Entrepreneur 101: Why the Cookie Cutter Method is a No-no

Cookie Cutter Method

For many decades, there were rules in the marketing world that some just didn’t break. Product development, testing, ad writing, and really all aspects of branding were held to a certain business model. The Cookie Cutter Method rules did work. Even in the early days of the computer age, there was pretty cut and dry product testing, focus groups, and means of getting people to buy. The saying “The future has no road map, but the past surely does” applied to marketing and branding in many ways.

In the past, there were many brands that used the Cookie Cutter Method to really step up and succeed. One truth in the web and smartphone app-ruled climate of the current time is that when you stumble upon a true Cookie Cutter Method marketing approach, it’s probably not going to work as well as you intended, especially if you’ve failed to incorporate your own ideas and concepts.

What a Cookie Cutter Method really does is emphasize a certain process. Within that process, there are charts, data, and of course, instances from the past where certain things did and did not work. While many clothing labels, soft drinks, sports teams, and even music acts benefited from the Cookie Cutter Method, there are some reasons why it can be a huge no-no. If truly using the wrong angle and agenda, you can waste thousands on storyboards and campaigns that never even end up being parked in front of anybody.

After gleaning many blogs and marketing how-to material portals, we found a kind of approach that can be a bit more rewarding than a Cookie Cutter Method. There are all sorts of products on the market these days, from dating apps and sites to personal concierges and dog hotels. Each one of these must take a somewhat unique marketing approach to thrive. We especially loved the treatment of Jaguar cars in the TV show Mad Men, personifying the car as a mistress.

In an approach that will hopefully work for marketing, the first objective is to look at inside sales vs. outside sales structure. PPC campaigns need to be multi-layered, and not just on one prominent social media platform. When dealing with lead nurturing, we found a great quote from the popular website Hubspot. It tells us, “Offer something of value first, not just a sales pitch.” Companies that skip this always lose out in the long run, and wind up confused about why they did not reach sales goals.

Cookie Cutter Method created pattern

Within the realm of emails, there are definitely some data-backed aspects that follow a more Cookie Cutter Method created pattern, and of course, the timeline between emails sent is always going to be a fairly structured. SEO guidelines, as much of a new science as it is, need to not fall under old patterns of thought as well. In the universal world of service, offerings of bronze, silver, and gold packages will yield you some customers, but we have found that businesses truly want to invest in solutions with evolved professionals. We challenge you to find what it takes to evolve, and not just “dole out snacks” of Cookie Cutter Method caliber. For once you accomplish this task, your business and the way you do business are going to reach epic proportions during 2015.

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