tank top from Target.”

Ah. Well, I've been doing "eclectic" for years - one of my favorite jackets came from Goodwill...and my "magic black pants" (really, they don't care what I weigh) came from Target. Then I mix in a bit of the old, expensive stuff, from scarves to blouses.

It seems she's on the right track (although the new ads of glowering young women don't do much for me). 

"Susan G., a 50-something self-professed Fisher devotee...seemed tickled at the SoHo store to find that “the clothes still look sleek, clean and comfortable.'

'They don’t yell at you,” she said, “and they haven’t changed enough to put anybody off.'

That last quote should hanging on the wall of any marketer working with established products. Not yelling - what a concept.

Comments

[Natalie MacNeil]

Ah the joys of being in the marketing industry...

This made my day :)