bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

This is the final post for 2011.

Posts have been a bit sporadic of recent, due to an ever increasing timetable, things are back in balance now though.  So we should scream into 2012.

Few things to celebrate with Young & Shand, 290 proposals written in the last year, 250% revenue growth, 1 prototype product, 2 in development.  Couldn’t be more stoked with progress!

How’s your year been?

Time to take some time off, reflect, read some good books, figure a plan of attack for the new year.  Wherever you are – enjoy the festive season.

Look forward to tackling 2012.

Two years ago running a user generated initiative was hard work.  A lot of work for little entries.

Now it’s 10 times easier, getting feedback, pictures, participation.

People feel more confident creating & sharing their personal content.

It’s now a habit, it’s that easy.

If you’ve given it a go in the past but didn’t work, time to rethink.

People speak of Steve Jobs & his reality distortion field.

If you’re in the business of change, it is your job to make it easy.

Break it up, provide the path, make it super easy for people to take the first step & get started.

Ultimately they may go off the path but it’s easy to readjust and get them back on it.

If you can do that, synthesise big ideas, make it easy to understand, get started & take part. You’ll be massively effective.

Paying for the attention of the exact same people over and over.

It’s a habit that marketers have fallen into.  Yes we should use the opportunities available to get our message out there.

But do we really need to keep paying exorbitant sums of money to talk to the same exact people? Probably not.

Simply ask for permission.  Permission to talk to them again.

It doesn’t necessarily mean we stop doing the former, it’s just we are missing out on massive value from the latter, the exact people that want to hear from us, that care about us.

It’s about spreading consumption.

• 2 for 1.
• Happy Hour.
• Early bird.

All mechanisms to flatten the consumption curve, that is pull it up where it lacks.

They’re not only for restaurants & parking either.  You could look at:

• Cheaper rate for longer timeframes.
• Discount for cash upfront.
• Get 2 for 1 if you bring someone who hasn’t been before.
• Cashback if you refer the next customer.

What could you do to change that?