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He recommends that Davern use market data on girls' greater spending power, growing action-sports participation and the sales pace for Cool Girl boards at those shops that do carry Davern's products. It wouldn't hurt to mention that Lyons' new apparel line, Sk8Grl, sold 3,000 units to 100 stores this month, its first, without any advance marketing.
"You are going to be hard-pressed to find a manager or owner of any retailer that will turn down something that's going to sell," says Spencer, public relations director for Imagine Marketing Agency, an action-sports consulting firm. Davern has already taken a number of steps that Spencer says he usually recommends to clients.
Davern has a related music-oriented site and a MySpace presence. He works with a pro skater and has his own team of young skaters. And he covers girls' skateboarding as a whole on his site, not just his team.
To accomplish his next goal, building wholesale sales to skate shops, Davern should turn over all wholesale business to his distributor, Spencer says. This would free up time to market via the distributor's e-mail list to shop managers and owners and work more closely with the distributor's sales team and the retailers.
Spencer suggests that Davern pull together a concise marketing e-mail message with numbers, a photo of Lyons in action and appropriate links.
If Davern signs an agreement with VK Skateboard Distribution to relinquish wholesale sales, owner Ryan Marshall has said he would be willing to let Davern use his large e-mail database for marketing messages.
"Frank obviously should have control of image and the marketing stuff, but Ryan's input and his sales guys' input on what's making the product move is very important as well," Spencer says. An e-mail blast would work better than sending postcards through the mail, Spencer says.
"I'm not a fan of mass mailings," he says. "Too often they are not opened by the shop owner and are, unfortunately, considered junk mail."
He also advises Davern not to focus on sending printed promotional material with a shop's skateboard order.
In the typical scenario, a young guy in the back of the shops is opening the boxes as fast as possible so he can get out to skate, Spencer says. Expensive promotional materials can get lost in the shuffle.
A better use of Davern's resources would be to create more point-of-purchase promotional items to send to shops, Spencer says. Posters, key chains and other goodies will get the Cool Girl name in front of skate-shop buyers and shoppers, he says.
Spencer also suggests that Davern strengthen his ties with skate shops by offering in-store product demonstrations, appearances by Lyons and participation in the Cool Girl-sponsored parties and community service events the company already does. Lastly, Spencer recommends that Davern boost his ties with his distributor's sales team while understanding that their roles are different.
"They are sales guys; they are not marketing guys," he says. "It's not their job to worry about image. Their job is to clock orders." Raising the bar with sales incentives, or even just handing out holiday gifts, will keep his brand in front of the sales team. Overall, Davern was pleased with Spencer's input. "I've already got several good ideas I'm working on after our talks," Davern says.
Spencer acknowledges that Davern is battling on more fronts than the average manufacturer to get his goods into the hands of customers. But he's confident that the walls thrown up by a mind-set that says girls can't skate or don't want their own gear are slowly coming down.
"Once buyers realize there is a want for this product, a more feminine skateboard product, as [the demand] grows, they can't deny the growth," Spencer says.
cyndia.zwahlen@latimes.com
"You are going to be hard-pressed to find a manager or owner of any retailer that will turn down something that's going to sell," says Spencer, public relations director for Imagine Marketing Agency, an action-sports consulting firm. Davern has already taken a number of steps that Spencer says he usually recommends to clients.
Davern has a related music-oriented site and a MySpace presence. He works with a pro skater and has his own team of young skaters. And he covers girls' skateboarding as a whole on his site, not just his team.
To accomplish his next goal, building wholesale sales to skate shops, Davern should turn over all wholesale business to his distributor, Spencer says. This would free up time to market via the distributor's e-mail list to shop managers and owners and work more closely with the distributor's sales team and the retailers.
Spencer suggests that Davern pull together a concise marketing e-mail message with numbers, a photo of Lyons in action and appropriate links.
If Davern signs an agreement with VK Skateboard Distribution to relinquish wholesale sales, owner Ryan Marshall has said he would be willing to let Davern use his large e-mail database for marketing messages.
"Frank obviously should have control of image and the marketing stuff, but Ryan's input and his sales guys' input on what's making the product move is very important as well," Spencer says. An e-mail blast would work better than sending postcards through the mail, Spencer says.
"I'm not a fan of mass mailings," he says. "Too often they are not opened by the shop owner and are, unfortunately, considered junk mail."
He also advises Davern not to focus on sending printed promotional material with a shop's skateboard order.
In the typical scenario, a young guy in the back of the shops is opening the boxes as fast as possible so he can get out to skate, Spencer says. Expensive promotional materials can get lost in the shuffle.
A better use of Davern's resources would be to create more point-of-purchase promotional items to send to shops, Spencer says. Posters, key chains and other goodies will get the Cool Girl name in front of skate-shop buyers and shoppers, he says.
Spencer also suggests that Davern strengthen his ties with skate shops by offering in-store product demonstrations, appearances by Lyons and participation in the Cool Girl-sponsored parties and community service events the company already does. Lastly, Spencer recommends that Davern boost his ties with his distributor's sales team while understanding that their roles are different.
"They are sales guys; they are not marketing guys," he says. "It's not their job to worry about image. Their job is to clock orders." Raising the bar with sales incentives, or even just handing out holiday gifts, will keep his brand in front of the sales team. Overall, Davern was pleased with Spencer's input. "I've already got several good ideas I'm working on after our talks," Davern says.
Spencer acknowledges that Davern is battling on more fronts than the average manufacturer to get his goods into the hands of customers. But he's confident that the walls thrown up by a mind-set that says girls can't skate or don't want their own gear are slowly coming down.
"Once buyers realize there is a want for this product, a more feminine skateboard product, as [the demand] grows, they can't deny the growth," Spencer says.
cyndia.zwahlen@latimes.com
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