How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 5
How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth?: Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 5 Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that are involved in "popcorn marketing": 6. Exclusivity During the few hours that you're in the theatre, they have the market cornered by being the only ones to sell popcorn. They virtually eliminate the competition by not allowing outside food or drinks into the theatre. Being the only game it town offering a product in demand - without any real competition - is a great position to be in. However, I wouldn't do it the way they do it. I wouldn't 'force' people into buying from me by cutting off all other sources. I would instead provide a superior product, or a much better value, and get them to want to buy from me instead of going to other vendors or bringing their own food. Just think of your favorite restaurant. Why do you go there verses all the other restaurants offering the same or similar kind of food? You may even be willing to pay more at your favorite restaurant because they just make it better. It's not because they 'force' you or 'corner' you into going to them. It's because they give you what you want! Something that you can't get anywhere else. When you force people into doing something, they will hold some level of resentment towards the action/experience and the seller. When you offer them a better choice and/or a better value, they will want to buy from you. 7. The Principle of Consensus and "Herd Mentality" If everyone else around him is buying and enjoying popcorn, then Joe Consumer wants to have popcorn as well! Most people want to follow the pack. They want to 'fit in,' they don't want to be left behind; they want to "keep up." If other people and their kids are enjoying fresh, hot buttered popcorn, then heck so will Joe Consumer and his family. He also 'assumes' that if others around him are enjoying the popcorn, then it must be good, and that he will enjoy it too. How can you use this strategy in your product or service? Provide "proof" that others are already enjoying and benefiting from your product. Offer testimonials from existing customers, show specific examples and success stories of how a certain customer benefited from using your product/service. If you're selling a marketing/ moneymaking product, give specifics of how much profit a customer made by using your strategies. To read the rest of this special report, you can download it here:
http://www.trafficstrategiesonsteroids.com/popcorn.pdf (Feel free to use this article online and in your email newsletters as long as you leave it intact and do not alter it in anyway. The by-line and resource box must remain in the article all links must be active hyperlinks.) *** 3 Easy Steps To Make Money Online ***
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InfoWorld's list of disruptive technologies for 2003 included open source, self-service CRM, digital identity, and my personal favorite, Weblogs. How can a simple, Web-based journal be disruptive?
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At first glance, it doesn't appear that blogs would be at all disruptive. So why all the hype? If we look closely at the structure and intent of blogs as a communications tool, we can see some powerful ideas at work.
Blogs are a direct, one-to-many vehicle for communicating ideas. They expand an individual's ability to communicate. They are fresh and timely. The blogger, in order to maintain interest, must communicate often. Blogs enable a single person to share ideas, insights, and useful knowledge with an audience. Thanks to the Web, the audience can be a global one.
Whenever a new tool or process-such as e-mail- expands communications, the effects are far-reaching and dramatic. Even though blogs have been around for 3-4 years, they could be the next big thing.
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Two important characteristics of blogs are that they are written by a person who is knowledgeable and passionate about the topic, and that they are written in a "real voice." This is a cosmic shift from the marketing and public relations materials that are the staple of business communications.
Often, when information goes through a formal marketing or PR process, the end result is an attractive, expensive, stale, diluted document written in corporate speak. This result is generally due to the processes that evolved to accommodate the costs and standards of print technology, rather than to the incompetence or malevolence of corporate communicators. The edge, the authenticity, and the voice of the professional speaking to his fellow professionals is lost.
Blogs offer the human voice that can be loud, controversial, and even wacky. But the realness of the blog inspires trust and piques people's curiosity. A blog can create a community and a dynamic discussion.
If you are a product manager working in the chemical products industry, chances are that you would rather hear about the real experiences of other product managers in your industry than read a glossy marketing piece put out by the marcom department. Blogs fit this communications requirement perfectly.
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Weblogs are easy for people to publish, read and respond to. They can foster a community of like-minded individuals and be the catalyst for spirited discussions. Blogs are an inherently proactive form of communications. Weblog participants can subscribe to receive scheduled postings to the blog. Weblogs are inexpensive to produce and they can include a variety of multimedia content (audio, video, files, etc.) and hypertext links that add value to the discussion.
Blogs Empower The Individual
There are a host of tools on the Internet that make blogging a snap! Blogs empower a single person to capitalize on the reach and ubiquity of the Web. And they don't require the investment or recurring costs of print technologies.
Blogs Empower The Enterprise
Blogs empower the knowledgeable people within a company to share their insights, know-how, and expertise. The value to a corporation is that this knowledge can be organized, distributed, and leveraged to increase the value of different product and service offerings to the customer.
If a corporation is going to use a blog, however, it should understand that controlling the content of the discussion is difficult. If you want an authentic exchange, you have to be willing to accept the stone-throwing and critical comments that often occur in a blog. This requires extending trust and giving up some of the control a company would normally have when it publishes a press release or hosts its own online forum, for example. The upside is that people will listen to a real voice.
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* Publish a small amount of well-organized information frequently and regularly
* Include content from individuals who are knowledgeable and passionate about their work
* Make it easy for your employees to communicate directly in their own, human voice
* Respect the reader by making sure your e-newsletter provides value and that he/she wants to receive it.
E-newsletters geared towards educating a marketplace, rather than those focused on advertising or marketing, turn out to be particularly effective. E-newsletters offer an affordable, direct way for the experts in a company to communicate with an audience. This means that a product manager or an engineer can enhance the flow of information and make it more accessible to those who want it.
Think of your channel and the information needs of your partners. Your company has a wealth of information that would help them sell your products more effectively. There is much insight within your partner community that could be leveraged throughout the channel. And your technical experts and engineers have critical knowledge and understanding that everyone could utilize.
What's often missing is an easy way for the "know-how" keepers to capture their knowledge, organize it, and deliver it. The best e-newsletters are written in a real voice, not in corporate speak.
Two years ago, the book The Cluetrain Manifesto shook up the business community (see http://www.cluetrain.com/book.html). The revelation? That business is about humans. As Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Petzinger Jr. writes in the foreword: "I was dumbstruck. There in a few pages, I read a startlingly concise summary of everything I'd seen in twenty-one years as a reporter, editor, bureau chief and columnist for my newspaper. The idea that business, at bottom, is fundamentally human. That engineering remains second-rate without aesthetics. That natural, human conversation is the true language of commerce. That corporations work best when the people on the inside have the fullest contact possible with people on the outside."
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References
Blogs As Disruptive Tech: How Weblogs Are Flying Under The Radar Of The Content Management Giants, By John Hiler, CEO, Webcrimson, http://www.webcrimson.com/ourstories/blogsdisruptivetech.Htm
Making Room For Disruptive And Emergent Technologies, By Hugh Blackmer, Science Librarian, Washington & Lee University, http://home.wlu.edu/~blackmerh/sabb/nitle2.html*
Blogs As Disruptive Innovation: What A Brave New World Blogging Is Building!, by Dr. James V. McGee, Professor, The Kellogg School Of Management,
http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2002/05/15.html
Weblogs At Harvard Law, Bookmark List For ABCD Weblogs Meeting, By Dave Winer,
http://Blogs.Law.Harvard.Edu/Stories/Storyreader$199
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