Question: What was the name of the first major deodorant
company in the United States?
Answer: Odorono
In 1919, Odorono ran a magazine ad mentioning underarm odor
that led hundreds of women to cancel their subscription to the
"Ladies' Home Journal." The ad headline read, "Within the curve
of a woman's arm." This was a relatively mild way to describe an
armpit and the subject of underarm odor. But, it was also the first
time that this delicate subject about ladies had been addressed.
Some women were so furious they vowed to never again even speak
of the magazine.
The magazine lost subscribers, but Odorono's sales increased
by a whopping 112 percent. Success really does smell sweet and
evidently this company really knew its target audience.
"Knowing" your prospective clients is truly the magic key to
unlocking sales success. If you can touch on their unique desires
and needs, you will "ring the bell" of sales success. Learn about
specific market segments by studying demographic trends or
doing your own local customer surveys and focus groups.
Who are you selling to? Do you know your target market? Do you
even have a specific target market?
If you don't, then your ads
are not making a positive impact. Learning about clients and the
"connecting links" to them is the only way to grab your share of
a particular market segment. Once you have learned about a
specific segment can you sell all of them? No, that is not possible
for anyone.
But, just like Odorono found out, if you address a real
"need" with your target customers, you will gain tons of market share
and blow your competitors away.
Seniorized Factoid: "Smell a little" and Sell a lot.
Published: November 4, 2002
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