Business

For Some Safe Is A Selling Point

Garth Beyer

It shouldn’t be surprising there are safe products out there (safe, successful ones, mind you ).

Think of a clothing line that doesn’t want to be edgy, trendsetting or risky. Think of a business that has no true uniqueness about them. Consider a service that does nothing more than their competition does. Again, they are still successful. Think Craftsmen or Ford or Lands’ End. Safe is there selling point or so I’ve lead you to think.

The reality of it is you don’t need to take huge marketing risks or product design risks if what you’re selling isn’t the product. Perhaps you’re not really selling anything special. Perhaps you’re simply standing up for something.

Ford stands up for being tough.

TOMS stands up for giving.

Seth Godin stands up for… well, standing up.

If you don’t want to stand out, by all means, stand up for something. Playing things safe for nothing won’t lead you to success, but playing things safe for something larger than yourself will.

 

Stay Positive & What Do You Stand For?

The Invaluable Variable Of Any Great Business

Garth Beyer

What are you teaching?

There is not a single successful business that doesn’t teach something of some sort to their customers or clients, or at least gives the opportunity to learn in some shape or form.

Netflix. Documentaries.

Starbucks. Small talk.

Pursuitist. How-tos.

Barnes & Noble. Self-explanatory.

Inkhouse. PR.

 

So, I ask again. What are you teaching?

 

Stay Positive & Businesses Stop Teaching When They Stop Learning

In For Free

Garth Beyer

There are two situations for any club, event, outing, etc,.

1) You pay to get in and then you pay for things inside.

2) You don’t pay to get in and then you pay for things inside.

In both circumstances, you pay for things inside, but there is a large mental processing gap when it comes to how much you’re willing to spend inside.

See, the situations you pay to get in, you’re lead to believe everything inside will be cheaper. It’s not. Then you begin to rationalize your purchases, typically beginning with, “Well, it was already $15 to get in…”

On top of that, you may rebut with an example of an all-inclusive package. Supposedly, you pay for the all-inclusive package and everything “inside” is free. Thing is, it’s never free. When you’re inside, you then have to pay for an upgrade or to get the special drink that’s not included in the package or to get into VIP.

Taking a look at the other side

Everyone loves free. In fact, I’d argue they love getting into something free more than having everything inside be free. When you make an exchange with money, the value of the item (perceptional value) increases. That is, people who, say, buy a brat at a brat fest think the brat tastes better than someone who pays to get into the event and then gets the brat for free.

What does this mean for you and me?

It means to let your customers, clients, friends, strangers into your business for free and then charge them for what’s valuable inside. Consider all the business models that incorporate the situation where customers must pay to get in, then everything inside is free. Newspaper subscriptions. Water parks. Strip clubs. Movies.

Having clientele pay for what’s inside and not pay to get inside is not a flawless model (think Netflix), but it’s one worth considering when developing your business plan. One worth arguing about. Perhaps, one worth rebutting (or supporting) in the comments section below.

 

Stay Positive & Never Underestimate The Power Of In For Free

The More Different You Get

Garth Beyer

the scarier it gets.

Weekly I sit down and chat with people carrying around bright, innovative minds. They pitch ideas and ask for my feedback. The majority of ideas are similar to ones already in existence. The trouble seems to be in differentiation or finding the hole, the angle, the niche of their idea.

The further away they get in our brainstorming session from what they already know exists (and works! [and is safe!]), the more scared they get and the quicker they dismiss the idea as “not as good of an idea as I thought it was.”

Niches are the creativist’s worst trap. Asking someone how they will differentiate their business is really asking them how much uncertainty and fear they can dance with.

Sometimes I wonder if what you decide to do with your business is not what differentiates you from others, but that you just do something with your business… that is what will differentiate you from others.

 

Stay Positive & Business Isn’t Like Sports, Oddballs Get Picked First

What Standard Are You Setting

Garth Beyer

Is it on Netflix?

Is it in the AP style guide?

Are they on Spotify?

Netflix isn’t as much about convenience as we think it is. Sure, convenience is a fundamental factor of its success, but more importantly, a movie has to go through test after test to get on Netflix. They take into account how well it did in the box office, how well it did in Redbox, how well people are reviewing the movie on IMDB.

The Associated Press has set the standard for stylized writing. Sure, basic grammar and mechanics are fundamental parts of the style guide’s success, but more importantly every word, phrase and symbol gets analyzed nationwide, through different dialects and writing cultures.

Spotify isn’t just about quantity or having the chance to be heard by someone who normally wouldn’t find you. Having your tracks on Spotify gives you credibility and reassures the listener that you’ve got to have at least something going for yourself or you wouldn’t be on Spotify.

You have to ask yourself what standard you’re setting when marketing your product or a business. What is it that you do beyond fulfilling a need? What is your silent guarantee? What standard are you setting for everything that goes through you?

 

Stay Positive & There Are No High Or Low Standards, Only There Are Standards Or There Arne’t

Who Are Your Sponsors/Investors/Donators

Garth Beyer

My SO and I listen to the same radio station. She mentioned to me the radio station is asking for $2,000 donations. The two grand donation can be given at once or over a period of a year. She thought it was a lot to ask of people to donate. Why not ask for smaller donations so more people will be willing to pitch in, she suggested.

She’s right. They would get more donations if they requested a smaller donation and reached out to more people. But why? Why spend more money on advertising to the mass who may or may not donate a little bit to the radio station when the radio station can meet their yearly goal with a handful of large donations. It’s truly niche marketing.

If Ferrari really wanted to (heck do I wish they would), they could cut the price of their cars to a quarter of what they are now, sell a ton and still make loads of profit. Why, though, when they can produce a few hundred cars and sell them at high costs.*

Even certain news organizations could put ads on their sites, put up paywalls and charge submission fees for freelance content, but why when their journalism is so thorough and desired that they can meet their expenses just by asking for donations.

I think there are grand benefits in figuring out how much it is you want to make from an idea, invention or business and how exactly you want to make that much. You can follow the steps of selling a product or service and charge what everyone else is charging in hopes of gaining the attention of the mass public. Or (or!) you can find the condensed group of people who will pay top dollar for what you offer.

Might be worth mentioning there is a profit differentiation between the two methods. I think you can figure that out for yourself, though.

 

Stay Positive & Remember, The Less There Are, The More You Can Focus On Each Individual

*Quality of course matters. Yamaha wouldn’t be able to sell their mopeds for half a million dollars. The quality just isn’t worth that. But, there are products and services I see regularly  I would pay more to have than what they are charging. Macs, Mizuno shoes, Biofreeze… Despite this post encouraging increased pricing, I can’t contest there’s beauty (and profit) with the effect of selling something for less than it’s really worth. (Something I’m sure we’re all thankful for.) Discretionary note: never price lower to the point people assume cheapness.

Before You Get Clientele

Garth Beyer

You obviously need to know what service you’re providing, what you can offer them and what you will charge them in return.

More importantly, though, you need to know what more you’re going to provide than what they are paying for. How will you manage to go the extra mile with each service you deliver?

It’s a hell of a lot easier to build the extra-mile into your strategy than to figure it out along the way.

 

Stay Positive & Think Of The Extra Mile As What Differentiates Yourself