Coin clubs can learn from RCM marketing techniques

We can all stand to learn a little bit more about marketing. After all, we’re exposed to it every day – on television, radio, Facebook and other forms of social media; in newspapers and magazines; on the clothes we wear, and on any of the name brand products that we consume and wear daily.

All of that fancy artwork and packaging on cereals, biscuits, cookies and even frozen veggies is for a purpose – to grab our attention and to ‘help’ us to make the ‘right’ choice.

As numismatists, we need to know about marketing to promote our hobby. We need to know about marketing if we want to promote our coin clubs. We need to know about marketing if we want to promote our coin shows. And we need to know about marketing if we want to promote the tokens and medals that we sell or that we issue (club medals and tokens, for example,) for other collectors and the public in general.

So we have to stop and take a much closer look at what others are doing to promote their products and to brand their products. And we have to make a connection about how they do that and how we can adopt similar techniques to promote what we want to promote as far as the hobby is concerned.

Let’s take one example—the Royal Canadian Mint. Notice how they package their individual coins and sets? Pay attention and you will realize higher priced items also have fancier and more elaborate packaging. It’s all about image.

Notice the wonderful booths that the RCM sets up when they attend trade shows and how their products are displayed? Also, take note of the fact their marketing goes far beyond that; from media releases to announcing new products, to press conferences that unveil special coins.

Even the text and information included with their marketing materials – whether online or hardcopy – are carefully wordsmith and designed to draw you in and buy their products.

Now, you might be thinking I’m making a certain point here and you’d be right. What we can do is learn from them. Let’s learn from the RCM and apply to our particular situations and hobby needs.

Being it’s Canada’s 150th birthday, we all have a perfect opportunity to give a plug for our hobby. There are so many opportunities available to us this year that can help the hobby gain a little more recognition. Take a close look at the Mint’s marketing program and see what you can take from it to better our hobby and your own club; or perhaps better market and promote the medals, tokens and wooden pieces that your club will be issuing this year.

The Royal Canadian Numismatic Association (RCNA) has come up with an excellent program to help all coin clubs in Canada to produce their own medals – at a very reasonable cost.

Great job by the RCNA—there’s been a lot of work that’s gone into the program and kudos to Henry Nienhuis, the president, for his vision and hard work in making this happen.

But folks, now it’s up to you. You have to take the RCNA up on their fine offer. You have to promote your club medals to your club and to the public. And you have to realize what a fine opportunity such a program is and how you and all of us can be promoting the hobby during Canada’s sesquicentennial.

Join me on Sunday, March 26 at the National Postage Stamp and Coin Show for a seminar presentation by Trajan Media – publishers of Canadian Coin News and Canadian Stamp News on expanding your marketing outside of your club. 

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