Kulula Air has made their planes a little bit more fun.
Something to stare at whilst you wait to board.
Something for your children to read and point out to one another.
It’s something fun. This is the best marketing, that changes how you look at something and brings joy to your customers. (Life can get far too serious).
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Thanks to Gadling for sharing it.
These were the three words I jotted down in forming the basis of a new strategy.
Sounds super simple and relatively easy to execute.
The problem is whilst easy to understand the devils in the details.
What are we collecting? How do we collect? What do we expose? What’s the story? How do we get it to spread? What mechanisms are there?….
You can use a simple phrase to sell something. Inevitably though you need to back it up with the execution of the details – and that is exactly where people tend to fall down.
Remember the details.
You can be really really specific with your market. In fact squeeze it. Make it small enough that you can deliver insane value to this subset.
The intriguing thing? Once you get this market – because you’ve been so specific, delivered insane value, your customers help you grow the market.
By squeezing and focusing you can actually grow your original market.
My common fault of public companies is that the focus shifts to the next quarter, the next dividend, keeping stockholders happy. And so they should.
Yet…
What is the bigger picture? What are you working towards? A little less in shareholders hands this year could be magnitudes times more in five years.
It’s these big picture perspectives and long term plays that really pay off. Bill Gates was for years saying Microsofts aim was to get a PC in every household. Now that is virtually true.
If they had focused on the short term, forgetting the big picture, they would have ended up with mediocre results.
Great companies think big for the long term.
(And your Marketing should reflect that).
Talking with other entrepreneurs looking at starting businesses (anything from a cafe to a saas provider) and how they tell their story there is one thing I have noticed…
That I cannot fathom the idea of a new business that isn’t story telling and engaging.
That is sharing their story and engaging the community to help grow their business.
What is your story? What can you share? How can you build a community?
Even a cafe with a blog or a Petrol Station with live tweets? A doctors blog sharing advice or heads up on common ailments.
No this wouldn’t be relevant to everyone but it would be relevant to those that matter – your community.
If you are looking at starting a business (or launching a new product), look at how you can strategically build a community, engage and build real relationships… even 6 months before you want to start it…
Sure the sales pitch work – it converts – generates dollars. But do you show your human side?
You see having a real relationship with your customers means when things get tough they will hang in there (and vice versa). Having strong relations creates a real loyalty and following.
Think of all the hoo haa around Apples products every 18 months and yet their dedicated users hang in there, why? They have a strong relationship with the company. And who would want to leave that?
You don’t exist.
Simple as that.
If I google your name or your business what shows up?
If you don’t appear then you don’t exist.
At the very least, get a webpage with your contact details up.