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“We didn’t spend any money on marketing and advertising,” recalls Aigner-Clark. So just how exactly did her basement operation become the billion dollar industry leader that it is today? What it all came down to, she says, was her ability to hit the streets and get people talking about her business.
When the first Baby Einstein video first came out, Aigner-Clark could not find any takers for it. “Nobody was returning my calls,” she says. Still, as a mother, Aigner-Clark was confident in her product. “I knew if I could get it into the hands of a mom or an executive who had a baby [that] would sell it.”
It took her more than a year to come up with an idea on how to do that, but finally, Aigner-Clark knew what she had to do. She packed up and headed to New York City for the American International Toy Fair. She was determined to get one of the buyers from The Right Start, a high-end baby retailer, to take notice of her video.
Initially, Aigner-Clark would find no one who was interested in Baby Einstein. Nevertheless, she still made the best use of her time. “For the first two days of the show I walked around and memorized everyone’s name tags,” she says. Finally, on the third day, she came across the buyers for The Right Start. “I ran up to them [and said,] ‘You’re going to love this video!’” recalls Aigner-Clark. “You have to watch it! It’s perfect for your store!”
Aigner-Clark says her determination at that point was such that it “scared her to buy the video. Seriously though, I think it was clear to her that I had a great passion for my product.” The buyer agreed to try the video in ten stores with five videos in each. “I was ecstatic that I sold 50 videos,” says Aigner-Clark. In just three days, they had all sold out.
“The response was amazing,” she says. “Parents loved the video and it flew off the shelves, really by word of mouth.” The Right Start was so impressed with the video’s sales that it began to offer it in its catalogue. “With a distribution into ten million homes, the exposure was incredible,” says Aigner-Clark.
With no budget for marketing, Aigner-Clark also took advantage of different publications, sending them copies of the videos for their review. “There was a reporter from People Magazine who loved it and wrote a piece on it,” she says. “Then there was a producer on Oprah that also loved it and they fit it into a segment.” Parenting Magazine also named Baby Einstein “Video of the Year.”
After that, demand for Baby Einstein products exploded. But, through it all, Aigner-Clark learned one very important lesson. It did not matter that she had no money to spend on marketing or advertising. “At the end of the day, word of mouth is your most important means to get the word out and we had a great group,” she says. “Mothers!”
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It's absolutely essential that you find a way to differentiate your business in a meaningful way. I know I talk about this all the time, but it's that important.
Studies tell us that only 3% of people in the USA set goals, and they are among the wealthiest people in the nation! Worldwide the percentage is probably lower. Why so low? There are several reasons, but the one tha...
