Catapults are a great piece of engineering.
They can be small and simple enough for a child to use. They can be intricate and building-sized for an army to use.
They can hit a target a few feet away. They can zone in on a target hundreds of feet way.
Catapults are built to hit whatever you’re aiming for with the least amount of fuss.
Couldn’t businesses benefit from more catapult builders?
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How are you offering value to your customers? How is your business doing it differently from your competitors and peers?
Are you taking their service and adding a slight twist to it, or are you thinking of ways to separate you from the many other similar approaches that others are using?
“Customers” doesn’t necessarily need to refer to people paying for your services, either. Customers could be readers of your blog; or connections on Twitter; or watchers of your YouTube videos.
While they may not pay you hard cash for your “service” (blog, tweets, videos, etc), they are investing their time in you; time that could be spent elsewhere.
So how are you rewarding that? Are you? How about Easter Eggs as rewards (as in the virtual hidden message version)?
Some of the ideas I’ve been thinking of I’ll be putting into play very soon. For example, if you’re connected to me via my Facebook Page, you’ll receive something in the next 5-7 days that’s tied into Facebook and won’t be available elsewhere. Sure, someone may share it after it’s public, but until (or if) that happens, you’ll only get that something on Facebook.
Or Twitter. One of the ways that I want to use Twitter more is by time-stamping a tweet, where there’ll be a surprise for the first X amount of people to click through to a link and download area for a limited edition Twitter ebook, or similar.
Or this blog. I’m in the process of a “relaunch”, if you like, with a new design and a newsletter, just to kick things off. If you subscribe to the newsletter, occasionally I’ll pick a subscriber and send something really cool their way that’s tied into the topics we talk about in the newsletter.
The same goes with the SRM Group – we’ll be looking at ways to reward social responsibility, whether that’s on Facebook or any other social outpost.
These are just some simple, basic ways to use Easter Eggs in social media, to say thank you for your support. Hopefully each one will be beneficial, because it’ll be tied into the platform in question.
Now, imagine if you turned that over to your business to your most loyal customers? It could be offline or online – it depends where you have a bigger presence.
Instead of giving 10% off your latest product or a two-for-one offer, why not give something your customer really wants? After all, anyone can give a discount but only those that care give a benefit.
Every action you take to thank loyalty has a core reaction of extra loyalty. Get extra loyalty – well, the sky’s the limit then.
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Hi guys. Since you helped me immensely when I asked your views on a blog redesign (which will be unveiled soon thanks to Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer), I’d like to ask your views again, if that’s okay?
Currently I have an account at Posterous, which I use for short and punchy thoughts. They’re mainly ideas and views that I always refer to as too little for blogging and too much for Twitter. They also helped provide the content for my free marketing ebook, Why Simple Works.
Thankfully, folks seem to appreciate the short posts as much as the long form that you find here, which is really nice.
I also enjoy the freedom that Posterous gives me, inasmuch I can just throw some thoughts out there that don’t necessarily need to be formulated into a longer post and discussion with definitive answers.
Now, though, I’m curious as to whether the format would work right here? While Posterous is fantastic for such short posts, I’m also trying to integrate my outposts better and make sure I’m giving you the very best of my time and resources. So having another third-party option for you to go to makes me wonder if it’s the right approach?
So, once again, I defer to your wisdom. Which would you prefer – a separate Posterous account as it currently is, or have it all under one roof here (perhaps even in a dedicated section of its own)?
Love to hear your thoughts. Cheers!
I’ve been looking at a lot of businesses lately and watching with interest as they adapt (or don’t) to today’s business world.
Some are managing the transfer (Coca Cola, Ford, Four Seasons), while others seem to be struggling (BP, Nissan, Nestle). And these are the big boys that should be able to provide the budgets to create a successful strategy – yet as BP, Nissan and Nestle show, that’s not always the case.
So why are companies still struggling to adapt?
Having both worked at and for large corporations, the answer doesn’t always boil down to poor decision-making by the strategy team; it can have more to do with immovability and a “not quite ready yet” mindset from the decision-makers at the top.
Which is why more companies need to start learning the Art of Doing.
One thing that’s clear with any company (or at least any one that wants to be successful and stay ahead of the game) is the want for change. This could be a change in the way you do business; a change in the people that run things; a change in corporate culture; or a myriad of other compartments.
But there’s a big difference between want and making happen.
Both Ford and Nissan wanted to run a successful social media campaign for their latest products; but only Ford really made it happen. Nissan had great early success, for sure, but early success doesn’t guarantee long-term returns – something the negative reaction to the second half of Nissan’s Cube campaign shows only too well.
So how do you switch from want to do?
In late 2008, the Big Three motor companies – Ford, General Motors and Chrysler – saw their fortunes dip massively as the U.S. economy took a nosedive. As the recession bit, it looked like all three were seriously in danger of going out of business.
It was only a huge financial bail-out that saw GM and Chrysler survive. But Ford didn’t ask for a bail-out; instead, it got motion sickness.
Believing in the company’s new products and the ability to distance itself from the other two strugglers, Ford’s approach to changing things up inside and outside (the strong use of social media and consumer marketers) saw them enjoy a massive turnaround in fortune.
Make motion sickness happen for you:
Every company wants to do. Only the good ones know the art of doing, though. Where does yours fall?
photo credit: otherthings
The Berlin Wall was constructed for one simple reason; to divide East and West Germany.
Built shortly after the Second World War, it was a symbol to separate cultures between Western Europe and what was known as the Eastern Bloc.
Walls are solid objects, defined by their ability to separate two factions. They’re built to maintain the status quo.
Windows, on the other hand, allow us to see the world around us and gain wisdom from it.
Business could do with less walls, more windows.
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