Catalog Doctor: The Lost Art of Effective Cataloging
- why their audience wants and needs each product;
- what makes each product different from or better than similar products in their own catalog; and
- what makes each product different from or better than the competition?
6. Strong Visual Brand
View a bunch of different catalogs all competing in the same marketplace. You'll find lots of them looking so much alike that a layperson couldn't differentiate one from the other. This isn't a good path for building brand loyalty. Sure, your designer will point out details that makes the design different from the competition, but if a gal bought a dress three months ago and can't remember from whom, will the next catalog in the mail look enough alike that she'll think that's where she bought it from and place another order? Mistaken identity happens frequently; don't let it happen to you.
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.
