This article emphasizes on the need to work on micro creative projects – and experiment!
RECAP:
A micro-market is a curated set of target clients.
Micromarketing is a strategy where marketing efforts focus on a narrow set of target clients; all activities are defined by and for this set.
Experimentation is to ensure that we try out potential solutions, the obvious – and the outlier!
Here is a real life story/example.
EXPERIMENTATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME
Akshata came running to the office. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her spiral curls flying around, she skidded to a stop before Narmada’s desk. Akshata couldn’t get words out and was gasping for breath. Narmada, her co-founder, knew what an enthu-cutlet Akshata was. A mom of a spunky kid, but still a kid herself, in her enthusiasm with new designs and ideas. After a full minute, Akshata spoke. And spoke.
“You wouldn’t believe what happened last evening. I was at Usha’s wedding, you know her, my college friend. So, I was the official hand-maiden along with Rajani, Usha’s work colleague and friend. So, you know how it is in weddings, na? Very busy activities and then a lull. Cyclical. One such break, Rajani and I started chatting. Oh, she is such a chatterbox!”
Narmada rolls her eyes. Her mind voice asked, “What! Pot calling the kettle black!”
Akshata continued, “She kept talking about her photography and designs. Designs Narmada. That got me curious and I asked her about all her designs. One of them struck a chord. Guess na, Narmada, what could that be… guess na.”
Narmada responded, “Boeing jet? Chandrayaan lunar space module? A pencil?”
Akshata rolled her eyes, “Enough. Always pulling my leg. Rajani designs cigarette butts. For the export market. Can you believe it, Narmada! Ciggy butts. What is being thrown away out here is being made and exported to Europe. Seriously!”
Narmada exclaimed, "WHAT! WHAT! WHAT!” It was her turn to get excited.
Akshata continued excitedly, “Yes, but with a greater purpose. Some folks in Europe hand roll cigarettes but use these filter butts. These butts are filled with plant seeds so that they can be put back into the soil after they smoke. Some small good in something not so good!. Guess what I did next?”
“Smoked?”
“SHUT UP. You know I don’t like that stuff. I asked Rajani if she could give me a sample of the seed paper and she did. I dropped her off after the wedding reception and she gave me a full sheet of paper with the plant seeds inside. I woke up this morning, cut the paper into two and took one half to our printer Raju. Raju experimented with it and said it was a total failure as the ink is not settling well on this seed and a lot of smudging is happening. I really thought we could use these seed sheets to make wedding cards. How much of wastage we could save!”
Narmada asked, “So, do you have that other sheet of paper? Let me take it and try hand-printing.”
Narmada hand printed two designs which came out rather well. It needed focus, attention to detail and a can do attitude. She clicked a couple of pictures and put it up on Instagram. It generated a lot of buzz in the design and print aficionado circles.
One person reached out and asked if Narmada and Akshata’s company, MostlyHandMade, could make a set of wedding cards from seed paper, but with basil seeds. Entrepreneurs, both of them, they jumped at the opportunity and came out with a set. They did an awesome job and their client fell in love. These wedding cards were given out to over 400 guests, all of whom loved the card, the design and the idea behind seed paper.
What do you generally do with the invites? Some you keep, many you throw away. What if you could plant the wedding invite in a small pot?
What if the union of hearts is also the start of a new life, a new plant, some greenery to this world of ours, which really needs a lot more love. Every little bit helps.
Narmada and Akshata have since been super busy, experimenting with a variety of seed papers, printing and servicing a whole lot of new orders for wedding card designs.
One seed of experimentation, a spark of enthusiasm, teamwork and a dollop of entrepreneurship. MostlyhandMade for you. Unique wedding card designs especially for global cross-cultural couples!
Questions:
- What’s your creative trigger? Which micro creative project can you start?
When was the last time you thought beyond your regular field of work?
- Which external stimuli will you directly inject into your world of regular and mundane?
- Which new skill can you cross-pollinate with your solution for the benefit of a new set of clients? A new micro market that you never knew existed, similar to the small market looking out for seed-paper infused wedding cards.
- When was the last time you said, “Hey, let’s try something new?”
*****
This the ninth article in "The Micro Marketer" series by Pravin Shekar, an Outlier Marketer.
The article series flow:
- The first article laid the foundation for what a micro market is.
- How to DEFINE a micro market?
- How to FORM a micro market?
- The need to be curious, at all times – and ASK.
- How to identify the right problem/pain-point?
- How to micro-network?
- What to Ideate on?
- Solutionizing!
About the Author
Pravin Shekar is an outlier marketer, parallel entrepreneur and a raconteur. If you want to shake up your marketing strategy OR discuss your micro marketing plan, write to Pravin at outlier@pravinshekar.com