Customer Satisfaction and Social Media

      Hi there, I’m Jeffrey Bernhard and welcome back to my blog. Today I want to talk to you about customer satisfaction math and how important this is for you and your company.  Very few companies can afford to have customers upset, there are some exceptions such as the cable company, or the electric company, You really have no voice within these companies.  This means, no matter how much you scream about their product, you really cant go anywhere else to get it.   You can’t just provide yourself with electricity or a new cable provider; these companies have the market on lock.
     Like everything else in life, change is coming.  Social media is changing the way we talk about products.  For example, if you liked Tabasco sauce five years ago, you wouldn't pick up a phone and call your friend to tell them you like Tabasco sauce.  Today however, you would click the like button and share that on social media.  If you wouldn't do that, millions of others would and they do every single day.

     With your customers, you want to keep them as happy as you can.  This sounds simple and straightforward but it’s not.  You just can’t be there 24/7 to monitor your employees to make sure they are treating your customers the same way you would.  Most employees have very little training in this area and it is one of the most overlooked areas in business.  What type of businesses am I talking about?  Restaurants, retail, service shops, cell phone stores, banks, painters, carpet installers, and the list could go on forever. If you have a private label product though, this is for you.  Most of us have poured blood, sweat, and tears into our products and sometimes that doesn’t get conveyed very well by our employees. 

     We live in an ever-changing environment these days.  Meaning, when your customer leaves the store angry they not only won’t come back, but they will jump on social media and try to destroy your reputation.  If your customers have a bad experience they are more than twice as likely to right a bad review than a good review.  That means if your customers love you, they are probably not going to share that experience unless you have really wowed them.  This takes more than your product. This takes smaller global footprint, great charity support, and fabulous experiences on all levels, such as interactive website etc, and this list could go on as well.  However, 88% of all customers say they depend on customer reviews when purchasing a new product or trying a new place.  I bet you didn’t think the numbers were that high!

     Lets do a little consumer math.  I stayed at a hotel in South America a few years back and part of the deal included a complimentary breakfast.  Every morning they would make you a fresh plate of eggs, toast, and fresh fruit.  This came with fresh squeezed juice as well.  I stayed at this particular hotel for almost a month.  The last week I was in the hotel, the breakfast service stopped.  The owner had 3 hotels and became quite busy at another hotel in the city.  This put me in an awkward position.  Now I had to travel out of my comfort zone to get breakfast.  My wife and I would eat at different times putting more strain on when we left the hotel in the morning.  Now, if this was just me then it really wouldn’t be a big deal.  However, I travel down there with several other business people teaching seminars, the next time I went I switched hotels, and so did every one in my party.  This was around 14 people.  That many people staying in a hotel for an extended amount of time really adds up. 

    

     In the end the eggs, toast, fruit, and juice, which cost them about $5.00, ended up costing them around $30,000 in losses.  Why? Over breakfast. Don’t let this happen to you.  This is how something so simple can cost you serious money.  Remember 88% of people check recommendations before they buy.  This means that many more people will not shop or buy your brand if that one person complains. The losses will build exponentially.  These numbers really start to hurt you and your business regardless how great your product is.  

    Remember if you need help pushing your product or increasing your revenues, connect with me on LinkedIn below and I will be happy to come out and assist you.  I promise you, I can assist you in these areas.  Take care, and have a great day!  

 = -($30,000) 

The Power of Color on Product Sales

     I was just in Texas for the last few days and when I was waiting on my flight, I was watching a Ted Talk on colors and the way people see them.  I wanted to share my experience with them and an important aspect of advertising with you, the power of color. I used color psychology when I would sell my products in my retail locations and wanted to share some tricks that really helped me. I didn’t stumble onto the answers overnight. It took careful observation and serious trial and error. In my experience, I found that when using signage, red draws the persons eyes the quickest. Kids and adults alike are drawn to a red display rack or a red sign or object hanging at eye level. I would have my red displays turning from mounting a small actuating motor and hanging it by fishing line. This worked great with the kids and they would stand under it and look up at it. The mother would retrieve them and then take notice of my sale or my product that I would be selling under it or right there on the top of a display and always pick it up. This worked time and time again. I found out many years later while on a trip to Disney that this was one of their tricks as well. I didn’t know it at the time, but felt a little relieved when I saw it working at that high of a level. The ceilings in grocery stores are generally too tall for this type of display to be installed.

      Always avoid the color blue when associating it with food. They say if you want to lose weight, eat off of a blue plate. The only natural food that is blue is a blue berry. Most everything else is void of blue. When you put your food around the color blue it just doesn’t look natural and your instincts will say to stay away. Remember this as it can become quite costly if you try to package your product in blue. Lets talk about my favorite colors black and yellow.
     These colors are extremely interesting. Black and yellow are colors of caution and require you to yield. Think of animals that are black and yellow. Every type of stinging bee you can think of, from honeybees to yellow jackets, bumblebees, and many types of poisonous snakes. Your body is programed to use caution around these colors and if you set up a display that has these colors you will experience your customers moving past it at a slower pace. This is ingrained in us as human beings so try not to think it’s your brilliant packaging doing this. Now that you know this trick, you can use it to your advantage. I would use this color combination close to my exits so that I could slow down my customers from leaving the stores and maybe pick something out on the display as a last second impulse buy. Black and yellow is still the most powerful colors as an attention grabber that is used on products today. Think about how many companies use this color combination today.

      Lets talk briefly about lighting. The color of the lights that you use can greatly effect how your product sells. Most stores use a yellow type bulb and some stores use a more bluish tone. Both work well and the yellow is a warmer home type feeling and the blue is a much brighter cleaner feeling. These different types of lights can have a great impact on how you sell your product. Most companies never think much about this but it has a very important role. I would like to talk about elevation and lighting in a completely different blog post so that I can better explain this phenomenon. I found that if you play with lighting and elevation, you can seriously increase your sales.
     How can we tie all of this together? That is a great question. Are you thinking about selling your products in Whole Foods Markets or Kroger, because these stores use a warm yellow type lighting while Wal-Mart’s and Stop n Shops use a much bluer type light for efficiency. This will come in handy when also deciding where to try and place your product on the shelves. In Most stores the bottom and top of the shelves are open while the middle of the shelf is taken. This part is reserved for the much better selling products that can afford to move tons of product through that store and pay the high rates to be at eye level. If you have not thought about where to place your item on the shelf, you are at a serious disadvantage. Remember, if you have any questions be sure to add them in the comments or send them directly to me.
     If you would like me to fly out to your business to assist you with your product, just get in touch with me either by LinkedIn or just send me a message from one of the links down below. I look forward to speaking with you soon. Take care.

Packaging Considerations Video

New Product Launch and Considerations

    So you have designed your new food or private label consumable in your garage or kitchen and are ready to launch it.  Just how do you go about doing it?  That's a great question and cannot be answerd in one short blog. However, we can cover some basic ideas and point you in the right direction.  This blog is a fabulous place to start and there are hundreds of things to consider so lets start off with some of the most important ones.
     In one of my previous blogs I spoke about the importance of keeping your ideas and labels simple.  This is extremely important and will save you on costs in the long run.  I had the most incredible label. It had three colors and a very sophisticated design.  It was a printing nightmare but represented exactly what I thought I was trying to express in the logo and packaging.  I used three different colors and had many different shapes such as circles and squares.  It really didn't flow well.  The more colors in your label, the more money. Not a little more money, but a lot more money.  Transferring that onto every type of package and t-shirt etc. gets very expensive so keep your logo simple.  Look at any of the big named logos such as Apple, IBM, or Dell.  Very simple logos. Most logos are getting away from even having letters and are relying on just a picture or symbol such as Starbucks.  They no longer even print the letters, just the lady represents their image now.

I eventually went with a single color on a single color background. The label had much more "pop" and I ended up getting much more milage out of my simplified label. You will to! Pay attention in this area. If you think you need all those extra colors, go to a book store and buy a book on this and look.

Converting Manufacturing Waste into Profits

     Do you currently have excess waste that you can turn into profits? I recently helped a company that was donating their unused product to a soup kitchen. Most accountants or CPA's will tell you to throw it out and to collect the tax write off for this. I am aware that if someone gets sick or has a allergic reaction to your donated product, this could cause all types of problems for you. I was donating my unused portions to soup kitchens until people started asking me what ingredients I used. When I first got into the business, about 1 person a month would ask me about ingredients because of allergies. When I sold my business, around 4 or 5 people a day would ask. The increase in people concerned about allergies was growing at an exponential rate. This rate was almost unfathomable at which it was growing. I became extremely nervous donating any of my foods that were not properly labeled. The foods that are donated to soup kitchens normally do not have the full set of labels on them. This would actually cost the merchant more money to make the donation. Many times merchants just pile the food into boxes or containers and take it for the drop off. It is possible that you are currently not utilizing all of your product in the most efficient way. I know this from personal experience. I would sell several different sizes and still would have waste leftover at the end of the day. If you can somehow harness this waste and turn it into profits you can not only increase your revenue, you change the dynamics of your products.

Carry case full of Munchkins

     Look at donut holes at Dunkin Donuts. These donut holes are simply the center of the donut. They would just be regenerated back into the dough for the next batch. By converting these into donut holes or munchkins, they can charge slightly more per pound and gain a great new product that people love.

Look at all the flavors represented
in the Munchkin kit now.

  This is a simple concept but consider if you are making anything that has waste, you can be doing the same in some capacity. Different size portions, different applications, and a different type of edible consumable is exactly what the consumer is after. Think about changing the game of how your product is manufactured or consumed. A great product to look at is cheese sticks. These are in a new type of package that allows the consumer to take with them. Now people can consume these on their own as snacks. When I was a kid, we could eat cheese in the squares out of the fridge. We really wouldn't take these with us anywhere because they would not keep well, they were fragile, and they would get hot. Now because of new packaging, they go everywhere with the new generation and are found in every corner of the world.

New cheese strings that can
travel everywhere.

Old school cheese that we had
as kids in the fridge.

Assembly Line Selling in Public Locations

Yesterday I flew out of LaGuardia and they have a new system in which you shop at any food establishment and then you check out at a one central area. This is a new addition to the airport and they are continuing to grow. There will be several more restaurants and one central location to pay. This grab and pay system is extremely efficient and the line moves very quickly. If you want a cheeseburger from one restaurant and potato chips from another you can mix and match everything and pay in one location. This actually increases sales for all those that participate. In the past, I would grab something to eat at one and my wife would grab something at another one and we would meet at the table afterwards. Now we can purchase water, snacks along with magazines and anything else we need for our trip. This will increase sales for all the restaurants and kiosks there. Before the central pay station we would buy the bare necessities and move quickly to the gate. This also allowed us to venture around and try new products. Both of us had different types of drinks when we sat down together. I chose a new type of ice tea and my wife grabbed a new type of water. They were both new products and the different designs is what made us grab them. Changing your packaging allows consumers to view your product in a different light and peaks curiosity. I made my purchase because of the honey pictures alone. If you can perhaps alter your graphics slightly, you can increase your sales. This type of business assembly line works for all the merchants. In the past, owners would capture profits by forcing customers to purchase their drinks and chips. Now owners give customers the option to only purchase one thing in their area and move into the next area and then check out. This idea will take a little bit to catch on, but once owners become open to sharing customers, the will sell more and see the potential. It's a difficult concept to swallow, sharing customers that is, but all parties will eventually benefit from it. Now, one of the most important things will come down to how you design your point of purchases, and how to attract customers to your products when they are among many. If your package does not have a distinctive label or something that will attract the eye, you will get lost in a sea of new products. Your label will now need to "stand out" on the shelf. This was only the case in cereal and soda, and now has travel to Chap Stick and baby food as well. Every single product is challenged by new competition now. Gone are the days where products can have supermarket domination. New products enter every day with money to back them and compete right next to items that we have seen for generations. Get used to this new assembly line type of selling. We will all being seeing much more of it in the very near future.

Private Label and Branding Welcome Video By Jeffrey Bernhard

Pallet Stacking and Better Pallet Economics

     Many companies stack pallets extremely inefficient and simply wrap them up in cellophane and ship.  What they fail to realize is that by stacking your pallets more efficiently, you will save a great deal of money.  If you have been stacking or filling your pallets for the same way for a long period of time. now is the time to check out your processes.  Take a step back and look at your pallet and see if there is room for improvement.  If you are not to the pallet stage yet, it doesn't matter.  Step back and look at how efficient your packaging process is currently as well.  You still have plenty of room to improve your shipping process.

warehouseiq.com

     Think about playing a giant game of Tetris instead of packing everything onto your pallets and getting them shipped.  There is a company out there that sells a pretty sophisticated stacking calculator and software that can help you pick a more efficient route.  I know that this might seem ridiculous at first  but so does everything else.  If you dig into your shipping processes a little now and are able to save even a few pennies, this could equate to tens of thousands in the long run.

thegoddam90's.com

     If you currently do not have a continuous improvement process to check your methods and recheck them, think about installing one and putting them in place.  The Japanese have done this for years with incredible success.  Look at learning some Kaizen principles and implement them into your workplace.  If you can familiarize yourself with these principles, I can include a blog post set aside for more pictures and explanations with examples for you to see.  This will help get you started and you can get more familiar with the idea.  I have met with companies who are shipping millions in product per week and have never considered these cost saving methods?

Palletstacking.com

Watch My Welcome Video

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Learning from Apple's Marketing Techniques

     What makes Apple's marketing so unique?  They concentrate on only one thing.  It's a fairly hard concept to believe, but that's exactly what they do.  For example, with the Airbook Apple concentrates on the size as being able to fit into an envelope.  That is all they really pushed about the new computer.

Apple's Airbook advertised inside an
envelope. 

When Steve Jobs took to the stage to introduce the new Airbook, he brought out an envelope and when he pulled it out, the crowd of employees erupted into cheers.  He had produced another show stopper and the public responded by rushing out to purchase these.

This was one of the main adds that
Apple focused on and pushed.

Now for the Apple iPhone 4s,
they used Siri as the main focal point and that is where the main attention was focused. This is what everyone was going crazy over and wanted to try.  Having Siri was like having your own secretary within your iPhone.  Anyone who has ever used Siri knows that she is far from a secretary in your pocket.  The only person who can get her to work efficiently are the guys that work in the Apple store.  Look at the add to the left and see if you recall seeing these adds everywhere.

iPad 3 with retina display advertisement. 

     For the iPad 3 they concentrated on the retina display that was far superior to the other previous iPads.  The display characteristics were fabulous but somehow Apple was able to up the game and produce a much clearer screen that is much more sharp and consumers flocked to purchase it.

Line outside of Apple store before a major release.

What can a small private label company learn from Apple? Concentrate your efforts in advertising on one specific focal point.  Try not to inundate your customers with everything your product does or has. Try to keep it extremely simple and clean. That's what the pros do.  They try to sell the masses on a new feature that everyone wants to try such as the retina display, new iPhone Siri, or the new iPhone camera.  We all can admit that these Apple features are really cool and invoke a sense of wanting the new feature on your current cell phone. Keep in mind that big conglomerates keep their advertising simple but push it in every way possible.  TV, radio, and Internet advertising are common advertising streams for big companies but keep in mind that an effective marketing strategy never needs to cost a fortune.

www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreybernhard/

                             




 Check Out My Welcome Video Here

Different Size Packages

     Do you only sell one size package for your product?  Why only one size?  I wrote a blog on the importance of considering different size packages.  Utilizing a different size package could not only save you money and increase efficiency, it could increase your profits dramatically.  Consider the new revenue streams you would be able to possibly tap into if you would move from a jar to a bag. This move would open up all types of new opportunities for you.  I did this myself back in 2008 and this opened many new doors for me.  Regardless if you are thinking about going to a bigger size or smaller size there are many benefits to both.  I went larger in size and this opened my business up to being able to service large facilities. Before the change I never even thought about servicing these facilities.
     I tend to want to lean towards smaller packaging  Better pallet math and stacking for storage is one thought.  The best part about going into the smaller package is that you can make your product dynamic.  This means that people will carry your product in their bags everyday.  It becomes a staple that people need to get through the day.  If they are currently purchasing your product once a week while they are in the grocery store, they will not return until next week to buy more.  When you become dynamic, the will return the minute they run out. Consider the blog I wrote a little while back and used Kool-Aide as a guide. When I was a kid they only sold powder.  Now they have powder, drinks, and several sized packets.

When I was a kid, you only had one size.
Now you can have your cake and eat it too!

Welcome Video Here

The Importance of Web Presence

     Today, almost all businesses are on the Internet. We all have personal accounts on one of the major sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Blogger, or Twitter. The speed at which information travels is staggering. When all of us look at a new product to purchase, we almost immediately go to their website to see if the product "fits" our lifestyles.  Companies need to show their concern for reducing carbon footprints, increasing awareness for better processes, and saving money by making their product in a smarter way.  Americans no longer purchase foods just because they taste good.  There are far too many hurdles to look out for in our food these days.
     Think of how many times you turn over a product in the grocery store and read the label.  That label is the first point of sale for your new potential customer.  The information you decide to put on your label has far more of an impact on the consumer than companies imagine.  Labels with a catchy color combination with a phrase such as "freshness inside" will no longer cut it for companies competing in a global arena.  Your website information and company mission should be on the website along with a plethora of information.  A good start would be:

• About Company
• History
• Ingredients
• Staff or Employees
• Locations
• Maps
• Stores that sell or carry your products
• Mission Statement
• Blog
• What you are currently doing
• Who you sponsor
• Event Calendar
• Articles in the Press

     If you do not have a website yet, this is a good place to start.  You don't have to have all of the topics at first, but this is a good example.  All of these can be in text and some parts should be in video.  Consumers like to get to know the people who build or make their products. This a video tour of Jelly Belly Candy Co in Fairfield, CA.  This is the greatest company tour in the United States.  The point of this video is show you how involved consumers get with this product.  This company has art work, motorcycles, retail outlets, and vacations all planned around their product.  They make the consumer part of their experience everyday.  

Watch this video to possibly open up creative ideas for your company.  Of course this company is the leader in it's industry however, it can give you creative ideas that can be put into your business.  

www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreybernhard/

Welcome Video

Private Label Marketing

     One blog post on private label marketing is not going to teach you about the intricacies of getting your name out there. It will however give you some great ideas that will show you how to think outside the box and the type of creativity is required.
     I advertised in the traditional ways in the beginning just like every conventional business. I tried newspapers, magazines, videos, and mailers. Out of these four, my greatest success was in the newspapers. Mailers go straight in the garbage in 90% of all households. The remaining 10% are customers you don't want to attract. They stick to budgets. They take your ad and use it by buying exactly what is advertised. They never buy an additional item like you are hoping for. This is their mission. How do I know? I know this because I tried it for about two years. It's a hard fact to swallow especially after you have sunk all that money into it. Fliers are mass mailings or any type of advertising that you send directly to your customers via the mail.  I found that constantly putting my ads in newspapers was the most effective out of the bunch but was expensive and fell short of my goals.

Kristen Bell in a Chewbacca
T-shirt. Imagine a team
wearing your logo

     Think about bringing in new customers from different age groups. If you sell specialty chocolate, think about selling in a new market. Can you make your chocolates for the local Kiwanis group? What about for the local high school prom and put them on every table? Do not look at this as a step backwards, think of is as a very cheap test market that you can experiment with. Why would you want to try the high school? New age group, they consume more chocolate than any group, easy entry into the prom, and word of mouth travels through schools like wildfire. If you are successful locally, you can market to every high school within 200 miles. If you could land just 10 percent of those schools, you will have made enough additional profits to at least put one kid through college!  How do I know? I know because my private label name was doing great until I designed a popular t-shirt that the girls in the local high school loved.  They would come in and buy them in different colors.  They wore them all over that high school.  This brought them into my business and they would spend great money.  High school kids, unlike adults have no budget.  They spend your money. They could care less what an item costs.  This is a hard fact of life but it's the straight up truth.  I sold my t-shirts for $25 dollars and couldn't keep them on the shelves.  Eventually I had exhausted all of my colors and the frenzy died down but it was beautiful to see.  My places became a hangout for quite awhile amongst the youth and this generated more sales and I was able to move more private label products because of it.  Never under estimate the power of youth spending and word of mouth.
     If you are up against a ceiling in sales, think outside the box for ideas.  Do not disregard ideas because you have tried them or because you think they sound stupid.  How many people know how to do the Electric Slide or the Harlem Shake?  Millions upon millions and that is one of the most ridiculous things a person could know.  Think about the last wedding you attended.  As soon as the music for either one of these dances comes on, people run to do this dance.  Old, young, big, little, even the timid will get up and dance to these tunes.  That's the power of popularity.
I used chocolate in this blog as a metaphor, think of "your product" every time you see the word chocolate.  Have a great day! If you would like to comment, please click below.
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@BernhardJeffrey

Mushroom Packaging

     There is a hot new technology out there that will blow your mind as far as packaging.  Ecovative is a company that is making leaps and bounds as far as changing the game and how we package materials.  These guys were ridiculed and laughed at when they were growing these projects underneath their beds in school just a few years ago as students.  Now they are innovators and on the cutting edge of one of the most exciting things to hit our industry in years.  I am actually so excited to talk about this because this company will be the next DuPont or similar.  These guys grow their packaging!   This application can be used for car bumpers, shoe soles, and anything else you can think of.  The growth period is short, around 5 days and the technology is cheap as it forces you to think outside the box on your packaging.  This combination allows them to not only be innovators, but it forces their customers to think of better ways to package and ship.  It encourages smarter thinking and allows them help save on waste and keep the environment in mind.

The product is fire retardant, Eco friendly, strong, durable, and talk about less of a carbon footprint! They have done work for Dell Computer, 3M, and Sealed Air Corp to just name a few.  The materials are comprised of mushroom roots and agricultural waste.  The main ingredient is mycelium.  These are the hidden roots that are buried below the mushroom. Eben Bayer an Gavin McIntyre are the founders and are going to grow this company into a household name. Congratulations to these young innovators for their contribution to the packaging world.  I will be commenting on them frequently in my blog and hopefully will get to see more of their progress as they continue to change the way the world packages products.

www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreybernhard/

You can watch a video on the company here.  This video takes you through a snapshot of their company and let's you get an idea of what they are up to and the unlimited possibilities. 

Selling your Product on Amazon

     Most people do not realize the difficulty in selling their products on websites such as Amazon. The average time that you have to wait to receive payment is 74 days. That means if I want to buy a million dollars worth of your product, you will have to float me for that amount of time. 

     With the calculated interest that comes out to  $1,002,000 @ 1% interest rate. While the $2000 will not break the bank, consider losing your $1 million for that amount  of time when you have rent, payroll, overhead, and need to pay suppliers. If this sounds like an easy equation to you, the list of businesses that this has put under is so long it would not fit on this page. Companies need bridge loans and lines of credit. Remember when banks pulled lines of credit in 2008?
     Quite expensive for the average small company to float. This can drive you under or only allow you to expand through their channel extremely slowly. How can you change this? You can't essentially.         You will need to come up with a very good mathematical strategy that most small to mid-sized companies are not capable of. They think selling on these large retail sites is a good thing until they realize the amount of time it takes to get paid. Have a strategy in place that you can monitor and change if you need to. Do not think that once you are finally on Amazon your troubles are over. If you are really tight on money, they cold be just beginning.      Seattle Times Article Here

Pay specific attention to the numbers

Production Problem Solving

    While I was running my manufacturing line, I was having problems in one area of my process. The containers had a clamp that would hold the different sizes of bags. The clamps were flawed. They often wouldn't hold the bag with enough pressure and the product would spill onto the floor. This caused a great deal of waste and hours of time. I would have to pay my employees to clean the floors and then we would start the process over again. The clamps failed and would not hold the bag firmly enough during the fill. I needed this desperately because my product was in the form of a hot liquid. This was a safety issue as well.

Their design. Courtesy of Zeroclamps.com

     One morning while working out, I noticed the clamp device that held the weights on the bar would be a perfect match if only it were much larger. I took it to a friend who owns a machine shop and for two dollars he made me one. I took it back to the line and slipped it onto the area that held the bag. The tension had to be adjusted slightly but it fit and worked perfectly. It still had some problems though. I found that the clamp need to curve outward to allow the worker more of a good grip while using. I tailored it to my needs and that two dollar part put an end to my headaches. I had wasted at least $45,000 in time, money, and training.
     In the end, I looked back and thought how many other two dollar fixes are currently on my line? How many are on yours as well? Take a look at your process. See if you can reinvent or fix a problem in the simplest way. Below I have provided a couple of pictures of the before and after. The employees could operate my version so fast it looked like a Kung-Fu move when they swapped the bags out. The clamp had been extremely slow and cumbersome. Look around your processes and find the answers. This takes time and you will need to sleep on it. You can't change the world overnight. Takes planning and strategy.  Have you ever created such a simple design that has saved you money as well? Leave a comment below. I would love to hear about it.

My design. The trick is in
the tension.

3D Printing in Food

     We know the popularity of 3D printing will eventually take off. There are numerous applications that will be discovered and taken advantage of once food manufacturers have a better understanding of it. Currently food entrepreneurs are using 3D printing to produce artistic pieces of chocolate. This has been around since 2006.
     The most interesting thing about printing 3D food is that this might have a play in how you produce.  Consider the shipping and distribution channels for these small chocolatiers.  They have heat and the rising cost of shipping to contend with.  By renting a small office or room and purchasing another printer, they can be closer to their retailers.  The plans can just be downloaded and materials purchased locally.  The consistency factor needs to be worked out but you can see the potential.  If I specialized in personalized chocolate it would be easy to send my software to another location and have them print or produce my product easily without me having to oversee it.  The product could be produced simply by hitting print.

Eat your face. Courtesy of CBSnews.com

This would open up all types of franchising opportunities for small local businesses.  You could start a 3D chocolate business and franchise quickly.  This has yet to be done but could be coming to a store near you.

Courtesy of PCMag.com

Keep it Simple Stupid

      When choosing a font or character for your label, pick something that people can recognize and relate to.  Think of the products that you are attracted to yourself.  Take for example the peanut butter JIF. You would be able to pick this out even if the colors were black and white.  The large helvetica letters are unmistakable.  My 8 year old nephew can pick that product out from 50 feet away.  The label is easy to read and soft on the eyes.  Elderly people can read this at a distance and will buy this consistently from familiarity alone.  People are creatures of habit, they will pick the easy way out 9 out of 10 times.  We are not only repetitious creatures, we are lazy in our experimentation of new things.  It takes much more effort for a consumer to drop their current favorite peanut butter and pick up the new brand.  Too much risk is involved for them. Think about it logically.  You wouldn't risk your $6 on a new product without trusting the product first.  That's why it makes sense to try and put your product out there in smaller quantities.  In the very least, people will try it if it doesn't cost them a fortune.
     This is why repetition pays off in the long run.  The more often the consumer sees your product, the more you will establish trust from them.  They will almost never try your product the first time they pass it.  They need to see it consistently first.  Once they have seen it on the shelf, another person eating it, or perhaps an advertisement they will try.  Do not think that you can capture a sale on the first pass.  This is not realistic thinking and do not set your sights this high.  Consistency is the key.  It is the same in your own life with television or the radio.  How many times do you have to hear a song on the radio before it becomes catchy to you?  Never on the first time.  By the fifth time you start to sing along with the chorus and by the tenth time you are possibly going to download it from iTunes.  It is no different with food or packages on the shelf.
Keep your logo simple.  This is not the time to show off your creativity and art skills. A good example is below.

It couldn't be simpler than this.
Look at how it's elegant and
legible.  

The Power of Color

    When consumers are walking down the aisle of the local grocery store, they are scanning for familiar products to purchase.  They seldom allow a new product into their shopping cart.  Your product's label not only has to be clear and legible, it needs to be eye catching.  If your product can't grab the attention of the person walking by, you have lost the battle.  Companies spend billions of dollars making sure their message and logo are front and center enticing you to purchase as you pass them.  Products that do not show a bold color in the label or have an eye catching theme, will be passed up quickly.
    Having a recognizable figure or color in your label can increase your chances dramatically   Take for example these peanut butter jars below. If the name was not present, you would still recognize  who it is.  Now look at the next one. You can't see the name clearly.  Which one do you think will draw the younger and older crowd? Think about how your eyesight is when you are in your 50's or 60's.  Now I know you must be thinking, those are not the consumers we are targeting.  Why not? They have money as well. Consumers in those age brackets sell on word of mouth as well.  Those age brackets are perfect to target.  They tell their friends and sell more for the company.  Anyone with a child knows that if it's a good enough product for my child, it will make others reflect on what they are feeding their child.  This is the power of selling.    

Label jumps out at you
and everyone is familiar with
it.

www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreybernhard/

Label is quiet and has
no real draw to the
consumer.

Packaging Considerations

Different size packages can open up doors for you.  I produced in one size until I started manufacturing.  I found that by increasing the size of my packaging, I essentially increased my market potential.  When I put my food in the larger package I could suddenly market to several companies that could sell my products that I had never thought of before. This changed my thinking and opened the door to my business potential that I had failed to see.  By putting my products in industrial size packages I could now sell to prisons, restaurants, schools, and hotels.  Before this revelation I had been selling to customers on the street, in offices, and hospital's.  I never considered landing the accounts of schools, hospital's, and institutions worldwide.  With new markets in mind, I sold the bricks and mortar operations immediately and focused on manufacturing going forward.  Why focus on customers in town when you have the globe?  Some great examples of products that have changed how they do business because of packaging are below.

Traditionally this was sold in one size.
When they expanded to a small bottle they
opened up the door to getting into MRE's
and serving the military.

This is a great example of Kool-Aid
expanding into several different markets
and distribution channels.

Expanding Distribution Channels

     Have you exhausted your distribution channels? Do you feel like you have expanded your product line in the most efficient ways possible?  Ever consider using a different package in order to expand your markets and increase the number of points of sale?  If you have ever had these thoughts in your business, you are probably in the right place.  I have an extensive background in consumer behavior and product placement.  I can help you break into new distribution channels and sell your products in places you probably have never thought of before.
     Most companies are trying to compete head to head on supermarket shelves with one point of sale.  If a customer walks by your product this week, they will not pass it again until next week.  This gap is too long and does not get your product enough recognition.  If you would consider a smaller or larger  package, you could expand your markets and distribution channels incredibly.
     I sold different sized containers of my product and didn't see the possibilities until I went to a much larger package size.  This works both ways and for any product.  Take for example peanut butter.  Traditionally we have always bought this product in a jar.  But now companies are moving into the smaller 1.5 oz packet and they are finding themselves in several different types of markets.  Now they can not only sell these in different areas of the supermarket, they can also sell them in sports stores such as bike shops, Dicks Sporting Goods, and Eastern Mountain Sports expanding their market into a new arena  the energy food market.  This small packet of peanut butter can be consumed by athletes, or by hikers out on the trail looking for a protein shot while exercising.  Nobody is taking a jar with them to the gym or out on the trail.  They took a run of the mill product and turned it into a dynamic product opening up several different distribution channels with very little competition.

This energy food market is wide open for all types of high impact sports.  Red Bull has proven that there are billions of dollars that are out there for all companies if they properly strategize their products.  Something to consider.  This rider has positioned this Clif Shot under his plate holder so he can access it quickly.  The product's label is also right in his line of sight the whole day making this a staple in his riding routines.  This allows the product to become a staple on riding days.  Others at the track or park will take notice of this and do the same.


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