Here's to a Holiday that Works
By LeAnne Philips
I'd like to propose a new national holiday. Maybe you don't think we need yet another one. After all, in March alone, you can celebrate "National Quilting Day," "National Napping Day," "National Frozen Food Day," and "National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day" (just one of a number of candy-related holidays - check them out here). Nearly all these holidays highlight an industry or product. Some are fun; some are downright silly. And at the end of the "day," who cares? But my new holiday would actually strengthen your business and improve your customer relationships. [ Read More...]
Jimmy Buffett: Schoolmaster for Agribusiness?
The final article in a three-part series on marketing basics
by Joy Parr Drach, Entira
That headline conjures up a pretty bizarre image, doesn't it? Imagine what school would be like with Jimmy at the helm: Flip flops as part of a required dress code, margaritas and sponge cake for lunch, and spring break year-round. But seriously, we can all learn a lot about positioning food and ag products from Jimmy's successes and missteps. After all, he's not really a great singer; for most of his career he's had only one Billboard Top 10 hit, "Margaritaville," and that was way back in 1977. But he is great at positioning. And he has an estimated annual income of more than $40 million to prove it.
Learning from Jimmy Buffett's successes ...
Zig where others zag. If you've segmented your audience and selected your targets (our two previous articles in the series), positioning is mainly connecting the dots between what your targets want and what you have to offer - and having a unique position you can legitimately "own" in the minds of the right prospects. It took Jimmy most of the '60s to figure this out. When he first landed in Nashville, he tried to make it singing the same stuff as the chart-toppers of the day. But his career was going nowhere fast - until he developed his own brand of tropical island-folk-rock. This new style was the perfect positioning because it fit his beach bum style and was narrow enough to be meaningful, yet broad enough to appeal to a large attitudinal segment. (After all, who couldn't use a little escape to the islands?) Plus, no one else occupied that space in the market. [Read More...]
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