One of my apprentices purchased a small regional candy manufacturer. The company had some non-descript products that for the most part were similar to products of other larger candy manufacturers who enjoyed substantially more robust channels of distribution. One of their products was the texture of a gummy bear, the shape of a jelly bean but about 1½ times as large.
The product enjoyed a small, loyal consumer base consisting mostly of young children but lacked the pizzazz required for skyrocketing sales. The company had tried several different ad campaigns but none seemed to work.
It was apparent to me that the marketing and particularly the packaging needed an extreme makeover. The first thing required was a name change. So, at my suggestion, Jelly Drops became Gummy Goobers.
I mean come on! Which would a kid rather eat; Jelly Drops or Gummy Goobers? Which name rings in your head after it’s said? Which name rolls off your tongue in a way that makes you immediately want to eat one or talk it up to a friend? Which one do you think tested better in a focus group composed of children representative of the target market?
But we still have a challenge, how do we get this great name out there into the marketplace?
In effect, we want to introduce a new product and in reality Gummy Goobers are just jelly bellies on steroids made from a softer candy. No big deal, right? Yet we want to achieve instant recognition in the marketplace. We want an image that will immediately get the attention of our target market. With just a glance, we want to instantly instill in the glancer an immediate desire to consume this new product about which they have no prior knowledge.
It’s all in the marketing image and positioning.
Picture a cartoon showing two ordinary jelly beans talking to one another “behind the back” of a smiling gummy goober playing patty cake with a couple of laughing youngsters. The green jelly bean whispers privately to the orange jelly bean, “He’s a real softy when it comes to kids.”
With a single simple image, and less than a dozen words, a renamed product is re-introduced with high impact to its target market.
The elements are simple. The results are profound.
• Leverage off an image that your target market already knows and likes.
– Jelly Beans
• Communicate through a medium with which your target market feels comfortable.
– Kids love CARTOON characters
• Show how you’re the same yet different.
– Looks similar, tastes similar but feels softer
• Make the way you’re different an advantage.
– Softer is more FUN and easier to chew
• Do it all in a simple image supported by less than ten words.
– One IMAGE short and sweet
Do you have a new product you’re trying to introduce?
Do you have an existing product you’re trying to invigorate?
Maybe it’s time for your marketing extreme makeover.
After all, don't you deserve the sweet taste of success?
This is just one of dozens of great marketing and financial leverage strategies for going into business for yourself that I teach in my online Bizar Financing course. Check out my free online video Getting Rich Your Way and see how other entrepreneurs are using my strategies to start, buy or expand their own successful businesses using little or no cash of their own.
One of Bizar Financing's most successful graduates buys marketing challenged companies, usually at a bargain price and favorable terms. He then uses his marketing skills to quickly double or triple the sales and profits of the company. Then he sells it a few years later for up to a dozen times his purchase price. He makes millions in the process.
Do you have good marketing skills or other business building skills. Great! You can do the same thing. Find out how. View Getting Rich Your Way now!
