It’s Your Best Ad,
It’s Your Most Popular Service,
It’s FREE*

What happens when the web meets doggie day care? Funny how a simple idea can force service transformations. Most pet boarding facilities I’ve seen in the past involve caging and separating pets. Even the ‘pet motel’ concept involved only larger cages or runs and human play time. We’ve all learned a lot from the Pet Whisperer, however. How does that transform a dog boarding business?  It becomes a broadcaster! What better service for customers than to provide top quality programing involving their favorite ‘star.’ Of course now you have to think in terms of how your compound looks on camera, how your staff acts with the dogs, and all sorts of other things that improve overall service! Simple to set up, yet not necessarily something most boarding facilities are comfortable with, the concept has generated other businesses focused on providing the technology and advice needed to make the idea a … Continue reading

How Will You Survive FREE*?

Whether you think FREE* is wrong or right for your industry it will effect the structure of your business model. No matter who you are or what you do — you will either play in the FREE* marketplace or you will be absorbed by those who do. How will you survive?  Is there a third payer model in your future?  Can FREE* be limited to entry level product? Will folks willingly pay for something that reduces the cost of FREE*? Will FREE* reduce costs and give you a profit bonanza? You may be looking at FREE* with horror.  For years it was marketers’ favorite word and a salesman’s dream.  FREE* meant motivation, meant future customers, meant volume.   Now FREE* has become just another hyper-competitive market that you have to react to. Is your FREE* product going to be as good as their FREE* product? If all products are FREE* why will … Continue reading

Banana Strategy Vs. Innovator’s Dilemma

My previous post warning of the dangers of Banana Marketing reminded me of the insightful book by Clayton M. Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma.  Key insight: sustaining innovation vs disruptive innovation.  Great companies have a tendency to excel at the first and get blindsided by the second.  (His chapter on the disc drive industry is here.)  So look around. Is your new product pipeline filled with genetic clones.  Are you selling a bunch of bananas?

The Illusion Of FREE*

My, what a wonderful world if we could just give away all our products for FREE*.  The more we gave away the more we would make in this new digital economy. Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine, thinks this is the way all things digital are going (As described in this BBC article.) As costs decline anything that can be digitized can be delivered for miniscule amounts that end up being delivered FREE*. Of course there is the asterisk.  Promotions folks love the asterisk.  For most consumers Free is actually spelled FREE* in their minds eye, because they know there is always a catch. Because when a manufacturer says FREE what they are actually saying is, “there is something I want you to do.” Broadcast television is FREE* in the truest sense of the word. It comes in over the air.  Just need a cheep (well not so much lately) set and … Continue reading