Last December my choices of non-Christmas Marketing events were kind of slim here in KC. I signed up for a Creative Morning session: “Rob Schamberger – When Success Turns into Chaos” not sure what to expect. The time I spent waiting for the video to post on the KC Creative Morning website also lent me time to ponder how to find relatable topics on ART + World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) + Grocery Store Marketing.
Find your niche.
Every store has something they do better than the competition, so that’s their “niche”. It’s what you hang your marketing hat on for store branding. It can be anything from better customer service, store made salads or local produce. Some businesses find their niche early on while others might change mid stream. Other niche’s can be so broad they cover several areas at once, or can be applied to anything new.
Creative Morning session: “Rob Schamberger – When Success Turns into Chaos”.
Rob first wanted to be a comic book artist but found the profession to be over crowded with lots of competition. He was looking for a different path with these thoughts on how to stand out:
Be the first. Be the best. Be different.
One day while attending a WWE event, Rob took note of the audience size and their pure passion for the sport. “Surely some of these pro-wrestling fans like art?” So he started a project on KickStarter, where he sold reproductions of his paintings of wrestlers called “Champions Collection” which turned out to be a success. Soon after he was able to quit his day job and move into a studio.
Another Niche Success…
Rob’s success story reminded me of an article I read back in March when exploring a chain of links related to “Independent Grocer”. The article was about a Mom-and-Pop grocery store that was about to go under in the mid-1980s. Long ago, neighbors once knew the store as a favorite hang out to socialize while eating Whimpie sandwiches and drinking pop. Over time the grocery hang out became a distant memory. The new owner had to put his own money into the business for years just to keep it going.
1997 brought more challenges when a Chevron convenience store opened down the road. Then a string of burglaries. It was the (Woodside) Industrial Park that provided a ray of hope for the store. Some of the workers only got 30 minutes for lunch but still want to get out. This grocery store has met the needs of the workers by selling hot meals and deli items to the factory workers for the past 20 years. Sometimes Fish Fridays can even lead to a line out the front door. Read the article here >
There you have it. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) + Grocery Store Marketing: A couple of completely different businesses who both found their niche.
