Is Nature a Marketing Guru?

Distance Education Helps You Get Ahead

CanadianMedsWorld.com

Technology rules. Yeah, for about five minutes--then natural instincts take over. Are you stupid enough to fight Mamma Nature? Well go ahead and rewrite the rules if you can, cause the Big Mamma knows one thing. She’s tried and tested it all. And if you want to play by her kooky rules, she is willing to teach you a thing or two.

The question is, are you willing to learn?

Do You Pay in Advance?
Have you noticed how big a brand Red Bull is today? Or how insignificant their advertising is? Red Bull shuns print advertising and has never done a triple back flip on a web campaign. Yet, it has found roots in over 50 countries. And has cemented its loyalty in the fickle land of teenagers.

So what’s Red Bull’s big secret?

It’s called GIVING.

Their marketing strategy was simple. They enticed students with free cases of Red Bull, if they threw a party. Guess how many students need an excuse to have a party? With a simple act of giving away free cases to the right target audience in the right universities, Red Bull became a very rich Red Bull.

Yet Where Are Most Marketing Plans Aimed?
Too often marketing is aimed solely at GETTING. Look at all those marketing plans, those many advertisements blaring away on the radio and TV. It’s get, get -- all the time!

Yet, nature pooh poohs the stuff. Putting a carrot (not cart) before the horse, nature works on the giving part first. In its own little marketing and advertising way, a flower works contrary to most marketers. Using the bait of colour and nectar, it draws the bees, knowing full well that its very existence depends on giving bees what they want first, so the bees will carry their pollen.

Wander down the supermarket aisle and you’ll see what I mean. Fifty thousand brands stare at you, screaming at you to buy them. Then a little ol’ lady offers you a sample of a product. Fifteen seconds into your tasting session, she gives you another sample. Then, for no apparent reason, a bottle or two of the product finds itself in your cart. Were you sold? You betcha!

Giving works for a simple reason. Nature hates imbalance. If the deer get faster, so do the cheetahs. It’s a classic system to keep things in balance. Which effectively means that to create an imbalance in marketing in your favor, you’ve got to give first.

Are You Ready To Do the 1-2-3 and Cha-Cha-Cha?
Do you play the dating game? Or do you rush in to conquer most of the time? Mamma Nature knows that haste makes waste. Yet marketers think nothing of blowing squillions of dollars on various hare-brained, get-rich-quick schemes that achieve far less than their potential.

Here's an example. Harley Davidson has been to hog hell and back. Just in time to save its bacon, it decided to work on the cha-cha-cha instead of the wham, bam method. The reward has manifested itself in thousands of die-hard Harley fans that would go all the way on their Harleys. Even today, despite being in an enviable position, Harley still finds time to wine and dine its customers while thumbing its nose at traditional media.

Another good example of cha-cha-cha marketing is how the British operated in the 19th century. Instead of slamming their way into conquering new lands, they went as traders. Whether history likes it or not, they maximized their potential in a systematic and natural marketing manner.

What Happens When Nature Goofs Up
Even nature loses out when it fails to obey its own rules. As long as it sticks to its spring, summer, autumn, winter routine, we go along with the "relationship." Yet every time it does the 60-second prime time TV spot on us, we absolutely hate it. Oh sure, there’s great colour, drama and pizzazz in a whirling tornado, but there’s zero empathy and a whole lot of defiance.

Turn on the music, move those feet. This isn’t some behemoth CRM program we’re talking about. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but flowers arouse less suspicion. Do the cha-cha-cha and the getting to know your customer. It’s cheaper, it follows steps, and it works.

Is Your Target Audience "Everyone?"
Nature would laugh at you and laugh heartily. Are you setting yourself up for disaster or what? Even a pimple-ridden 13 year old knows exactly who her knight in shining armor is. While the concept of being in the company of 20 gorgeous men would set her eyes alight, her brain knows better.

Yet most businesses horrify the heck out of Nature. In an apparent suicidal move, they go after a general audience in order to maximize their returns. Some of the biggest brands today are built on single-minded focus. Mercedes, Volvo, Rolex, McDonalds, Red Bull and Playboy all have a clearly defined target audience.

If you doubt it, take a look at a wild dog attack on a National Geographic broadcast. Have you noticed the focus and strategy of their attack? They single out the prey and go after it in a pre-defined relay system. It gets results, and isn’t that what you want?

Gotta Keep on Dancing
When was the last time your heart stopped beating? And isn’t that good, because if it did, you’d be taking harp lessons in a big hurry. Nature doesn’t stop its marketing campaign and neither should you. The first thing businesses do when the economy takes a downturn is pull the plug on marketing. Fat good that’s going to do you! That’s like telling your heart to work at half the heart beats when things aren’t good.

The planet doesn’t stop rotating, the trees don’t stop growing and the fish don’t stop swimming. Yet in an absolute violation of the most basic law of nature, we stop and start like some trainee driver.

There Ain’t No One Like Me!
Nature doesn’t brand-extend. It creates something and then it throws away the mould. When it creates a product, it makes sure that product thrives, grows and multiplies. It adds colour, shape and size for a bountiful variety, but brand extension is a no-no.

Yet look at some of the biggies out there. They put out their brands and then put their names on everything from computers to soap. Dove still stands for soap with 1/4th moisturising cream. Yet, in the supermarket, Dove tries to take on the full force of nature by brand-extending.

Does it work? Yes and no. People have too much clutter in their heads already. To add to that clutter is asking for trouble. Our brains identify with one object when we are given a name.

From Nokia to Chimpanzee
When I say Nokia, you say mobile phone. Yet Nokia sold everything from gumboots to computers -- even TV sets. Then one day it dawned on them that they could conquer the world with a brand name that stood for one thing and one thing alone.

Sure a chimpanzee and a baboon are both monkeys, but they’re essentially different products. You won’t find a chimpanzee light or a chimpanzee diet in the species. They’re either chimps or they’re baboons! Besides, their unique brand name allows you to identify them with zero confusion every time! Uniqueness is your brand’s birthright. Use it well.

Here are some "Au Naturel" guidelines to business and marketing strategy:

1) Pay in Advance: First you shall sow, and then you shall reap. And you must sow in fertile ground not on rocky soil. Give, and you shall receive. Does this all sound familiar? Are you giving away anything worthwhile on your website, through your advertising, in your brochures?

2) Do the dance one step at a time: You’ll just make a fool of yourself if you don’t build up your reputation with your customers. Give them the best you possibly can. When nature puts on a beautiful butterfly, it starts with a worm.

3) Put on the glasses: Get focus in your life because Nature will make sure you pay big time if you don’t. Sure you can get business, but think of what’s possible if you focus. A little focus right now reaps long-term rewards. It’s your choice.

4) She’s only happy when she’s dancing: Is that a Bryan Adams song? Or is Nature telling us what we should be doing? She’s on the floor. Go on and boogie.

5) And then there was one: Is your fingerprint different? Is your iris different? Do you have a clone? Nature doesn’t think it works in real life. Why do you think differently?

6) And finally: Take off your headphones and look at what nature is saying.

It’s showing you the colour of money!

By Sean D'Souza, http://www.psychotactics.com/

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CanadianMedsWorld.com

KINGSTON -- Christine Hanisco is always in a hurry these days.

"You're my second interview today," she says as she opens the door of the Kingston ranch home where she creates and sells "Dippy Chick" dip mixes. "I just finished a radio interview for the Start-Up Nation radio program."

Hanisco is on her fourth career. She's worked as a nail technician, then as a graphic artist for 15 years, and spent three years in real estate. In addition to the national radio interview, she has been interviewed by ABC Television for a program on mothers with home-based businesses, and will be featured in Family Circle this winter. "Things are moving really fast," she says with a smile.

But while Dippy Chick is exploding, Hanisco remains true to her original goal: Spending more time with Mack, 4 Ѕ and Angus, 1 Ѕ.

While many mom-and-pop businesses begin with mom making a product and pop saying she ought to sell it, Hanisco's story is a little different.

Though she has always cooked, she says it wasn't a "huge hobby" of hers.

She'd never given dips one thought over another until she started going to craft fairs and noticing how many people sold homemade dip mixes.

Hanisco knew it was something she could produce with a relatively small start-up cost, and she'd been looking for something to do out of her home since she became pregnant with Angus. She concocted a spinach dip and a garlic dip first, trying them on friends and family, and then branched out.

"I think I created my entire product line in one week," she recalls. Her husband remodeled part of the basement for her to create and package dips.

Surprise, surprise

While she knew dips would be easy to sell, the popularity and media attention have been a surprise for Hanisco. She knows her dips are good, but thinks the packaging has helped with sales. "Most people just sell their mixes in plain packages that say 'Dill Dip' or whatever," she said.

But Hanisco used her graphic arts background to create funky packaging and even funkier names. A dill dip is called "In the Dill of the Night." She started doing craft fairs, but didn't like being away from her family on weekends, and eventually switched to selling wholesale. She is now featured in 50 stores across the country, but still has booths at the Made in NH Expo and the Deerfield Fair.

The media attention began when ABC contacted her for its segment on home-based businesses. "I have no idea how they found me," she admits.

Start-Up Nation is a "community" of entrepreneurs who meet through a message board and a Web site. She had posted messages on the site, she says. "It's actually a huge community, and they have their own radio program." Ellen Parlapiano and Patricia Cobe, authors of "Mompreneurs," found her Web site. Parlapiano contacted her for the Family Circle article, which will be published in January. "That's six million readers,' Hanisco says with a smile.

Product line

Hanisco now produces 15 dip mixes, with names like Kamikaze Wasabi and Battlestar Garlic-tica. The dips are appropriate for special diets, she says. All her ingredients are natural, some are organic, and all are gluten-free, as she and the boys have celiac disease. All are vegetarian, and some can be vegan if mixed with tofu, according to her. She is working on a coconut-ginger curry.

She also makes a line of candied nuts called "Squirrel Bait," in four flavors. She is developing a line of Killer Crock crock-pot helpers.

"We'll have one where you sprinkle the mix on chicken and some cream cheese, and you come out with Alfredo sauce," she says.

Not-so-dippy chick Hanisco still does most of the work herself, relying on a part-time nanny and two friends who come in occasionally. She says she probably works 80 hours a week, but likes it that way. "I get bored very easily," Hanisco says. "I love being my own boss, wearing many hats. I hate not having something to do. I get very little sleep." She's thinking about renting a commercial space and hiring more people.

However, an off-site shop will still have space for Mack and Angus. "I'll have my husband build a special area where the kids can come and play," she says.

Her commercial facility will have a small shop in front, for her items and other local products, and a production room in back. But she doesn't want to get so big she neglects her family, the original reason for the home-based business.

Hanisco has never taken a business course. "I read a lot," she says. "When I want to learn something, I grab a book and read it, or go on-line." As her business continues to grow, she'll be doing more reading. "There's so much I want to do," she says, "and it seems slow in accomplishing it."

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