In Search of the Purple Squirrel

Posted on May 2, 2016 by JeffKontur

I read a book review recently for a book about today’s tight job market. If giving a letter grade to the book’s contents, based purely on what I know of the book based on the review alone, I’d say it earned a B+. Perhaps even an A-.

A grade for the title? I will charitably give it a C-.

This book was not written by a dumb guy. He’s a professor at an Ivy League university.

The thing is, in reading the book review, I came across at least two better potential titles. Both of which came from the author himself (and, I believe, from within the book itself!)

The book’s actual title, while descriptive, is such a mouthful as to be a bit off-putting:

Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It

The “better” titles I came across are far less descriptive.

In a way, that’s kind of the point.

I think if you can arouse curiosity, it might attract more readers. Or at least different readers.

One thing I’d really love to see is a test. Publish the exact same book twice, with different covers and different titles. No difference whatsoever in the book’s contents but radically different window dressing to attract would-be “buyers”.

I wonder which version would sell better. Surely they would each attract a different demographic.

If such a test ever were performed, I’d love to see the results.

At any rate, the first of my “better” titles is:

The Home Depot Approach to Hiring

When filling a job is like replacing a part in a washing machine.

Note that this suggested title and subtitle both come from the book review itself but I’ve tweaked them slightly to ramp up the interest factor.

My second suggested “better” title is:

In Search of the Purple Squirrel

Companies in search of employees who don’t exist.

In this case, the title is based on something that was mentioned in the book review but the subtitle is entirely mine. (Though the author should feel free to co-opt it and use it.) I added the subtitle, based on context from the book review, to add clarity. Mainly so potential readers wouldn’t think it was a book about animals.

Why am I going on and on about the title of a book about today’s job market?

At its core, writing is about communication. While I know the author is a very smart guy, and from what I can tell his book communicates some surprising and very valuable new ideas, I just don’t think the title gives it justice. Having the best ideas in the world means little if no one ever learns of them.

And if you can’t spark people’s interest, they will never pick up the book and thus never learn of the ideas inside.

Copywriting and marketing work the same way. You could have a terrific product that would solve people’s problems but if you never arouse enough interest to make them find out about your product then it does neither of you any good.

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Less descriptive? In a way, that’s kind of the point.

If you can arouse curiosity…

The Home Depot Approach to Hiring

When filling a job is like replacing a part in a washing machine.

In Search of the Purple Squirrel

At its core, writing is about communication.

Having the best ideas in the world means little if no one ever learns of them.

If you can’t spark people’s interest, they will never learn of your ideas.

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About Us

Fat-Free Marketing Group is dedicated to helping “green” businesses make sales, spread their message and educate customers. In short, we help them make the world a cleaner place.

I’m Jeff Kontur and I’d love to see you succeed!

If there’s anything I can do to help make that happen, please contact me. I put plenty of ways to do that in our book.

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Every professor who’s ever written a great book with a bad title
Publishers who put out books with bad titles
Purple Squirrels
The door greeter at Home Depot

Really. Anyone.

(Okay, even we know that would be obnoxious and annoying. Don’t be that person. But do feel free to forward or share any of our emails with anyone you think might enjoy or benefit from them.)

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The Marketing Power of a Story

Posted on November 19, 2013 by JeffKontur

The other day I was talking with a friend. Not about marketing, just about relationships and the stuff of everyday life.

I made an offhand comment which caused her to stop and ask a question. I said, “You know, there’s a story there.”

To which she laughed and replied, “It’s always a story with you.”

Exactly.

Stories are the way by which human beings relate to one another. Stories make it easier to remember facts and information and to associate with the world around us.

Stories are also the key to good marketing.

If you walk up to ten people and try to sell them something, chances are you’ll get to see the backs of ten people’s heads. But if you walk up to ten people and tell them a story, most of them will stick around at least long enough to find out if your story is interesting or relevant to them. A few may still vanish after deciding it’s not but some will stick around for your story.

In order to sell to strangers, you need several things:

A crowd of properly targeted people who may actually be interested in your story and/or your product.
A story they will be interested in listening to.
A product or service that has a logical tie-in with the story you tell.

A well crafted story, and a product or service that has a logical tie-in to that story, is the key to selling to strangers.

Your story could be about the product itself, about the company that makes it, about people who have benefited from its use or about the need for the product in the world.

With a good enough product and a compelling story, price almost doesn’t matter.

So tell me a good story…

Simple Isn’t the Only Route to Effective

Posted on June 13, 2013 by JeffKontur

Common wisdom has it that, to be effective, a logo must be graphically clean and simple.

Granted, a much higher percentage of clean and simple logos are found to be effective at promoting their brands than complex logos.

nike_logo Some of the cleanest logos are so effective, you don’t even need to see the whole thing in order for the logo to do its job of connecting you with the brand it represents.

Or the logo can even be highly stylized and still be instantly recognizable.

USMC_logo1 None of this means that more complex logos are inherently less effective than their simpler counterparts.

For instance, the United States Marine Corps has a fairly complex logo that still enjoys a very high degree of recognizability.

USMC_logo2 Even when stylized, it still retains its core essence and its ability to represent the Marine Corps brand.

So when it comes to logos and branding, the keep it simple mantra isn’t always so… simple.

Delaware Produce Exchange

Posted on May 7, 2013 by JeffKontur

Pears in my back yard

A lot of people have small backyard gardens or herb gardens in pots.

It’s typically the case that you grow more than you can use of certain kinds of produce and of course no one grows everything they would like to eat.

Enter the Delaware Produce Exchange!

This absolutely free online resource is intended to help small farmers and backyard gardeners buy, sell and trade their excess produce, cuttings, seeds and whole plants.

For example, once my plants start producing I fully intend to list items and hope to find people interested in trading with me. Currently in my small back yard I am growing:

four different kinds of apple trees
two different kinds of peach trees
two different kinds of pear trees
an almond tree
four different kinds of grape vines
three different kinds of raspberry bushes
two different kinds of blackberry bushes
two different kinds of blueberry bushes
four different kinds of strawberry bushes
a lemon tree
a fig tree
spinach
four different kinds of lettuce
two different kinds of tomatoes
green beans
peas
carrots
aloe
two different kinds of mint
chives
scallions
an assortment of different herbs

Grapes in my back yard

As if all that weren’t enough, at her own house, my fiance is growing:

two more different kinds of blueberry bushes
a third kind of raspberry bush
an orange tree
a kiwi tree
four different kinds of mint
two different kinds of Swiss chard
two different kinds of tomatoes
aloe
three different kinds of basil
chives
scallions
an assortment of herbs
an assortment of edible flowers

All of this stuff is organic and obviously it will be WAY more than our combined families can possibly eat.

Granted, some of the plants are still small. Some are immature and will yield only handfuls of fruit. (Of course that situation will change over time.) Even now though, there is just no way we can make use of it all.

With all this produce, you can see why we started the Produce Exchange. We will freeze some of what we grow. We’ll also eat some, dry some, can some and probably even sell some. We’d also love to trade some for other things we are not growing or that we won’t get enough of from our own plants.

So if you live in or around Delaware, check out the Produce Exchange. You can read postings as our guest but will need to register to write your own postings or respond to others. It’s absolutely 100% free and there is no obligation of any kind.

Come trade with us!