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Wrapping Up Summer With Homemade Muffins (and Affinity Marketing)

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Did you know there’s a method to the madness of a tasty muffin? You betcha. The muffin mixing method combines dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another, and then folds the two together for a light and fluffy treat. Easy peasy!

Interestingly, the muffin method can be paralleled to affinity marketing. They both bring together multiple ingredients (businesses) and form a partnership of mutual benefit. Simply put, you grease my pan and I’ll grease yours.

If you’re like me, you wonder how your small business can practice affinity marketing. Voilà! Circle M Market Farm BnB recently popped in to my social media feed and it’s a perfect example of businesses working together. Notice how owner Kriss Marion not only uses products from her neighboring farmers, she also promotes them. She’s a smart cookie, because their success contributes to her success. And—perhaps most importantly— encouraging others is a simple and caring thing to do.

Don’t these muffins look delish? Owner Kriss Marion shares the recipe in the comments of her Facebook post. Check out Circle M here, and many more farm stays here in beautiful Wisconsin.

What I’m Working On This Month

Looking for an outdoor festival for celebrating October? Mark your calendar for Fermentation Fest in the rolling countryside of Driftless Wisconsin. What seems weeks away, means work and planning now. This month I’ve been hard at it with the creative team of Wormfarm Institute.

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

Speaking of Hiking…

Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail Alliance has come out with its 2023 atlas and guidebook, which means I’ll soon come out with my updated map. Added trails, new trail communities— they’re all here and ready for press!

In the meantime, check out Adunate’s super sale on 2022 maps. Get these for the cost of shipping and handling only—a great way to get started on your Ice Age Trail adventure. Hurry, only a few left!

Shop Here
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How Marketing Can Serve Those 87 Emotions

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Happy St. Patty’s, when we’re all Irish for a day and our emotions run green. What better time to discuss “Atlas of the Heart,” by Brené Brown.     

In her latest book, Brown explores the 87 emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. Even though her subject isn’t marketing, it’s a must-read for those who work in marketing.

Long ago, my college marketing courses spoke of four primary emotions—joy, sadness, fear and anger—and how to use them to market to consumers, how to shout and coerce into buying. Times have changed. While we still study emotions, we now market for consumers, for serving them. As Seth Godin says, “Marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem.”

Knowing the emotions of our target audience helps us help them. It helps us solve their problem.

Identifying emotions 

While reading “Atlas of the Heart,” I compiled a list of emotions my clients might be feeling. I then brainstormed ways I can help. Here are a few examples:

  1. Stress. In recent years, my clients’ stressors have multiplied exponentially. I need to communicate how I can ease their work load.
  2. Uncertainty. Many in my targeted audience pandemically pivoted into unknown waters. How can I build their confidence in new ways of doing things?
  3. Excitement. New products. New businesses. Sharing the successes of my clients is encouraging and connects me to them.

What are your customer’s emotions and how can you help? Make a list. Start marketing for your customers.

LET’s WORK TOGETHER

What I’m Working On This Month

ZoningHub needed a landing page to coincide with an ad it’s running on an industry-related site. Together we presented the problem city planners face and ZoningHub’s effective solution.

Know someone involved in city planning? Send them to ZoningHub!

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  1. Goodwill—do you shop or donate? Here’s how thrift stores manage their wares.
  2. Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains: There’s always more to a story than we know, including the stereotypes of Kentucky’s hill country.
  3. Cardamom, I swoon. You mean it doesn’t originate in Scandinavia? 
  4. Cook for Ukraine: Ukrainian, Russian and Polish go-getters come together with a powerful message for helping others.

Timing is Everything When Marketing Your Business

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Every July Japanese beetles decide our vineyard is the tastiest on the block. Since we only have 100 vines and are striving to be organic, I simply knock those iridescent irritations into a bucket of soapy water and feed them to my chickens. My mode of defense is easy enough, yet timing is the key to its success. Japanese beetles are lethargic in cool temps, but quick to fly away (and later return) as the day gets warmer. If I want them falling into my bucket, I have to get out there with the morning sunrise.

Timing is everything, as they say. The same can be said when marketing your business. 

Timing Is Everything

  1. Plan six months out. Yes, we’re enjoying the heat of summer, but now’s the time to finalize your autumn marketing plans and brainstorm for winter. Anything big happening in 2022? Got any ideas for a marketing theme?
     
  2. Follow your industry. An awareness of what’s happening in your industry enables you to plan, respond and adapt. Is your product subject to seasonal creep? Do you need to start promoting it earlier? 
     
  3. Stay flexible. A well-scheduled plan makes marketing easy but even the best laid schemes can go awry. Weather, current events or other hot button issues sometimes require a deviation from the plan. Do you have a handy backup?
LET’s WORK TOGETHER

What I’m Working On This Month

I’m super proud to serve as a director for Women Food & Ag Network, a non-profit empowering women in healthy food and ag systems. So many inspiring people! This month we’re storytelling as we develop our fundraising/membership drive. After all, stories are the most powerful tool in a marketer’s box. 

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  1. The Impact of Her Spirit: a 1980s oral history project. Great research for a workshop I’m presenting in November.
  2. What Defines a Family Farm? Obviously, there are differences of opinion, as shown in this article. Either way, we’re loosing our farms.
  3. Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail. A well-researched bio of both an amazing woman and the famous trail. 
  4. Firefly Coffeehouse: A story of COVID survival and loyal employees. How’d they do it?
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