How would you sell water?

http://www.ethoswater.com/ Click 'About' - Sell $1.80 bottles of water and 'give' $0.05/bottle to your own charitable foundation. They were acquired by Starbucks inside 2 years.

Water is actually the best re-hydration aid ever. Bottled water is really popular with construction workers for that reason. They like the convenience of being able to carry the bottles around with them, and the fact that they come pre-filled when you buy them (even though they re-fill them with tap water later). So you really can sell bottled water based on the fact that it's water and it's in a bottle.

Market it as dihydrogen oxide skin cleaner.

I would sell carbon-neutral, zero-environmental-footprint water. A portion of the price of every bottle offsets the manufacturing/transport costs to the environment, so people are free to enjoy the water totally-guilt free.

This is a very longwinded way to say "sell the sizzle, not the steak."

You don't sell water. You sell rebellion.

There's one part of the article that states:

"Instead of getting caught up on the idea of creating the perfect product, settle for an okay one."

As hackers and creators here, I think we'll have a hard time getting over that point. The suggestion to release early can sort of apply here, but the goal is to build something better and better - perpetual improvement, and settling into the mindset of "why make it perfect when I can make it cool" is probably not the best startup advice.

Still, the moral of the story is still a great take away. When doing any sort of sales, be it to customers or investors, sell the benefit, not the features. People don't don't want A/C, they want comfort.

I loved the marketing thought put into this article. It really makes it easier to get into a consumer's mind.

By targeting the right market....with the right strategy in place.

Anyone else concerned with zellunit posting a link from zellunit.com? Or does that happen a lot around here? Legitimate question.

In bulk. Through a pipe. Cheap. Advertise that it never touches plastic.

I wouldn't.