|
Interestingly, Toscanini notes the full-page ads often get up-front right-hand page placement without paying a premium. She explains, "Fortunately for us, our ads being full pages with great images often get great placement."
Sure Fit's space ads are purely for catalog requests. "We haven't sold any product directly," says Toscanini. The complexity of buying slipcovers (i.e., colors, fabrics, sizing) has so far negated that possibility, she notes. "There's some question as to how we would do that since our customers want selection above all else, and you can only show so much product [in an ad]," Toscanini says. "Ours is definitely a two-step buying process."
DRTV in the Mix
Sure Fit spends another $5 million annually on DRTV. "We started with 30-second spots on HGTV. Now we run 60-second and 120-second ads on all the major, national cable programs, and they both perform well," says Toscanini. The company also does some regional buys where it has a retail presence.
Since direct response air time is contingent upon availability, Sure Fit doesn't get its pick of time slots. However, she says, the company also buys some program-specific space, for instance, on television's "The View," a weekday morning women's program, when it's available.
From a creative standpoint, the TV ads focus squarely on the product and the catalog. The catalog itself is featured prominently throughout a recently viewed 60-second spot, which was created by Direct Response Media.
The all-important call to action in this first step of a two-step sales process urges the viewer to dial the 800 number shown on the screen to get a free catalog. Sure Fit's Web address also is shown on screen.
The Internet's Promise
The Internet is the newest element in Sure Fit's regular prospecting mix. "We know that 99 percent of the people who come to our site order a catalog," says Toscanini.
"The Internet is our newest lead-generation tool," she continues. "We're only spending about $300,000 on it now, but we're looking to do more online, because it has such a low cost per lead."
So far, says Toscanini, the Internet isn't bringing in much unique business; it's primarily used by customers as an ordering tool. However, she sees some real potential there since 40 percent of the company's' direct sales now are coming in via the Web site, www.surefit.com.
To bring some new prospects to the site, Sure Fit placed traffic-building banner ads on targeted Web sites like clubmom.com. The first test took place between June 11 and July 11. While online has a lower cost per lead, the back-end results seem to be weaker, too, Toscanini admits. However, she adds, "It's still too early to see the whole picture."
As she explains, "We're still collecting orders from one-time catalog request fulfillment. I expect to generate additional orders with subsequent catalog mailings [to those names]."
The Future
Sure Fit considers its venture into catalog marketing a success on two fronts: It's generating sales—the average order value from the catalogs is $145—and the catalog profits are feeding back into the main business to create a synergistic marketing loop.
"We take our catalog profits, which are of a fairly high margin, and reinvest them in media buys that boost general awareness of the product, boost retail sales and lead to more catalog requests," Toscanini explains. She says that's Shlensky's business philosophy.
Toscanini considers the close channel integration a good thing. "This allows us to avoid channel conflict. The synergy [among the various media] is unbelievable," she asserts. "We know when we drop 3 million catalogs four times a year, point-of-sale retail skyrockets." Similarly, she says, online activity generally spikes when magazines drop and when TV ads run.
Meanwhile, other media that Sure Fit has tested haven't performed as well. "We tried a couple of card packs with no success. And we tested newspaper advertising, with so-so results."
That doesn't mean Toscanini won't explore other avenues in the future. In fact, last month it made its first foray into prospecting via list rentals. The first test mailing dropped Aug. 4 and was targeted to upscale home furnishings catalog buyers.
While a prospect mailing in the early days of the catalog failed, Toscanini has high hopes this time. "When we originally started our catalog, it was only 16 pages, and we did a little list buying. It didn't do well, so we went with advertising for leads."
Now with an established catalog of 44 pages, she says, "I believe at this point, buying lists has the potential to work for us."
Still, Sure Fit will continue to put most of its focus on the media that has worked for it in the past. "I'm a big believer in low-hanging fruit: Grab it where you can get it," Toscanini says.
Page 1 | 2
Companies Mentioned:
 |
|
