Use your packaging to stand out. Every part of your packaging is an opportunity to make your customer smile. 

Think about what it feels like to open a beautifully wrapped gift: The paper, bow, and presentation can be as delightful as whatever is inside. That’s the note ...

When you’re just starting to build a business, the first people you hire are the face of the company almost as much as you are, so take care in choosing them. 

There are two types of people you have to fire: One will support your bench strength and your lan...

It’s all about the four P’s: product, price, placement, positioning. You might have an amazing product, but it’s not going to sell if you don’t put it on the market for the right price. So the four P’s means that the product must be the right one, the price will depend on the pro...

The story of your brand is what you’re going to want to tell people when you’re making your product. The more open you’re willing to be about who you are and what you stand for, the more likely it that people will relate to you and therefore your product.

Ask yourself, ...

Consider sales as a strategic tool, not a default mechanism. A lot of brands and companies use sales to drive volume and to drive the business and it’s not healthy. 

Look up products similar to yours and record their prices. Divide those prices by five to determine how ...

Spending time in the stores where your product lives not only will let you pull sneaky marketing maneuvers, it also will let you learn directly from customers about what’s missing in your market. 

If you do a sales day presentation, invite your friends to stop by and st...

• Paid advertising could mean a couple of different things: Maybe you decide to pay a spokesperson or an influencer to talk about your product or service in a sponsored Instagram post. No matter what you choose, advertising probably isn’t going to be cheap.
• Org...

Keep in mind that perceived value often has little to do with your product’s price, it really hinges on whether you can convince customers that your product can and will satisfy their personal needs. Some ways you can play with perceived value:

• Play up the exclusivity of your p...

Be careful about timing when you go to the highest tier and eventually to the middle tier. Protect the pricing in the middle tier because the middle tier likes to do a lot of sales more so than the premium level. 

As long as you keep the integrity and that’s part of the arr...

When you’re creating your brand, you have to be very clear on where you want to show up in the marketplace.

• Do you want to be premium?
• Do you want to be mid-tier?
• Do you want to be a value-based brand?

You have to figure out:

Hire people with a good sense of humor and don’t get offended too easily. Look for people who have a positive attitude and some experience, who care the most, who share values about the brand mission.

Look for: 

• You will want people w...

Use humor and speak to the customer, not at the customer. Talk to the customer like you are at dinner with your friends, don’t give a marketing speak. 

Don’t feel like you have to try to act like the experts and put all sophisticated language and polish on things. Just ...

Get very clear about where you think your price should be in the marketplace and where your distribution should be. Do you want to be the least expensive in your competition? By having a price be a premium price it made people ask more questions. But keep a healthy margin because you can’t sustain y...