September 26, 2010

Free puppies.

Posted by Grendel's Mother under marketing
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It gets kind of hard to write on my own time now because I spend so much time at work chipping away at the keyboard. But, writing for me allows me to express myself. My clients don’t always want to take risks with their brands and so sometimes my little jokes get edited out of copy I write for them. Boring! The best marketing copy I get comes from MarketingProfs. Their style is fun and humorous and I always read the copy because it’s so refreshing. I feel like I’m listening to a real person (who happens to be fun and lively) and not some stuffed-shirt-corporate-scaredy-cat who wants his/her brand to stand out but is too afraid to do it.

I jest—but just a little. I get the fact that sometimes the audience is made up of very serious people and maybe the topics are serious and the company doesn’t want to come across as silly or incompetent. Having said that, take a look at some of the most successful ads and marketing campaigns. You love them because they are creative, intelligent, out of the box, and at times—laugh-out-loud funny. So don’t be afraid to show your personality. Your customers are human and buying decisions are based on emotions. Tap into those emotions!

Here’s my advice on how to get people to stop and come into your store to shop. I have to say it’s one of the most ingenious things I’ve heard of. Better than the invention of chocolate. Okay, I take that back—nothing is better than the invention of chocolate, thank you very much French monks or whoever invented it. But this is good. Ready?

Place a huge sign (handwritten will be better for that personal touch) outside your store—or on your homepage, ad, brochure, email, etc., that says:

FREE PUPPIES!

When you’ve done that, call me and I’ll give you some more brilliant ideas. If you have any of your own, please share them here!

The Grendel dog is not free, but he would be a good prop for selling some hunting gear.

Grendel and the fake duck.

 

September 23, 2010

Got Dairy?

Posted by Grendel's Mother under marketing, travel, Uncategorized
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Last week I travelled to Dallas, Texas to attend the International Dairy Show. I spent the last nine months working on promoting the show and got to see it come to fruition. My clients are really fun, smart people so it’s been a great experience working with them and learning about the dairy industry. And while this show is targeted to processors and packagers, there was plenty of food tasting to be had. The ingredients folks are there—giving away samples of new flavors. I was loving the funnel cake ice cream.

I felt like a kid walking the show floor. I got to meet Chester Cheetah and the Nestle Quick Bunny. I got my picture taken at the Got Milk? booth. Yup, I’ve got a milk mustache photo of me on the fridge now. Then there was the flipbook booth. I donned some silly glasses and hat and danced with maracas while holding a sign that says “single and looking.” It was turned into a book where you flip the pages quickly making it look like a movie clip. Got to get that for my other clients!

What’s that you say? Did I work? Yes, and I’ve got blisters to prove it. I interviewed lots and lots of people for a video I’ll be working on later. I got an extensive tour of a cold delivery truck, and detailed lectures about a clean seal bottling machine-thingy, a new kind of packaging machine, a cow-milking type machine, and some food-safety technology. I also ran some focus groups (that can be another topic altogether), tried some funky tea, and heard President Bush speak.  

So, lots of fun was had at the Dairy Show. Next year we’ll be combining some peaches and cream and heading to Atlanta. Oh, and as my long-delayed flight neared home I looked out the window and saw a view of the Big Dipper that I’ve never seen before. It was so low on the horizon that it looked like it was even with the plane. Cool. Irrelevant to this post (except maybe I was dreaming of a big ice cream scooper), but cool.

I’m back now and going to try to lose the weight I gained. The new thing now is yogurt. Not quite as good as strawberry milk, yummy cheese cubes on forks, ice cream samples, and cream cheese, but it’ll have to do. Off to work on my other clients—just as important, I just wish they had cooking demonstrations in their exhibit halls!

Yummy cheese samples

 

Chester Cheetah

 

Yogurt samples

 

The milking machine

 

September 8, 2010

September mornings still can make me feel that way.

Posted by Grendel's Mother under Uncategorized
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I really love the month of September. For a long time now it’s kind of just sat there as an unsung month. It was never really a favorite probably because it signified the end of summer. And as a kid, I loooooved summer. I was a pool rat, a beach rat, a camp rat—you name it. Summer was loads of fun. I still love it but now that I don’t have to return to school I have more of an appreciation for September.

Why? Because the weather is gorgeous. Still sunny and warm but the humidity is gone. The beach gets a quieter, the cool TV shows start up again, and I begin to settle into to my flannel pants. My awesome, soft, comfortable flannel pants.

Unfortunately September also brings with it hurricanes. Earl visited our east coast shores last week and although it turned out to be nothing to those of us in Delaware, it sure resulted in some massive, ginormous waves. It also detoured a whale that was sighted just off our beach. Not by me of course because that would mean I would actually get to see a whale this summer.

Anyhoo. The girls and I (friends who came to visit) ventured out as far as the surf. We were rewarded for our bravery by getting knocked down—by the current, waves, and some dude who was in front of me. Some neighbors came up to us later asking when we were going back in. You see, they were going for a walk and wanted to make sure they caught the next show. Turns out we were entertaining the entire beach with our pratfalls and laughter. That’s okay; we made fun of other people, too. Hey, if you’re going to expose yourself, you have to be able to take a punch once in awhile.

Well, I’ll be back at the beach later in the month, but first a trip to rain-soaked Dallas for the International Dairy Show. I’m so excited to visit the flavorings booth, see the cooking demonstrations, and sample a few of the items at the ice cream and beverage bar. Yum! Happy September!

 

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