How To Sell Paper Clips: A Closer Look at Marketing

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Sell More Paper Clips!

Think about paper clips for a moment. They are about the most basic thing you will find in your desk drawer. When you consider your marketing, try to imagine selling paper clips. You probably do not think much about what brand you are buying when you need to replenish your paper clip supply. This is likely true of your product or service, too. Unless people have a good reason to remember you, it will be a lot harder to grow your paper clip market share and to become more prosperous.

If you challenged multiple companies with a truckload of paper clips to sell, somebody would sell out sooner than the rest. One would almost surely hit their stride and empty that truckload of paper clips before the others, and there must be a reason.

A basic essential of marketing is to get people to talk about you in a positive way. When other people talk about your brand, it is far more valuable than when you talk about your brand. This is proven every day, and in many markets. Just think about the ones you remember and why you remember them.

In order to emphasize the point, I have created this short video to show you how to sell more paper clips. I hope that you will enjoy it.

Addendum: After comments from Jim Rudnick at Canuck SEO (JVRudnick) both below and on social networks, I picked up the phone to call and thank him. We chatted and he told me of a remarkable story about a man who traded a paper clip for a house. If you doubt the value of good marketing and how to build value in something as simple as a paper clip, you should see the story of Tyler Wright.Thanks for sharing, Jim!

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"Old School" Comments (hide / show)

Monhegan1

pretty darn clever!!!

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Thanks. Now I just need to land this little video in the hands of somebody who wants some help selling their products more effectively. :-)

Steve

Very cool little video! Its easy to understand and fun, and leaves you wondering... so what is the method Mark might use? (Which will hopefully get you some promising phone calls). Can I have my paperclips back now? ;)

Mark Aaron Murnahan

You can have all the paper clips ... except the little people. Those little suckers were a pain, and I may decide to cast them in another upcoming video. :-D

Yoon Ho Um

I guess one problem is how we've all been told that our prospective customers need to be exposed to our offer ~7 times before they bite... so we all just cast the same ole lure into the same ole pond each time thinking that one of these days they'll finally sink their teeth into our stuff... forgetting that there are those 5 other seats with the same type of business owner sitting there using the exact same lure... fishing from the exact same pond... everyone somehow expecting different results...

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Yes, Yoon. A better lure often makes the difference between a Pepsi and a Shasta.

Joseph Doughty

Finding new and creative ways to market a product/service (paper clips) often involves "think time" few put any effort into. "Borrowing" ideas from other industries and applying them to your own is a shortcut typically short lived. All too often your borrowed idea is borrowed again.
One way I keep my creative juices flowing is to subscribe to different creative blogs. In an effort to encourage more creative thinking. Every once in a while I get a raw idea I can apply, like the stop action video you created above.
Sometimes it only takes delivering your message in a different form than you normally do. If you have a visual product, try delivering your message in an auditory manner. Audio product, deliver visually, etc. Mix it up.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Agreed, and I know that you "get it", Joseph. I wish more people understood this basic yet misunderstood principle.

Jim Rudnick

Wow! great video, Mark....and the message given WAS the best part too!

Nice idea - great implementation and I'm sure that this arrow will hit the ol marketing target for many!!!

A big Canuck well well done, eh!

:-)

Jim

Mark Aaron Murnahan

I added an addendum to include the story of Tyler Wright trading his paper clip for a house. thank you for sharing that with me. :-)

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Thank you, Jim. It seems that for many people out there trying to sell their "paper clips" the value of good marketing has faded. When volume overrides value, it is most commonly a fast track to failure.

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