Page 95 - 100 Great Marketing Ideas (100 Great Ideas)

digital—few film cameras are still available, and even the films can
be hard to find.

Kodak therefore went into the printer business, producing photo-
quality printers for home photography. In 2007, the company
launched its EasyShare 5300 all-in-one printer. It will print ordinary
documents on ordinary paper and photographs on photographic
paper, and it will work as a photocopier and as a scanner. It can even
connect wirelessly to the computer so that the printer need not be in
the same room as the computer.

Where Kodak really pulled off a revolution was in the pricing
structure, however. The printer is relatively expensive compared
with other printers, but the ink cartridges are extremely long-lasting
and relatively cheap, so the running costs of the EasyShare are much
less than those of other printers. To get the message across, Kodak
put its own salespeople in computer stores to explain the advantages
of buying a more expensive printer: eventually the company expects
that word of mouth will take over as the main promotional plank.

In practice

• Remember that customers are not stupid: they understand a

great many of the ploys marketers use, and see them as just
that—ploys.

• If you are planning anything that lies outside normal practice in

your industry, you need to be prepared to put time, effort, and
money into informing customers.

• Word of mouth can be encouraged by doing something radical,

but the best way of encouraging it is to have a good, effective
product and an honest relationship with your customers.

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