Lost in a Sea of Sellers
The recent Carlsbad Street Faire was the perfect opportunity for catching up on shopping, food and exercise. Four of us, with 110,000 of our closest friends, visited hundreds of booths hawking everything imaginable.
For hours we drifted throughout Carlsbad Village: 20 blocks of cookies, planters, leather goods and such. There were no maps providing order.
Worse yet, nobody did anything to really stand out from the crowd.
Sure, the brightly colored tents sought your attention with their wares. But if you were seeking a particular vendor or item, you had to just keep looking.
Yup, everything just blended together, and all vendors seemingly relied strictly on available foot traffic for generating sales. This was fine for those amid the flood of humanity, but traffic in the satellite areas was definitely sparser.
We observed most businesses mimic each other. They give away the same candy, pens, travel mugs and T-shirts; use the same type of social media messaging; and hope they’ll make enough sales to be profitable.
My friend Henry suggested booth babes to help those vendors seeking more attention. The term is slang for scantily clad women whose sole purpose is to grab attention, pose for pictures, autograph photos of themselves and feed sexual fantasies of passers-by.
I’ve always objected to this marketing tool as being both sexist and demeaning. The concept of booth babes arguably insults and alienates other women while distracting from whatever’s being sold.
After all, if customers are there to fantasize about these women, odds are excellent the product line they’re “selling” will be immediately ignored or forgotten.
But why not hire a magician or a juggler as an alternative? This will avoid charges of sexism, attract prospective customers and can even incorporate whatever is being sold into the act.
Let’s face it: A magician standing in the street wearing a checkered blazer and a top hat and using flash paper to create fiery displays is certain to increase awareness.
Bottom line: We’re all surrounded by far too much competition today. If you’re just doing the same thing everyone else is doing, hoping you’ll get enough activity to be profitable, you may be disappointed at day’s end.
But be different and you’re sure to find yourself the most popular stand at the event.
Presto! Instant sales!
With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.
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