Q: My start-up offers business to business services and I want to know more about various marketing strategies that I can use to grow my business. Are there any books that I can read on this subject?
—R Pinto
There are a number of great books written in recent times that can give you an in-depth understanding of this new way of marketing.
Here are some of my favourites:
The 1 Minute Marketing Plan by Allan Dib: As much as entrepreneurs hate writing business and marketing plans, this book can change your mind about not writing one. It’s simple to read and outlines the process in which you can literally have your entire marketing plan on 1 page by dividing it into 9 squares. Allan goes into great detail on how to build a marketing plan in a step by step process which is easy to understand and even simpler to write.
Impossible to Ignore by Carmen Simon: Today’s digital world is a very crowded space and it’s becoming more and more challenging to stand out in a way that you will be remembered as most people will forget 90% of what you are trying to communicate. Enter Ms. Simon who offers a great three step plan which helps you deliver the right amount of content which makes your marketing message memorable. Her book has a number of detailed real life case studies which support her ideas and you will also find a very useful checklist for creating memorable content.
Aligned to Achieve by Tracy Eiler and Andrea Austin: We have all heard the horror stories about how sales thinks one way and marketing thinks the other. This misalignment of these thoughts between the 2 most critical arms of a business often lead to a failure of the marketing strategy and the ultimate demise of the brand or business. The internet has changed the way in which customers look for solutions to their problems. Today customers will first educate themselves online and will only contact the company at the very end when they are about to make a buying decision. Hence sales teams need more help from marketing in creating meaningful content in order to help potential buyers make their decision. A perfect alignment between sales and marketing leads to accelerated business growth and faster revenue generation making this book a must read.
Driving Demand by Carlos Hidalgo: One of the greatest challenges for entrepreneurs is how to create demand for their start-up’s new products and services. Ideally all marketing activities that create awareness and interest in your product and services should be covered in your demand generation plan. The book outlines how customers are becoming more modern and sophisticated in their approach and most marketing efforts are failing to keep up resulting in a failed business strategy. A complete change in thinking and strategy are required in order to adapt to a modern business demand approach. Carlos presents a very specific road map for implementing change at the grassroot levels of the organization in order for the sales teams and their revenues to take off. He writes about the importance of how and why marketing needs to be more focused on customer needs rather than talking about the brand and company. Here are a few more books worth reading on the subject: Will it Fly? by Thomas K McKnight; The Power of Broke by Daymond John (one of the Sharks from the Tv show Shark Tank) and Millionaire Marketing on a Shoestring Budget by Debra Jason. Happy Reading!
Q: I have collected a lot of luxury goods over the years, some I have used and some are still new. I wanted to start a business of selling these goods, would this be a good start-up business idea? What would you advise?
— L Pereira
This has always been a great business idea and you might be surprised to know that there are already a handful of start-ups that are doing very well in this space which deals with buying and selling of used luxury brands in clothing, accessories and watches. People generally shy away from buying second hand or used items but this is not the case when it comes to luxury goods. Brand new luxury goods are out of reach for most middle class people but there is a high level of aspiration and desire to own them and hence they don’t seem to mind if the goods are lightly used and in good condition. The big value proposition comes when these items are available at half price or less making them a very attractive buy. Just imagine owning and wearing a 2 lakh rupee James Bond Omega watch for only 75,000 rupees. While there is a lot of opportunity in this space, there are also some pitfalls. One of the biggest is dealing with fakes. The market is flooded with fake goods, especially those made in Hong Kong and China. Before putting up an item for sale, it must be put through an extensive and detailed check to verify its authenticity. Everything from product barcodes to stitching pattern to labels to quality of material used needs to be checked thoroughly in order to certify that the item is an original. The age and physical condition of the item also determine its salable value and the biggest demand is for items that have been used only once and twice and look as good as new. Before you launch your business, it would be best to research some existing start-ups in this space and learn from what they are already doing well.
Here are details of some of the existing start-ups in the used luxury goods business.
Coutloot: Founded in 2015, this start-up deals with brands in an affordable price range. They focus on clothing and handbags and carry a large variety of brands with an average price of 750 to 1000 rupees.
Elanic: Founded is 2015, their top selling brands include Zara, Mango and Forever 21. Their average ticket price is Rupees 600 and they charge a simple 10% commission on each sale from the seller.
Zapyle: Founded in 2015, it deals with high end brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Furia. Their average selling price for an item is rupees 12000.
Confidential Couture: Founded in 2014, their top selling luxury brands include Fendi, Gucci and Michael Kors. The average ticket price is rupees 25,000 per item. Finally there is a unique start-up called It’s My Time which deals with new and used luxury watches for both men and women. Their top selling watches include Rolex, Omega, Rado and Tag Heuer with an average price range of only 30,000 to 50,000 rupees. These prices are a bargain as the starting price for a new watch from these brands is over Rupees 1 lakh. It seems people use only 20% of the clothes in their closet 80% of the times and the other 80% is used perhaps once or twice and is just lying there waiting to be sold. Time to cash in your old to make way for the new. In this case, almost new. All the best.
