Slendertone: Marketing Strategy


 


History:


            Slendertone was originally developed by a company called BMR Ltd. in 1966. The company moved from England to the tax-free zone in Shannon in 1988. BMR manufactured a range of Electronic Muscle stimulation devices under Slendertone and NueroTech brands, serving the cosmetic and medical markets respectively. Slendertone was available in over 40 countries by late 1980s. All international sales were being handled by small local distributors or companies with diverse product interests.  Kevin McDonnell was a creditor of BMR at the time of its liquidation; he had been supplying the company with printed circuit boards for four years. At the time of the company’s liquidation, he already learned something about the company’s operations. When he heard about the BMR’s liquidation, he immediately saw an opportunity. McDonnell continued to sell his products through distributors, many of them had previously worked with BMR. Over the next years, revenue grew gradually through increasing to distributors of the existing product range. reinvested all his earnings in the business. Research into biomedical technology, with a view to developing new products, consumed much of his limited investment resources. The production facilities also were being upgraded: The Company acquired a new and much larger factory in the Bunbeg industrial estate. McDonnell always believed that new product development was the key to future growth. By using distributors to develop export markets, he could focus his limited resources on developing better products.


 


 


 


Marketing Strategies:


 


1. Direct Marketing


            All sales of Slendertone were through distributors. By using distributors, the company believed it could develop new markets for Slendertone more cost-effectively and quickly. The company believed that small distributors could also generate sales quickly by using direct marketing. Direct marketing aims to improve the effectiveness of the company’s marketing campaign by recording and measuring the personal details of the customers and their behaviour. Direct marketing is the most cost-effective form of marketing. It allows the company to target customers with greater accuracy than any other method. 


 


2. Direct Response Television (DRTV)


            In the summer of 1995, a small cable television company agreed to broadcast a locally produced infomercial. The infomercial featured local celebrities and studio guests and adopted the French “Chat SB format” The success of the infomercial camp convinced the management that DRTV (Direct Response Television) was the best way to market Slendertone. The focus of sales strategy switched from developing local distributors to securing more DR television opportunities. Intensive research was undertaken to identify infomercial opportunities around the globe. Direct Response Television is a media activity that permits or requests consumers to directly respond to the advertiser.  DRTV is a medium that can show products actually in use. It combines the power of television with the precision of direct marketing techniques.


 


3. Customer Feedback


            Attitudes regarding the sensitive nature of the purchase were revealed in a focus group of Irish customers conducted in 1995. Some of the comments reflected initial doubt about the efficiency of the product but subsequent satisfaction. The research also revealed generally low long-term use of the product. Most consumers thought that the infomercial was very effective in explaining the product. Some found the TV presentation interesting and even entertaining. Customer feedback was an important marketing strategy of the company. Customer feedback is important in order to meet the needs of the customers. One of the best ways to find out what customers want is to ask them, like what Slendertone did. The company also made use of focus groups. Focus groups are usually 8-10 people that you gather to get their impressions of a product or service or idea. Customer feedback is a valuable source of information; essential for continuous improvement of the product.


 


4. Intensive Media Campaigns


            The salon business in Ireland experienced a big revival in the mid-1990s. The extensive marketing for home use products helped create new or renewed awareness among salon users of EMS treatments and the Slendertone brand. Intensive media campaigns in Ireland were run to promote the salon products. In conjunction with salons, the company placed full-page feature advertisements in papers such as the Sunday Independent. The increased competition due to the salon revival, led to the company’s greater promotional activity, which increased the demand for salon EMS treatments. In 1996, BioMedical Research promoted the fact that Slendertone had been in existence for 30 years. A special thirtieth-anniversary logo was featured on the promotional literature for the professional market. This was done to give buyers the assurance of long-term company marketing support and technical backup in the face of many new entrants into the market.


 


5. Product Development


            Along with the low-cost Minibody and InTone brands, products developed under the Slendertone brand included the Bustyler (for lifting the breasts, the Face Up (a facial anti-aging unit), and the Cellufome (to combat cellulite). New product development is the complete process of bringing a new product or service to market. New product development is the first stage in generating and commercializing new products. It is the key step in strategic process of product life cycle management used to maintain grow the market share of the company. Product development was used by the company to create new products that will answer the needs of the consumers. The management always believed that new product development was the key to future growth.        


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 



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