Episode Details

If your customers can’t see themselves, will they buy? The Cue Clothing problem

~ Are you actually showing customers what you sell and how to buy it? 

~ Does your marketing reflect the people you want to buy from you?

~ Are you clearly communicating what makes your product worth paying more for?

When an iconic Australian fashion brand with more than 60 years of history goes into voluntary administration, there’s plenty to unpack.

In this episode of Money Secrets, Fi takes a closer look at Cue Clothing and asks a question she thinks is missing from the conversation around its voluntary administration: does Cue really understand who its customer is? 

Cue sells up to a size 16, yet its marketing rarely reflects those customers. Women responding to Fi’s posts even said they had no idea Cue stocked their size. So if customers can’t see themselves in your brand, how will they know your product is for them?   

Fi also questions Cue’s premium positioning. If you're asking customers to spend $200 to $400 on a garment, you need to clearly communicate why it's worth it. That means telling the story behind the quality, design, manufacturing and people who create the product.  

Then Fi turns the conversation back to small business: show people what you sell, make it easy to buy, understand your target market and bring customers behind the scenes of what makes your business different. 

Because even a brilliant product is hard to sell if the right customers don't know it's for them.

🎧 Tune in for Fi’s take on Cue Clothing and the marketing lessons every small business owner can learn from it.

 What you'll learn in this episode:

• Show people what you actually sell. Customers need to see your products or understand your services and know exactly how to buy from you. 
• Representation can affect who sees themselves as your customer. If you sell to different sizes or types of customers, consider whether your marketing actually shows them.  
• Your target market needs enough demand. Being specific is useful, but your chosen audience still needs to be large enough to support the business you're building.
• Premium pricing needs a clear value story. If you're asking customers to invest more, help them understand the quality, process and thinking behind what they're buying.
• Show the process behind your work. Bring customers into the decisions, craftsmanship and expertise that make your product or service different.  
• Your customers can be some of your best marketing. Reviews, customer stories and user-generated content can show prospective buyers what your product looks like in real life.
• Listen to what customers think you offer. If people who fit your target market don't realise you sell something for them, there may be a gap between your offer and your marketing.
• Know where your money is actually being made. Look at which locations, products and channels are profitable instead of treating every part of the business equally.  
• Make your customers the hero. Show the real people who buy from you and help future customers recognise the