Apr 14, 2008

An "aHA" Moment...


I love having "aHA!" moments in business. You know, those times when you read something and the giant lightbulb flips on over your noggin and you go, "aHA! I TOTALLY GET THAT!"

I was surfing around looking for some marketing quotes for the monthly ScrapBiz member newsletter and I came across this one by Theodore Levitt - former editor of the Harvard Review.


"Kodak sells film, but they don't advertise film. They advertise memories."


If you're a business owner in the scrapbook industry, did you just have that same, "aHA!" moment? Are we JUST selling pretty paper and embellishments for the sake of the pretty paper and embellishments? That's what we advertise sometimes. But, what SHOULD we be selling? We SHOULD be selling the idea that preserving your memories is important. That is much more meaningful then saying, "look at this pretty paper - what can you do with it?" Paper is just paper, but paper with memories on it makes it special!

What a great concept for scrapbook retailers! Film by itself isn't sexy and neither are stickers. But, when both are used for the very thing they were created for, they can be very exciting! Many of us have spent the last few years collecting products just because we like the products. But, as a retailer, your job is the help the customer use the products they have stocked up on. Only as they use them to preserve their memories will they then have a reason to come back and buy more.

Active scrapbookers are what the industry needs more of! USE the paper and embellishments to preserve memories. Otherwise, it's just like a totally useless container of un-used film (you remember film, don't you? It's those little rolls of black plastic your mother still uses in her camera...)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

WOW! What a simple but powerful message! I am selling people stuff, but forget to sell the memory capturing aspect! Thanks!