6 Words That Define Your Product

I came across a post today that “Hemingway was challenged to write a story in only six words.” He came up with, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Even alcoholic misogynists can have their brilliance.

If you can whittle your brand, your product, your image, your career, even you down to 6 words, you can get a better grasp on who or what you really are. I’ll give you examples from my life:

Progressive Design Apparel (PDA): Colorful, creative, happy place to work.
Promotional Products: Used wisely, best bang for buck.
Bella apparel: Soft and cute; everyone agrees 100%.
Alo apparel: Bella’s great, moisture-wicking exercise line.
UltraClub organic T: Softest organic T, unbeatable price point.
Dri-duck endangered species hat: Soft, organic cotton; adjustable and pre-embellished.
Myself: Forever student; sometimes funny; always honest.

How would you tell your story or the story of your product in 6 words? I’ll do a few more to get your wheels turning:

GM: Crumbling giant, epitome of corporate incompetence.
Starbucks: Grew too fast, lost reality grasp.
Windows Vista: Over delayed, under functional, software bust.
iPhone: Hyped marketing; new AT&T contracts frustrate.
Global warming: People pretend to care; do nothing.
Chinese Democracy: Axl’s unfinished masterpiece? Axl’s big joke?
2007 New England Patriots: 18 and 1, perfect season choke.

Now your turn…

Insights From A Trade Show

On Friday I attended a trade show for those of us in the promotional products industry. It was here in Indianapolis, actually just a stone’s throw away from PDA. My fellow colleagues and I headed over, put on the obligatory name tag and began to circulate. Below are the take home messages from my latest trade show experience:

• Hosting a trade show in rooms of a hotel is incredibly aggravating. The rooms are too small to allow adequate flow in, around, and out of the set up.
• The promotional products industry is full of copy cats. Everyone seems to offer the same product, making the only thing that differentiates one company from another is price or service. Some clients will choose price, but in my experience service should be the clear winner. There isn’t enough money in the world to make you look good when you deliver an empty promise of a promotional product the day after an event.
• Despite what it seems like, there is more to the success of a promotion than just buying pens. There are lots of options; you just have to make sure your supplier isn’t lazy and will work to find the right solution for you. For example, there are lots of new and innovative products and ways of making products that might work for you. It just might be worth it for you to spend the extra x% and get your product sublimated.
• The trend in 2008, as I’ve mentioned before, is green promotional products. Pens made out of corn, travel mugs made out of potatoes, tote bags made with organic cotton, 100% biodegradable plastic Frisbees; eco is everywhere this year. I saw each of these items at the show on Friday and even got to take a few of them back to the office. Think about going green so that you’re seen as a leader in your industry and not just the next guy to jump on the bandwagon. You’ll then be able to say, you were green before green was cool.

Environmentally Friendly Promotions

Environmentally friendly (“green”) behaviors and products have fallen in and out of favor in the U.S. for years. I’ll spare you the history lesson, but if 2007 was any indication, 2008 will surely be a big year for being green. There was a time when being green meant sacrificing. It’s likely many people still think they can’t have the best of both worlds. But in 2008 we’ve started to reach a place where luxury, functionality, and environmentally friendly have intersected.

I recently learned about Dell’s new site geared towards promoting being green, while reading a recent blog entry by Lewis Green (last name completely coincidental).

Aside: Even since I read Lewis’ post, there’s been another green post over on Marketing Profs Daily Fix, this one by Stephen Denny; also very much worth a read.

The first thing that struck me about Dell’s new site was “the wall” at the top of the page. In a font that looks like it was handwritten, scrawled across the wall were people’s answer to the question at the top of the page: “What does green mean to you?” Intelligently and completely answering that question is the key to having a successful green promotion.

In addition to answering the question, you’ll need to decide why you want a green promotion. Of course all promotions are designed to increase sales, but is the primary goal of choosing an environmentally friendly promotion:

• to convey to your clients or prospects you share their concerns about environmental issues?
• to retain customers and increase referrals by showing that you’ve taken socially responsible action?
• to break stereotypes of the people and companies who would invest in green ideas?

Certainly I think each is a justified reason to consider a green promotion. However, I do think the most important message to convey to your clients and prospects is proof you’re more than just a buzzword magnet. People want to work with companies and people who “walk the walk.” I think sharing concerns with any group of clients or potential clients is a great way to build value-based relationships and breaking stereotypes is always a noble cause.

To me, green means accountability. No more pointing the finger, we are the only ones responsible for our own actions.

I’ll probably be featuring more green topics in the future. More and more vendors are offering an increasing number of green products that can be used as part of your solution. Just remember a successful promotion depends on more than just finding the right product.

I invite you to both leave your comments on the post and answer the question, “What does green mean to you?”