Yesterday, as Colin from Market Street Eats and I were discussing owning the sales process (see yesterday’s post), we were putting up a new poster for Social Media FTW, the upcoming social media conference we’re putting on up here in Maine.

Colin taped up the poster on the back of the Dasani cooler that faces people as they walk in and when they’re sitting down. While doing this we were  patting each other on the back for being able to see opportunities that other people miss (again, see yesterday’s post.) After five to ten minutes of this activity, and after the poster had been in place for a few minutes I got ready to go. It was only then that I looked at the entire back of the Dasani cooler:

Yes, it appears that there was already a poster for Social Media FTW on the back of the cooler, and neither Colin nor I had seen it.

1st Lesson Learned: Put your marketing and advertising where people will see it. We understand why giant conglomerates spend all that money to get shelf space at eye level. We stood in front of the poster for over five minutes, STARING at the back of that cooler, and neither of us saw the poster at knee level.

2nd Lesson Learned: Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back.

Rich Brooks
Missing the Obvious