Picky Eaters

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I know it’s not Friday but I had a thought about eating – or maybe about NOT eating – I want to share.  Actually, as I think about it, maybe this is more about rasing your kids than it is food.  I’ll let you decide.  I do know it’s about business too!

We were pretty lucky as parents when it came to our daughters being picky eaters.  Both of them ate pretty much everything until they got older (like 8) and it wasn’t really an issue to get them to eat at all.  Watching other parents struggle to get their kids to eat anything reminded us about our luck in this area and even today while the girls have made some choices about likes, dislikes, and food in general (one is a vegan, one is an omnivore except for eggs), they have good palates and will try new things.

So how is this related to business?

In my mind, marketing today is very similar to how one deals with a picky eater.  Marketers need for us to consume and we consumers tend to be very picky.  The advice some experts give to parents is helpful in business as well.  First, don’t get fixated on getting the kid to eat.  Put little pieces of food on the plate and talk about the food itself – color, smell, etc. rather than the act of eating it.  Doesn’t that sound sort of like a “freemium” strategy or like well-executed social marketing?  Don’t get obsessed with purchase – get consumers familiar with the offering and have a conversation about it.  Obviously some kids  have aversions or sensitivities to certain smells or textures.  This is a way to find that out and adjust what we serve and it’s called good market research as a marketer.

Another thing parents can to is to teach the kid about the process.  Take them shopping and let them express opinions about what you’re buying.  Teach them to cook and let them adjust the seasoning.  Get them invested in the meal.  This is great marketing advice too – if you’re deleting negative comments and aren’t being transparent elsewhere, how invested can your potential customers be?  Sure, there are companies like Apple that put the products out and don’t seem to care what the customers think (the parent that says “eat or starve”), but actually even Apple makes changes to products after release that reflect customer feedback and market realities.

As a consumer, I’m a picky eater (not so much when it come to food though).  As a marketer, I learned from being a parent how to deal with all the other picky eaters out there.  Have you?