Cereal Marketing

What could be easier than starting the day with a bowl of cereal? It’s simple, right? Well, not exactly, especially if you’re me. Think of Rachel Ray and her trademark grabbing of an overloaded armful of ingredients. That’s me in the morning with my four boxes of cereal; mixing and measuring like an alchemist seeking to transform base elements into a grainy kind of gold.

It’s not important WHY I do this (quirky accounts for most of it). So the relevant question is really this. What does cereal-making have to do with social marketing?

Repeatable not Repetitious

I love my breakfast mix. That’s how I start most every day. I repeat the process but it never seems repetitious. That’s because I have the freedom to add more raw oats one day, pull back on the bite-size goodness, and regulate the amount of crunchy stuff I choose to chow down on. I’m taking a product and creating my own platform, uh, breakfast. The act of making it mine is a comfortable routine but it’s not boringly repetitious. It’s me being me. It’s mine. I own it.

Personalized Mix

I’m pretty sure that cereal makers didn’t have me in mind (or anyone else for that matter) when it comes to my personalized mix of multiple brands. What’s cool is that the product comes in discrete packages that can be consumed any way you like: by the handful, in a bowl, with lite vanilla soymilk (anyway, you get it and yeah, as my husband reminds me, soy beans produce soy liquid – not milk as he defines it).

But it’s the box, man. The box lends itself to a mash up of massive proportion. It’s made in a factory. It’s churned out on a massive scale and yet I have the ability to make it personal. Here’s the point. Companies that produce a product that acts like a platform are the companies who get ahead. If you can help people do what they do only make it easier, you win.

Your Brand is What I Say It Is

Don’t panic if people use your brand and make it their own. This is opportunity knocking if you know the rule. And the rule is: you’re not the only one who gets to tell people what your brand is. People can now tell you what your brand is to them. That’s the prize that shows up in the box between your ears if you’re ready to listen.

This week I listened to a teleseminar presented by Elizabeth Marshall with Author Teleseminars. The notable guests were Guy Kawasaki, Rich Sloan, Pam Slim and Andy Sernovitz. Each of them served up uncommon wisdom about business that has nothing to do with business as usual.

As someone who believes in the power of personality and authenticity to build rewarding relationships (on and offline) I was delighted with the panelists’ comments. Though I don’t remember who said it, one thing in particular stuck in my head. It was a simple question that we should ask ourselves when evaluating any idea. Here it is. Would anybody tell a friend?

Wow! What a great idea evaluator. So why would someone tell a friend about your business, your podcast, your anything?

Well. there’s the cool factor. It makes me laugh. It makes me feel good. It captures my imagination. It’s interesting. And it’s important to me.

Then, there’s the ‘I get it’ factor. This ‘thing’ (even a complex thing) is understandable. It’s clear and simple (even more important when it’s complex). It’s a good deal. It’s in my best interest.

And finally, there’s the ‘I want it’ factor. It comforts me. It elevates my status. It expresses the wonderful quirkiness of me. It makes me feel (supply any of the following) sexy, powerful, beautiful, and popular or other emotional drivers.

My creative partner Susan and I frequently encounter businesses in search of a personality. These are perfectly fine people, it’s just that their collective corporate persona is devoid of anything resembling human. The language landscape is over-populated with facts in search of context. Their knowledge is lost for a lack of narrative. And don’t get Susan started on design that fails to reveal any signs of life. That makes her really cranky.

Here’s my take. Friends tell friends about things that are insanely silly and monumentally important. Friends tell friends about things that are real and relatable that can readily be re-told.

So if you’re exploring ideas on how to build a brand, attract an audience, or make more money, just ask yourself, ‘would anybody tell a friend about this?’ If the answer is no, you may be suffering from absentee personality syndrome. But don’t worry, if you’re a person (even the non-perky kind) personality can be recovered and brought to life. And life is what friends are telling friends all about.

Jan