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Diamond Shreddies

One of the most brilliant marketing campaigns
I’ve seen in a while has to be
Diamond Shreddies.

Here is a favorite cereal,
thought of as boring yet dependable.
It has a core base of loyals
preventing the product from being messed with taste-wise
(or risk a New Coke disaster).

So how do you create excitement?
You rotate the product and
force consumers to look at it in a new way.

Yes, consumers know it is the same old Shreddies.
The inside joke makes the marketing even more endearing.

Taste And Smell

One of the basic rules of taste testing
is that testers shouldn’t wear perfumes or any other scent.

Why?
Because people can only detect 5 taste sensations
(sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami)
through their tongues.
All other “tastes” are due to smell.

A bad smell will make a product taste bad.
A floral scented room will give a wine a floral taste.
And since smell is so important,
testers have to be able to smell the product itself
(even in soft drinks,
smell is a factor in the purchase decision).

Someone Else

An author was moaning and groaning to me
about her book not getting any press.
I asked her what she was doing about it.
Nothing.
Marketing her book is her publisher’s job.

Yep, she’s waiting for someone else
to make her into a success.
She’ll be waiting a long time
as there isn’t a someone else.
In any endeavor.

Sure, partner, delegate, assign,
but know that the responsibility
for your success or failure is yours.
Whether you take action or not.

Dealing With Entrepreneur Burnout

Around this time of year,
I struggle with motivation and
getting things done.
I look at “normal” people,
the tv watching people,
with envy.
I suffer from burnout.

Every entrepreneur suffers from burnout from time to time.
It is a normal part of the process.
Glenn at LifeDev has a great post
on methods to deal with it.

My favorite ways are sleep
(dreaming powers my creativity),
vacations (a change of place),
and switching tasks.

The Next Big Thing

“What’s the next big thing?”
is a common question in all industries.
It is a powerful answer to know.

No, not to rush out and
develop a solution or a copy of the solution.
That is already being done
(that process started years ago).

Then why?
To help you design
the next, next, next big thing.

Look at the literary world.

What is the next big thing?
eBooks.
They exist but aren’t big yet.

What is the next, next big thing?
eBooks with audio.
I suspect that’s in final stages of development.

What is the next, next, next big thing?
eBooks with video.
That is where the opportunities lie.

The Average Super Bowl Viewer

During the 2007 Super Bowl,
Cadillac ranked 1st
as the advertiser most likely to be seen or heard.

What a higher end brand like Cadillac?
Isn’t football the average joe’s sport?

Nope.
People in households with income over $100 thousand
are three times more likely to watch the Super Bowl than
people with household incomes of less than $30 thousand.
40% of NY Giants fans have household incomes
higher than $100 thousand.

The gender gap with Super Bowl viewers may be closing
but the income gap is not.

Spam Vs Popularity Of Blogs

I rarely check my stats.
I don’t need to.
I don’t blog for the traffic
(I blogged for a year once
with less than 10 readers a day)
but more importantly,
there is a quicker alternative.

Spam.

I can pretty much gauge
the popularity of my blogs by
how much comment and syndicate spam I receive.
And since I look through my comments regularly
(try to get to them once a day),
I can cut the extra step of checking my stats.

Look at your own system.
Do you have an indicator that can do double duty?
(For established stores, for example,
traffic is a great indicator of revenue)
Then save time and only regularly look at the one.

Shelf Placement Vs Placement Of Shelf

Manufacturers often pay for
placement on store shelves and
that cost varies by location.
End caps, shelves by the cashier,
middle shelves all cost more.

Is this fair?
Yes.

A study on product placement out of Cardiff
concludes that
the middle shelf is the optimal placement.
Always.
But the difference between the shelves
are magnified even more at the cashier line up.

Is it worth it?
It depends on the price.
When I’ve done the math,
it has been
but the profit varied by store.

Lying And Eye Movement

People lie.
Clients, co-workers, vendors, you name it, lie.
And when they do,
it can cause headaches.
Lost sales, delayed projects, failing businesses.

So one of the key skills a businesswoman
should pick up is how to detect these lies.

A common “rule” is that
if the person looks left when answering a question,
they’re lying and
if they look right,
they’re remembering.

Unless…
They’re left handed.
Then it is the opposite.
Oh, and unless they’re not “average.”

What does this mean?
You can’t rely on only one tell.
Use a combo for best results.

Useful Schwag

Weeks ago,
I went to the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas
and returned loaded down with schwag.
Most items got a ho-hum from this marketing gal.

Most.
Not all.

JVC did an outstanding job once again
in the massive mobile section,
giving out the only air fresheners at the show.

However, the best schwag I received was
a tiny screen cleaner for phones and blackberries
from iGrip.
Costing only pennies,
this piece of branded plastic and felt
was perfect for removing fingerprints
from touch screens.

I saw people use them.
I heard people talk about them.
I witnessed people hoarding them.

Very clever.