Some flavors are versatile: lemon makes a zesty glaze for fish while whipping into a delightful dessert for pie. Apples can be pureed, poured, mixed, sautéed and contorted through other methods into sauces, desserts, pies, drinks, and snacks. Oranges, strawberries, grapes and even mangoes are versatile, resilient and often refreshing going from snack to meal with a wave of an accessorized wand.
And then, there’s the watermelon.
Cool and crisp, watermelons burst with sweet flavor dripping goodness and sunshine. Still, their contribution to dining seems confined to well…being sliced, balled, scooped, and just plain eaten. And, that’s about it.
Face it; some fruits have better PR than others.
“There’s a Halloween cake in the fridge for you guys,” my son said.
A Halloween cake? My contribution to Halloween is typically buying costumes; taking little people to malls for trick or treating; and eating candy: Halloween cakes don’t enter in to my festivities.
“It’s watermelon…,” he continued.
We looked at it. The half-eaten watermelon flavored cake complete with bright red icing, green rind, and black seeds seemed to stare back. Neither my daughter nor I wanted to try it.
“Did you eat it?” We asked.
“Oh, no,” my son answered incredulously, “Grandmommy made me strawberry shortcake. That cake is too sweet. No one liked it over there; that’s why they gave it to you.”
Perhaps it was the delivery of the information, but more likely it was the actual delivery of the cake. If no one liked the cake, it wasn’t likely that my daughter and I would be the exceptions.
I never did try the cake. It was packaged alright, but the marketing of it just didn’t inspire me to give it a try.
Have you looked at your marketing lately?
If your marketing isn’t reaching your target audience, maybe it’s not the message, but the delivery. Consider the language your target audience speaks; you don’t have to speak it for them to take you seriously—actually, it may be advised that you don’t speak it. But, you do want to understand their language and speak to their concerns.
Most importantly, never sell your clients something you wouldn’t eat (believe, try, buy, want, use, etc…) yourself.