As for most marketers, the last year or so hasn’t been exactly magical for Fairytale Brownies. Still, thanks to a plan of targeted marketing and budget cuts, the cataloger projects a 5% increase in sales for the year.
“One challenge is to keep our business customers giving,” says David Kravetz, catalog and Web team leader. “What we’re finding is that businesses are trading down to smaller gifts, but they’re still sending. Service-oriented firms like dentists or lawyers might not do a lot of advertising, so holiday gifts are their big ‘thank you.’ ”
To help encourage this, Fairytale Brownies is using catalog copy to sell value and benefits, where in the past it might have focused more on the product flavors. Along these lines, cover callouts call attention to things like “30 Gifts for Under $30.”
Revenue-wise, the business is about 45% B-to-B and 55% consumer; 25% of the catalog circ goes to businesses and 75% to consumers. For fall 2009, the company has cut page count from 28 to 24 and is reducing prospecting circulation. “But we will be mailing more to our core customers, with a short-term focus on profitability rather than growth,” Kravetz says, adding that last year a book-size trim to 7.5 by 10.5 inches resulted in a $12,000 paper savings.
Fairytale Brownies’ fiscal year begins July 1. The company expects to drop 1.5 million catalogs in the fall, and another 300,000 next spring. The company has a 40,000-name housefile.
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