Page 47 - Duct Tape Marketing

31Chapter 2: All About Customers

1. Track changes by distribution channel.

If you start to see one distribution channel decline radically, either you
need to give that channel more marketing attention or enhance another
channel to replace the distribution loss.

2. Compare percentage of sales to percentage of revenue from each
channel.

You can see which channels deliver higher-than-average and lower-than-
average income per unit sold. Channels that deliver lower-than-average
income per unit should involve lower-than-average marketing invest-
ment or they should deliver some alternative benefit to your business.
For example, in the case of the museum in Table 2-3, the tickets distrib-
uted through partnering businesses deliver lower-than-average revenue
and likely require a substantial marketing investment. Yet they introduce
new people to the museum and therefore cultivate membership sales,
donations, and word-of-mouth support.

3. Communicate with the decision makers in each distribution channel.

Once you know your channels and who influences each one, you know
exactly whom to contact with special promotional offers or marketing
information. For example, if school groups arrive at a museum because
the museum is on an approved list at the state’s education office, that
office is the decision point and it is where the museum would want to
direct marketing efforts. If they arrive because art or history teachers
make the choice, the museum would want to get information to art or
history teachers.

There’s an old, self-evident saying: “Without customers, a business is out of
business.”

When in doubt, spend more — not less — time defining, communicating with,
and nurturing your customers. The more you know about who they are,
where they are, and what motivates their buying decisions, the easier it is to
make marketing decisions that deliver positive results.