A Bigger Slice of Pie

Get a Bigger Slice

So many businesses are trying so hard to be all things to all people these days. Do we just need to decide who we’re trying to serve? What would happen if we could confidently, and happily focus on one market segment? Could we be happy there if we did? Would our customers be happy if we did?

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What’s Wrong with this Message?

Enough about the economy stupid.

Yes, we need to be empathetic to the consumer’s need to save, but the problem is amplified and exacerbated when everyone who is marketing has the same basic message across all communication channels. A basic tenet of marketing – differentiation, is lost.

Shouldn’t your brand be all about helping consumers escape the everyday issues of life? Keep in mind that when your advertising messages remind your own brand constituents of the harsh realities of living today, and that they should save money every time they buy you are NOT making them feel like they need to have what you’ve got.

Fast Forward to Uber-Cocooning

Consumers get better and better at it. They’re sure getting a lot of practice. John Naisbit first predicted “high-tech/high-touch” in Megatrends. Faith Popcorn predicted “cocooning” in The Popcorn Report. She’s now updated that with “uber-cocooning”. Certain things aren’t changing so much as they’re getting deeper and richer. The consumers have become more sophisticated cocooner’s with outdoor living, outdoor living rooms, and even those televisions that pop up out of the hot tub or outdoor kitchen (thank’s Dawn Gower at Ferda’s). Have local owned garden centers kept up with this really, or is the consumer bypassing the local-owned retailer for the greater garden center world? What are we going to do about it now? Are we going to try to play the discount , lower price, smaller size game and hope to keep the volume, or are we going to get serious about this, take the high road, and provide the total value of great product, shopping environment, and service that is becoming of the customer’s desire to “uber-cocoon”?

Read more and see what Faith Popcorn said about cocooning and uber-cocooning by clicking here.

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