Innovating in a Mature Industry

Posted on 28. Sep, 2011 by in Blog, HP, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing



Innovating in a Mature Industry

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

This Local Color video, featuring creative small businesses around the globe, is part of a marketing series sponsored by HP

Sometimes people look at an industry and wonder if there are any innovations left. After all, pretty much everything that can be done in the pizza business has been done, right?

Cheeseboard Pizza Collective in Berkeley California is a great example of how to innovate in a seemingly over innovated industry.

Cheeseboard makes one “veggie pizza of the day” and pairs it with live music. That’s it, and people line up for blocks to come and get it. No advertising, no coupons, no happy hour.

And if that weren’t innovative enough, the business is also run as a collective, meaning all employees are owners, all receive the same hourly wage and they rotate jobs so that everyone pretty much does everything.

If you’re in town tonight stop by for a Fresh zucchini, Onions, French feta, Mozzarella, Basil pesto “PINE NUTS” pizza.

Letting Your Customer Define What You Sell

Posted on 14. Sep, 2011 by in Blog, HP, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing



Letting Your Customer Define What You Sell

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

This Local Color video, featuring creative small businesses around the globe, is part of a marketing series sponsored by HP

Great companies and great products are often the result of someone growing frustrated with not being able to find the ideal something they want. The search for that something often leads them to conclude they need to fill the gap and create the product.

Kigo footwear, an Atlanta based company that produces minimalist shoes, is one of those companies. When the co-founders of kigo bemoaned the fact that there were no lightweight, stylish shoes you could fold up and tuck away in your purse or pack to slip on in place of your ski boots or hiking boots, they decided to dream up the perfect shoe.


A glimpse into the kigo story as told by co-founder and head of marketing Rachelle Kuramoto.

They went to work on fabrics and design and packaging and introduced their first shoes in 2009 and immediately discovered the market wanted what they were putting out.

They also heard from their initial customers that they had created something much more than a shoe to slip on to and from your activity. Around the same time their first shoes hit the market, barefoot and natural style running in very minimalistic shoes was just starting to take off as a legitimate alternative to the padded, heel heavy running shoes made popular over the last few decades.

Although kigo didn’t intend to, they had created a minimalistic running shoe and their shoes began appearing in reviews in publications aimed at the running community. They quickly took the advice and suggestions of those first customers and created a line made specifically with the minimalistic runner in mind – beefing up the sole and giving the shoe more flex and stretch.

Their success is based partly on listening intently to their customers and pouring a great deal of energy into creating the elements of a brand that smartly support what their customers value most.

In addition to fun, functional footwear, kigo products are completely recyclable – shoes, box, package and all.

Letting Your Customer Define What You Sell

Posted on 14. Sep, 2011 by in Blog, HP, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing



Letting Your Customer Define What You Sell

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

This Local Color video, featuring creative small businesses around the globe, is part of a marketing series sponsored by HP

Great companies and great products are often the result of someone growing frustrated with not being able to find the ideal something they want. The search for that something often leads them to conclude they need to fill the gap and create the product.

Kigo footwear, an Atlanta based company that produces minimalist shoes, is one of those companies. When the co-founders of kigo bemoaned the fact that there were no lightweight, stylish shoes you could fold up and tuck away in your purse or pack to slip on in place of your ski boots or hiking boots, they decided to dream up the perfect shoe.


A glimpse into the kigo story as told by co-founder and head of marketing Rachelle Kuramoto.

They went to work on fabrics and design and packaging and introduced their first shoes in 2009 and immediately discovered the market wanted what they were putting out.

They also heard from their initial customers that they had created something much more than a shoe to slip on to and from your activity. Around the same time their first shoes hit the market, barefoot and natural style running in very minimalistic shoes was just starting to take off as a legitimate alternative to the padded, heel heavy running shoes made popular over the last few decades.

Although kigo didn’t intend to, they had created a minimalistic running shoe and their shoes began appearing in reviews in publications aimed at the running community. They quickly took the advice and suggestions of those first customers and created a line made specifically with the minimalistic runner in mind – beefing up the sole and giving the shoe more flex and stretch.

Their success is based partly on listening intently to their customers and pouring a great deal of energy into creating the elements of a brand that smartly support what their customers value most.

In addition to fun, functional footwear, kigo products are completely recyclable – shoes, box, package and all.

Natural Way to Run a Business

Posted on 24. Aug, 2011 by in Blog, HP, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing



Natural Way to Run a Business

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

This Local Color video, featuring creative small businesses around the globe, is part of a marketing series sponsored by HP

The running shoe industry and the entire world of running really has been dominated by several large shoe companies. These companies and the dogma they professed about the need for shoes that give stability, cushion and control has been challenged of late by a growing movement called the natural running movement.

The realization that there is another, better ways perhaps, to do the accepted is fertile ground for businesses that embrace and seize the opportunity, no matter what the industry.

For this episode of Local Color we meet Patton Gleason, founder of the Natural Running Store and a leading voice in the Natural Running Movement and proponent of something he calls Flow Running.

The Natural Running Store sells what are being called minimalist running shoes and teaches a running form that is more in tune with the natural mechanics of the body.

Gleason’s runs an online store, but his business and service philosophy is more in line with the friendly neighborhood place you go to get good service and great advice along with your purchase.

Gleason routinely sends video messages to customers, includes hand written notes in their shoe boxes and teams with other “like minded” companies to distribute samples of their products in every shipment.

Marry these personal touches with his passion to educate and you’ve got the recipe for the kind of word of mouth that can build a thriving business and take on entrenched industry icons.

The Natural Running Store’s approach is a perfect example of the way to merge high tech with high touch.

Oddly Correct Way of Doing Business – Local Color Video

Posted on 10. Aug, 2011 by in Blog, HP, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing



Oddly Correct Way of Doing Business – Local Color Video

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

This Local Color video, featuring creative small businesses around the globe, is part of a marketing series sponsored by HP

Leaving the crush of the 9 to 5 corporate world to take up a craft you’re passionate about is something countless individuals yearn to do. Gregory Kolsto of Oddly Correct Coffee Roasters in Kansas City realized that if couldn’t work for a company he could believe in 100% he would have to create one.


Photography and Filming by Brandon Hill Photos

Oddly Correct hand prints its coffee bag art and signage giving the package a unique look that attracts small gift stores and boutique that appreciate the blurred line between art and coffee.

On Friday’s the staff takes to the neighborhood on bikes to deliver freshly roasted coffee beans to area residents.