Yiddish: Basic Merchandising and Marketing

Often I am asked to help/advise on the release of a CD. DVD or book. For those like Yale Strom who is a professional at it, like Zalmen Mlotek, Zachery Berger, or Miriam Koral, etc. this is old hat.

Let's start with defining merchandising and marketing. Stop at this point and come up with your definition.

These words come from the roots merchandise and market. Thus merchandising can be thought of as everything one does in preparing the product for the market. Usually when someone comes to me they have the item already finished or nearly so. It is for the "selling" part that they want help/advice.

At this point I tell the story of what it was like dating when I was a youngster. Usually boys and girls went to dances separately. What the girls did at home preparing their hair, makeup, perfume, stockings and high heels was merchandising. When they got to the dance, the girls sat in chairs along the wall and a boy walked along and chose the girl as if he were at the library looking at a line of books. All he could see was the spine of the book--nothing about the contents. The girl that crossed her legs, smiled, and pulled her skirt a quarter of an inch above the knee was marketing. Sad to say that today girls often call boys for dates, may pay their own way, or even pay for his.

Look at the title--Yiddish: Basic Merchandising and Marketing. YBM&M 101 will come in the near future.