As you may know we are a small, but scrappy band, of merry dog toy makers here at Kyjen. We couldn’t match the traditional advertising budgets of the Big Dogs if we wanted to. But here’s the deal: That’s fine with us. We’d rather devote our manpower and promotional budget to sending YOU toys to test and evaluate. So instead of a consumer advertising budget we have a You budget! We count on you to help spread the word and so far you haven’t let us down!

I wish we could take credit for the insight that you are the best way for us to get the word out, but even THAT was your idea! It all started with the Hide-A-Squirrel, a product whose origin predates “social” media by years. But slowly and surely, you spread the word, posted videos, and gave us rave reviews on Amazon and to your friends. Being an older product, we spent every effort promoting the Hide-A-Squirrel, but it’s sales grew and grew with the rise of the internet. That’s when we learned the Power of You!

Our list of devoted Boycott Boring followers continues go grow. Our last toy request survey was filled out almost 2000 times. Believe me, this is a great problem to have. But we’re still a small team, and no one is exclusively devoted to “Social Media Strategy” (or whatever the Big Dogs are calling it these days). There is no intermediary managing our connection — you get to interact directly with us. Your feedback goes straight to the people who make decisions. But our Boycott Boring email list has grown, and we need to improve the way we work with you.

We want everyone to get a chance at testing and evaluating our toys. To prove it, we are sending out well over 100 new toys to test this week. If you haven’t received an email from us, we’re sorry you didn’t make the cut this time — but there are plenty more opportunities coming. I’ve included a photo of Morgan with all the packages loaded for delivery.

Bear with us as we experiment and develop the Boycott Boring site to handle more devoted dog toy testers. We need to change the way we run the site to get You the attention and toys you deserve.

One thing that will speed up the process is having you sign up to be a member of Boycott Boring with a membership area that includes your mailing address and phone number. Contacting each of you individually for every toy testing opportunity – then waiting for a reply to get your mailing address – is a huge, time-consuming task. That’s time that could be better spent interacting with you, AFTER you’ve received the toys.

We know online visitors are reluctant to hand over such private information. But we are building this relationship on trust. We ABSOLUTELY NEVER give or sell your information! We will not allow other Boycott Boring members to see it either (other than your name). There is absolutely NO COST to you. This is not one of the corny, as-seen-on-TV schemes or mail order scams. This is the real deal – a product testing group whose opinions matter. There will NEVER be a charge or add-on fee for membership.

We want to make sure those who have been on the list the longest, participated the most, get a better chance at testing new toys. We are also going to keep track of who has participated in polls, testing, feedback (and other activities) as we grow. These features won’t be integrated into the site right away, but we’re working on it. Boycott Boring is a priority for us, but we still have to design dog toys!

We are going to start out slow, keep it simple, and as always, we depend on YOUR feedback – even for how we run Boycott Boring!

We’ll be following up with more dog toy testing surveys very soon. There’s going to be a lot of product launches in the 2011 and 2012. Stay tuned.

Dale Taylor

Vice President of Product Development at The Kyjen Company

For product feedback, email me directly at vp-of-proddev@kyjen.com

For general questions about our Boycott Boring email list and dog toy testers program, send an email to emailtreats@boycottboring.com

We hoped our new product launches would be spread out over the entire year, but like a puppy on the verge of being potty trained, our track record for 2011 is a little spotty. The good news for you is, a year’s worth of product launches are going to happen in the last quarter of 2011. That means basketfuls of new toys to give away to our toy testers on this list. So stick around, you’ll have plenty of chances to become a dog toy tester.

Your feedback, good and bad, is absolutely vital to us as a company here at Kyjen. Just yesterday (literally), feedback from our testers has resulted in a small but significant change to one of products – for the better, of course. I can’t reveal which product yet, but I’d like to thank you all for your collective feedback just the same.

So let’s get to the FREE dog toys! This time we’re looking for two types of dogs: 1) Dogs that like to howl and “speak” for fun and 2) Dogs that like to kill squeakers with their sharp teeth. Bonus points for owners who know how to a use a video camera!

Please fill out this brief survey on our Boycott Boring site, and we’ll be selecting testers early next week. Click here to fill out the survey.

If you don’t get selected, we’ll offer you one of the biggest discount coupons we’ve ever sent out to make up for our absence over the last months. So stayed until next week!

Dale Taylor
Vice President of Product Development at The Kyjen Company