Feb 13 2008
The Toothbrush Post
A toothbrush can be manual, electric, functional, stylish, feature-heavy, single-function, colorful, plain, and everything else.
They are also in every household in America.
How can you make your business more like a toothbrush? What message are you going to send with your product or service?
What does your toothbrush say about you?
Update: Is your product/service’s story compelling enough for other people to tell it? (Thanks to Chris from RawStylus for helping me think of it.)
"I'm an artist, and if you give me a tuba, I'll bring you something out of it." (c) John Lennon 
An interesting post. I wonder if it might be misread and interpreted as saying ‘be all things to all people’ or try to cater for a mass audience?
There is a lot of talk of ‘zag’ing when everyone else is ‘zig’ing; and carving out a niche and dominating it.
Are you saying the opposite or just raising the question?
I believe companies have two choices (not my idea, but again widely reported).
Either generate;
1) Mass Appeal
or
2) Serve a discreet Niche.
But most importantly. Don’t get stuck in the middle!
rgs,
Chris from rawstylus.wordpress.com
Chris gets it, probably better than I do.
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I am trying to make the point that, no matter what product or service that you produce, you are invariably tied to telling a story.
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Every thing has a story, whether its given or ascribed (and yes, lack of story is sometimes the story).
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It then gets passed along by the customer to their friends or ignored.
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Follow up question: Is your product/service’s story compelling enough for other people to tell it?