What Downturn?
There’s always a portion of the community who are not affected by any economic downturn.
I’ve been told by those who should know that the figure is around 25 percent of the population.
So even in times when economic news is gloomy, there are plenty of affluent spenders who really don’t change what they do.
They’re the ultimate customers for many businesses: and of course you must work at maintaining your relationship with these customers, don’t just ignore them once they come your way.
And you never know how they’ll pop up.
Did you see the news last week about the plan for Palazzo Versace in Dubai to have the world’s first refrigerated beach? No kidding!
Case in point: there was a story in yesterday’s Herald Sun about Victoria’s most pamerpered pooch.
Ariel’s 25 year old owner Winnie estimates spending $200,000 on the dog over six years. When you read the story, he really is pampered … from $500 Gucci dog collars to his owner buying a Mini Cooper convertible car so he could enjoy the wind in his hair on nice days when they went to the park or out to dog-friendly restaurants.
A $37,000 to $47,000 open top Mini Cooper … the ultimate dog accessory in this case!
If you were selling Mini Coopers or had a dog-friendly outdoor area at your restaurant … you’d actually be in the business of selling dog accessories! But you might never know that before Ariel’s high-spending owner walked in to your business.
(I’ll leave out the stupid part of the article where the newspaper asks the opinion of readers about the owner spending this much money on her dog … that’s up to her, not us to judge!)
So … what kind of affluent buyers can you attract to your business? How well do you know your market, what new prospects can you target?
See my Copy Tip 2 for a bit more on knowing your prospect — you might identify some high-spending potential prospects like this example here!
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5 Responses to “What Downturn?”
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Nice post – wish I had a few more of the affluent spenders. The downturn has been noticeable this year (my market is global). So yes, more niche marketing is the way to go!!
A series of caricatures could definitely be an upmarket dog accessory (for wall framing or in an upmarket album like used in wedding photography)!
In this case, caricatures of the dog in the car, on the football field with the Ronaldo outfit on, in a kimono, plenty more …
Turn them into gift cards, framed shots, screen savers, personalised Australia Post stamps, key rings, printed dinner plates and coffee mugs (all the stuff you can do at cafepress.com!)… either through providing those services or via a partnership deal — using the finest framing services, albums etc. and delivered with black tie, white glove 5-star service!
Even if you don’t provide the services directly, you could prepare electronic versions of the caricature file “ready to use” at the correct size for each service … fulfilling all the ways people use your caricatures once they have them … good, low-cost, high-value add on as most people don’t know how to do that (and mostly for you it’s just a few saved actions in Photoshop to output the various sizes!)
yes we provide a range of optional products in addition to the digital versions – many of those you mention. Framing is by far the most popular, but this year using the caricatures as Greeting Cards (printed via our print partner) were quite popular.
for dog collars, i think the best one are those leather dog collars::’