Marketing to the Regions
by Rosemary Walton
Our recent farce of a general election, where the bottom half of the UK turned blue and the top half red and yellow with some orange dotted around in between, brought it home to me how different the UK is and how we have gone back more to being four separate countries more than any time in our recent past. This has implications for us as marketers I believe that we need to take into account more.
Having spent the run up to, and the actual election, in Scotland it proved a very interesting experience. Travelling up through the country from Cambridgeshire – true blue agricultural East Anglia – into Yorkshire, Cumbria and then most of the length of Scotland, the blue conservative banners disappeared and the yellow banners (not of the Lib Dems) but of the SNP, started to appear everywhere. Talking to Scottish friends, they feel very nationalistic and have no interest at all about what goes on in Westminster, identifying very strongly with the SNP and indeed that was borne out in the actual election result.
In the 12 years I have been going up there every year, it was more evident this year than in any other, as was the fact that despite devolution and the better deal we think the Scots get than us English in a lot of areas, Scotland has been hit particularly hard by the recession. The places we visit every year were quieter with less tourists than at any time during the last 12 years. The shops were quiet too and many more empty boarded up shops had appeared since last year. Counselling shop owners in the high street in Fort William under the shadow of Ben Nevis, they told me that the council had trebled the rents, so what hope did they have of surviving.
Added to that the price of petrol is more expensive than in England, despite the fact they have the oil! Scottish people often have to drive long distances to work every day along rural roads and, with a poor public transport system, have no choice but to drive. The price of meat is more expensive, despite the fact they have huge swathes of rural areas where farming cattle and sheep are the key industries. Many rural communities have no access to Gas and electricity is the only very expensive alternative. Our electricity bill for our lodge was £60 for heat and hot water, just for one week! I commented to my husband that even with our relatively comfortable salaries, we couldn’t afford to live in Scotland even if we wanted to!
And the colder weather means you have to use more electricity for heating. Despite it being May, they are only just seeing the first signs of spring in Scotland, there is still a lot of snow about, the daffodils have only just come out and the lambs have only just been born. There is just no option to turn the heating down and put more jumpers on – it is just too cold.
While those of us who work in the world of fashion marketing are busy promoting summer clothing, shorts, t-shirts and swimwear, people north of the border are still buying jumpers, coats, gloves and scarves and summer has not even featured on their horizon.
I think as marketers we often suffer from the same mailaise as politicians and think that the centre of the universe is London and the south and that the same rules apply everywhere else in the UK, treating it as one homogenous group.
But what can we do to be less southern centric and recognise and embrace the differences the UK provides, culturally, economically and environmentally?
Well, the first thing is to ensure you have a robust online offering and delivery system that encompasses rural areas and communities. Increasingly, this is becoming a lifeline to many that cannot easily access the things they want to buy by other means, either because any decent shops are too far away, or they just can’t get the choice. However, even for those with broadband, the signal in the remote areas is often not strong, so making your website easy to access and not having images that take ages to download is also vital.
Visiting a disabled friend who is confined to a wheelchair and lives in Nairn, just south of Inverness, his radio is his lifeline,
So that's where Nairn is
which he listens to through his computer, but it kept going silent at regular intervals due to the poor signal. He was very excited because Nairn was about to get its first ever decent supermarket – a Sainsbury’s. The next nearest decent size supermarket is a Tesco on the outskirts of Inverness. During the winter he was housebound for large periods of time as he literally couldn’t go out in the snow and ice in his wheelchair and didn’t know what he would have done without Tesco’s online food order and direct delivery service.
As marketers we all know the importance of tailoring our message dependent on what customer segment we are talking to but have we ever thought about tailoring our message and indeed our language, dependent on which area of the country we are talking to people in? The Scots are sometimes seen as being very dour, no wonder after all of the above is taken into account. But, in fact, they are just plain talking and no nonsense and do not respond well to patronising or flowery language. Maybe get a Scottish copywriter to write for Scottish audience and a Welsh copywriter to write for a Welsh audience for example.
By all means market summer clothes to them in May, as they may be lucky enough to be going on holiday, but make sure you give them an option to still buy winter woollies as well if they are not.
So next time you are putting together your next promotion, think about where it will be appearing as well as who it will be going to and consider if you need to tailor your message, or offer accordingly.
Tags: Conservatives, Copywriter, Direct Marketing Agency, Direct Response Advertising Agency, Election Campaign, Fashion Advertising, General Election 2010, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Local Area Marketing, Manchester Advertising Agency, Marketers, Marketing Agency, Online Marketing Agency, PPC Agency, Regional Advertising Agency, Regional Marketing, Regional Marketing Campaign, SEO Company
