How to plan for a national marketing campaign?

[Faith28]

I'm looking at getting my games to a bookshop with a national chain of stores throughout the UK. There are over 200 or so of them.

I have just spoken with their buyer and I wondered what would happen to the games if they are stocked in the store. If there is no awareness no one will buy and the games will be just a one hit wonder.

To create recurring sales how can I create a marketing plan that will ensure
1) greater awareness
2) loyal customers that will buy in these stores.

I know that the website www.top-careers.co.uk definitely needs to be utilised better.

Also I would like to build long term relationships with journalists in the national papers.

Has anyone got any advice before I venture into the Yetis wonderland :D

[Stephen Berry]

one thing which has worked for me - and I think it is transferrable to your cards .... I have a 'which animal is your business?' quiz / assessment on the Serengeti site (do check it out www.StrategiesoftheSerengeti.com (http://www.StrategiesoftheSerengeti.com) ).
free (important), simple and quick (equally important) and anonymous (not collecting names to spam or appear to be doing so). 10,000 people who have never heard of me have done the quiz. It is (sometimes) sufficiently interesting that they ask their work colleagues to do it and compare results.

So ..... can there be a short, simple, anonymous use of your cards on-line which we can use, think 'that's interesting, I wonder what Bob / Bill / Bertha is?'.

probably won't have a high use-purchase conversion rate - but it depends on your aim - if it is 'awareness', this may be worth consideration.

[Faith28]

That was really good Stephen, I just tried the quiz too!! I'm a hippo :D

Interesting.

[BronwynDurand]

Hi
I'd advise getting some marketing advice from a professional (I have to advise that - its what I do!) even if its simply to brainstorm some ideas, and get a handle on what you can do for what budget, and how to manage the marketing that you do. Going national is quite a step, and you may be able to leverage things you have already done, or find some simple ways of experimenting with marketing ideas until you find something that works for you and properly supports the retailers. I'm pretty sure that they will want to be clear on what your marketing plan is before accepting you nationally. From a marketing perspective, it can be helpful to start out with a pilot in a limited area to establish marketing on a smaller scale as support before going national.

Its also crucial to coordinate your efforts with what you can actually support in the full marketing picture - including production and distribution, customer support and working with the retailers. PR will help down the line, but I think there are some more fundamental steps that will do a lot to get you to where you want to be.

I'd be pleased to help you.
Bronwyn

[Loppy42]

I think the most important thing is to take a bit of time to stand back and really think through all the options to include online marketing, PR, partnership marketing, advertising, direct mail, even if they don't seem obvious at first, and make sure that you are spending you money most effectively. No one thing will do it for you, it will need to be a combination approach, and so if you jump in feet first, you might end up wasting a lot of money.

You should already be able to demonstrate a certain demand for your games, and a well thought out marketing strategy, even if it hasn't been executed yet, will help to convince a retailer that the demand will be increasing.

If you would like some help, let me know. I have over 25 years experience in marketing and I am running my own business too, so know the ups and downs!

[Wavecrest Ltd]

I'm a hippo too! Better lay off the pies for a bit.

Glen

[Wild Goose]

I'm a hippo too! Better lay off the pies for a bit.

Glen

You should worry - I'm a damn warthog!!