Author Archives: rajalary
Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Do Women and Men Shop Differently
One would think since I write about grocery shopping I would relish wandering the aisles for canned goods, perusing the meat and dairy cases, shivering through the frozen foods section, selecting produce, and sifting through coupons for the best deals. Truth be told. I look forward to visiting the grocery store, but struggle to fill […]
Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Instructions Not so Easy
For the past few months, I’ve been immersed in writing instructional videos and accompanying cards and training decks. Having never used the product, for which I’m writing the materials, I simultaneously learned how to use it while writing the content. In the past, I’ve written a couple of users guides, a large manual (took several […]
Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Turning on the Data Spigot
Years before laptops, smart phones, tablets, and other ubiquitous electronics, consumers were inundated with persistent noise from ads on TV, radio, and publications, hard-to-overlook billboards, signs, direct mail, catalogs, and email enticements. Even the skies were occasionally punctuated with skywriting or banners streamed behind planes. Introduce handheld devices, and users not only can’t escape from […]
Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Upgrade or Retain?
Recently, during an email exchange with a client, Windows XP was mentioned. My first thought was surely no one is still using that old operation system. “Why create a marketing campaign to encourage people and companies to upgrade?” I was wrong. According to Net Application, which tracks the usage of web browsers and operating systems, […]
Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Signs of the Times
At one time, the signs displayed in grocery stores and taped to the windows were hand-painted on sheets of butcher paper, using bold colors, graceful letters, and dramatic flourishes, emphasizing the sale prices. Today, hand-painted signs are a lost (or dying) art, a rarity among the multitude of printed, vinyl, and plastic banners and placards […]
Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Piggly Wiggly Started It
Earlier this week, after coming to the realization there was no fresh food in our refrigerator, my husband and I pried ourselves from our computers and ventured to our local grocery store. Being late at night, there were few shoppers, the lights and music dimmed, butcher paper spread over the meat, trays of fish emptied, […]
Steven Sinofsky, Ribbons and Tiles
News of Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows, leaving Microsoft is swiping across the Internet. It comes on the heels of the Windows 8 launch. Sinofsky barely had time to celebrate the momentous launch of the operating system, designed to power the “new era of PCs,” before getting the boot. Or maybe he left on his […]
Marketing the Grocery Aisles: Managing by Example
There are shelves, upon shelves, of books devoted to how to foster a company’s success. Unfortunately, there isn’t a formula, which can universally be applied to all companies. What makes a car or heavy equipment manufacturer successful differs from what drives the success of a software developer, clothing store, insurance firm, advertising agency… or grocery […]
Marketing from the Grocery Aisles: Picking Tomatoes
When mired in a marketing conundrum, I often ponder, “What would a grocery store do?” I’m fixated with the seeming simplicity of grocery stores, and their ability to appeal to people of all ages and walks-of-life. Release a squadron of toddlers into a grocery store, and fairly quickly, they’ll spot their favorite box of sugar-sweetened, […]
The “Why” of Ranger Tugs
We just returned from a week-long boat trip in the Puget Sound and Canadian Gulf Islands. It was a stupendous trip, not only because of the weather and itinerary, but having spent it on a 29-foot Ranger Tug called Tug Time! It’s the second time we’ve chartered this boat, and even though there are other […]
scribbles 