Know-How Exchange : Branding

Sounds like an interesting idea at first -- it is inventive -- to apply a country club style model to a frozen yogurt establishment -- however, I don't know if it would be practical and might be off-putting or even seem like a barrier to many of your potential customers -- especially at first. Maybe tailor the exclusivity member idea to a fancy loyalty card and promote the pros of the loyalty card much in the same way country clubs promote their membership programs. Make the card and promotional material fancy and elegant and communicate exclusivity but don't fully exclude potential new customers.

Seem you are limiting yourself with such a kind of action. The thing you need at the launching stage is to trigger trial usage as much as you can before thinking of kind of loyalty club. The difference lies in the product taste as well as your own shop. And PR is a perfect tool to let people know about your shop with "extremely good yogurt ice cream".

Good luck to you.

Hello, I tend to agree with the above comments regarding setting yourself up with an "exclusive" (ie; eliminating to some) strategy -- especially in the early stages. I believe the people with come and they will buy if you offer great product, excellent customer service (lacking in so many other places) and perhaps if you could highlight the Yogurt factor (lactose-free?). I know several people who are lactose intolerant and they will go ANYwhere (and pay anything!) to buy good quality yogurt.
Good luck on your venture!

Hi there,

I hope I can share some of my thoughts with you on this.

First of all, you are entering a very competitive market here and I agree that you need something different to stand out (be it communication channels or exclusive product quality), but the way you are approaching this is a bit risky.

You are talking about members and cardholders, shop memebership etc. but you are yogurt maker, not an airline. Its a yogurt shop and its FMCG industry, meaning it moves fast, people buy it and consume it that way. I have an image of your shop in my mind with all the shop members gathering there to enjoy yogurt :) its like that film Chocolat where it becomes sinful to indulge oneself in the taste of chocolate so they do it by hiding away in some discreet places :) where only chosen one can come and join in.

I understand your desire for 'exclusive' product but you are narrowing down your target market and loosing out on many potential customers. You can communicate 'exclusivity' in other ways, remaining available to everyone and building a strong brand. Exclusive brands are not neccessarily best selling brands. You need to sell a lot to turn it into a strong brand, you need to raise awareness, you need to create brand associations.

I dont see why advertising is not as good as PR for enhancing the brand and stronger positioning. Both of these plus all your other communication tactics should be integrated in enhancing your brand. M&S Food in the UK, completely transformed the brand's image from 'so and so' food to the best quality supermarket food. Advertising can do wonders, depending on how big your budget is, and it can do wonders for enhancing your brand equity.

Even Hagen Dazs, the premium brand is not THAT exclusive. Anyone can go in and buy it, no membership is needed, no invitation or anything. Your strategy should be,in my opinion, an exclusive product quality from which you can build on a stronger brand. This of your brand as a person and what kind of person you want to create. Exclusive, distant, unapproachable, judgmenta, arrogant... or exlcusive but friendly, approachable and easy to get on with, classy but down to earth....? :)

I hope this helps a little. The thing is you can do whatever you think is right, even if everyone disagrees with you, and you may get it right but it is about taking the risk. No risk no profit.

I hope this helps a little.
Regards,
Emi

OK, here's a thought. EXCLUSIVITY IS GREAT. Just not the way you're doing it (in my opinion).

How about doing a pre-launch campaign of delivering your ice cream to 100 influencers in your community -- sports, entertainment (radio), lifestyle TV -- and to a very small (like one or two) clubs under the campaign, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT YET.

Every touch point counts here: who delivers it, what they look like, how they dress, and what they say when they deliver it, how they get past gatekeepers and how you follow up. You want these people to talk about it and keep ordering it. So make it very easy for them to get it.

This is low budget -- you need a few (very good looking) people to deliver, you need a delivery vehicle that says, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT YET, and you need some peripheral PR. Get the DJ's and other media you sample to give you free on air mentions (just cross your fingers and ask for it. Have you ever seen a DJ? They like things like ice cream).

We did this delivering a very expensive personal communications device to CXO level officers in F500 companies inside a 100 lbs. safe, got past gatekeepers (we worked with the admins and had identical twin male models delivering)... and had a 30% success rate. Delivering a 100 lbs safe, into a C-level office, less than a year after 9/11 in New York and NJ.

You get the idea and I'm sure you can flesh this out to put more arms and legs on it. Don't limit your paying customers' ability to give you money. But the exclusivity thing is great.

Good luck!

Apart from PR, do a co promotion with another already established exclusive brand- could be in apparel, electronics or food. Just ensure that the retail outlet of that brand is close to your retail outlet. Offer an ice cream tasting session ( similar to wine and cheese tasting) and put in a discounted entry fee for the brand buyers.

Alternatively tie up with some art/ sculpture gallery/ exclusive high end gym and do the same.

You could also do some Direct Marketing through Credit Cards- offering a icecream free for a couple provided the amount is swiped in the Card- to keep it exclusive do the tie up for the premium cards only.