Chocolate-covered gummy bears.  A quick look on Google shows that this brilliant candy isn’t very popular.  I’m snacking on some right now and I have to say, whoever thought that a chocolate-covered gummy bear would taste good was probably seen as being a little crazy when coming up with the idea… but it works.  Boy oh boy, does it work.

What can we learn about a chocolate-covered gummy bear?  Well, new ideas, even if the idea doesn’t seem like a solid one at the get-go, can fetch amazing results.

First, a picture of those beautiful little devils:

Don’t they even look a little nasty?  I certainly think so.  You would think putting chocolate over a colored gummy bear would result in your tastebuds revolting from a odd mixmash of different flavors in your mouth at one time.

But what would appear to be not very appealing changes to incredibly appealing & delicious once it hits your tongue.  After a couple of bears, you’ll think, “How did no one think of this SOONER?!”

The world wide web is full of tried & true ideas.  You’ll see the same ads for different companies, the same website architecture for different companies, it all begins to look a lot alike.

Take it from the chocolate-covered gummy bear – change is good! Thinking outside the box and throwing something out there so drastically different can be a good thing!

So your direct competitor has a whitepaper about the core product offering you both are trying to sell.  Why don’t you also put out a whitepaper covering the same thing?

…

Well, that’s fine and dandy if you just want to keep on doing the same old thing over and over again.

What about creating an interactive section of your site, maybe a “Choose Your Own Adventure” sort of journey, detailing the life & decisions of someone in your customer’s shoes and having to make the decision to use your product offering or your competitor’s product and the outcome from them?

What about making yourself available on Skype and willing to listen to any questions your potential customers may have?

Or how about creating a wiki on your site, letting others edit things (per your approval) about the space your industry is in?

We can all learn from the chocolate-covered gummy bear: change is a good thing.  Do something different and who knows!