Mila spends a great deal of time and resources on successful online marketing campaigns and in supporting our customers with downloadable sales and marketing material and a continually updated websites with dynamic innovations such as new video blogs.
The response we get to the website is fantastic – with more than 400 unique hits per day and 55,000 views every month, but we never lose sight of the fact that customers still also really value more traditional marketing support from Mila and we continue to provide the basic tools which we know work in this industry.
A typical example of this is hardware display units – for use in showrooms, on trade counters or in consumers’ homes.
Mila produces bespoke units for customers allowing them to showcase the styles, colours and finishes of hardware which they want to promote. This might be their complete range of window or door handles showing different configurations and different finishes or, as is particularly popular at the moment, coordinated ranges of hardware suitable for composite and PVC-U doors.
During 2011for example, Mila produced display boards for more than 20 customers showcasing our new ProStyle range of suited hardware including window handles, door handles with interchangeable lever designs and letter boxes all in a range of up to six different finishes.
Customers can choose their own combination of hardware and finishes according to the items which they order from us and the units can be personalised with their own company details and logo.
One of the main reasons why the display boards are so popular is that they give buyers the opportunity to see and feel the hardware for themselves. They can see the quality of the finishes and test the handles to see how well they operate. The best websites in the world just can’t match that.
They are a talking point in a showroom or during a retail sale and, because they are bespoke to each customer, they provide a valuable tool for competitor differentiation.
The display units remain popular throughout all sections of the market – some of our largest trade fabricators have them in their trade counters and also offer them as a sales incentive to their retail installers.
At the same time, our largest order for display units in 2011 was from timber window and door specialists Jeld-Wen to whom we supplied 20 units showcasing the range of cockspur handles and peg stays which Mila has developed specifically for them.
Of course, from Mila’s perspective, the display units represent a significant investment so we continually review the payback we achieve – both in terms of winning and retaining business.
Our analysis shows that the display boards typically pay for themselves in six months and that they are particularly valuable as an incentive to help our trade customers win business.
Like all the sales and marketing support we provide, there are intangible benefits too in terms of how customers view and value Mila as their supplier so we certainly judge the investment to be worthwhile.
Compared with mobile apps and video blogs, display units may seem a little unsophisticated but, while they are still so popular with our customers and still work so well for us and for them, we will certainly go on producing them.