Are You Missing The Mark With Your Marketing Campaigns?

One the most important requirement of effective marketing in luxury or any other segment of the real estate field is researching the priority values of your target market before spending time or money. Do your homework and understand what makes your audience “tick”. Otherwise, you will miss your mark.

Here is an example of how a major company has misjudged the local values. This is reflected in their recent direct mail campaign.  Is convenience a priority value?  In some congested cities, home delivery of meal kit services is highly valued especially if they have limited access to fresh fare. This is not true in Santa Barbara from our perspective. 

Pictured above is the identical third marketing piece we received in the last 6 months from Blue Apron.  Blue Apron is one of several subscription based meal kit services. The brochure lures you with a $30 off card for 3 two-person dinner meals, ($9.99 per person) which would ordinarily run $59.94. This is a beautifully produced mini brochure.

We threw the first two out, and kept the last because it would illustrate the importance of knowing the people in your marketplace when planning a snail mail campaign. Whoever created this marketing piece did not do their homework, when it comes to the Santa Barbara County target market. 

Our County has Farmers Markets, 6 days a week on the coast.  In the inland wine country, there are several Farmers Markets each week, as well as farm direct stands.  This includes grass fed beef, poultry and lamb.  Our fishermen bring in fresh seafood daily.

The majority of the chefs shop at those venues, or have direct delivery from the farmers.  Our chefs focus on the farm to table concept, and locally sourced produce, meats, and seafood. One of the chefs in nearby Buellton limits his buying radius to 50 miles.

In the Blue Apron brochure, they emphasize their value with these words: “Get fresh, seasonal ingredients delivered right to you door.”  There is a big freshness differential between picking up vegetables that have been picked in the wee hours of that morning, versus those that have been delivered to a warehouse, put into a box and then sent to the customer.

Just for fun these last few months, Ron and I have been calculating our dinner meal expenses, and we keep paying less than the $19.98 price tag on average. Both of us are capable of reading a recipe.  There is an abundance of recipes on line.   We have also checked out one of the newest grocery stores with their ready fresh meals (organic and locally sourced). Like Blue Apron, they are “chef-designed, step-by-step recipes for each meal,” and their price tag is less than Blue Apron’s.  Thus far, we have not seen a single Blue Apron box delivered to our neighborhood, or in any other area in the county.

Are You Missing The Mark With Your Marketing Campaign?