Roadside stands don’t sell food. You probably don’t sell what you think you do, either.
You’ve seen them. The produce stands sell seasonal fresh produce out on a rural stretch of big highways.
Permanent or “pop-up,” they all tend to have signs lining the road for several hundred yards in either direction.
VINE RIPE TOMATOES
GA PEACHES
WATERMELONS
SWEET CORN
But I have yet to see one in 4 decades of travel, and growing up selling products that had a sign for
FOOD
Because unless you’re out in the wilderness selling to lost hikers, no one is stopping just for food.
Driving down that highway, they are thinking about what they are trying to do and where they are going.
They’re probably not that hungry.
And a sign for FOOD doesn’t offer anything they want.
What it likely does is open up more questions in their mind, if they pay it any attention at all…
Food… what kind of food?
Are they cooking stuff?
I wonder what they’re cooking…
I don’t see a food truck…
Is it produced?
What’s in season?
And before this series of questions is even finished throwing them on another train of thought, they have already passed the opportunity.
They definitely aren’t turning around.
And they are not going to make a special trip – they already have places for food.
But, when those signs say something specific, like
TOMATOES
And maybe add a little differentiation, like
HEIRLOOM
TOMATOES
Well now, that gets people asking different questions…
“Oh wow, I’ve heard those taste amazing…”
“I remember grandma’s tomatoes…”
“I wonder how much they are…”
“Oh look! They’re in those cute baskets…”
“I bet they’re cheaper than that market downtown…”
“I wonder when they’ll be open…”
They’re considering stopping. Maybe even turning around. Or planning to stop on the way back… just to check it out, even if they have no desire for watermelons or sweet corn.
The point is, people don’t stop at roadside stands for “food.” They can get food anywhere.
People stop because of the hope of the experience of biting into something that is going to literally tickle their tastebuds.
Something that will impress their friends at the next get-together.
And maybe something that will take them back to their youth.
Definitely, something that is hard to find, and that won’t be around for long.
And all those ideas, those hopes, were planted on the road with a few words that spoke specifically to what people were buying, not generically to what was being sold.
So when you make your offer, is it for some generic service that they assume they don’t need or don’t have the time to figure out?
Or does it instantly connect to something they want?
A sensation of pleasure and enjoyment or relief from pain and frustration.
Fulfillment of a desire.
Doesn’t matter if you’re selling products, services, or cultural change.
That’s what good marketing does.
You probably don’t sell what you think you do…
