Marketing |

Expression Web Giveaway – A marketing idea to copy

December 24, 2009 By joyce 1 Comment

Sometimes we stumble upon marketing ideas in unexpected places. Even if they are in no way involved in our own industry, they can be molded and used within our business. I get lots of marketing emails from lots of people trying to sell me something, but my email yesterday contained one that caught my attention enough to read rather than to just hit the delete key.

Many of us create our own websites using either FrontPage, Dreamweaver, or Expression Web. Pat Geary and Tina Clarke, owners of the website www.frontpage-to-expression.com , provide a wealth of information for FrontPage users who want to migrate to Expression Web. If you have any interest in learning how to use Expression Web to create a website, this site is one that you should visit.

But back to this marketing idea. . . the two ladies have created a giveaway with prizes that any user (or potential user) of Expression Web would love to win. All you have to do is write about the giveaway on Facebook, a blog, etc. and let them know about it. Some lucky writers will be the lucky winners of the great prizes.

This is my entry because I would love to win any of the awards but also because I think they provide outstanding information to anyone interested in the program. I’ve made it a practice to never recommend something that I wouldn’t use myself and this is not an exception.

Now that I’ve encouraged you to enter that giveaway, let me also suggest how you might use a similar idea to market your own business. People love FREE. They love the opportunity to win something. And they rarely hesitate to enter their name in a contest that is giving away something they want. But what makes this marketing technique different is that you have to tell others about their product if you want to win it. In other words, you give to receive.

Some gift basket companies have a monthly drawing for a free gift basket in order to collect email addresses. Why not make those entering your contest work a little bit for it? Enter their names in your drawing if they mention your business on Facebook or write something about you in an ezine or newsletter or blog. That giveaway gift basket (and you could make it even more enticing by adding a few other simple prizes) then provides a return on your investment. And isn’t this what marketing is all about?

So go check out their giveaway at Expression Web Giveaway and create your own marketing campaign.

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales, Uncategorized Tagged With: gift basket business, Internet Business, marketing, website business

Is Your Marketing as Effective as Santas?

December 12, 2009 By joyce 1 Comment

One of my favorite blogs is written by New Zealand blogger Sean D’Souza and this particular blog entry is a perfect reminder for all of us at this time of year. By the way, his blog and website is a wealth of marketing information. You’ll find a link to it at the end of this article.

Why Santa’s Marketing Works Better Than Yours!

santa8 santa13 santa14

Santa Claus Inc. is well and profitable, right through recessions, depressions and just about any economic scenario. The reason why his marketing strategies work better than yours, is because he uses solid, dyed-in-the-wool psychology. He knows he doesn’t have to use new fangled techniques, when his simple marketing has stood the test of time.

If you don’t believe in Santa, you’d better change your mind, because the fat man from the north pole rocks on and you too can do the same if you stick to the basics. Find out if your product or service matches up by reading the article below.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle All the Way…
If you go to the heart of Santa’s marketing, the one word you come away with is ‘consistency’. Generation after generation have been exposed to one brand, one message, and the same powerful imagery.

Just like Mercedes own the term ‘luxury’ and Volvo owns the term ’safety’, Santa owns the word ‘hope’. Every kid worth his Nintendo, hopes he’s got enough points on the goodness scale to justify a mountain of gifts.

Yet, most companies get tired of their own brand. They chop, change and pour thousands (if not millions) of dollars into a bottomless pit of mindless change. Take a look at McDonald’s advertising, for instance. McDonald’s own the word family outing yet their ads have been straying down the teenager path.

Does It Make Sense To Consistently Occupy One Niche?

You bet it does! Families go out with their kids to McDonalds. These kids sprout into budget-conscious teenagers that hang out at McDonalds. They have kids and grandkids and guess where they all end up. At the big yellow ‘M’, that’s where!

Santa doesn’t waver. His customers are kids. Like several marketers, he might have been sorely tempted to enter the gift market. With bad advice, he would have tried to get to teenagers, adults and everyone. Can you see the magic still working? Even the tiniest of niches is huge and niches have a way of expanding by themselves.

At the end of the day, it’s the consistency that takes the jingle all the way to the bank. Too many companies lose focus and give you seven reasons why you should buy from them. Santa sticks to one: Be a ‘good’ kid or you can keep hoping!

You Can Spot Him in the Middle of a Crowded Sky
Do you know anyone who comes to visit on a sleigh in the middle of the night? With reindeer and gifts? The reason why Santa stands out so vividly in our memories is because he’s different. The postman does the same thing, but leaves without the flourish.

It’s Really Important To Work Out How Your Marketing Message Differs
Santa’s core marketing term is not built solely on consistent branding but also on a very hard-nosed differentiation. Too much communication out there fits in with what’s safe. Customers have just one slot in their mind. You have to enter that slot at such an obtuse angle that they remember you for life.

Rose Richards runs Office Doctor. What sets her apart from all the rest of the administration crowd is the term, Small business pain relief. Can you imagine your reaction when you hear something like that?

The human mind is intensely curious and a marketing statement like that is pure bait. You want to know what pain relief she brings and how she goes about it-specially if you’re the one in pain. That’s only half the story. The construction of the message elevates her from simple number crunching to brain surgery and makes her unique.

If you want differentiation you need look no further than the guiding light of Santa’s sleigh– Rudolph, with his shiny nose. Can you even remember the names of the rest of the eight reindeer?

One very important point, however, is that the marketing message isn’t just different, but also customer-oriented. Rose takes the clutter out of administration and Rudolph provides a beacon for clearer navigation.

If you don’t have a benefit for the customer, just being different is going to get you nowhere.

Give and You Shall Receive
How many of you are out there networking like crazy? Trying desperately to fill in your steadily depleting bank reserves? You want, want, want! Take a look at Santa’s style.

He’s into giving first. If you probe deep into your mind, you’ll find the people you like best are those who have given you their time, their money or their knowledge. You trust them, and it’s very hard to say no when they ask you for a favour in return.

The deepest core of human emotions is fear. Every single product or service, without exception, is sold on the basis of a problem. The only known antidote to fear is TRUST. When trusts struts upwards, fear banishes itself to penguin land. The more you pile up the trust, the more you can do business.

Wouldn’t Santa be able to sell you just about anything? Would he be able to cross-sell and up-sell product? Santa could knock on your door next summer and you’d be more than happy to have him join your barbeque.

It’s up to you to build up the trust one Lego block at a time. Identify your clients and see what you can give them. It could be information, time or even a chocolate covered scrumptious cookie. It’s the old ‘What’s in it for me?’ theory. If you can’t find something calorie-ridden for their minds or bodies, they won’t want to see you.

Play Santa. It works.
He Knows if You’ve Been Bad or Good…

Heck Santa knows his customers. He even knows when you are sleeping, or awake.

Then, there’s you. Look at your biggest customer. What’s her name? When is her birthday? Does she like Indian curries or sushi? In curries can she handle hot or medium? What does she think about you? What doesn’t she like?

You’re guessing for sure. You can’t be dead certain because you’ve been so busy looking at dollar signs that you’ve missed the plot completely.

The reason why Santa’s marketing works is because he intimately knows your individual needs. If you want a drum kit, you get one. If you want a Barbie, you don’t end up sulking with a xylophone.

Santa knows because he’s interested in giving. To give, you have to know exactly what the receiver wants or your gift is not worth the packaging it’s wrapped in.

Some people worry about invading personal privacy. Hogwash! When was the last time you got upset because a supplier turned up with a big chocolate cake (your favourite) for your birthday? or with rare stamps for your son (because he loves collecting stamps)?

Santa’s invades our privacy gently and uses it to give, not to take. That’s why we don’t mind it. The tax department on the other hand, uses our information to take and therein lies the principal difference.

Once a Customer, Always a Customer.

Santa Doesn’t Lose Customers. Period.
One of the primary reasons why he’s able to achieve this amazing feat is because he thinks of his customer’s customer. His customer is the kid, who in a few years gets a little wiser about Santa and his customer’s customer is the parent who has the amazing power to get their children to be nice not naughty, if only for a short while.

Since the concept works in their favour, they do all the advertising. Without TV, radio or the internet, Santa’s message gets a grip on millions of kids around the planet. These kids grow up and the marvel of Santa is handed down through the generations.

While It’s OK For Santa, How Would This Work In The Real World? Say, If You Sold Jeans.

Jeans West, a jean retailer, has several of the answers. I needed one pair, but Stephanie (the sales girl) sold me two–not by hassling me, but by gently reminding me I would get $20 off the second pair.

Then, with my purchase, she gave me a gift voucher of $10, for my use or to pass on. They, also signed me up for a loyalty program that offered to give me a 10% discount if I purchased over $250 worth of product in the next 6 months.

This Is Effectively What Jeans West Did to Make Me a Permanent Customer.
Step 1: The sales person asked the right questions to find out my need.
Step 2: She up-sold the product giving me good value for money.
Step 3: A gift voucher with a validity date, ensured an additional purchase. Or even better, the chance for me to pass it on to another person thus ‘creating a customer’ for Jeans West.
Step 4: Tying my fickle consumer head into a loyalty scheme. They wanted me to stay with them forever.

Santa’s steps may vary, but in essence he ties you into a solid loyalty program that is near impossible to get off. It’s ‘customer get customer’, rather than ‘advertising get customer.’ It’s cheaper and it works!

In conclusion here are the main points why Santa’s customers keeps coming back. These concepts may sound old, even trite, but have been proven time after time to work well. Test them against your company and brand to see where you can learn from the man from the North Pole.

1) Solid branding: We’re not talking lease here. Consistency is the key. This applies everywhere from networking meetings, advertising to any sort of communication that goes out. Keep hammering home the same unique message and put it up front. The weather changes all the time which is why we can’t trust it.

If you must change, it’s because your old message isn’t doing a complete job. I changed our first baseline from ‘Recession proof business principles’ to ‘Reactivating dormant business clients.’
The proposition was the same but the second line got 10 times the response.

2) Differentiation: Santa knows he can be a courier with a difference. You, too, can create your own legend. Nike used Just Do It. Coke threw in the concept, Rum and Coke, indelibly burning the word classic into our consciousness. Sameness is in your mind. No matter how many brands exist on the market, your product has a fingerprint of its own. You just have to dig deep to find out.

3) Build trust by giving first. Life is all about sowing, then reaping-but sowing comes first. If you don’t give first, you will only get limited results. The more you stop thinking of yourself and focus on what the customer needs instead, the more you are trusted. Business is all about trust. If you don’t have it, you’re yesterday’s soup.

4) Know your customer… Like you know the hair on your head. Data collection and its optimum usage will get you right into their minds and keep you permanently rooted in. Every time they see you, they should think you are Santa coming to town.

5) Reactivate dormant clients. They are all volcanoes. Sitting there with the power to erupt mightily. Figure out who they are and how you can work in tandem with them. Forget your product or service. That’s a given– It has to be good. Find out the ‘everything else’ factor and you will keep them for life.

Like Santa does…

©2001-2009 Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Article written by Sean D’Souza.
Wouldn’t you love to stumble upon a secret library of small business ideas. Find simple, yet electrifying ideas,on website strategy, marketing strategies, copywriting, public speaking, article marketing, sales conversion, psychological tactics and branding. Head down to http://www.psychotactics.com today and judge for yourself.

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales Tagged With: marketing

Marketing and Promotion — Do you have an idea file?

November 6, 2009 By joyce 1 Comment

A question to ask yourself each night is:

What have you done to promote your business today?

A Sixty-Five Year Old Marketing Campaign

August 8, 2009 By joyce 1 Comment

smokey When I first saw Smokey Bear at the Washington National Zoo, he was already ten years old and well-known to kids everywhere as the symbol of the U.S. Forest Service’s Fire Prevention campaign.

The Forest Service had begun it’s campaign in 1944 but the bear was simply one drawn by an artist specifically for the campaign.

But in 1950, a real baby bear, rescued from destruction in a New Mexico forest fire, became the office “Smokey Bear.” This little bear, frightened, badly burned and clinging to the top of a tree became one of the most recognizable symbols in the United States. Since his paws and legs were burned, he was first called “Hotfoot” by the firefighters. As the story spread in the national news, little “Hotfoot” became the official “Smokey Bear”. After his death in 1976, he was returned to his New Mexico home and buried without fanfare.

But Smokey’s story and symbol for forest fire prevention lives on. Communities throughout Smokey Bear country are celebrating his 65th birthday this year.

What does this have to do with your business? It demonstrates the power of capturing your audience’s emotions and imagination. Find a symbol or something unique that has emotional appeal and you have a powerful marketing message

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Marketing & Sales Tagged With: marketing

Marketing — What works?

August 1, 2009 By joyce Leave a Comment

What is your marketing strategy? You may think that marketing is getting your message in front of potential customers. Or you may feel that it’s all about building relationships. Or it is building a great looking website.
Or how about sending email newsletters, mailing postcards, or making cold calls? Maybe it’s attending BNI or some other networking group?

Marketing can be all this and more. But what is important is what is working for you

If you’ve been trying every thing you hear about and calling that a marketing strategy, you’ve got some work to do. You need to create a winning marketing strategy that will tip the scales in your favor. What works for one person or company may not work for another.

This is true not only in business but in politics as well. Touring the countryside, talking direct to people works great for President Obama and played a big part in his election. This strategy hasn’t worked so well for others. Each of us is unique and each needs a unique strategy that works for us.

If you’ve been trying lots of different things to reach your customers, you need to sit down and determine what works and what doesn’t. If you’ve been in business for awhile, that is relatively easy to do. Go back through your orders for the past six months and record where each of them came from. Are you getting 60% of your orders from that networking group or is it one order every two or three months? Are the cold calls producing appointments and resulting orders? How about that website?

Once you know which techniques work for you and your company, this should be the center of your marketing strategy. I’m not suggesting that you give up those things that work okay but not great. But as long as you concentrate most of your energy, time, and money on the techniques that bring in the most orders, you can add a little salt to the pot with some of the less sucessful techniques as time and money allows.

Create a winning marketing strategy and you’ll have a winning business

Filed Under: Be Organized, Marketing & Sales Tagged With: marketing

Is your Marketing Letter Effective?

July 15, 2009 By joyce Leave a Comment

I’m a professional writer–have been for years. It’s exciting to see your byline in a national or online publication as I’ve seen mine in many. But it’s even more exciting to create a marketing letter that works — that brings in customers — that creates results!

Anyone can write…some better than others. As I said in a previous post “That Myth Called Talent” , it takes more than talent to create results. It takes techniques. When I first started writing and taking classes, I wasn’t at all interested in writing fiction. Nonfiction seemed much easier to write and to sell. But I quickly learned that using Fiction Techniques to write non-fiction can make a world of difference. And, isn’t a sales letter just a non-fiction article that you’re sending to a potential customer?

There are lots of fiction techniques that can make you a better copywriter. Here are just a few to get you started:

Be yourself. Your personality creates your writing style and allows you to create intimacy with your reader.
Make the letter conversational. The reader of your letter should feel that you’re talking directly to them and are not just sending out a letter to lots of people.
Start the letter with something to get their attention. It could be a story. A question. A quote. Or simply a dynamic statement. You want to create interest — even excitement. You want to make them read further.
Tell a story — from either your point of view or that of your customer’s. By telling a short story that relates to the reader’s situation, you create empathy with him/her. If your letter is a long one, you can draw out your story for added suspense, saving the outcome for the end.
Think like your reader. What do they want most? How can you provide it to them? Their primary question to you is “What’s in it for me?” What do their own customers want and need from them? How can you help them answer that need with your products. If you want to sell to them, you have to forget your own ego and how great your business is and concentrate on theirs.
Ask for their business. And provide yourself an opportunity to follow up. An example is: “We want your business and we’re willing to work to earn it. I’ll call you next week to discuss how we can help you…..”

There are many other techniques of course. But incorporate these and you’ll have a much more effective marketing letter.

If you are receiving this post via email, you can click on the title and go directly to our blog to share your comments.

Filed Under: Copywriting, Marketing & Sales, Uncategorized Tagged With: copywriting, marketing

Getting Referrals – Finding it difficult?

July 7, 2009 By joyce Leave a Comment

A growing business needs referrals. But are you having a difficult time getting those referrals? If so, ask yourself this question: Why would someone refer people, who trust them, to you?

If you can’t answer that question quickly, REID ON. . .

Networking, asking for referrals, and even setting up a discount or gift incentive program for referrals won’t work if you haven’t laid the groundwork. Some ways to do this are:

Make Others Look Good - To accomplish this goal, you need to look at each individual, you deal with in any way, as someone that you can help feel good about themselves and look good to others. If you start thinking “what can I do for you” instead of “what can I sell to you”, it becomes a mindset and a habit.
Build and Maintain Trust - This doesn’t happen overnight and begins by keeping your promises. If you say, you are going to do something, make sure you do it. No one will make a referral to you if they don’t “trust” you to provide quality service and products. Building trust takes time but it can take just a few minutes to lose it.
Provide an Experience – Don’t be like everyone else. We love to refer to businesses that realize that it’s not just about the product but about everything that makes that business unique — the marketing, the employees, how orders are processed, and everything else that creates the whole gift experience in one unique package.
Provide Information - I bet you don’t like being referred to a sales pitch. Neither does anyone else. But if you can provide information that will help the potential customer get what they want and need, you’ll get a whole lot more referrals.
Go beyond the expected- Add value to the price that the customer pays. Make the customer feel that he is getting his money’s worth and more. Exceeding expectations means that you have to know what is expected first. Consider who your customers are and what they want from you and then surprise them by going beyond those expectations. There may be times when you can’t even meet their expections. Those times are when you need to say “no”.
Create a Unique Business that People Talk About - Word of mouth is important to any business. If you can create an inspirational story, a great product, an unusual way to market to or thank your customers, you have an edge over the other more boring businesses. Many folks think of videos, podcasts, internet social marketing as a way to do this — but it’s not. These are all marketing gimmicks that can be a small part of a whole program, but they aren’t enough. Think about it. What makes you unique? And it needs to be an authentic uniqueness — not just another gimmick. Then use that uniqueness to make people talk about you.

If you can do all the above, you will have a company that people will be honored to refer business to.

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales, The World Around Us Tagged With: business networking, marketing, One Minute Wisdom

An interesting concept on how to use Free Gifts

July 3, 2009 By joyce Leave a Comment

Everyone loves free! A great way to market your business is to give away a free gift–either with an order, to potential customers, to existing customers, at events, or whereever you meet the public. But, consider a uniquely different concept.

How about having someone else give away your free gift?
How? Why? REID ON. . .

If you have created an ebook or some other printed material of value, you could create a smaller version using excerpts from the original book and have another company in a compatable market within your genre distribute either a print copy of the small version or coupons directing the recipient to a website where it can be downloaded. Of course, you would include marketing for the compete book or your other products within the smaller edition.

For example, in our industry, you could create an ebook about “Corporate Gift Giving — What Determines Success” or “How to Choose the Perfect Gift” or “The Dos and Don’ts of International Gifting” or any other number of topics. Joint venture with a local or internet business to distribute the excerpts from the book or a coupon to your website where it can be downloaded.

Why would you want to do this?

Your free smaller copy of the ebook serves the same purpose as the previews to the upcoming movies that you see in the theatre. It gives them a taste of what they will find in the full edition and, if done correctly, will make them want to see more.
It doesn’t cost your joint venture partner anything to have a product that they can distribute for free.
It’s like a referral from your joint venture partner when they give your product to their customers.
If the recipient of the free gift likes the product enough to visit your website, you have the opportunity to add them to your email list (if, once again, it is done correctly).
It’s a three-way win-win. You get the opportunity to advertise with your smaller ebook and possibly increase the traffic to your website. Your joint venture partner gets something free, but with value, to give to his customers. And the customer gets valuable free information.
The prospect of having the recipient visit your website is much higher when he is given a free gift than when he is given a flyer, brochure, or business card.

No ebook and don’t want to write one? You could do something similar with a small gift or private labeled product that you would provide to a joint venture partner to give to his clients. When choosing such a product, you would want to make sure that it advertises your business while providing value to both your joint venture partner and to his clients.

If you try this idea, track the results to be sure that you are receiving value as well. And, let me know what you use and how it works for you.

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales Tagged With: marketing

So you’ve decided to tweet on Twitter!

June 27, 2009 By joyce Leave a Comment

So you’ve heard that Twittering is the way to grow your business and you’ve decided to give it a try. But you don’t know how to use it effectively. Here are some tips to get you started:

Start with a Plan

Twitter can be very time consuming if you are not careful. There are folks on there tweeting away about what they had for dinner, what their precocious kid just did, and even where they went that day. Who cares?

Have a purpose before you log into twitter. Obviously, you don’t want to just promote your products with every tweet or people will consider you a spammer. So you need to have a plan before you log in. Let’s say you want to promote a new gift basket that you just added to your website. If you are following someone whose tweets you value, take a few moments to respond to some of those tweets. Perhaps do a search using Twitter’s search function about something you are interested in or your particular market and answer some of those questions or respond to a few comments. Then post something about the product you want to promote. And leave.

Go Slowly

The more followers you have, the wider your reach. But you can’t go too fast. Don’t start by promoting your products or your website. Also, don’t try to obtain a huge following without doing some tweeting yourself first. This is a case of “if you build it, they will come”. As you post more and more tweets that are of interest to others, they will start following you without your having to do anything. I guess you could say that you need to tweet, tweet, tweet before gathering your flock of tweeters.

Don’t know what to say in your tweets? Talk about someone else’s tweet that you found interesting . Reply to what someone else has said. Share what you are doing in your business now. Offer a suggestion as to something that has worked for you or helped you grow your business.

Don’t just tweet one promotion after another

When others look at your tweets and your timeline, they’ll see that you’re tweeting just to get business. People want to know what is in it for them. If you’re just talkiing about yourself and what they can buy from you, why should they follow you?

Engage in Conversations

Most of the tweets are updates to the entire group of people who are following you. But you can find individual Twitter users by using the @ symbol followed by their username. This way you can tweet a post directed to an individual. This makes others realize that you are a real participating tweeter and not just some piece of software that automatically makes posts for you.

It also helps build realtionships with others — and, as we all know, building relationships is what growing your business is all about. So give words of encouragement, respond to a blog post that impressed you, and answer questions. And if someone responds to one of your tweets, it’s common courtesy to answer back.

Post Often

If you’ve made the decision to try twitter, don’t be shy. Jump right in. Start making those posts that will increase your followers. And, once you’ve started, be prepared to post regularly. Remember this is a social networking tool. And just like attending those networking functions in your hometown, you have to be visible. You can’t be a wallflower and expect them to work for you.

And if you want to follow me on twitter, my twitter username is creativegifts.

Filed Under: Internet Business, Marketing & Sales Tagged With: marketing

Niche Marketing – What Do You Sell?

June 21, 2009 By joyce 1 Comment

On a couple of the gift basket forums, there have been several discussions about not only surviving, but thriving in today’s economy. Once Father’s Day is behind us, there aren’t a whole lot of “holidays” to market gift baskets for. As a result, unless you have steady, loyal corporate customers buying gifts for their business, gift basket sales usually are slower during the summer months. So the question has been asked: “What do you sell besides gift baskets?”

Several of the forum members have generously shared ways that they have diversified in order to survive. Through the years, this question has been asked and answered many times on the various gift basket forums. Sharing experiences is a valuable way for businesses in different parts of the country to get ideas and rejuveniate their business.

But…there is also a downside to this. What works in one part of the country or even in the town down the road may not work for you or for me. Diversification is important in any business. Each of us, however, must do our own research and find our own niche. A niche that is popular on the internet for sales may not work at all in your local neighborhood market and vice versa.

In my local newspaper “The Arizona Daily Sun” today, this same question was asked of some neighborhood convenience stores and produced some surprising answers. And it demonstrates what I am trying to say very well.

Most convenience stores depend on the sale of gasoline, liquor, and late-night snacks in order to survive. But about half a mile from me is Sunnyside Market. Through the years that I have lived here, I’ve always thought of it as a gas station with a small attached market. I’ve bought gas there occasionally but never spent any money in the market. As a matter of fact, I’ve wondered how the business survived as there were cheaper gas stations not too far away.

This business was sold a few months ago and the new owners knew a secret that we all need to learn. Find out what your customers want and need and provide it to them.

Even though gas costs us drivers a lot of money, between the taxes, transportation, and the middle men, the station owners have to sell a lot of it to keep much of that money. One of the first things the new owners of this business did was to cap off the gas tanks for a trial period to see if it would have any effect on the grocery sales. He reported “When we stopped it for a month, it had no increase or decrease in our store’s business.” He also eliminated the sale of alcohol and closed the store by 10 p.m. each night.

Instead this tiny market is focusing on selling what the local neighborhood residents want: juicy, crunchy pickles. “People come in for the pickles,” he reports. “Hundred and hundreds of pickles are sold here every week.” Sodas are the other big seller, rivaling the sales of other larger corporate supermarkets.

What did he add to the inventory that failed to sell? Surprisingly, it was Hot dogs.

This little neighborhood market isn’t trying to compete with the big Safeway Grocery down the street or the large gas station with a corporate name a few blocks away. Instead he determined what his customers wanted and needed and are surviving by supplying it. Sure the investment in the hot dog warming machine didn’t pay off but the pickles and sodas make up for it.

I’m telling you this story because this is what we have to do to survive. Don’t depend on what others sell. The convenience market, on a main street a few streets over, sells lots of gas and hot dogs. Do your own research. Ask your customers what they want. Invest in a small amount of inventory and try it. Isn’t that what being a Creative Entrepreneur is all about?

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales, The World Around Us, Uncategorized Tagged With: Independently owned business, marketing