Page 114 - 100 Great Marketing Ideas (100 Great Ideas)

53 KEEP YOUR EGGS IN
ONE BASKET

Mark Twain said that the wise man keeps all his eggs in one
basket—then watches that basket. This can be good advice for
the smaller firm: spreading the resources too thin, or trying to
please everybody, is likely to end in tears since larger firms can do
this effortlessly.

Specializing means cutting out competition—large firms have real
trouble in specializing, not because they lack the resources but
because they cannot convey a specialist brand message easily: no
one will believe that they can specialize in everything.

The idea

Young’s Home Brew is a specialist wholesaler dealing only in
products for people who brew their own wines and beer. Young’s
has a website that has a section for retailers (Young’s customers)
and a section for consumers offering advice and information about
home brewing. This provides information that may not be easily
available elsewhere—for example, special yeasts are now available
that will survive in alcohol strengths as high as 40 percent, creating
the possibility of brewing full-strength spirits at home.

Young’s has managed to establish a reputation second to none in
terms of specializing in home brew. They have become the first
port of call for any retailers, and the consumer site encourages more
people to ask for Young’s products when setting up their own home
brew operation.

100 GREAT MARKETING IDEAS • 105