Everyone has heard of Band Aid brand. Its a household name! No one says “Do you have a adhesive bandage?” they say “Do you have a Band Aid?”. That is why it would be crazy to compete with them.
Then a CRAZY company called Curad came around and they wanted to make adhesive bandages. You know what they did? Something super simple. They put fun characters on them and marketed towards little kids. This worked and now they have captured some of the adhesive bandage market from Band Aid!
I learned this from the most amazing book I have read in a really long time called The Purple Cow. Its a short book and will take about 5 hours to read but a must read for any business owner. I have a copy and would be happy to loan it out to you. Just let me know in the comments.
How can you be different?
- If you sell Ipods – What about selling them with pre loaded songs
- If you sell candles – What about selling smells big companies like Glade could never create
- If you sell clothes – What about selling naturally faded clothes by washing them 10 times first
Check out The Dirty Shirt Blog written by a mother who reviews and promotes products. If you have a product targeted towards mothers I would definetely submit yours.
The best part of ordering something online is getting something in the mail. When you see a big package in your mailbox or on your doorstep your eyes light up and your heart skips a beat (I think I am being over dramatic BUT I get a ton of useless garbage in the mail so its exciting to see something you want).
The worst part about it is the 20 minutes that comes after it. Ripping through all that plastic packaging and getting 20 different cuts all over your hands.
“It’s designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging (on the right).”
Think about your customers experience when they open your package. Is it delightful or a pain?
I want to know which of our stores are blogging. If you have a blog – email it to me or even better post it in the comments.
I like stores that blog. It brings out the personality behind the company. The most common comment I get is “Rishi, who is going to read my blog? What is the point?”
The reason I am asking you to start a blog isn’t to gain more customers. It is to to become more passionate about your business and increase your expertise in what you do.
Here are some ideas for your first post:
Tell everyone about your favorite product
Post a picture/video of you (or a friend) using the product
Talk about something totally personal… like what you did over the weekend
Blog about the things you enjoy (I enjoy ecommerce and helping small business owners like myself)
If you make your products talk about the process
From my experience the first 10 or so posts are hard. After a while new post ideas spring up automatically.
Flying Cart uses WordPress for our blogging platform. For beginners I would recommend Tumblr. Super easy to use and it’s free. Another really easy to use and popular blog platform is Google’s Blogger (also free).
Tell me about your blog. I will read it, post a comment, and I will like you more.
Last night I went to a thai restaurant with my mom. Before I walked in, I saw a sign that said “Sorry… Heavy Door”. I can just imagine customers getting frustrated with the door and then coming in with an angry mood. This simple sign totally prevents that.
This made me think of ways that online stores can manage expectations:
If your product is going to arrive late tell your customer
If self assembly is required tell them how long it will take and how hard it is to put together
If the customer needs to buy additional items to use your product, point them in the right direction
What are other ways you can manage customer expectations?
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