While shopping for bedding for her daughter’s room, avant-garde children’s clothing designer Erin Murphy was appalled by the complete lack of unique, designer quality bedding for children. She solved this dilemma by creating her own original, limited edition bedding sets from her personal designs.
This, however, created a whole new challenge: how to market these highly specialized designer originals to the appropriately appreciative audience.
When Erin presented to me her predicament, I immediately set the following objectives to best introduce this unique concept to discerning shoppers:
- Develop and “package” an identity and positioning for Lulu Bedding that emphasized its quality and exclusivity.
- Brand the identity visually and in copy to complement the preciousness of the product.
- Define a unique selling proposition (USP) to set the distinctive Lulu Bedding designs apart from more familiar, mass-produced, run-of-the-mill bedding.
- Enhance the desirability of the product to justify its high-end cost.
- Include a valuable offer to encourage response.
Erin already had access to a strong potential audience through her children’s clothing website, www.babylulu.com. My CDMG team and I determined that by 1) developing a bedding website linked to her clothing site, then 2) utilizing the most advanced search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM), Erin would be able to reach both current customers already intrigued with her original fabric and clothing designs and potential customers seeking similar products.
Drawing from their tested and proven proprietary V.I.V.A. (Valuable Information, Value Added) direct marketing system, my team and I went to work to design a bedding website that was able tot stand on its own, yet complement the Baby Lulu clothing site.
The typestyle, the soft lavender color and the read-friendly page layout all worked together to emulate and showcase the products. Photos of Erin with her daughter were used to help establish her personality and credibility.
CMDG created a compelling ‘insider-like’ message/theme, which spoke to discriminating shoppers willing to pay higher prices for high quality, unique products. We developed a persuasive direct response copy tone and a friendly, reassuring design to draw readers into the message and the products.
Rather than downplay the expensive price, I recommended utilizing it as a strength the line, “We’d rather explain the price than make excuses for the quality.” That USP underscored the product positioning with an attitude that respected the audience and their preference for top quality and exclusivity over discount pricing.
The website content was designed to both inform and education potential customers as to the exceedingly high standards Erin Murphy set for her products’ design, materials, and production. The warm and inviting message, written in her voice, created a work picture that was at once persuasive and reassuring.
The direct response copy added value and enriched the website content, further establishing Erin’s credibility as well as discriminating taste. The content-rich site included in-depth product information, helpful decorating tips, an educational explanation of the unique production process, and testimonials from satisfied mothers.
In keeping with the V.I.V.A. marketing system, not one but the following two valuable offers were included to overcome skepticism and encourage sales:
- A $25 “instant” gift certificate
- An added bonus of free Baby Lulu sleepwear
The clothing bonus also served to cross-promote Erin’s new line of baby sleepwear to customers.
Knowing it would be a huge challenge, CDMG eagerly embraced the opportunity to establish an identity for, and market, this unknown, high-priced brand.
Positioning Lulu products as the “Rolls Royce” of bedding, our targeted marketing and adherence to direct marketing principles then worked to persuade thousands of quality-seeking bedding buyers to visit and use the website.
In spite of prices ranging from 600-800% more than bedding found in department stores, Erin was able to turn her website visitors into customers and cross-promote her other exclusive products at the same time.
Want the same kind of success as BabyLulu.com? Call me at (310) 793-8647 or email me at [email protected].
