How many flavors do you have?

Quick -- Name the very first round chocolate cookie sandwich with vanilla cream icing in the middle. If you said Oreo, you'd be...wrong.

Hydrox cookies were introduced in 1908; four years later, Oreos came along. And an iconic American institution was born.

(Johnny-come-latelys, take note: there's opportunity for success yet.)

Welcome to the April edition of Not Your Usual Marketing tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

Oreo cookies celebrated their 100th birthday last month. In honor of the occasion, parent company Nabisco has debuted a limited edition Oreo flavor: Birthday Cake Oreos. The cookies look like standard Oreos, except the white frosting has flecks of rainbow sprinkles inside.

I was reminded of a piece I did on this product a few years back; here it us, updated. To account for still more Oreo flavors that have come along in the interim:

I was in the grocery store the other day and noticed the Oreo cookies. Only it wasn’t “just” Oreo cookies.

Sure, there were the “original” Oreo cookies that we all know and love. But, in separate packaging, there were also: Oreo Double-Stuff; Reduced Fat Oreo; Mint n’ Crème Oreo; Peppermint Oreo; Mini Oreo; Chocolate Crème Oreo -- whew, let me catch my breath here -- Golden Oreo Original; Fudge Covered Oreo; White Fudge Oreo; Fudge Mint Covered Oreo; Golden Oreo Chocolate Crème; Banana Split Oreo; Oreo Thin Crisps; and, not to be outdone, Double Delight Oreo Peanut Butter & Chocolate. And then, of course, in October, there's Halloween (colored) Oreo and Candy Cane Oreo at Christmas.

(I'm still waiting for Potato Latke Oreo for Hanukkah...)

Now why would arguably this nation’s most popular cookie product come up with all these different variations on an otherwise successful approach?

Because they want to either answer demand anticipate demand or create demand? Because they don’t want to get into a marketplace rut? Because they want to “keep things fresh?” Because they want to challenge themselves? Because they want to stay ahead of the cookie curve? Because with each new product introduction, they become top of mind? Again..?

The parallel to be drawn here presumes to ask the question, what are you doing to “diversify” yourself? Nothing wrong with staying just as you are. “Stick with whomever brought you to the dance,” goes the old saying. But in these volatile times of strong and plentiful competition for what we do for a living, it may behoove us to reach into the old tool box, metaphorically speaking, and see what else we can do to add to our equipment as we build upon our own “product.”

For example, among the products at JDK Marketing Communications Management is a service to help adoption parents create profiles on themselves. This helps promote their eligibility as parents-to-be candidates to the original birth mother in order for her to decide which family she would select to ultimately parent her child. It’s a fascinating, and touching, process that few people outside of adoption circles know about. I certainly didn’t until a friend of mine in the industry was thoughtful enough to “clue me in.” Helene Nathanson heads a home study agency, created to help North Carolina families with pre- and post-adoption requirements:

http://nathansonadopt.com/

It’s another way JDK Marketing Communications seeks to keep our fingers in an ever-growing pie -- or cookie -- of marketing diversity.

We’ll talk to you again the first Tuesday of next month, for another dunked-in-milk edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.

Joel Kweskin
LinkedIn, Facebook,
Visit Charlotte

Wee Willie Keeler, Marketer

Jonathan Schwartz is a deejay back in New York (and on Sirius XM radio) who, every Super Bowl Sunday, addresses the Big Game by devoting his show to...Baseball.


He's a huge fan -- particularly of the Red Sox, which, in New York, is literally taking your life in your hands.

But I like his maverick approach. And so, because I too am a huge fan of the descendant of the old English game of Rounders, I thought I'd fly in the face of March Madness roundball. And, instead, acknowledge the March Madness that is...Spring Training.

Welcome to the "Get-yer-ice-cold-Ballantine" edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

This at-bat has appeared in previous volumes; here's a replay:


Jacques Barzun, a French-born American historian of ideas and culture, once famously said "Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball..."

And along with it, some lessons we can apply to, yes, marketing.

There was a baseball player around the turn of the century -- at 5'4" the shortest ever to play the game -- named Wee Willie Keeler. Click here: Willie Keeler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Known for perfecting the "Baltimore Chop," whenever Willie stepped to the plate the chant would ring out, “Hit’em where they ain’t!”

The meaning was simplistically clear: hit the ball where the fielders weren't positioned, to improve the chances for getting a base hit.

What if, metaphorically speaking, you could “hit” your target markets…where your competition “ain’t?”

Most businesses – however small or large – tend to market themselves through the standard avenues…the local newspaper, the local weekly, radio, TV, et al. And buckshot mailings to one’s database of clients, colleagues and friends. (And now, of course, through various forms of social media.) Chances are that your industry counterparts are doing mostly that same thing.

Maybe the next time you’re “at bat,” consider going – pardon the pun – farther afield. That is, think about hitting those markets not just among your primary audience but also to the outer periphery of your spheres of influence.

¶A CPA, for instance – whose services are needed by virtually everyone – can make herself the go-to professional with the local remodelers trade association.

¶A chiropractor might consider offering internal clinics to the staffs of Home Depot or Lowe's (think of all the lifting, stretching and bending those folks go through).

¶An etiquette consultant might consider aligning with a business or life coach to offer services to further their clients' business growth and social success.

¶A sometime caricature artist might join a wedding and event planners organization to be their unique source of party entertainment. (Hey wait a minute, that's me..!)

For that matter, maybe there’s a hobby you have, or a weekend passion you love, that can be parlayed into a business opportunity -- by providing your services to fellow aficionados. Do these enthusiasts have associations? Do they have meetings? Do they have means, i.e. literature or promotional materials, by which they communicate with one another…and in which you can contribute an ad or, better yet, an informative article?

Again, something that perhaps your competition hasn't customarily done...

Next time you grab that metaphorical bat and stand in the box…you may want to think outside of it every now and then. And hit’em where they -- your competition -- likely ain’t.

By the way, did you know that, after "Happy Birthday," the second most sung ditty among Americans is..."Take Me Out to The Ballgame?"

See you again the first Tuesday of next month, with another Moneyball edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.

Joel Kweskin
http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/
joel@jdkmarketing.biz
704.846.4835 office
704.575.8850 mobile
Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo
NAWP. Visit Charlotte

Stupor Bowl

I, as did 114 million other viewers, watched the Super Bowl the other night.


I, as did 114 million other viewers, watched the commercials in rapt attention. In fact, I was loathe to go to either the kitchen or the loo, not for fear of missing the actions of Eli Manning and Tom Brady but the actions of Jerry Seinfeld and Matthew Broderick. Et al.

When I did manage to view the latter two, along with Jay Leno and Elton John and Rickey Gervais and Clint Eastwood and Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels and Flavor Flav...(yawn)...I was reminded of the old Peggy Lee song (to drop yet another name), "Is that all there is?"

Welcome to another edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

All I can say is, I wish when I worked as a copywriter at both New York and Charlotte ad agencies, I had the seemingly carte blanche expense account to suggest to my creative directors that, "Here's my concept -- all it needs to work is for you to get Betty White..."

This isn't just sour grapes on my part. (Well, maybe just a little...) The extravagance of some of these spots was cancelled out by the head-scratching query: "Okay...but what was the product? Who was the advertiser? Other than to entertain, what was the point? Especially if I can't even remember what they were trying to sell..."

Many of these spots were so intent on being over the top that, in my estimation, they ended up falling flat on their fiscally fatuous faces.

Where was the focus, I might additionally ask.

Most of us won't ever have the privilege or pleasure of promoting our businesses on television. But many of us might advertise in print, or on the web. Which can actually be tougher, less forgiving mediums because your audience is likely to rush through the pages to continue with their content reading.

Unless you’re doing a catalogue with umpteen items to sell, your best bet is to focus on one main service or product. Not that you shouldn’t mention that you have more than one commodity to offer (best rendered in a web site), but in the short space – not to mention time – in which your audience is flipping pages, on paper or online, your ad has to get at the crux of what you do. Simply. And quickly.

I attended a seminar once where an ad guru brought a couple of props to the podium. One was a small square platform with neat rows of sharp points sticking up. The other was a similar square platform, but with one sharp point sticking up (as in the old fashioned kind of retail receipts “holder”).

He took a single sheet of paper and tried impaling it first through the rows of points. Though it created minor little “impressions,” the sheet would not cut through; it remained on top of the sharp points. When he took the same sheet and forced it over the single sharp point, however, guess what happened?

The single, “focused message” broke through, while the “many-messaged” sheet -- or in the case of the Super Bowl spots, many layered visuals or with multiple celebrities -- hardly made a dent.

And now you get the...you-know-what.

So take that, John Stamos, Donald Trump and Deion Sanders.

Whatever it was you were selling.

See you again the first Tuesday of next month for another prime-time presentation of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.



Joel Kweskin

http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/
joel@jdkmarketing.biz
704.846.4835 office
704.575.8850 mobile
Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo,
NAWP, Visit Charlotte

Resolute About Resolutions

Volume 10, Number 1.

A new year for us all, and the tenth year of my musings on the general subject of marketing communications and its many permutations.

Each January, it's been our tradition to offer up 12 resolutions -- one corresponding to each month -- for the New Year. For those of you who missed it last year, here we go again. For those of you who read it last year...here we go again.

Welcome to the Let's-Hope-The-Mayans-Are-Wrong Opus of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

Here are 12 initiatives you can apply to your marketing plan this new year.

In no particular order:

1. Guerilla Marketing: Think outside the box for ways to promote yourself. There are rules…and sometimes they're made to be broken.

2. Networking: Don't just focus on the standard business networking group. Look into joining associations, fraternal organizations, MeetUps, groups comprising fellow hobbyists, etc. That means getting more active in the social media milieu, as well, i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, et al.

3. Publicity: You're probably too close to see the forest for the trees. In other words, just because you may think you have nothing new to tell the world...doesn't mean you don't.

4. Volunteer Programs: Join an organization to help a favored cause. It's good networking, along with it being "good works."

5. Seminars: You think you know it all? Heck, maybe you do – at least as far as certain audiences are concerned, and the new business development opportunities they might provide for you.

6. Newsletters: Share your ideas, broaden your constituency by sending out industry-relevant information either as hard copy…or as an e-zine (such as what you’re presently reading).

7. Trade Shows: Go to them, be in them, network within them, write a program article for them, propose to give a seminar at them.

8. Event Marketing: Sponsor a cause, host an Open House; it’s good P.R. by “socializing” your business.

9. The Newspaper: Remember that old-fashioned medium? For business ideas, for client contact opportunities, for ways to promote yourself through Letters to the Editor...simply to stay topical...don’t just rely on the 11:00 PM news. Read the newspaper.

10. Greeting Cards: It doesn’t have to be Christmas to send them to clients, prospects, colleagues, friends. Stay top of mind year-round, with Valentine’s Day, July 4th, Arbor Day – whatever! – as your "excuse."

11. Postcards: Along with greeting cards, postcards are a fast, convenient, economical way to let people know about what's new with your business (think Realtors and Financial Advisor).

12. Re-tool Your Website: updated info, add new pictures, introduce a video, sponsor a contest.

Have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012. Hope to catch you again the first Tuesday of next month with another perspective during our 10th Anniversary year.

(And if you want to buy me something, it should be in tin...)

Joel Kweskin

http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/
joel@jdkmarketing.biz
704.846.4835 office
704.575.8850 mobile
Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo,
NAWP, Visit Charlotte

Love-ing the Holidays

The holidays are a time for gift giving and good cheer.

And so I thought I'd use the auspices of this column to step away from its customary charge to educate and inspire on matters marketing -- how presumptuous of me to begin with -- and, while lacking in gifts for you, at least spread some of that good cheer.

Welcome to the Winter Solstice edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

Not wishing to come across as too treacly, I am still sufficiently bitten by the Holiday bug to where I'd like to put forth some thoughts on one particular kind of "gift."

This is lifted from a column that appeared in this space about five years ago. Enjoy:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

What does Love mean?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of four-to-eight-year-olds. The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy, age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
Karl, age 5

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri, age 4

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Bobby, age 7

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate."
Nikka, age 6

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy, age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy, age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare, age 6

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Mary Ann, age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you."
Karen, age 7

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
Jessica, age 8

Finally, author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia recalls a contest he was asked to judge, the purpose of which was to find "the most caring child."

The winner was a four year old whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

----------------------------------------------------------------

On second thought, maybe there was a gift or two in there...

Happy Holidays, and a prosperous and healthy New Year to you and yours.

Joel Kweskin

http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/
joel@jdkmarketing.biz
704.846.4835 office
704.575.8850 mobile
Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo,
NAWP, Visit Charlotte

Drawn to Caricatures

  Allow me to indulge myself and present the case for marrying two passions of mine: marketing's creative side...and caricature art.


Welcome to another edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

(If you were not otherwise aware, Yes, I do caricatures. And I’ve been doing them professionally – apart from my copywriting, conceptual and marketing strategy work – for over three decades now.)

In recent weeks, my capabilities as a professional caricature artist have been engaged by three different clients, all of whom have sought caricature art as a unique, fun embellishment to enhance their messages to their respective marketplaces.

One is using caricatures, or in this case "straight" cartoons, to create a "Provide the Caption" addition to her national B-to-B blog; another client is using my cartoons to add visual emphasis to his sales training management seminar/workshop reminders; the third individual wants his business to stand out by incorporating his caricature visage to snail mail notes...and a self-published book cover.

Naturally, caricatures can be applied to other marketing avenues, such as ad specialty items -- on tee shirts, coffee mugs, and the like. Caricatures can enliven collateral marketing materials, ad campaigns, publicity packages, PowerPoint presentations and trade shows as well.

Social media anyone? I can count at least five individuals (that I know of) who have used my caricatures of themselves as their personal avatars on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Soon it will be holiday gift-giving time. You can do the fruitcake thing, the gift basket thing, the popcorn-in-a-tin thing or the gift certificate thing. Or you might want to consider giving a gift that is truly customized and personal...

Caricatures make a uniquely original and thoughtful gift for your clients or your favored customers...and certainly families and friends on the personal side. Caricatures of loyal (and long-standing) staff make great gifts as well, showing your appreciation for their dedicated service. Yours truly has done caricatures of individual staff members, framed and mounted on company walls. So it’s not only a unique, fun idea…it’s great for morale.

Another popular means by which to utilize caricatures -- and no less a marketing tool than a corporate brochure or flyer -- is a Holiday Greetings card...customized to feature the illustrated likenesses of company officers and selected staff, and sent out to clients with a seasonal message thanking them for their business. See art, above.

And to see samples of other art I've done -- business and personal -- please check out my caricatures website, http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/caricaturesbyjoel/

So...want to consider introducing a 500-year-old art form to 21st Century marketing sensibilities?

Give a thought to caricatures. And in the meantime, frame the first Tuesday of next month for another artful sampling of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.


Joel Kweskin
 
http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/
joel@jdkmarketing.biz
704.846.4835 office
704.575.8850 mobile
Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo,
NAWP, Visit Charlotte

Make October YOUR Month!

October is Halloween month, right?

And then there's New Year January, the Ides of March, the Merry Month of May, The 4th of July, Thanksgiving November, Christmas December...

Well, if you're into promoting your business through PR tactics -- whether retail, service, B-to-B, B-to-C -- you might wish to re-think October. Or any month for that matter.

Welcome to the Season of the Witch edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

It's a very popular, and tried and true approach, to associate one's business with a particular month. This is perfectly fine. Along with usually being perfectly obvious.

How about stepping outside the box, and bringing a less-observed date into the marketing mix?

Not only do you show to your clients and prospects a broader base of cultural reference, but you get the opportunity to uniquely and memorably make your selected date...your own.

Did you realize October alone offers these unique marketing tie-in dates?

• Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month


• Animal Safety and Protection Month


• Augmentative and Alternative Communication Awareness Month


• Bake and Decorate Month


• Bat Appreciation Month


• Breast Cancer Awareness Month


• Car Care Month


• Celebrating the Bilingual Child Month


• Celiac Disease Awareness Month


• Children's Magazine Month


• Chili Month


• Chiropractic Month


• Church Library Month


• Co-op Awareness Month


• Crime Prevention Month


• Cyber Security Awareness Month


• Dental Hygiene Month


• Depression Education and Awareness Month


• Disability Employment Awareness Month


• Domestic Violence Awareness Month


• Down Syndrome Awareness Month


• Dyslexia Awareness Month


• Eat Better, Eat Together Month


• Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month


• Emotional Wellness Month


• Financial Planning Month


• German-American Heritage Month


• Global Diversity Awareness Month


• Go Hog Wild--Eat Country Ham Month


• Go on a Field Trip Month


• Halloween Safety Month


• Health Literacy Month


• Liver Awareness Month


• Long-Term Care Planning Month


• Medical Librarians Month


• Organize Your Medical Information Month


• Orthodontic Health Month


• Photographer Appreciation Month


• Physical Therapy Month


• Polish-American Heritage Month


• Popcorn Poppin' Month


• Positive Attitude Month


• Protect Your Hearing Month


• Raptor Month


• Reading Group Month


• Rett Syndrome Awareness Month

So go ahead, grab a date and make it your own. It's free!

What else is free? The first Tuesday of next month's installment of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.

Joel Kweskin

http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/
joel@jdkmarketing.biz
704.846.4835 office
704.575.8850 mobile
Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo,
NAWP, Visit Charlotte