Marketing in the Simplest form

My wife Susan, daughter Kayla and I decided to take the long Labor Day weekend and visit my in law's in the Thousand Islands. My in law's live near the St. Lawrence river in Clayton, NY. My wife jumped behind the wheel of her SUV to allow me to enjoy the scenery over the next two hour drive. As we turned off the highway and started our final stretch of the drive, I noticed signs on the side of the highway for a "bake sale" five miles ahead. I didn't think too much of the sign posted on the side of the highway until we drove another mile down the highway and I saw another sign that read "Fresh bake goods sale today" As we approached town, the signs were more revealing "Fresh baked pies, cookies, pastries, fresh apple cider, and fresh made applesauce" the signs were larger, more colorful, and decorated with bright red, yellow, blue, pink, and green balloons (my daughter loves balloons). I told my wife we should stop and just "look" at the sale and get a balloon for my daughter Kayla. My wife reminded me I have a half-marathon to run next weekend and my diet could not withstand cookies, pies, etc. As our family approached the bake sale stand, an aroma filled with fresh apples and sugar intoxicated each of us. I sampled the freshly made applesauce, apple pie, and oatmeal raisin cookies (my daughter helped me of course). I decided we should bring a apple pie, fresh apple sauce, and a variety of cookies to the in-laws, after all we were helping the church with their bake sale.

My simplest form of marketing example were the signs on the side of the highway that perked my interest from the first sign I read. As we drove closer to the sale, the church volunteers did an AWESOME job with the signage using words like "fresh baked" "fresh made"
my daughter spotted the balloons and needed one badly. When our family approached the food stand I was greeted with a warm friendly welcome and a sample cup of fresh applesauce. The stand was neat and organized with variety of baked goods for sale at modest prices. Once our baked goods selection was finalized, the woman bagged our purchase, shook my hand, and thanked me for our purchase. I learned a lot from this transaction, even a simple church bake sale can teach me about marketing products and delivering exceptional customer service.

I ran an additional five miles today to work off the pieces of apple pie and chocolate chip cookies. The baked goods were worth it!

Ray Nanni