Creative Marketing

A Guarantee As Good As Gold

Clients often ask about what kind of guarantee they should offer...

Well, actually, they start off by asking if they even should offer a guarantee, and we eventually get around to what a good guarantee would look like for them.

Paul at Brand Autopsy offers up a kick-ass classic guarantee that you just gotta love.

Of course, done well, NO GUARANTEE can be appealing, Drew Rozell shows in his own ballsy way.

Brake early, brake often

Waaay behind on my blog reading this week...

Howard Mann shares a great idea for businesses pushing to quickly succeed in the market place. His "all gas... no brakes" idea reminds me of something I've had to tell a number of clients: PLAN FOR SUCCESS. Something that's much easier to do when you're "braking" along the way and not just tumbling forward haphazardly.

Well, sit my big butt down and feed me dinner!

While reading this week's issue of NewsWeek, I stumbled across 2 excellent examples of "edgecrafting" (see Seth Godin's book FREE PRIZE INSIDE!), that is: taking an idea/product to the edge so that you create something totally new.

First, and sadly, is The Big John. Yep, that's right, extra large toilet seats for those with, well, big butts. It's a terrific example of seeing something common, seeing a growing market (no pun intended) in America's obesity problem.

Second -- and oddly connected to the first item -- is the development of 2 new franchises where harried folk can go and make dinners.... that they take home and put in the freezer (well, what they don't eat right away.)

Looked at closely, each of these merely takes a common idea (a toilet seat, takeout food) and pushes it to the edge thereby creating something completely new.

How can you push your business to the edge?

Learn To Not Suck

Lots of great ideas pouring forth from the recent Word of Mouth Marketing summit. I've spent most of the past day reading various blogs with summaries from various speakers, but my favorite has to be the one at Church of the Customer that shares Guy Kawasaki's comment on companies that suck.

Enjoy.

A "Thank You" Would Be Nice

Some time ago, I subscribed to a local kayaking outfitter's email list after finding their website during an internet search.

A few days later, I received an email from them, describing upcoming kayaking trips, sales, etc. There were a number of appealing offers and I thought I might actually visit  their store... but there was absolutely no contact information in their email.

No website link. No address. No phone number. Nothing. Nada. And, since their email was sent via AOL (and I had failed to bookmark their website -- d'ohhh!), I'd have to spend time on a websearch to find them again.

I thought it a  little odd, so I sent them a quick email just to say, "Hey, I'd like to visit, but your email was missing a few things..."

How did they reply?

They didn't. Not directly, that is. Oh, they did re-send the email the next day, this time with all their contact information, store address, and website links.

But I never received a personal reply. No "Thank you." No "We appreciate your interest, here's how to find us..." N0 "Boy, that could have cost us a lot of money, here's a coupon for a free kayak."

Okay, a free kayak may be expecting too much. A  "thank you", however, costs nothing. It's a simple way of going one step beyond the average business. (And ignoring simple common courtesy when it comes to interacting with customers does seem to be the running trend with businesses big and small -- see Community Guy Jake McKee's story about ebay spoofing.)

So, use your head, and use your manners.

Show a little basic appreciation to your customers when they choose your business and especially when they go out of their way to help you make your business better.

Thanks!