Com­pe­ti­tion is a “killer” for a lot of com­mod­ity busi­nesses. Doesn’t really mat­ter whether you mar­ket online or offline. If you sell a com­mod­ity prod­uct then chances are you com­pete for cus­tomers with hun­dreds of other businesses.

In the next few min­utes, I’m going to share with you a proven strat­egy to…

Out-Market, Out-Sell And Out-Profit...

… Just about any­one in your indus­try or busi­ness category.

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There is great advan­tage in a name that tells a story. The name is usu­ally promi­nently dis­played. To jus­tify the space it occu­pies, it should aid the adver­tis­ing. Some such names are almost com­plete adver­tise­ments in them­selves. May Breath is such a name. Cream of Wheat is another. That name alone has been worth a for­tune. Other exam­ples are Dutch Cleanser, Cuti­cura, Dynashine, Minute Tapi­oca, 3-​​in-​​One Oil, Holeproof, Alcorub, etc.

Such names may be pro­tected, yet the name itself describes the prod­uct, so it makes a valu­able display.

Other coined names are mean­ing­less. Some exam­ples are Kodak, Karo, Sapo­lio, Vase­line, Kotex, Lux, Pos­tum, etc. They can be pro­tected, and long-​​continued adver­tis­ing may give them a mean­ing. When this is accom­plished they become very valuable.

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Most adver­tis­ers are con­fronted with the prob­lem of get­ting dis­tri­b­u­tion. National adver­tis­ing is unthink­able with­out that. A ven­ture can­not be prof­itable if nine in ten of the con­verts fail to find the goods.

To force deal­ers to stock by bring­ing repeated demands may be enor­mously expen­sive. To cover the coun­try with a sell­ing force is usu­ally impos­si­ble. To get deal­ers to stock an unknown line on promise of adver­tis­ing is not easy. They have seen too many efforts fail, too many promises rescinded.

We can­not dis­cuss all plans for get­ting dis­tri­b­u­tion. There are scores of ways employed, accord­ing to the enter­prise. Some start by solic­it­ing direct sales — mail orders — until the vol­ume of demand forces deal­ers to supply.

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Adver­tis­ing is much like war, minus the venom. Or much, if you pre­fer, like a game of chess. We are usu­ally out to cap­ture oth­ers’ citadels or gar­ner oth­ers’ trade. We must have skill and knowl­edge. We must have train­ing and expe­ri­ence, also right equipment.

We must have proper ammu­ni­tion, and enough. We dare not under­es­ti­mate oppo­nents. Our intel­li­gence depart­ment is a vital fac­tor, as told in the pre­vi­ous chap­ter. We need alliances with deal­ers, as another chap­ter tells. We also need strat­egy of the ablest sort, to mul­ti­ply the value of our forces.

Some­times in new cam­paigns comes the ques­tion of a name. That may be most impor­tant. Often the right name is an adver­tise­ment in itself. It may tell a fairly com­plete story, like Shred­ded Wheat, Cream of Wheat, Puffed Rice, Spearmint Gum, Pal­mo­live Soap, etc.

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Plat­i­tudes and gen­er­al­i­ties roll off the human under­stand­ing like water from a duck. They leave no impres­sion what­ever. To say, “Best in the world,” “Low­est price in exis­tence,” etc. are at best sim­ply claim­ing the expected. But superla­tives of that sort are usu­ally dam­ag­ing. They sug­gest loose­ness of expres­sion, a ten­dency to exag­ger­ate, a care­less truth. They lead read­ers to dis­count all the state­ments that you make.

Peo­ple rec­og­nize a cer­tain license in sell­ing talk as they do poetry. A man may say, “Supreme in qual­ity” with­out seem­ing a liar, though one may know that the other brands are equally as good. One expects a sales­man to put his best foot for­ward and excuses some exag­ger­a­tion born of enthu­si­asm. But just for that rea­son gen­eral state­ments count for lit­tle. And a man inclined to superla­tives must expect that his every state­ment will be taken with some caution.

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