My first ever trade show visit was to Expo East in the Fall of 2012. Incidentally, this was the show where Rhythm Superfoods debuted their line of kale chips (not easy to manufacture, BTW). Their aisle was un-navigable most of the show. At the time,
Spending a lot of money to use expensive tactics that don’t work in Phase 1 because absolutely no one knows who you are…at all. It may infuriate you to know, but traditional, highly efficient, big gun marketing tactics like advertising actually won’t work without a) decent
You know your brand’s Instagram feed? Yeah, that digital stream full of all the cool, square, breezy lifestyle posts and overly clever but ultimately vague copy? Yeah, that’s what they call brand marketing. Brand marketing is a ‘branch’ of marketing invented by established, leading brands to
The following is a preview of Episode 53 of Startup Confidential, the fastest-growing podcast for founders of consumer brands. Yes, the chest-beating about door count continues unabated in the trade media. Must be proof of traction, eh? Um, no. So, there are 38,000 primary grocery points of
Spending a lot of money to use expensive tactics that don’t work in Phase 1 because absolutely no one knows who you are…at all. It may infuriate you to know, but traditional, highly efficient, big gun marketing tactics like advertising actually won’t work without a) decent
The reality is that you have to network way, way beyond your peers, to gain social advantage in any industry or community that does not have formal mentoring embedded in it. Some examples of the latter are architecture, the law, and medicine…most highly regulated professions
The worst problem with the upcoming Expo East mega-event is not even the expense load for a small CPG brand to attend. The trade show environment pushes 'new items' as a major growth vehicle for brands that have existed for a few years. Buyers will
It is possible to double your store count every year in an exponential ramp up of distribution. If your product is good, you will achieve a stable (i.e., not declining) velocity plateau. Great. You’re doing better than many brands. This will still appear ‘slow’ to the
I’m not a clinical psychologist; let’s be clear. That said, entrepreneurs do tend to skew strongly toward narcissistic behavior (in the latest research). This is a learned pattern of interpreting social life in a constant source of positive feedback. That’s how I see it as
Please take today off if you worked all weekend or part of the weekend on your business. This is a family and friends’ day. One of few that we all need to honor religiously. I do. But I worked this weekend, too. I’m an entrepreneur, too, running two