|
|
|
|
|
| [ VoyUser Login optional ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2 ] |
| Subject: Part 5b- Getting Prospects to Try What You Offer | |
|
Author: Dennis S. Vogel |
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 00:01:20 09/06/05 Tue In reply to: Anonymous 's message, "Help" on 15:31:23 08/01/05 Mon T & R wrote about flanking maneuvers & guerrilla attacks being the approaches small businesses should use against big competitors. The point of these is having critical mass (more force or strength than the enemy) at the smallest meaningful point. That’s the tactic. Choosing & deploying the forces forming the critical mass is the strategy. Though it’s a bottom-up approach, T & R suggest choosing a tactic first. My interpretation is: 1- Be sure the tactic isn’t being used by a competitor in the same trade zone. In the Internet, which is a trade zone, that’s hard. Setting up a store in online services with a unique tactic isn’t as hard because the online services (AOL, EarthLink, etc.) are smaller & Internet access through them is possible as part of the over-all program. But if their subscribers mainly use online services for Internet access, the stores inside the services won’t benefit as much as if people stayed in the sphere of the service. Example- I know America Online has a lot of content – chat rooms, message boards, stores & whatever else – but I’ve never used any of them. I use the Internet & when I had a free trial with AOL, I used it for email & Internet access. So, the number of their subscribers might not mean much, if they’re not going to look at the retailers paying for presence in the online services. Giving people free trials is a good way to break the ice. (You’ve probably heard about cold-calls. It’s good to have a defroster since people don’t want to be bothered.) It doesn’t guarantee a customer base though. AOL is the huge success it is today partly because of the free trials. But many of us just want Internet access without the extra software (that slows down computers) & services AOL has to charge money for to be profitable. This is an example of a product/service overshooting customers. If it was all that’s available, we’d have 2 choices 1- Pay for the extras we don’t use; 2- Don’t use the Internet. That leaves an opening for competitors, because even AOL isn’t going to appeal to everybody. It doesn’t have to & shouldn’t try. It could market a stripped down service called AOL Internet, but that would dilute its brand. Or it could start the service with a different name so it’s premium service wouldn’t be tainted by the lower performance/quality brand. It does have Compuserve as another option & a different brand, but it’s still an online service. So, NetZero concentrates on 2 things in its flanking attack on AOL – Price & Internet access. The main focus is offering access to the same Internet for a lower price. NetZero exposes subscribers to advertising, from other businesses, so it can afford to charge less. The advertising, though, slows down the access to what users want. So, it’s strength also has a weakness. The free trial, as a tactic, put the critical mass of AOL’s system at the front. People could compare their experiences with other online services & Internet service providers. Some may argue about which is the tactic & which is the strategy. AOL distributes its software is various ways, so some may figure that’s the tactic making the strategy of free trials work. I think of it this way - If the software was distributed but people had to pay for the first month of service, would people be apt to try it? Would the distribution tactic have made the free trial strategy work? A free trial inspires people to think, “Why not? What could I possibly lose?” It doesn’t get much respect, like it’s disposable, … until people use the service & find they like it. This is also called “The Puppy Dog Close.” Unfortunately, a product/service usually can’t whine when it’s left unattended or happily greet a user, though AOL did include a greeting in the program. Products/services aren’t apt to howl if they’re abandoned either. But there are electronic pets that do almost anything their real-life counterparts do, except maybe make messes. So, if “Why not?” isn’t quickly replaced by “How did I ever get along with this?” the novelty is apt to fade. Until using a product/service becomes a habit, it can easily be left behind as the pace of life overshadows the novelty of a free product/service. Habits, many times, aren’t fully formed until they’ve existed for 21 days. Depending what a business sells, a free trial shorter than 21 days might not be worthwhile. But when the nature &/or expense of the product makes it necessary for businesses to reclaim them if they’re not purchased, 21 days is enough time for something to be broken, worn out, lost or stolen. Free trials, like other marketing approaches, should be tested on a small basis first. The issue of which is the tactic & which is the strategy can be quickly, but not completely, summed up like this- Decide what you want to do (the strategy). Decide how to do it (the tactic). But this summary is in top-down order. Tactics should dictate strategies. The communications tactic should dictate the marketing strategy. To use an approach Clayton Christensen would probably recommend - What’s the job you/your business needs to do or to have done? How will you get it done? Which tactic(s) would help you do it? AOL uses free distribution instead of selling the software, which increases awareness & might encourage people to subscribe. The free trial gets people involved with the service. Which does AOL want most -- awareness or usage? Since it seems usage is more important, so that would be the tactic. The way AOL encourages usage is usually a strategy of various distribution forms. Multi-step selling is a subject for a future post, but briefly review what AOL does. It doesn’t demand for people to buy or subscribe. It uses a non-threatening method, as if to say, “There’s no obligation. Just accept this CD-ROM, it’s free & doesn’t take up much space. If you want to use it, you can do that when you’re ready.” The next step of the process is the instructions for installation. The program can be uninstalled after that, so there’s not much risk in installing it. The software doesn’t about 99% of the installation work. Even the necessity of using a card to sign-up for the free trial has been eliminated. Then after somebody uses the service, if they call to cancel it to avoid paying for it, AOL offers a longer free trial period. If there’s a problem, people are referred to tech support. How many software programs can be used for free & people still get free tech support? The job-to-be-done now is - Figure out what’s the minimum level of customer involvement you need to start the process. If you sell cereal, of course, you won’t want people taking a 20 ounce box home, open it then bring it back. But you could put little samples in little cups or bowls. You could give people the option of adding milk & possibly fruit. To help you figure out the minimum level of customer involvement, here are some questions- What do people dislike most about buying this kind of product/service? Why do most people hesitate? What can I do to relieve that? Then these things should be added to your offer on testing basis. Dennis S. Vogel thrivingbusiness@email.com Are you waiting results from your marketing investment? Why? Your target market isn't waiting for you, they're getting benefits from somebody else. You should at least be learning while you wait. Here's free information to help you get results sooner. http://web1.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/ http://www.voy.com/31049/ [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Part 6a - Be Sure Your Business Is On Target | Dennis S. Vogel | 17:00:34 09/26/05 Mon |
| Part 6b - What Is Your Business' Target? | Dennis S. Vogel | 23:39:47 09/27/05 Tue |
| Part 6c - Expand Your Knowledge Base & You’ll Expand Your Success With Less Risk | Dennis S. Vogel | 00:05:11 10/03/05 Mon |
| Part 6 d What Does Your Business Need So It Can Keep Serving Customers? | Dennis S. Vogel | 20:45:47 10/07/05 Fri |
|
||
| Part 6 e- Creating A Good Master Mind Group | Dennis S. Vogel | 22:50:34 10/10/05 Mon |
| Part 6 f- Building A Knowledge Base for the Present & Future | Dennis S. Vogel | 22:29:52 10/12/05 Wed |
|
Forum timezone: GMT-6 VF Version: 2.94, ConfDB: Before posting please read our privacy policy. VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems. Copyright © 1998-2008 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved. |