What Marketing Lesson Can We Learn From A Coffee Substitute?
I don’t think very many people even know what Postum is, but it is a coffee substitute for those that want a hot beverage in the morning, (or anytime) but do not want the buzz of a regular cup of coffee. I happen to know of Postum very well, having a Dad who was an avid drinker of the beverage.
You may be asking yourself what does Postum have to do with this SEO blog of mine, or viral marketing for that matter? I don’t know exactly how I can tie it in, but here is the lesson to be learned - If you want to survive in marketing online, you must be aware of any, and every kind of marketing opportunities that may present themselves. You must also keep up to date with everything that is going on around you. Pay attention to things that people are talking about, blogging about, doing anything about!!
A few weeks ago my Dad told me he was having a hard time finding his Postum anywhere anymore. Me being the marketer I am, I decided to investigate, and found out that Kraft was discontinuing their coffee substitute after many decades in business. I guess because they just don’t sell enough anymore. I know of a handful of people who drink it on a regular basis, but not many so I can see why it would happen.
My Dad was not a happy camper about it, so he decided to stock up before it was all gone. I also decided to stock up too, but not to share with my Dad (and no I don’t drink Postum). I thought that this might be the perfect opportunity to make some decent ROI, and at the very least have something fun to blog about.
It turns our I was right in my hunch, and these jars of postum are hot items on eBay right now selling for (in some cases) 5 times what they cost on the shelf. I remember my Dad saying they cost him about 4 bucks or so for a jar, and those same jars are going for anywhere from 35 - 50 bucks a jar right now. I bought a case of them, and am holding onto them a little longer, who knows I may end up giving them to my Dad after all, but it was a fun experience for me to test out. (I had to do something to make me feel better since all my Barry Bonds cards are no longer worth much!!) I can see why these kind of marketers do what they do, its kinda fun to see something like this happen! You don’t feel like you were the one who bought a house one month to late just before the market decided to go south!!!
I guess the real point I am trying to make is that if you are always on top of the market, searching out trends and other things like I just explained, you can make a pretty decent living on places like eBay and Craigslist. Just think about this - the people (who I think were crazy) that bought the Xboxes for thousands, (or Wii’s or PS3s - you name it) even 10k (one listing I saw when it was going down) when they first came out years ago. It’s the people who are taking advantage of the market situations (and paying attention to all the trends etc) that are making the real profit and money online!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!
Related Posts:
Nice post. Now, I would like to vote for Postum as the next ‘Stump the social marketers’ post. Being that they are going out of business, what linkbait/social buzz could be just the thing to bring them back on track.