#460 Popeye's girlfriend

I was in Minneapolis over the weekend, and my sister took me to the grocery store to “pick up some olives.”  Where I live, that means green or black in a little jar or can.  In the Twin Cities, it means a huge display of exotic choices, elaborately laid out in an appealing olive bar: French Green with Herbs de Provence, Pitted Mt. Athos olives, Bella Di Cerignola olives, Hot Tunisian Mix, olives with Peruvian Chilies and so forth.

The folks at Byerly's realized that they needed to do something to encourage people to buy all of these olives.  So they have little cups that allow testing of the different kinds.  They have recipes that conveniently require several kinds of their olives as ingredients.  They share entertainment suggestions and conveniently display other items to eat with your olives (cheeses, crackers, oils and wine).  All of this leads to people like my sister coming to the store specifically to partake in the bar.

This olive bar is marketing in action.  If these olives came in little glass jars or cans on a middle shelf somewhere, no one would find them, let alone pay $9.99/lb. for them.  But because they have been showcased and featured in the prime traffic aisle, they are selling.

How can you think of a new way to display your specialty?  Are you keeping your prime product or service tucked away on the far corners of your website or marketing messages?  Are you like a grocer who thinks he needs to feature bread/milk/eggs or the standard items when you really need to concentrate your efforts on olives?

The world has become a compilation of specific niches.  Think of olives to find yours today.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com