Friday marks an interesting day in the world of Christian products. That is the day the film House releases nationwide in theaters. The simple release of a film is not what is worth noting though. House, which is based on the novel of the same name by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, has been labeled the first ever Christian horror film.
Adding to the buzz surrounding this film is its inked MPAA rating of R. Despite the filmmakers’ multiple appeals to the MPAA, the association remained firm on its rating. So now we have a Christian horror film with an R-rating. One sentence with several contradictory terms.
Or so it seems. When I sat down to talk with Dekker the other week about the film, I didn’t find a man trying to sway the MPAA to change, but rather a man calling the body to action. “Here’s a perfect watershed moment,” Dekker said. “Just because the world gave this film an R-rating, are we going to not sell it in our stores? Are we going to refuse to see it in the theaters just because the world slapped the letter ‘R’ on it despite it being the entire gospel message including salvation?”
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Late yesterday afternoon Market Watch posted an article on the success to date of the film Fireproof. The article begins by rattling off a number of statistics that, in general, show Fireproof as a hit. Adding to its theatrical accomplishments, The Love Dare, the book featured in the film, has held steady for two weeks in the #1 spot on the New York Times best seller list (paperback – advice).
Having seen the film multiple times in a variety of states prior to its theatrical release, I have yet to actually purchase a ticket and view it in a real theater with a real audience, but through the grapevine, I’ve heard numerous stories of friends and co-workers being tremendously affected by the movie. So much so that some have told me they have gone straight from the theater to the bookstore to purchase multiple copies of The Love Dare. And while I was at Mardel this past weekend, a reporter from the Colorado Springs Gazette called to speak with the manager about the book’s strong sales and how to best position an article about it.
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Mike Hockett is CBA’s Training & Development manager. He has more than 28 years of experience in the CBA industry, and he manages the CBA Consulting Program. For more information about how you can apply the principles Mike mentions below, send him an email.
You know how sometimes you buy a business book, read it and find it to be so boring that you fall a sleep every time you see its cover. Well, that’s the way it was when I first read The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Chris actually does a great job of explaining the Long Tail and illustrating some facts to back it up. For those of you who are Long Tail addicts and really understand everything that Chris says in his book you may find what I have to say elementary. However, I do think it follows much of Chris’s application in his more recent book, Long Tail, the Revised and Updated Edition: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. For those of you who sell books and especially Christian books, I think you will find what I have to say interesting and beneficial.
Here is my short take away and application of Chris’s book. There are many more products available over the Internet than are available in a retail store setting. This availability of additional product is called the Long Tail. If a retailer can identify this product based on customer demand and have it in-stock when the customer wants it, you have a sale – a sale that you would not have unless you carried the product in-stock. When you do not have this product in stock, guess where your customer goes to buy it? You’re right the Internet. It doesn’t take this old retailer long to figure out that Long Tail product is worth finding and selling. After all it is usually product that you can make full margin on and you don’t have to carry large quantities. I am selling less of more.
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If you haven’t already, check out Walmart’s latest marketing campaign. There’s a commercial Walmart ran last night though during the closing ceremonies at the Olympics that I can’t quite find on the web yet, but the premise of the commercial went something like this… buying a take-out pizza costs $14 on average. Walmart’s take-and-bake pizzas are $8. If your family eats pizza once a week every year, that’s an annual cost savings of more than $300. At least according to Walmart’s statistics.
Honestly, I think it’s a great commercial. It’s practical, simple, and speaks to the core of what this country is fretting over today. While CBA might not have the marketing power behind us like Walmart does, we’re doing the exact same thing for our members – finding ways for them to save money every day.
I just want to hit on two of the major ways members can decrease some of their operating costs almost immediately.
Continue reading ""Save Money, Live Better" Not Just For Walmart Shoppers" »
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