Brand Repositioning of Hallmark Greeting Cards Strategy

Repositioning in the Target Market

Hallmark greeting cards are the most ubiquitous printed greeting cards found across the United States. The company prides itself on having a card for every occasion and to express every sentiment. Hence, the volume of cards printed by the company has increased over time. The chief strengths of the brand are excellent product quality, quality of sentiment, visual appeal, and the convenience of accessing and purchasing a card. However, with the advent of free and interactive online greeting card services, the popularity of printed greeting cards has been declining over the years. According to Kardes et al. (2011), brands need to be rejuvenated when they are in the decline stage. Franzen and Moriarty (2009) state that a brand needs to be repositioned when it fails to remain relevant to the value patterns of the period. Therefore, it is important for the brand to reposition itself as one that promises a relevant and valuable offering to its target market.

According to 2007 United States Census figures, there were around 90,000 firms in the United States with 100–499 employees, making up 1.8% of all business firms in the country. Smaller firms with a workforce size ranging between 20 and 100 employees made up around 11% of firms in the United States (United States Census Bureau, 2012). These businesses depend on strengthening and maintaining relationships with business partners such as suppliers, advertisers, marketers, lawyers, and other important stakeholders in the community. These organizations can be considered the target segment for a repositioned, personalized Hallmark greeting card service.

The Hallmark greeting card brand should reposition itself as a premium brand offering personalized services to the business market segment comprising small and medium-sized business firms. Personalization in business communication is a highly valued attribute; it helps raise the profile of a business partner over others, enabling stronger relationships and increased business opportunities.

Types of Research Needed for Successful Repositioning

To reposition the Hallmark brand in the new target market segment, research in a number of essential areas would be necessary. The research requirement covers both subjective and quantifiable areas. The first aspect requiring research is to identify what the target market thinks about personalized greeting cards delivered to their business contacts. This would require conducting an attitude survey of the target market comprising owners of large and medium-sized businesses. The research would need to estimate their attitudes toward the importance of maintaining business relationships for business growth, and the role played by gestures such as sending greeting cards on special business, personal, and general occasions.

Research also needs to be conducted into the product features desired by the target market. The basic product would be a personalized, printed, and personally delivered Hallmark greeting card sent to important business relationship partners. The most highly valued attributes of the product would include aesthetic value, content, product quality, punctuality, appearance, and degree of personalization. The relative importance of these attributes for the target market needs to be measured through research, which can be conducted through personal surveys, interviews, focus groups, or mailed questionnaires.

It would also be necessary to survey whether the target market is willing to pay a premium price for the repositioned brand. The Hallmark brand enjoys great sentimental value, communicating warmth, relationships, and a sense of permanence in a turbulent and changing environment — qualities that are important for business relationships during periods of economic uncertainty. The Hallmark brand would now also be associated with personalized printing and delivery services for clients. The traditional appeal of a paper greeting card, as opposed to an electronic greeting card or a generic paper-based card, needs to be gauged so that the target market can be motivated to pay a premium price for this service.

Finally, research needs to be conducted on the most preferred delivery and distribution channels for the target market. Whether the target market prefers hand delivery, courier service, or regular post will affect both the perceived value of the product and the cost and pricing decisions involved.

Methods for Increasing Adoption Rates

Adoption is the process by which the customer learns about a product, tries it out, and then, based on the trial experience, either rejects or adopts it. More specifically, these stages can be identified as awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption. Over the course of the product life cycle, varying numbers of target market segment members try the product. Depending on at what stage a segment member tries the product, they can be termed an innovator, early adopter, early majority, late majority, or laggard. The implication for Hallmark's repositioning strategy is that it will need to identify and target the innovators within its target segment. In the business market, organizations typically follow the lead of segment leaders in adopting new business practices. Wreden (2007) advocates that brand communications should go beyond creating awareness and should embody attraction, retention, and advocacy. Therefore, if Hallmark can identify the innovators and opinion leaders in the segment, there is a greater likelihood of other members of the target segment engaging in trial and evaluation.

The Hallmark brand is characterized by sentimental value and warmth, but it is also seen as a declining brand that has been overshadowed by the affordability, convenience, and high level of user interaction offered by electronic greeting cards. These features appeal to younger consumer market segments that place a high value on cost-effectiveness and autonomy. Members of the business market are relatively conservative and can afford to pay a premium for personalized services. It is therefore essential that the Hallmark repositioning makes an early impact on the target market. Failure to do so risks reinforcing the image of Hallmark as a declining brand offering irrelevant products and services. The window of opportunity would be missed, and the conservative business market would likely revert to traditional business practices.

To increase adoption rates, prospective clients will need to be guided through the awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption stages. This will be achieved through personal selling and direct marketing. Prospective clients will be visited and presented with samples of personalized cards to raise their awareness. Medium-sized businesses are likely to be more interested in the product if it demonstrates how it can strengthen business relationships through gestures expressing congeniality and courtesy. Medium-sized business owners can also be presented with examples of larger businesses that have adopted the Hallmark personalized service, motivating them to follow the leader. Trial and evaluation will be facilitated by offering a free trial along with a discount package of 20% for placing an order for the first twenty personalized greeting cards. Potential customers will also be given the option of viewing additional product samples on the company website to explore the full range of personalization options available. Finally, potential customers will be guided through the adoption stage by means of follow-up visits.

References

Franzen, G., & Moriarty, S. (2009). The science and art of branding (p. 187). M.E. Sharpe.

Kardes, F., Cronley, M., & Cline, T. W. (2011). Consumer behavior (p. 350). Cengage Learning.

United States Census Bureau. (2012). Statistics about business size (including small business) from the U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/

Wreden, N. (2007). Profit brand (p. 130). Kogan Page Publishers.