In 1976, when I started working with my wife to build Rachel’s Brownies, our wholesale bakery business, I didn’t understand marketing. In fact, I confused marketing with advertising. In college, I never paid much attention to business or marketing. Ironically, we turned out to be pretty good marketers because we focused on five things that are incredibly important to growing a successful business.
Five Marketing Lessons for a New Business
- Your product or service must solve a problem. In the late 1970’s, the gourmet food revolution was just starting to take place. Companies like Mrs.Field, Famous Amos and Ben & Jerry’s were getting started. Our little homemade brownie was bringing homemade taste and flavor to a larger retail market. People who loved homebaked goods could now purchase them in a store. No chemicals. No preservatives. No artificial stuff. Just what you’d bake in your kitchen.
- Focus is a powerful tool for success in marketing. We only made one product for most of the fourteen years in business. We didn’t try to be experts in everything. We wanted to be great and known for one thing – brownies. That focused effort allowed our brand to gain value and secondary meaning.
- Narrowly defining your target audience is critical to gaining traction. We weren’t trying to sell everyone. We didn’t think that people who wanted “belly stuffer” baked goods was our audience. We knew our audience had to be focused on people who cared about the ingredients they consumed and who read labels. We knew that our product was much more expensive, so it appealed to “foodies” who loved special indulgent treats and didn’t cringe at a price that was three times higher than the mass produced an alternative.
- Being different is more than a catchphrase, it is an imperative. We were different because we were just ourselves. We told a very personal story of who we were and about the origin of our brand. We were authentic. My wife was not a sales person – which at the time, was part of why we were different. We didn’t focus on selling. We let the product speak for itself. Our only job was to have quality standards that were frankly ridiculous to uphold – but we did. We brought home-baked quality where only mass produced existed. We never hired bakers to work in our bakery. We hired people who cared about craftsmanship.
- Brands must tell a story. We were superb at the storytelling part of the marketing job. The pounds of press we achieved were quite remarkable for a couple of kids who knew nothing about public relations. (Remember, this is all pre-Internet. No Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or websites). Since we sold millions of brownies, we put our story on every single brownie. (it was printed on a little card underneath the brownie).
Recently, I was asked to give a presentation about marketing to an audience of marketing professionals. The slides are packed with examples of businesses that illustrate my fundamental insight about marketing.
I thought that I’d experiment with converting the slides into a PowerPoint presentation with voice over so I could share it with others. The video has five additional lessons about marketing and thirty examples of companies illustrating these ideas.
The video is helpful to new business owners who are in start-up mode and typically can’t afford to hire marketing professionals to consult with them on their business. Much of what is in this advice, is what I provide in private consulting sessions.
In about thirty minutes, this online conversation will help frame the marketing challenges ahead for a new or existing brand. If you know someone who might find it helpful, I’d appreciate if you would share a link with your friends. I’m still learning some of the techy stuff to add sounds so forgive some of the skips, hisses, and bumps.
I wish I had seen this video in 1976.
Thank you for reading my blogs and your continued interest in coming along on my journey, as I try to unravel some of the mysteries of marketing.
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