Marketing Home Products

Are you a bottled water fanatic? Or do you take a more environmental position on the bottled water uproar?

Aquafina admitted that its water comes from…you guessed it, the tap…and the water from other bottled water brands may derive from similar sources. While many providers do offer consumers water that is of better quality and purity than some tap water, federal regulations only require bottled water to be as good as tap water, not superior.

So, not only are average American consumers spending an obscene amount of money (last year the bottled water market was valued at about $11 billion for something as good as what comes out of their own taps…but consider the unnecessary waste of countless billions of plastic bottles. Last year alone, approximately 30 billion plastic water bottles were sold with that number continuing to grow by the second! With that being said, not only are we creating massive amounts of waste, but massive amount of landfills to store your bottled water containers.

What are the alternatives to bottled water? Plenty…

Water coolers or a pitcher
If you’re just beginning to jump on the “I won’t be tempted by bottled water” bandwagon, try starting with purchasing a water cooler that can be set up in your kitchen. These usually range anywhere from $80 – $200 but tend to only require filter changes every three months. In addition, there are a multitude of choices for filtered water pitchers that can be easily filled and refrigerated. They provide a quick and simple way to drink purified water and are fairly inexpensive.

Whole house water filtration systems
They’re a fraction of the cost of purchasing bottled water and are the most convenient. Some also believe they offer the best tasting water. The systems also provide the only sure-fire way to filter out chemicals in your existing drinking water (not to mention showering) that may pose a danger to you and your family.

There are numerous systems to choose from that directly attach to your plumbing system. Depending on the type of chemicals found in your water, check with NSF International, which will establish the standards for prime purification.

The benefits
Filling up your drinking glass in the convenience of your own home is an obvious perk. No more trudging to the grocery store to overpay for cases of water. And, at the same time, you’re befriending Mother Earth by not disposing of hazardous plastic water bottles, while at the same time preserving one of our most valuable resources (plastic water bottles are made from petroleum).

Market your environmentally-friendly products
If you’re a manufacturer or distributor of water filtration systems, the time is now to increase your share of the market. Although you may be discouraged by the seemingly endless increase of bottled water sales, what you may not be calculating is the simultaneous ascension of people banning together to reduce the adverse effects of bottled water waste on Mother Nature.

Become a comrade to the environmentalists…they will assuredly approve of your company’s products and this may easily translate into dollars and word-of-mouth marketing.

For more marketing articles check out Marketing, Planning, and Strategic Thinking…
 

Let’s face it, we all love to have our egos stroked and boast our own success, but there is a time when you need to realize that entrustment is key to being a good leader. And this specifically relates to those of you in higher-level management, president and CEO positions.

As the founder and president of my company, I’m the first person to admit the difficultly in taking a step back to empower others. It takes an immense amount of trust and confidence in your internal team and outside partners; however, once implemented, it creates a vast improvement in the overall success of your business and allows time for you to work on the business and not so much in the business.

Below are just a few reasons why allocation is so key to continuous business success:

You may not always be the best person for the job
If you’re in charge of everything, you won’t achieve anything – at least not effectively. Whether you create an internal team to manage the workload, or hire an outside partner, letting others provide valuable insight will broaden the reach of your efforts, whether they are sales, marketing, distribution or process driven.

In addition, this will allow you to focus your time and effort on other projects that fit your strengths. Just because your high up on the corporate ladder doesn’t necessarily qualify you to be involved in every task force.

Specifically related to the home industry, if you try to be the national sales manager, chief marketing officer and head of purchasing, you’ll only harm your company in the end. Do yourself and your company a favor and choose a designated leader for each of these positions. These chosen leaders will still report to you, but that doesn’t mean you have to be involved any more than in a leadership role.

Admit you don’t always know the answers
Trusting an outside perspective can get you on the fast track toward increased sales and market share. Especially in marketing, outsourcing this part of your business may be a good idea. Many times, internal employees are just too close to the business. Having a perspective that comes from outside your company’s four walls allows for strategic focus on your business and end-users.

Although you may know your business better than anyone else, marketing, advertising and PR agencies consist of dedicated professionals that specialize in the business of people. They are experts in creating and maintaining relationships with both key influencers in your industry and your target consumers.

Let it go!
If you’re not always focusing on strengthening your brand…you’re not only standing still, you’re moving backwards. Even the best CEOs, presidents and high-level managers cannot do it all, but you’d be surprised at how many try. Don’t be one of them. There are really innovative ways I’ve found to align values within our staff. Please let me know if we can share some of these ideas with you.

Interested in choosing a marketing agency that’s right for you? Click here. Check out other related industry articles by clicking here. 

We’ve all heard about the Mattel recalls…15 million products, since the year 2000, have been recalled by the largest U.S. toymaker; 9.5 million of those on Tuesday.

And what does the nation want to know?

Why weren’t the toys tested before being distributed to consumers? Why only now is Mattel employing “rigorous standards?”. How does such vast product malfunctions bypass a company that maintains a staff of 25,000?

The questions that remain: where is the internal quality control? And what will happen to the most trusted toymaker’s reputation?

Where are the standards?
The manager of the Chinese warehouse that produced one of Mattel’s latest recalls hanged himself on August 2. Although Mattel is quick to blame the Chinese, is the overseas manufacturing powerhouse really worthy of all the blame?

Nancy Nord of the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that in regards to the magnet recalls  “they’ve been warning about these magnets for over a year.”

The effects on manufacturing in the home?
After the recent events in several sectors of manufacturing that have affected our food, pets, and now our children, consumers everywhere are terrified of the infamous “Made in China” stamp. As manufacturers of home-related products, many of you partner with China for your own manufacturing supplies. Are you practicing diligent quality control here in the U.S. even when your products are manufactured elsewhere? American consumers expect their manufacturers to protect them from the kind of quality and potentially life-threatening disaster that Mattel has become engrossed in. How do we keep the public trust and make a profit?

Quality control is problem solving
Bottom line — vendors and suppliers must adhere to strict corporate guidelines, but the buck stops at the parent company that is ultimately responsible for what they market. All manufactured goods should be rigorously tested, not just those made in China; and they should be tested in the U.S. by U.S. inspectors. 

If you do find a problem, act quickly, efficiently and intelligently. If the issue requires or acquires media attention, be honest. This is not the time to cover up the truth.

Take a humanistic approach, just as Bob Eckert, CEO of Mattel, is doing, whether the number of those affected is small or staggering.

Think about how your customers feel. As a marketing guy, I’d hope Mattel could bounce back from this disaster; as a father of two, I’ll hesitate before buying any of its products in the near future.

To view articles related to crisis communications, click here.