Mixing up your own special recipe

I have one small complaint about summertime. The beautiful weather makes me spend a ton of time outside playing and relaxing, and I have to force myself to stay at my desk to get work done. (Okay, so it’s not a huge problem.)

Anyway, yesterday we decided to make homemade ice cream. We haven’t pulled out the freezer since last summer, so it was time to start experimenting again. So I ran to the store, picked up the ingredients, and headed home. No vanilla for us. We are more “Ben & Jerry’s” kind of people. So I squished up the Oreos, and added them to a vanilla-based ice cream.

It was good, but it wasn’t great. As we tried a few spoonfuls, there was something missing. But we just couldn’t figure it out. Not enough vanilla? Too much milk? Too many Oreos?

So we ate the results, and vowed to try something new next time.

Now it’s time to relate my ice cream to marketing - you know I had to do it, right?

Marketing is a lot like making ice cream - you have to try different mix ins to find the perfect combination. And when you have a great mix, you still have to try other things to see if you can make things even better.

If you find a combination that gives you a decent income, what if you could change it just a little and find something that skyrocketed you to success? Wouldn’t you want to add that one extra ingredient?

I’ll be making one change to my ice cream recipe next time just to see if it makes a difference. Likewise, I make changes to my marketing on a regular basis to see what impact it has on my business.

What are you doing this summer?