đ, Iâm Kimberly. Iâve been creating obsession-worthy brands for the past fifteen years. And now, Iâm giving away my secrets every week in this newsletter.
This past weekend in San Francisco was crazy-beautiful-stunning. Bright blue skies, sun shining, and just enough of a breeze that you werenât sweltering.
Luckily, the weather coincided with the return of one of SFâs biggest outdoor events that quite literally shakes up the whole city: Fleet Week.
Here is my son Chell enjoying the air show.
Fleet Week in SF can be pretty polarizingâmost residents either love it, or hate it. And Iâm firmly in the love camp.
I love seeing the brave people from all of the different organizations that keep us safe getting recognized and celebrated. I love watching the pilots show off their incredibly impressive skills and artistry in the air. And this year in particular, I loved hearing groups gather on rooftops and at the beachâlaughing and having fun again.
Beginning on Thursday in the Marina district where I live, windows start rattling and houses start shaking as the practice flights begin.
And if this happens while Iâm on a conference call, itâs ok with me.
âIâm sorryâI didnât catch that! A fighter jet was doing a nosedive right above my apartment" is always an ok excuse for asking someone to repeat something.
Hereâs How This Relates to Todayâs Newsletter
On Saturday, I covered Chell in sunscreen, packed up some snacks, and walked out to Marina Greenâwhere all of the Fleet Week booths and official viewing areas are set up.
One block from the entrance, we passed by a long table covered in handmade signs and manned by three gangly young boys in different colored baseball capsâtwo of whom were playfully punching each other.
âDo you want some lemonade? Itâs for our school. And it comes with a free cookie.â shouted the boy in the blue baseball cap.
âNo thank you,â I answered with a smileâpushing Chell in his little trike and continuing on our way.
And while the temptation of lemonade (and a free cookie!) had not made me stop, Blue Baseball Capâs words had given me pauseâbecause his pitch contained the #1 mistake I see marketers making today.
So, look Blue Baseball Capâs Lemonade Pitch to see:
What he did right
What he could have done better
What learnings you can apply to your marketing
The Lemonade Pitch: The Breakdown
Blue Baseball Capâs pitch started out with a very clear question:
âDo you want some lemonade?â
The question has an open and inviting tone. Blue Baseball Cap isnât asking me to âbuyâ or âpurchaseâ the lemonade. His phrasing sounds more like the offering of a friend, which endears me to him.
Blue Baseball Cap puts me immediately into the story with his question. It prompts me to think about what I do wantâor not want.
Blue Baseball Cap does not waste my time. His question is direct, and I appreciate that.
I immediately react to the question, and my body tells me either âOh yes, lemonade sounds lovely right now!â or âMmm, no, Iâm ok at my current level of hydration and have no need of a lemon beverage, thank you.â
Blue Baseball Capâs question is then followed up with a very clear statement:
âItâs for our school.â
This statement gives me a taste of the purpose behind the lemonade stand.
The profits will benefit the boysâ school, which makes it tied to educationâa cause pretty much anyone and everyone is always happy to support. Thatâs the reason we all buy wrapping paper, candies, and now (potentially) lemonade from elementary-aged minions trying to raise funds for their schools.
Iâm happy to know that this is, in fact, a mission-driven lemonade stand.
Having a clear and compelling mission, as well as some sort of a give-back tie in, is table stakes for todayâs brands trying to appeal to conscious consumers. And obviously, Blue Baseball Cap knows this.
As such, the statement does its job of making me more likely to support itânow that I understand the cause involved.
Blue Baseball Cap closes with sweetened-up deal:
And it comes with a free cookie.
Blue Baseball Cap includes the magic word âfreeâ here in his offer.
This is great, because everyone likes getting something extra for free. Itâs why brands are always throwing in the extras when they are trying to entice youâfree shipping, free samples, free gift bags, free doubles (aka two-for-one deals).
It doesnât really matter if these free extras are worth all that much. The idea of them being âfreeâ has an immediate effect on our brains. Even the most minimalist among us likes the idea of something more that he doesnât need to pay for.
And if that extra thing is a cookie, all the better.
To recap, Blue Baseball Capâs original pitch has a lot going for it:
A clear and friendly question to open
A statement of company purpose and a give-back
A free extra benefit for the customer
But, he could have done better if he had knownâŠ
The #1 Thing Marketers Forget
A few weeks ago, I interviewed video storyteller Ryan Koralâand he talked about the importance of conflict in every good story:
Every element of the story is necessary, but a lot of times people forego talking about the conflict. They assume itâs obvious. People know that this is a bad thing, so they start talking about the solution. But you need to address my problem.
And this is where I see so many marketers misstep.
Marketers forget to talk directly about the problem theyâre solving.
They assume the problem is known, and they want to stay positive in toneâso they donât go into it.
Instead, they launch right into the product benefits, asking you to buy, and piling on free offersâexactly like Blue Baseball Cap did.
But, if you really want to hook people in and get them involved in your narrative, you need to make the problem known.
With this in mind, letâs look at how Blue Baseball Cap could have taken his Lemonade Pitch to the next level.
The Lemonade Pitch: Customer Strategy
Blue Baseball Cap needed to get into the mind of his customerâin this case, a person going to Fleet Week.
There are two types of people coming to see Fleet Week in SF.
Iâll call them both âFleet-Goers.â
The Fleet Goers who live in the neighborhood
The Fleet Goers who traveled from other locations in SF or the Bay Area
If I were strategizing for this lemonade stand, I would look at them both separately, and answer the following questions about them:
What could the Fleet Goers have been frustrated by before they got to the lemonade stand?
What could the Fleet Goers be frustrated by after they leave the lemonade stand?
Hereâs how it could break down.
The Fleet-Goer Who Lives in the Neighborhood
Before she got to the lemonade stand, she could have been frustrated by:
A car that parked and blocked her driveway because of the crowds. Having to pack up snacks and food and maybe forgetting something. People not driving well because theyâre distracted.After the lemonade stand, she could be frustrated by:
Too many people. Long lines for everything inside.
The Fleet-Goer Who Traveled
Before she got to the lemonade stand, she could have been frustrated by:
Finding parkingâitâs a mess. Crazy traffic to get into and around the city.After the lemonade stand, she could be frustrated by:
Too many people. Long lines for everything inside.
Looking at our two types of Fleet-Goers, the frustrations evident once arriving at the lemonade stand are differentâbut the potential frustrations after leaving are the same.
One difficulty of the man-on-the-street pitch like the Lemonade Stand is the limited targeting capabilities. It can be impossible to tell whether the person walking toward the Marina Green is a local or a traveler.
Luckily, there is a crystal clear connection between what would frustrate your two types of Fleet-Goers once inside: the crazy long lines and the wait times to get a beverage.
The Lemonade Pitch: An Incredibly Simple Upgrade
Blue Baseball Cap had great instincts to open with a question that puts the reader in the story, but it was the wrong question.
Hereâs the right one:
âDo you like waiting in lines?â
Now, unless someone is a masochist or has some kind of line fetish, the answer is going to be no.
The minute a Fleet-Goer hears this question, it will set off immediate alarm bells.
The bells will be even stronger if the Fleet-Goer is a person who traveled to the eventâand has likely just come from sitting in traffic or searching for parking (not lines in the strictest sense, but activities that Iâd call line-adjacent that rouse similar emotions).
âMore waiting? No! That sounds like the worst,â the Fleet-Goer will think.
In one of my favorite books, Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade, professor of psychology and marketing Robert Cialdini details how people are much more likely to participate when they are âprimedâ by promoting a certain mindset ahead of time.
A scientific study found that when stopped on the street, only 33 percent of individuals would share their email address to get a free sample of a new soft drink. However, when the scientists first asked, âDo you consider yourself to be somebody who is adventurous and likes to try new things?â more than 75 percent gave their email addresses.
Virtually every person answered that she considered herself to be adventurous, which isnât terribly surprising. But that simple, single-chute question helped reframe the request and made individuals more likely to agree. Similar results can be attained by asking questions like, âDo you consider yourself to be a helpful person?â
By asking the Fleet-Goers if they like waiting in lines, the effect is twofold: (1) It primes them to participate and (2) it speaks directly to the potential frustration that awaits them inside.
Nowâyouâve got them. And you can continue with your pitch.
âDo you like waiting in lines? Youâll have to wait 30 minutes for a drink at the festival. But, you can get a fresh-squeezed lemonade right here, right now, and bring it in with you. And did I mention the proceeds all benefit our school to help us buy painting supplies for our art class? You also get a free cookie baked by my momâsheâs a pastry chef at the French bakery right over there on Chestnut Street.â
Youâll notice that in the example above, after asking the priming question, I followed it up with an explicit callout of the pain to come:
Youâll have to wait 30 minutes for a drink at the festival.
I also took a few liberties to make the offer sound even more enticing:
âFresh squeezedâ lemonadeâbecause everyone loves fresh, and this indicates higher quality
âBring it in with youââbecause this was true, outside food and beverages were ok to have at the venue, so no need to chug it
âHelp us buy painting supplies for our art classââbecause this gives a very specific visual picture of what the funds are used for. When the Fleet-Goers hear this, they can see the kids in a classroom, painting with colors on canvases.
âBaked by my momââbecause this adds a nice personal touch
âSheâs a pastry chefââbecause this gives mom credibility
âat the French bakery right over there on Chestnut Streetââbecause this makes it even more local, and everyone loves supporting local
I realize these are a lot of embellishments, but they each serve a distinct purpose.
And even if I had not added all of the embellishmentsâŠ
I 100% guarantee you that simply changing the opening question of Blue Baseball Capâs Lemonade Pitch from âDo you want some lemonade?â to âDo you like waiting in lines?â would have had a positive impact on sales.
No Pain? No Gain.
Chell loved watching all of the planes at Fleet Week. But unfortunately, the big Blue Angels finale coincided with his nap time.
Chell may have missed out on an important part of the show, but you donât have to miss out on an important opportunity to engage your customers.
Donât forget to speak to their problems, before jumping headfirst into the solutions.
If youâre finding this newsletter valuable, consider sharing it with friends, or subscribing if you arenât already.
About Me
I help early stage founders create the kind of brands that get customers so obsessed, theyâll do your advertising for you.
Based on my experience founding my own consumer brand, I developed The Branding Sprintâa uniquely collaborative, streamlined, and agile approach to brand creation.
Click here to learn more about The Branding Sprint, or schedule a call with me.
Create your profile
Only paid subscribers can comment on this post
Check your email
For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.
Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.