admin, Author at Consumer Product Events

Former actress Amanda Horan Andereck invented seamless bra that eliminates back bulges

Andereck created a prototype from a pair of control-top pantyhose and cups she snipped from an old bra, found a manufacturer, and created the product.

“You can have the best product on the planet, and if no one knows about it, you will not succeed.”

—Amanda Horan Andereck

BY ALYSON DUTCH

“I’ve always had a bit of a shopping habit,” says Amanda Horan Andereck, the former co-star of TV’s “B.J. and the Bear,” one of Calvin Klein’s first models at 16, and current CEO of Sassybax.®

One day in a dressing room, she tried on a tight sweater and noticed the unsightliness caused by her bra straps. So she invented an undergarment to eliminate visible bra lines and became a fashion solution maven, the first to eradicate the look of what many women call “back fat.”

Andereck strived to create a seamless bra, which 44 manufacturers told her could not be done. Her inspiration came from control-top pantyhose: She cut off the legs, flipped them upside down, and slipped them over her head. She put her arms through the leg holes, cut apart her bra and slipped the cups inside, anchoring them with a few hand stitches.

After trying on that tight sweater again, she had completely eliminated the bra strap indentations.

This was the beginning of a wild success story, eventually starring a 360-degree knitting machine that could knit in contours and bra-cup type support. This piece of technology became a seamless garment-making icon now used by popular brands Lululemon, Nike, Athletica and many others.

Her Sassybax brand, founded in 2004, was quickly adopted by women nationally; Neiman Marcus was its first customer. She sold $1 million of product within the first year from her garage in Marina Del Rey, California. The brand soon became an intimates staple at other iconic retailers.

Overwhelming satisfaction
When internet sales began to burgeon, many in the fashion industry never believed that people would buy clothing online because they were used to trying it on.

Andereck says that assumption is particularly false for the intimates sector, especially because women abhor trying on bras.

“If it doesn’t fit, you have to put all your clothes back on, after which the dressing room locks behind you,” says Andereck, who knows how people think after seven years as a clinical psychologist. “You’ve gotta go out to the floor to see if you can find another size and then, if you’re lucky, you’ll find one of the three sales associates staffing an entire department store floor to let you back into the locked dressing room.

“Women hate the experience. It’s worse than trying on jeans and bathing suits.”

When the retail business began to wane more seriously in 2012, Andereck noticed that her online sales were growing and boasted a smashingly low return rate. Most e-tailers plan for up to a 50 percent return rate, but Sassybax bras hit such a nerve for women that the return rate was a stunning 2 percent.

No one-hit wonder
With dozens of appearances on major TV shows and movies during the 1980s and early ’90s, Andereck always avoided the “one-hit wonder” syndrome. This is also a potential pitfall for entrepreneurs; retailers often turn away brands that don’t have a larger catalogue from which to choose.

Andereck started with the “no back fat bra” she called the Bralette that came in four sizes and four colors, then added length on the body of the design for a mid- and complete-torso option. From there, she used the same seamless knitting technique to craft booty-lifting leggings, and racerback and strapless bras. In 2007, she received a U.S. patent for the unique knit structure she developed to incorporate into her company’s leggings and bottom shapers.

Sassybax eventually expanded its catalogue—developing a line of pretty lingerie-looking shapewear, arm- and thigh-shaping undergarments, slips, briefs, camisoles and tummy-taming thongs.

But as time marched on, she listened more carefully to her customers and decided to get back to basics and hyper-focus on Sassybax’s core products that women voraciously continued to order: the bras.

A patent? Not always
Andereck is a no-frills, tell-it-like-it-is business owner. Having grown up in Kansas and Minnesota, she says she’s “a Midwesterner by ethic.”

Though today she focuses on running the business, she has performed every function from designing to delivery, legal to accounts payable and inventory to marketing.

She generally does not believe in patents in the garment industry. “Sale is proof of utility, and that’s what matters,” she says.

There are important reasons for her not to pursue a patent on her main product: “Patenting in the garment industry is a false sense of security, because someone can change something ever so slightly on that garment and then sell it to compete with your product—and that’s legal. Shocking, but those are the facts.

“In addition, patent law is wildly expensive, with the possibility of long, drawn-out legal battle that’s nearly impossible to prove.”

Marketing is queen
Andereck’s experience as an actress helped her understand the crucial importance of marketing. She says Hollywood agents agreed that “no one went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

“A lot of companies have been built on genius marketing and less-than-genius products. You can have the best product on the planet, and if no one knows about it, you will not succeed. Though no one plans to have a mediocre product, it is true that a less-than-amazing product with brilliant marketing wins every time.”

She has always made her products in America, having personally witnessed what she says is an unhealthy emphasis on work in Chinese factories.

“I was saddened that the factory employees were treated as if all that mattered was work. The factories are owned by their government, and they are expendable workers. … That’s what kept me from manufacturing there.”

She refused to use toxic fabric dyes, such as the ones used in Chinese factories. For a product such as Sassybax, an undergarment that sits directly on the skin, she felt it imperative that the dyes were non-toxic. Consumers are looking for products that match this health value, so her marketing is changing to bring this to light.

Inspirational resiliency
As the coronavirus pandemic dawned, consumers’ points of view have changed dramatically, Being tone-deaf to this could alienate a consumer base; it’s crucial to communicate with customers in a way that makes them feel they are heard and seen.

Often, people schooled in adversity grow into those who are the most resilient and adaptable—the two foremost qualities inherent in the most successful entrepreneurs. Andereck was a Miss Texas USA and a TV star whose personal life was followed in the tabloids, but she is no stranger to adversity.

She built Sassybax through the fallout of being diagnosed with two cerebral aneurysms “that I chose to have surgically corrected via two separate brain surgeries at UCLA, to avoid them rupturing and possibly killing me. Due to brilliant surgeons and Screen Actors Guild insurance which paid $300,000, I am 100 percent corrected and kicking!”

She earned her degree in psychology and built a practice in Los Angeles before getting into the bra business.

She is a woman who never takes no for an answer and is filled with more moxie than most. Perhaps it is a Midwest upbringing that develops a personality like this—but regardless, it is a blueprint for success that most would be fortunate to follow.

Born: New York City

Title: Founder and CEO, Sassybax

Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology, Master’s in clinical psychology

Awards: Miss Texas USA, 2nd runner-up Miss USA

Acting experience: 33 TV and movie credits, including “B.J. and the Bear,” “Cheers,” “The A Team,” “Hart to Hart,” “CHiPS,” “Matt Houston,” “The Fall Guy,” “Fantasy Island,” “Remington Steele,” “Quantum Leap”

Other work experience: Ran a consultant practice for women’s issues

Interests: Charitable causes involving breast cancer, human rights, the Humane Society

By Alyson Dutch

Marketing. Sales. PR. Promotions. Online marketing. Guerilla tactics. Direct response TV. What does it all mean and how do you know which is for you? Never fear, the product launch maven is here to reveal the truth and help you navigate this new process of getting your product into the right hands. Talk about the right hands — that, in a nutshell, is what marketing is. But before I go into details, let’s start from the beginning and back up to a 10,000 feet view and you can see this in context.

Every company, or creator of a product/service, consists of 3 parts: the product itself, the operations and the marketing. The product or service includes everything it takes to have a tangible thing/service; this may include the research and development, the creation of the prototype, sourcing of materials, manufacturing, packaging and inventory systems. Operations are all of the systems and people it takes to make a business run. At the moment, those “people” are probably only you and perhaps a few outside vendors or independent contractors. Included in the operations of a company are the systems that in the viewpoint of Ray Croc (creator of McDonald’s and the master of replication) are 100% repeatable and anyone, with instruction, can re-create. And, speaking of Ray Croc, he’s one cat you should read about; I recommend Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray Kroc. Did you know that McDonald’s isn’t a restaurant, but one of the most brilliantly executed operational marvels of our lifetime? Aside from reading about him, I had the good fortune of learning this from my uncle who was his VP of Marketing back in the 50’s when McDonald’s was just getting started in Ohio. He has some incredible stories about their early days that I’ll share with you another time. Operations are systems for your company developed to stand alone without you. If the operations manual for your company was handed over in exchange for a nice fat check when you’re ready to exit, it would be a turnkey business for someone else to run and grow. Marketing is anything you do to get that product into the hands of not only someone who wants and needs your product, but will happily and easily pay you for it. So, therefore, what marketing modalities every company chooses will be different.

So, follow the logic here (and by the way, it is backwards), if the marketing is based on who your paying customer is, who are they? Do you have some good guesses about where they are? What makes them tick? Do you know why they want, or better yet, do they need your product? There are many questions to ask yourself about your customer, much of which will be conjecture in the beginning, but as soon as you have up to three customers, two of whom are similar, you’ve got a line to go on.

Here’s a big secret: as you are developing your product, begin developing a picture and list of attributes of your customer. And, do not take one step further, or spend another dime, until you are exceedingly clear on this. I cannot tell you how many entrepreneurs I meet who have a great solution for some problem they’ve experienced and are so incredibly enamored with it, they don’t care what anyone thinks (except waxing poetic about why it’s so incredible). Guess what? That’s not a business; that’s a vanity project; and an expensive one. If you are truly interested in making a scalable product/service that becomes your retirement, the only thing you should care about is your customer and why they will want to pay you for something. So, if your customer thinks that the shoe laces on your new sneaker should be green instead of blue, or the design needs to change, you better darned well do it. Why? Because they are your customer and you have no business without customers.

So, let’s focus on marketing. What exactly is it? How does it work? What are its many faces? It starts with the “marketing umbrella,” under which there are many different ways to get your product into the hands of the customer who will pay you for it. Here is a list of some of the different varieties of marketing:

Sales / distribution *

Advertising

Promotions

Guerrilla tactics

Online marketing

Social networking

Sampling

Trade shows

Word of mouth

Email marketing

E-marketing

Direct response TV

Direct mail

Special events

Viral marketing

Networking

Professional associations

Awards and recognition

Referral programs

Network marketing

Pay Per Click

Search Engine Optimization

And, the list goes on.

So, how do you know which method will work best for your product? Should you employ one or perhaps several of them together? This is a question that only you can answer based on who your customer is and where you think they gather in numbers. It may be that your target customer is someone who hangs out at the Moose Lodge. So guess what? Sampling your product there is a good idea. You may have an online business that sells a product that is desired by those who ride the bus every day. So, your marketing should probably be on buses and on bus benches. Just because you have an online business, by the way, does not necessarily mean that you only market online. You certainly want to ensure that you are directing traffic to your website, but it better be from those bus riders. Maybe they are online buying bus tickets. See how that works? You just think backwards and it becomes quite easy. It’s not rocket science; but it’s incredibly practical.

A few words about *sales. Like all the other modalities I mentioned above, sales is also a method used to get a product into the hands of someone who wants to buy it, but it’s the one marketing aspect in this list that is 100% necessary, no matter who your customer is. As for the rest of the list, you have choices about which to use. You have no business without sales.

When you start a company, the marketing is an integral part of the launch. The best way to approach it is to create a marketing mix. Use an Excel sheet to list all the marketing methods you might use to find your customer. Choose the ones that you can afford first and build from there.

If you’d like a sample of a marketing mix and descriptions of all the marketing methods above, go to The PR Handbook for Entrepreneurs website and click on the banner for Inventors Digest readers. My special gift to you.

A Review of Cosmoprof and MAGIC 2018 – By Alyson Dutch

Have you ever noticed that trade shows are often a conglomeration of brands who have difficulty conveying what the heck they do? I’ve seen this first hand in the tech industry where the catchphrase “better solution” runs amok… Or the food business where words like “organic” and “non-GMO” constantly shriek “I’m here!” But nowhere can you find actual thing a company does, makes or provides. As a marketer, I wonder why brands don’t prioritize differentiation while surrounded in a sea of competition. How else will consumers spot them? My curiosity piqued, I took two back-to-back trips to Las Vegas to experience the legendary Cosmoprof and MAGIC trade shows, bastions of the beauty and fashion business. In these highly creative worlds, I expected to see the most dazzling, unique marketing. The following documents my mid-summer, 108-degree traipses to the City of Sin.

Cosmoprof: a medium-sized show replete with must-be-seen beauty products from skincare potions to hair fixes, makeup cases to Hello Kitty eyelashes held in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The media center was wonderful, friendly and even fed the journalists who gathered for their stories. After a day and a half, I found myself nonplussed. Then, just as I saw Kylie Jenner walk past in fatigues with the roundest, most bouncy (and large) derriere I’ve ever seen, I stumbled upon a glorious find. At the very back of the show was a new product pavilion brimming with titillating new product companies, each one better and more interesting than the next. I wandered past the ones that caught my eye and stopped to ask what they were doing for their marketing. I was delighted to find inventive packaging and impressive product development.

First, I met the CEO of an established and elegant Montreal bath ritual company. I was uncontrollably drawn in upon seeing his magical polar bear-branded, non-allergenic baby line. The branding was so beautiful, it seemed you could puff snow flurries off the nose of the white furry fellow. The Boule du Neige (“snowball” in French) line was charming beyond words. Ah, I thought, these guys are doing a great job using packaging that pulls on the heartstrings of soft-hearted – and worried – new moms.

Next, I couldn’t help but notice an impeccably dressed New York investment banker whose family in Carrera, Italy supplies him with stunning customized marble bottle caps for his apothecary-styled skin oil brand. His positioning: a brilliant explanation of how cremes are just a watered-down version of oils and filled with all kinds of unnecessary ingredients. Again, the incredible packaging was so truly different and his brand story, well honed, pithy – and true. The bottles were also magically shaped and stood out among the sea of things one might see on a modern beauty shelf.

A Finnish entrepreneur with fun Hello Kitty pink high heels had created a line called SuperMood. Her line of ingestibles and topicals were inspired from one’s sadness, excitement, joy – or need for sleep. Her “Beauty Sleep” supplements in their simple, antique-twinged branding were fascinating and wonderful.

Then, around the corner, I spotted a few Fanta machines swirling around a delicious looking cool tea-like elixir; in it: collagen powders in refreshing lavender flavors! Who would think that you could drink your beauty regime? Thanks to Vital Proteins, it’s now possible. Gotta love powdered beauty vitamins.

Next, I ran into Gina, a spikey short-haired, atomic-blonde hairdresser whose styling tools are about to launch on the Home Shopping Network. She’s got some serious marketing smarts. Her publicist explained how they are launching a line of hair styling tools, using her 8000 employees in her 400 salons to upsell her product. Though they retail for $200+, this gal had it goin’ on in the marketing department. Brilliant distribution choices and using her big personality for a differentiation platform was as good as it gets.

Back outside on the floor, I was just saying to myself how bored I’d become. I floated listlessly past one eye shadow purveyor after the other, when I stopped at a familiar and beautiful brand known for their high-end Hawaiian pedigree. The Charlie Brown “wah, wah, wah,” pounded in my ears as the owner extolled their “innovative” marketing techniques: “we’re using influencers to convey our skincare solutions…..”

I was ready for lunch – or to leave altogether.

After a long sigh, I looked up to be absolutely delighted by The Vintage Cosmetics Company, a UK beauty tool darling. Their booth beamed and made me smile at the Daily Candy-esqe drawn women, lots of pink and white vertical stripes and tiny flower-dotted wallpaper-edged packaging. It was so refreshingly retro, reminding me of a home brand I adore called Nellies.

I flew home to Los Angeles for a week and returned this time for MAGIC, the fashion industry’s darling of gatherings. I’d never been and was looking forward to seeing what jewels lie ahead.

After a hoping to get some recommendations from the exhibition publicists in the Media Center, who had no direction to provide, I slowly meandered to the trade show floor.

I admit that my curiosity was momentarily shanghaied by the sight of the ChainXChange, featuring Steve Wozniak, but back to the fashion industry show I went. After a few hours relishing in the fascination of what’s happening on the edge of blockchain technology, the fashion business paled in comparison, but I did find a few things that were indeed dazzling.

I wandered past scads of jersey casual wear lines, innocuous shoes from China, plenty of trucker hats with cute sayings on them and a lot of sock companies donning animal faces, and each even fuzzier than the next. Unsurprisingly, I spotted many rhinestone cashmere hat companies.

A Romanian banker who moon lights as a designer presented a line of exquisite organza capes with a fascinating pressed felt technology she’d created. Though she could barely speak English, all I wanted to do was take her to New York with me and get her incredible apparel in front of the fashion reporters at Harper’s Bazaar; I am certain they too would have drooled. “But,” her British sales guy said: “we have no sales yet, we want to get a pulse from the buyers here first before we start our marketing.” Good thoughts and an excellent test, I thought, a trade show is the perfect place to get a valuable reading.

Next, I stumbled up on a handbag company with a few shelves of the most interesting wares. They had re-imagined fancy cork wallpapers into fabrications for bags that were crisp and incredible. The Chinese creator was so proud of the transformation – and she should have been.

The funny thing about fashion is that it really is just a copy cat show of “interpretations” of color, shape and timeline trends. The truly original ones were the ones that I noticed because they were doing something newsworthy – not just another collegiate-styled shoe line.

As I checked to make sure I had enough phone battery left for an Uber to the airport, the last booth made my jaw drop. “Did I just see Barbie clothes for real girls?” Sure enough, a vintage clothing designer with a 60-person staff doing classics from the 50’s and 60’s had gotten her paws on a “collaboration deal” with Mattel. She’d taken all the classic Barbie outfits, dresses and handbags and made them into a line of gorgeous apparel. A marketing genius, she even had the original Barbie dolls in their glass cases, which she had managed to wrest from the Mattel vault to show the doll to real-girl comparison.

There were the many, many duds I found at both shows as well: lazy marketers who didn’t understand what I meant by asking what they were doing for their marketing. The Tommy Bahama marketing people were flummoxed by my question. I had to give them an example of what I was asking: “you know how your brand created the Marlin Bars? I’ve been to your restaurant in Palm Springs and think it was a brilliant way for your brand to convey the Tommy Bahama lifestyle.” She looked at me blankly.

I left.Good marketing means that you know what your customer wants and then you find them in the places where they hang out. It can show up in the form of how one creates a product or designs the packaging – language, images, colors, representation. You may use inexpensive (but expansive!) PR, or make buys with influencers, but for God’s sake… DO something interesting – and do something that makes your customers salivate. If you really dial it in well, you will get them to pull out their credit card faster than you can say: “I need a booth” for one of these giant shows. When you do, please make sure that your booth conveys exactly what you do, for fear that some cranky marketing reporter, like me, will come by and request: “what do you do for your marketing?”

Are you ever wondering why your competitor’s product got on the local morning show and yours didn’t?

Have you ever opened up a magazine and seen a 2-page profile (with a picture!) about someone in your industry who you’ve never heard of?

Did you say to yourself, “their product isn’t even close to as good as mine!” or “How are they getting this kind attention?“ or “Yipes; I don’t get it!”

This is a tough one; it seems like a big blow.

The funny thing is that the reason why they got the publicity and you didn’t has nothing to do with how good your product is.

And for that matter, it had nothing to do with how good THEIR product is.

The fact that your product is better also has nothing to do with your competitor getting the press attention.

The good news is that next time it CAN and should be you. It’s not rocket science and you can do it yourself. The scoop is at www.prhandbookforentrepreneurs.com.

This book – which you can buy in separate specific chapters with tools you can put to practical use today – are the braindump of my 20 + year career launching new products for brands you know….everyone from Mrs. Fields Cookies to Swatch, Champagne Mumm and lots of other products.

But let’s get back to what happened:

Have you ever heard the old adage: “the one with the loudest voice wins?”

I’m here to say that’s 1000% true. I’ve worked with some of the best in their industries….

and some who just have good stories and the time and fortitude to tell the world about themselves.

Their products aren’t always any better than the next one.

Did you know that the local morning TV show, the newspaper, radio programs and magazines are actually LOOKING for stories to report about?

It is entirely possible — and I do this for a living, so I really know — that you can pick up the phone right now to the local TV station and get your product reported about too.

The reason why they got the press to sit up and take notice is because they made more noise than you did.

It’s really as simple as that.

How does this happen?

By just picking up the phone and suggesting a story that you think will interest their viewers and has something to do with your product.

It’s really that easy.

And, you don’t need to hire an expensive PR firm yet to do this for you; you can do it yourself. Go here to get the scoop and become your own best PR agent:

www.prhandbookforentrepreneurs.com

In the meantime, here’s what you can do now.

I’m going to give you a few tips that you should hold on to and can put into practice immediately.

First of all, identify the TV program that you really want to be on.

Watch it everyday.

Look for segments on the show that report about subjects where you think your product might fit.

For example, if your product is something that appeals to a traveler, you might note that Peter Greenberg does a regular segment on The Today Show. He reports about “finds” and products and services that make traveling easier, more interesting, less fattening, or cheaper.

While you’re watching the show, notice that the reportage happens within the context of a story, a trend or a subject matter. The products Peter is talking about are talked about as they RELATE to that story.

This is important.

The thing to notice here is that the story isn’t about the product itself, but the product as it fits into a relevant story.

Listen to the way the reporter talks about the products. Write down the introductory sentences he/she makes about products. Those are ostensibly “headlines.”

Now, think about your product.

Who are your customers?

What specific benefit does your product provide to them?

What “pain” does your product solve for your customer?

Now, using the travel example, think of a context where your product might fit, such as

“summer family travel season, “

“spring break for college kids” or

“winter holiday alternatives.”

Does your product benefit fit into this context somehow? If your product is a luggage pre-delivery service, could you pitch a story about how families can save money sending their luggage ahead because it’s cheaper than the new airline luggage charges?

Could you build a story out of how your service is perfect for destination wedding parties who have to have their stuff there on a deadline and your service solves the anguish of losing luggage by the airlines?

Uh huh.

Get it?

OK, so now write a one paragraph pitch about your product within the context of a subject.

Start with a pithy statement or a question in the form of a headline. This “spoon feeds” a journalist with a story idea that they don’t have to think too much about engineering themselves.

Reporters are very busy, and their priorities and ability to be creative are dictated by deadlines.

So, anything you can do to make it easier for them increases your chance of getting reported about.

Here are some fun pitches I’ve written lately for clients that will give you an example of format I’m talking about:

Naked male blow up dolls.

Too much bubbly.

Hot women in limos.

On the corner of Highland and Melrose in the new Martel Lofts, a not-so-underground “party central” is ringleading debaucherous bachelorette parties in every city in the US; every weekend.

Chief amongst them is comedienne Pamela Yager, Founder of Brides Night Out (www.bridesnightout.com). Her national bachelorette planning service is blowing the doors off of what any maid of honor thinks she can do.

A “modern Mary Kay of Bachelorette Party Planning,” the company also provides party planning consultant careers in frivolity.

Sound like fun to report?

Here’s another one:

They’re hot.

They’re smart.

They work for Batali, Fraser and Myers.

They can tell the difference between an Austrian or Washington Riesling with a sniff.

They’re all under 35.

On May 22nd in Culver City, Wine & Spirits magazine (www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com) will introduce 10 of the city’s brightest young wine experts to a Gen Y group of wine lovers.

The “Coachella of Wine Events,” the uber hip Project Ethos (www.projectethos.com) will spin a loungey vibe while the magazine’s ‘Hot Picks’ wines from all over the world are presented.

There’ll even be a taco truck.

Have we whet your appétit to attend or report?

OK, now Google Peter Greenberg or whatever journalist you think should report about your product.

OK, ok……Peter is a friend of mine, here’s where you can reach him: www.petergreenberg.com, [email protected]. Tell him I sent you….

Anyway…..

Call them and leave the first few lines of your pitch on their voicemail with your name and return phone number. Email the pitch to them.

DO NOT send any attachments. Just a simple, easy to ready AND SHORT pitch.

The idea is to prick up a reporter’s ears and get THEM to report.

Don’t give them the whole enchilada.

Keep it bloody short, ok?

No one has time to read the constitution.

Simple. Sweet. Fun.

Capture their attention; you can tell them all about it later.

Now, you need to keep calling that reporter until you get them on the phone.

You need to make sure it’s the right reporter. So, do everything in your power to get a live person on the line.

There are times of the day that certain journalists will be reachable and times they are on deadline and don’t want to talk with you.

In TV land, it depends upon whether it’s a daily network show or a cable show. Their production schedules are very different.

In my book, I’ve made a list of all the kinds of journalists you will encounter and what their deadlines are; how to reach them and the best time to pitch your story.

You can find it by going to www.prhandbookforentrepreneurs.com.

But for now, let’s use The Today Show as an example of a daily, short lead TV show.

They plan their shows anywhere from a month to a week in advance.

Reporters like Peter Greenberg, those who give special reports, are not on staff, but are freelancers. You have to track them down, pitch them and they in turn will pitch their producers at the show.

By the way, if you’re feeling like you can’t do this, or are thinking:

“I don’t know how to pitch myself’

“I need someone else to see me and my product objectively”

Stop it.

Just get on the phone and do it.

What’s the worst thing that can happen?

They tell you to jump in a lake?

Big deal.

Actually………..I have this funny little trick that I teach my young staff and it goes like this:

“the only reason why you are afraid or intimidated by someone is because YOU THINK they know more than you do.”

Uh, yeah, and that might be case, but who cares? You probably know more about something else than they do .

So there.

If you ever become intimidated, just picture them sitting in the bathroom; it levels the playing field……

The truth is: journalists LOVE to hear directly from entrepreneurs.

It makes them feel like they are getting a “scoop” straight ‘from the source.”

So……………now you can’t complain that your competitor “got on that show” and you didn’t.

Go make it happen!

Talk to you soon.

Keep taking steps toward your success.

Smile.

Have faith.

It’s going to happen.

To Your Success,

Alyson

Have you ever heard that the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over again… yet expecting a different result?

Last night, I was introduced to a fascinating doctor. He was a “neurological chiropractor.” Over dinner (and a killer bottle of Italian 2004 Cabernet Franc called La Regola!) he explained the physical and neurological reasons why humans have a propensity to do the same things over and over again.

This information is pivotal to entrepreneurs who, like you, are motivated and struggling to get over humps and breakthrough to the success you’ve been dreaming of.

Dr. Gerry’s insights will not only change how you think about your business, but well – just about anything in life that you wish for, but still eludes you.

So without geeking out here… Did you know that the whole body is filled with nerves that are split up into little segments that fire end to end to each other? It’s like a telephone, cup and wire system that is charged with chemical electricity that jumps from one segment to the next and so on down the line.

He explained that repetitive thoughts and actions create nerves to fire in the exact same patterns that over time begin to “plasticize” and attach to one another.

In other words, the danger (or beauty) of entertaining the same thoughts and taking the same actions over and over again, causes the nerves to lose the flexibility of their youth and become hardened and attached to one another.

It’s kinda like nerve rigor mortis.

Crazy, huh?

Uh, yeah, exactly (pardon the pun).

So – you might be wondering what Dr. Gerry’s neurological insights have to do with your own sanity or insanity –

As an entrepreneur with a product to sell, you’ve probably tried a whole bunch of marketing schemes, from buying very expensive magazine ads to getting your business cards attached to gas pumps.

Maybe you wasted your money buying those silly coupons that everyone throws in the trashcan before they even open the mail? Did you get your photo put up in a slide in the local movie theatre?

How did it all work out for you?

Yeah, I feel your pain. It hurts to even think about it.

Here’s the deal:

If you don’t try something different, things will remain the same.

Pretty simple, but profound stuff.

Even Led Zeppelin said it, for Chrissakes: “The Song Remains the Same”! How could you dispute Robert Plant? Just kidding… but not really.

Here is something you can do that is radically different and is the most cost-effective marketing method in the world:

It’s called “PR” and it could massively move sales of your product by getting it seen by more millions of people at once.

In other words, if you were reported about in TIME magazine, which is read by 2.5 million people, that would be some pretty serious exposure for you, wouldn’t it?

Whoa.

Does Walmart even HAVE that many shoppers in one day?

I’m not sure, but if you have your product in Walmart already you’re probably not reading this right now.

So you could keep listening to every advertising sales person that calls you with some cockamamie idea. And, you’d be doing the same thing over and over again, plasticizing your brain nerves and worse yet, not affecting your sales or the growth of your company.

Are you crazy?

Yeah, I’d say so.

If you want to cut to the chase and learn how to re-pattern your marketing into something that actually helps your business (and keeps your brain nerves freely clicking along), then click here.

For those of you who didn’t click above and still want to understand why you’re slightly insane… just know this:

If you keep going down this road, not only are you going to spend a whole lot of cash for nothing, but you will NEVER get a call from TIME magazine (or for that matter, the New York Times, Oprah, or any magazine, newspaper, TV, or radio show that is seen/heard by your customer).

Here’s the good news: your customer is out there.

They are waiting to hear what your product does that solves their problem.

There are many of them and they have their credit cards in their hands right now.

There are enough customers for you to actually create a full time income, and maybe hire a staff, grow a company, buy your dream home, and retire with lots of dollars to keep you living pretty for many years.

Marketing is the art of getting your product into the hands of your customer. There are MANY ways to do that:

The “marketing umbrella” includes:

Advertising

Sales

Special Events

Sampling

Promotions

Direct Mail

Product Placement

Celebrity Endorsement

And much, much more.

Most new businesses need to find the most direct, cost-effective, and least risky way to market their products.

Of all the things listed above, the most cost-effective and the most effective is PR.

Why is that?

Well, it’s a long story, but one worth learning.

People buy things because they either WANT or NEED them.

As a seller, you have the best chance of selling to them when they NEED it.

Getting a customer emotionally connected to why they need it helps.

However, when your product is credible to your customer, that is the tipping point. It’s the difference between a customer stopping in the aisle for a moment, and a customer actually picking up the product and heading straight for the check-out counter (or shopping cart, if you’re an online product).

Why is credibility important?

Well, here’s where the story comes in…

The #1 marketing method in the history of mankind is called “word of mouth.”

This means that if someone you respect recommends a certain sushi bar or a brand of running shoes, when you are next looking for sushi or runners you will most likely take their recommendation.

The more respect you have for them in the area of sushi expertise and running shoes will heighten their recommendation in your mind.

So, anything you can do to create “word of mouth” recommendations from credible sources is the secret marketing weapon.

The #2 most valuable marketing method is called “3rd party endorsement.”

This is a reporter’s opinion about a product.

Though the reporter is not as credible as your sushi nut friend or running expert, the restaurant critic or the sports reporter’s opinion about the same sushi bar or runners will have an important effect on a shopping decision.

Are you wondering how this differs from advertising?

Consumers these days know that an advertiser pays for space and can say whatever they want. Consumers are savvy and sense that an ad is 100% subjective.

By the way, this wasn’t always the case. As early as the 1950’s, ads were highly influential, especially on TV and radio, which were relatively new. We lived in a less jaded world and the relationship between seller and buyer was friendly (there were also only 2 brands of toothpaste vying for a customer’s attention as opposed to 50 today).

No one likes to “be sold.”

Buyers want to buy because it’s THEIR decision, not the result of being brow-beaten or cajoled into something.

Today, the competition to sell anything is STIFF and the relationship between seller and buyer is has turned downright nasty.

This means that getting your customer’s attention is no easy task.

It means that if a door-to-door salesman rang your doorbell, you’d have a gun cocked before you’d ever think about opening the door and inviting them in for a cup o’ joe to show you their stuff.

Right? Come on, admit it.

This seller-customer relationship is extremely important to consider if you expect to sell anything.

The beauty of PR is that it provides that “3rd party endorsement” every time you are reported about. You could spend as little as $39.99 on the PR Handbook for Entrepreneurs that will result in hundreds, if not thousands, of reports on your product. If you bought just ONE page in Vogue magazine, for only one month, you’d be spending approximately $290,000.

You do the math.

Go to here and get started.

But if you are STILL curious about why you are slightly crazy, keep reading –

When a magazine, newspaper, TV station, or radio outlet reports about something, it’s the next best thing to “word of mouth” – it’s a reporter’s personal or professional opinion.

Consumers trust this and it provides automatic credibility in a way that advertising CANNOT DO.

Advertising puts consumers on the defensive. They are suspicious of “being sold.”

Publicity is non-partisan. It’s purely informational, and provides a reporter’s balanced opinion about a product. That way a consumer feels free to make their own decision. They learn about the inspiration for a product, how it works, and why it benefits them in an objective way.

Laura and Chuck Ries wrote a great book called The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR. In it, there is a quote that sums it all up:

“PR is an island of objectivity in a sea of advertising prejudice.”

‘Nuff said.

Maybe you’re an entrepreneur who has heard of PR and were having a fantasy that your product was so incredibly cool that one day the phone would just ring and someone would say, “Hi this is Rebecca Keegan from TIME magazine; I’d like to do a story on you.”

You could die first.

And worse yet, your nerves will all be stuck together thinking the same thing over and over again, which is probably something like:

“Should I spend the $10,000 on the TV spot and will anyone be watching it at 2 a.m.?”

“I wonder if it’s worth taking out a loan to pay for the $260,000 one-month, one-page ad in Vogue magazine? “

“When will the $5,000 investment in the regional couponing pay for itself?”

Yuck.

Not pretty thoughts.

And of course, there’s nothing worse than dying with all your demons taunting you on the way out.

Not my idea of a good exit.

So, in short, heed Dr. Gerry’s advice: don’t let your brain nerves stick together.

Do something different.

Do something smart, cost effective, and what other entrepreneurs who are making money do: go to the PR Handbook for Entrepreneurs and get started!

You know, Richard Branson, creator of the Virgin brand? The master of entrepreneurialism? The kid who never finished high school? The man who freaks out his bankers every couple of years when he walks in and says, “Hey guys, I need some cash to start an airline…I know I’m in the music business, but I have an idea…” He’s the cat who has created everything from record stores to wedding dresses, airlines to cola beverages.
To me, this guy is the epitome of capitalism. He is courage in the flesh. Pardon my French (well, Spanish, really…), but the man has got cojones.
Anyway…… why is it that a guy like Branson is so successful that he can afford to buy a private island in the Caribbean for his family?

Is there something better about his ideas than yours?

To answer this in the frank words of another one of my favorite cultural icons, Borat – ‘Naht so much…’

When we study guys like Branson, it’s pretty obvious that he’s got a unique brand of fearlessness.

But are his products really so different than anyone elses?

No.

Is it his brand that creates his success?

Partially.

Could it be that his personal love of spectacle has something to do with it?

You’re getting warmer.

If you don’t care about what Branson does and you’re just interested in doing it for yourself, here’s a short cut; go to my PR Handbook for Entrepreneurs. There’s a product there called “How to Write a Press Release” complete with everything you need to actually DO to get something out there that will land you in USA Today, capture the attention of Oprah’s producers, or get you reported about in a place that is read/heard by YOUR particular customer. There are also templates, tools, examples, and a failsafe “big brand” methodology called “How to Contact a Reporter” that goes with it.

So, back to my hero, the indomitable Richard Branson (who I wish weren’t married, but I digress…) So, the guy throws himself off cliffs, floats hot air balloons across oceans. and races with technology to get himself to the moon. Literally.

Does it take that kind of money and bravado to launch a product successfully?

I want you to think about what I’m saying here and start to think backwards:

Iconoclastic CEO in a hot air balloon flies over the Atlantic.
Press from all over the world scramble to see what this nut is up to now.
Oh, by the way, he’s got a new product in the pipeline. Virgin cell phones?
What does that have to do with a hot air balloon?

What is this guy doing?

He’s getting attention.

HE’S SHOUTING LOUDLY.

His antics are creating a high decibel and magnetic broadcast.

Right?

Sprint, Motorola, Verizon…they’re all doing cell phones. What’s so special about Virgin phones?

Nothing!

But the reason why he’s CREATING success is because he is SHOUTING LOUDER THAN HIS COMPETITORS.

Now, to be honest, I don’t know if his cell phone business took off or not. And it doesn’t matter because his other product launches have well made up for the dogs.

I’ve met many entrepreneurs over the years. And, like Branson, the ones who succeed are the ones who shout the loudest. Pure and simple.

It’s NOT ABOUT having the best product.

Your product could be vastly inferior to the competition, but if you have a big mouth and put your focus on letting your customers know about it, you win. Hands down.

When I first started my PR agency 12 years ago, a semi-famous party planner named Colin Cowie asked me to do PR for him. Actually it was because Colin asked me this that I started my company (I am forever indebted to you Mr. Cowie!)… As a result, I have had several famous companies in this party planning genre come to my doorstep. One of them was the “Epicurean Spielberg,” Along Came Mary Event Productions in Los Angeles. They were massively well known. They’d been around for 30 years and their client list boasted every film studio, every major movie premiere, and folks like Coca Cola and Dom Perignon. One day, my client called saying, “I’m looking at Los Angeles Magazine and there is a 3-page article – with color photos – of some party planner I’ve never heard of. Why aren’t we in there?”

The article turned out to be about a newcomer named Alana Baroni. Although she was new, she’d written a book about entertaining and that was what got the magazine to report about her.

I’d been diligently working with Along Came Mary to get a book done so that the company had something “new” for the press to report about, but it was stuck in the pipeline and just never saw the light of day.

Alana Baroni didn’t have the venerability, the credibility, the clients – anything even close to competing with Along Came Mary, but she was speaking more LOUDLY than her competitor. She DID have a marketing tool and it was getting attention.

She wasn’t necessarily any better than Along Came Mary, but because she had this “new” product, she became “news-worthy.” And so the “news” reported about her.

And, that’s what Branson does. He launches a “new” product. He creates some outrageous stunt that becomes “news-worthy” and the attention that comes of this is directed back to his product.

He’s shouting loudly.

Got it?

So, it doesn’t matter if you have a sexy product like these entrepreneurs do, what matters is that you SHOUT LOUDLY.

Start by writing a press release and get one out to the press on a regular basis. Once a month would be fantastic. This template will ask you the questions that you need to cull from your product that makes it “news-worthy.”

Next time you’re with your friends sharing a glass of wine over a meal, ask their opinions about your product.

Create a think tank over dinner.

Ask them what they think is interesting about your product and write a press release about each of those aspects and get them out to the press.

Oh, by the way, there is a gestalt, of course, on WHERE you send the press release.

Your product might best be reported about in Investors Business Daily, Scientific American or the Real Estate section of the Houston Chronicle (instead of Oprah or TIME magazine), so the PR Handbook for Entrepreneurs can answer that question. Look for “How to Contact a Reporter” and “The Mechanics of Publicity” and you’ll be getting the straight dope on how I did this for companies like Mrs. Fields Cookies, Swatch, Champagne Mumm, and even the Grammys.

One other little tip: If you visit http://prhandbookforentrepreneurs.com/product/, you can get FREE press lists. Yup. Check it out.

Until next time… have a successful day.

I’m leaving for a backpacking trip in the Sierras today. And, as you are reading this, I’m probably lapping water from the side of a pristine lake at 11,000 feet, while my dog digs wildly for marmots. Not quite an island in the Caribbean, but it makes me happy. ☺

Your friend in entrepreneurialism,

Alyson

p.s. I know this diatribe was titled “Truths on Why Products Fail…” but this is a lesson in getting attention. Were you more attracted by the negative of “failing?” Or the positive of Richard Branson? Which did I put first? And what did I focus on in this newsletter? I never talked about the failing, because it’s obvious that if you DON’T do what I’m suggesting… oh, I can’t even say it. Gotta go.