Be Direct or Lack Success

This weeks reading of Purple Cow by Seth Godin talked about how a product must be advertised to a selective niche rather than the grand whole to be successful. Marketing aimlessly is for the uncreative, and the approach has been obsolete, but is still in practice, for over 30 years. This made me think about the impending trials and tribulations of making a profit off of our $200 investment. With the arrival of our wholesale-purchased bottles on the horizon, only 5 more days, the hypothetically great idea that we were confident in not two weeks ago will be put to a very real test. Godin’s words are giving me wise advice, and I plan to follow it.

We are one of the only groups in the class who will have direct competition in the sale of their items, but the tactic of selective advertising could save us time and energy, and actually give us the edge on the Cheerleaders. As we have seen, they have put out a mass notice in the form of a flyer. When I went to get the materials for Advisory this past Tuesday I saw that they had stuffed at least 10 sheets into each homeroom box. Although this isn't big league advertising, in which purchasing commercials or ad-spreads costs millions and ineffective advertising can mean the death of a project, I predict the same bout of ineffectiveness to occur in their attempt. It has been several days since their marketing campaign began, and I have not heard a word about it in the halls or in my classes. Like many advertising campaigns today, their approach lacks direction and will therefore fall on a community of deaf ears.

To put Godin’s words into a action, I want to drum up a plan that focuses our efforts primarily with athletes. Godin mentions that the true secret to success in our supersaturated consumerist society is to hope that the niche you advertised to does your advertising to the rest of the masses for you. The basketball teams, of all levels, are a great place to start. Varsity’s success in recent years has greatly increased school pride, and with that the flaunting of the “Varsity Basketball” appearance in the hallways. Players commonly dress in team attire and carry around their gym bags solely for the image. If we could sell our product to them, we could add another accessory to their image. They would carry the bottle around with the rest of their stuff during the day, and instantly they become walking spokespersons. We only need a few to have the word begin spreading itself. If we sold to a few Varsity players, word would spread to the rest of the team, and then you have the younger players on JV and Freshmen looking up to them wanting to buy into the look. If we sold to every player on all teams we would make $290 (45 players x $10 - $160 investment). And that's just one sport alone. Godin’s words are resonating with me, and I look forward to seeing what other messages I can dissect and apply to my strategy in these coming projects.