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“Tiffany’s sells the box, not the jewelry.
Are you selling the Tiffany’s box (scarce), or the Tiffany’s jewelry (common)?

You have to decide if you want to sell the story and emotions, or the features and logic.”
– Seth Godin

The point here is this. Whatever widgets you make… there are a thousand other businesses that can duplicate them.
That can make them a little better.
Or less good. But cheaper.

Competing on features is a hamster wheel. You’ll forever be running from your shadow. Trying to outdo leapfrog the competition that just leapfrogged you.

Not that you shouldn’t have good features. Tiffany jewelry is top-notch, of course.

But once you have the right feature set to meet your customers’ needs… focus on the story. Better yet - determine what the story should be BEFORE YOU BUILD THE PRODUCT.

As we make our way through these uncharted recession waters, the temptation will be to compete on price. To provide more service, work more hours, give more and more features.

Don’t.

Go back to the essence of why you are serving this particular customer.

How to do this:

(more…)

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• February 6, 2009 -- Finding your one thing. (0)
• November 22, 2008 -- #1 Secret to Word-of-Mouth: make me popular. (3)
• October 14, 2008 -- Frame it. (word-of-mouth made easy.) (1)
• October 2, 2008 -- How simplicity drives word-of-mouth. (0)
• September 24, 2008 -- “We Heart Pig Lipstick”. Why gimmicks don’t drive word-of-mouth. (1)
• September 22, 2008 -- Find your Ness. 3 ways to word-of-mouth. (0)
• September 16, 2008 -- More awesomeness = More word-of-mouth-iness. (3)

What’s your one thing?

Seth Godin is currently at the TED conference. He gave an impromptu interview about the ability for you to lead your own tribe. If you so choose.

It’s all about finding your one thing.

Being passionate about it.

Taking the lead on it.

And shutting out all else.

Now here’s the key: You may think your niche is too small. That’s conventional wisdom.
And conventional wisdom is most often, wrong. It just takes most of us forever to catch up to that reality.

Pick a super-focused niche. And then overwhelm it.

What niche are you passionate about, but haven’t yet thought to start a movement in?

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an online marketer and word of mouth maven. In his spare time, he explores how to generate passive income via blogging and affiliate marketing.

Want to learn magnetic copywriting skills?
Complimentary 250-page eBook on Copywriting 101.


Escape the Rat Race, and Find your Buried Cheese.

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• May 6, 2009 -- Why you need to stop chasing crowds. & start leading tribes. (2)
• March 28, 2009 -- How to sell boxes like Tiffany (2)
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• September 8, 2008 -- What’s your Cracker Jack Free Prize Inside? (6)
• August 17, 2009 -- Usain Bolt 9.58 World Record. What are you best in the world at? (6)
• February 14, 2009 -- Citizen journalism, and “The Blue Sweater” (0)
• November 22, 2008 -- #1 Secret to Word-of-Mouth: make me popular. (3)
• November 15, 2008 -- Wassup! The Budweiser Guys: 8 Years Later. (1)
• October 14, 2008 -- Frame it. (word-of-mouth made easy.) (1)

Simple is Better.

Microsoft redesigns the iPod package…

Simplicity rules.

Simple is simple to talk about. (That’s word-of-mouth.)

Simple is simple to explain. (That’s word-of-mouth, too.)

Simple is simple to use.

Simple is best at resolving complex problems.

Simple exudes confidence.

Simple speaks volumes.

And simple is really, really, hard to do.

Doing one thing remarkably

is simply more remarkable than

doing something complicated

      ( with all its caveats…)
      (and asterisks…)
      (and instruction manuals…)

Don’t we all just want something that works?
Make me look smart.
Design a simple solution to a complex problem.
Make it so simple, I can look good doing it.
Because I’m selfish. I’m self-centered. And if it makes me look good, telling people about it (so they can see how good I look) will make me look even better.

There. I said it.

What word-of-mouth for a complicated product looks like:

“Man - it does everything! What do you want? It has everything you want. Feature X? Got that. Feature Y? Got that. Feature Z? Got that. It even has features 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, & 10! It does it all.

What does the listener take away from this? Nothing. Doing everything may as well be doing nothing. It’s not memorable. Besides, everyone claims to do everything. Very few actually do.

What word-of-mouth for a simple product looks like:

“Dude - if you want to get XYZ result, this is exactly what you need. I used it for my XYZ needs, and it was eeeeasy. I use it for XYZ all the time.”

Result? If the listener does indeed need XYZ result, they’re sold.
(On the flip side, you won’t get customers not interested in XYZ. But that’s okay. Don’t attract customers who will end up disappointed.)

More is not better.

More is typically worse. Think law of diminishing returns. Think Google search engine versus Yahoo search engine.

Don’t try to please everyone. Keep it simple. Do that one thing… remarkably.

And word-of-mouth will flow. (Eventually.)

What’s your favorite simple product?

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an online marketer and word of mouth maven. In his spare time, he explores how to generate passive income via blogging and affiliate marketing. Escape the Rat Race, and Find your Buried Cheese.

Follow me on Twitter…

Free Prize Inside:

Microsoft’s zunePhone ad (parody):

Simple is simply… better.

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You wouldn’t go to your mechanic and tell him what to fix. Without letting him diagnose the problem, and propose the solution.

You wouldn’t do that with your doctor either.

Hopefully.

But we let our customers tell us what features they want, all the time.

Think Different. Think Apple - most of their innovations aren’t customer feature requests.

And customers LOVE them.

Engineers build features.

But an entrepreneur, a business owner, has to stop asking what customers want… and instead ask them what results they expect.

Customers don’t talk about features. Not spontaneously. Not without prompting.

But they DO talk about benefits. Solutions. How a product makes them feel. How it makes their lives easier. Better. The fact that the product does stuff they didn’t even anticipate.

Don’t get hung up on asking what your customers want… and giving it to them.
If you do ask, they’ll tell you. And you’ll provide it. And then they’ll realize that the feature they asked for, doesn’t give them the benefit they wanted. So they’ll ask for something else.

Instead, build something that solves a real problem.

Give it to a customer.

Observe.

Learn from what you observe (not what they tell you).

Go back to the drawing board, and make changes.

In so doing, you may create a remarkably boring (but effective) stop sign.

Instead of a remarkably aesthetic (but useless) one.

In what instances have you been a feature-seeking customer? Or, when have you had a customer ask you for features that didn’t ultimately get them the result they needed?

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an Online Marketer and serial entrepreneur. His latest company, Rat Race Escape Artists (www.Rat-Race-Escape-Artists.com), helps you create a customized plan to get out of the Rat Race, and find your buried cheese.

Free Prize Inside:
Another example of customers often being… well… wrong.

Popularity: 15% [?]

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There’s been a big to-do about pit bulls, lipstick, and pigs of late.

In business, we all want customers to talk about us (nicely).

To get that, most of us want to put lipstick on a pig. And call it a day.

Stop.

Stop

looking for gimmicks, tactics, and short cuts to coerce customers to talk about you.

Start

making products that are relevant. That are indispensable. That matter.

Life is too short for complacency.

So stop.

Get rid of the lipstick.

Commit to making family breakfasts a universally special experience again.

If that doesn’t float your boat, sell the pig instead, and get into the lipstick business.

There are lots of pig owners buying it these days…

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an Online Marketer and serial entrepreneur. His latest company, Rat Race Escape Artists (www.Rat-Race-Escape-Artists.com), helps you create a customized plan to get out of the Rat Race, and find your buried cheese.

Popularity: 26% [?]

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• September 7, 2008 -- The Skype Laughter Chain: How to Make your Product Infectious. (0)
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• September 30, 2008 -- Stop redesigning the STOP sign (The customer is often wrong.) (2)
• September 11, 2008 -- Want Word-Of-Mouth? Tell the Chinese Backstreet Boys. (2)
• March 28, 2009 -- How to sell boxes like Tiffany (2)

“Life may knock you down.

Scratch that.

Life WILL knock you down. Okay?
It’ll kick you in the gut. And knock you to the curb.
But you can’t let it rob you of your Ness…”

- Owen Wilson as Dupree, in “You, Me & Dupree”.

Owen Wilson is a fool.

This guy has his own brand of comedy. Watch the clip to find out HOW to make an EXIT like no one else. (It’s Owen Wilson-ness.)

If you haven’t seen the movie, rent it this weekend. It is dumb. It is endearing. It is romantic. It is frat-boy humor. And Owen Wilson steals whatever scene he’s in.

His message here is silly.

But his message here is also true.

Find your “Ness”.
Hone your “Ness”.
Communicate your “Ness”.

And people who love your “Ness” will flock to you.

(In time.)

But let’s turn this on it’s head. John asked recently for some tactics by which to generate word-of-mouth.

I’ll give you three.

1. Have patience.

If you’re not able to be patient and have a long-term view on your campaign, that’s fine. But don’t expect word-of-mouth. Not unless you pay for it. Word-of-mouth is based on trust. And trust takes time to build.

2. Find your own “Ness”.

Stop trying to be all things to all customers.

Ignore some customer needs. Find the ones the customers you favor like the most. Need the most. Focus there. You’ll lose some customers - that’s fine. That’s progress. It means you’re starting to focus. And you’re starting to win customers that will stay with you (and talk about you) for the long haul.

For example: I’m sure many may find my style of writing empty or frivolous. That’s good. It’s not trying to be for everyone.

It’s for people who want big ideas. Who don’t need to paint between the lines all the time. Who are okay with trying something off-the-wall, failing, falling, and getting back up. Who favor freedom over safety.

3. Help your customers find their own “Ness”.

Make your customers remarkable.
Give them the tools to be the most interesting person in the room.

And you will have your word-of-mouth from them. (In time.)

Do your customers wear or use your product like a badge of honor? If not, maybe you should change customers. Or, more truthfully, maybe you should change products.

Because you should be making products that matter.
Products that help you,
And your customer,
Find that “Ness”.

In a slow economy in particular, what’s stopping your customers from aggressively seeking the bottom-of-the-barrel cheapest alternative? Are you making them feel special? Feel relevant? Feel remarkable?

What’s that “Ness” that you bring out for your customer?

Free Prize Inside:

• EastonsWeb multimedia brought out my Ness with stunning video storytelling from my annual HBCU alumni cruise .
• Owen Wilson as “Dupree”, the Best Man (BM) and creator of “Find Your Ness”, has become a cult classic. There are thousands of t-shirts featuring this slogan, found across the Internet.
• You can find “I’m throwing 7 different kinds of smoke” -wear as well. All inspired by a dumb movie, with a real message. For those who don’t mind digging for treasure.

(Never mind I don’t know exactly what throwing 7 different kind of smoke means. I thought it was funny. Then again, I do have weird tastes.)

• Producers like Sean “P Diddy” Combs, Dr. Dre, Kanye West and Quincy Jones were so prolific at helping artists find their Ness, that they became famous in their own right. See? It does pay off. (In time.)

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an Online Marketer and serial entrepreneur. His latest company, Rat Race Escape Artists (www.Rat-Race-Escape-Artists.com), helps you create a personalized plan to get out of the Rat Race, and find your buried cheese.

Popularity: 28% [?]

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• September 24, 2008 -- “We Heart Pig Lipstick”. Why gimmicks don’t drive word-of-mouth. (1)
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• September 8, 2008 -- What’s your Cracker Jack Free Prize Inside? (6)
• September 7, 2008 -- The Skype Laughter Chain: How to Make your Product Infectious. (0)
• September 4, 2008 -- Tell Me a Story: How to Get People to Remember You. (5)
• August 25, 2008 -- Michael Phelps vs Usain Bolt: How to Gain More Notoriety while Doing Less. (5)
• September 30, 2008 -- Stop redesigning the STOP sign (The customer is often wrong.) (2)
• September 11, 2008 -- Want Word-Of-Mouth? Tell the Chinese Backstreet Boys. (2)
• March 28, 2009 -- How to sell boxes like Tiffany (2)

Jessica Hagy’s Indexed blog is uniquely insightful.

She draws 2×2 graphs on index cards. Period.

I found this particular 2×2 graph, created by Jessica, relevant.

The graph suggests that the higher the quality of your product, the less advertising it needs.

Let’s hear it for word-of-mouth!

There were a couple of comments on Jessica’s blog though, that questioned her premise.

This comment from Simon was good:

Simon: “It’s cute, I like it, but it is absolute nonsense. Plenty of companies make quality products but need advertising and marketing to explain and persuade busy customers to buy or use.

Sure word of mouth is a massive driver but advertising and word of mouth live side by side, they don’t replace each other. ”

Perhaps a more accurate graph would be Advertising Needed vs “Perceived Quality”.

As in - even if you have the highest quality product, and no one knows about it… word-of-mouth alone won’t cut it. But as people perceive your product to be high quality, word-of-mouth will increase, and advertising dollars can decrease. (Part of perceived quality is having a memorable story to tell.)

You probably don’t want to eliminate advertising dollars completely. But building a remarkable product, and then making sure people know about that high quality, will build you word-of-mouth over the long term.

So here’s an equation you can run with:

What’s your take? Mouth off.

Free Prize Inside:

• March 10th is the International Day of Awesomeness.


• Awesomeness & Mouthiness are a nod to Stephen Colbert’s invention of the word Truthiness.


• I created the Awesomeness = Mouthiness graphic using PicNik.


• Jessica Hagy’s web site is a one-pager.

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an Online Marketer and serial entrepreneur. His latest company, Rat Race Escape Artists (www.Rat-Race-Escape-Artists.com), helps you create a personalized plan to get out of the Rat Race, and find your buried cheese.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Rate this:

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• September 8, 2008 -- What’s your Cracker Jack Free Prize Inside? (6)
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• August 22, 2008 -- Tiger Woods Walks on Water: How to be an Oxymoron. (1)
• August 9, 2008 -- “I’m Running for President.” Driving word-of-mouth by putting your customer in the story. (3)
• March 28, 2009 -- How to sell boxes like Tiffany (2)
• October 31, 2008 -- Oxymorons in a recession: Holiday Inn Express. (0)
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• September 30, 2008 -- Stop redesigning the STOP sign (The customer is often wrong.) (2)
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Okay.

That was hilarious.

That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a minute.

That video has been viewed almost EIGHT MILLION TIMES.

I think the Backstreet Boys… AND the Houston Rockets (note the jerseys), owe these kids some money.

Want word-of-mouth? Create passionate fans.  And then get out of the way.  Today’s customers have access to tools that let them spread the word about what they love (and they don’t love).

For word-of-mouth, create passionate fans.

Want passionate fans? Create something remarkable.

Not something good.

Not something great.

Not even something excellent.

Something remarkable.

Want remarkable?

Don’t benchmark.  Benchmarking leads to gradual improvements.  It puts you one step ahead of the game.

Go 3 steps ahead. Try something crazy. Fail. Learn from it. Try again.

And when you have a hit… call the Chinese Backstreet boys.

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an Online Marketer and serial entrepreneur. His latest company, Rat Race Escape Artists (www.Rat-Race-Escape-Artists.com), helps you create a customized plan to get out of the Rat Race, and find your buried cheese.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Rate this:

2.5

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• September 30, 2008 -- Stop redesigning the STOP sign (The customer is often wrong.) (2)
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• September 4, 2008 -- Tell Me a Story: How to Get People to Remember You. (5)
• August 25, 2008 -- Michael Phelps vs Usain Bolt: How to Gain More Notoriety while Doing Less. (5)
• October 2, 2008 -- How simplicity drives word-of-mouth. (0)
• September 24, 2008 -- “We Heart Pig Lipstick”. Why gimmicks don’t drive word-of-mouth. (1)
• September 22, 2008 -- Find your Ness. 3 ways to word-of-mouth. (0)
• September 7, 2008 -- The Skype Laughter Chain: How to Make your Product Infectious. (0)
• October 6, 2008 -- 10 ways to drive Word-of-Mouth: Lessons from my neighborhood garage sale. (0)
• September 16, 2008 -- More awesomeness = More word-of-mouth-iness. (3)

How many of you remember Cracker Jacks?

I heard on the radio yesterday that Cracker Jack free prizes have become collector’s items.  With some going for THOUSANDS of dollars!!

In the bestseller Free Prize Inside, author Seth Godin suggests that today’s companies can’t afford difficult and risky technological innovation.  These complex projects are notorious for being late, over-budget, and short on meeting promised deliverables.  The Return On Investment (ROI) falls short.

He also suggests that you can’t afford to spend HUGE amounts on advertising.  Again, the ROI doesn’t justify the expense.

The solution?  Seth says you can profit all day long with CHEAP INNOVATIONS that have a significant ROI.  He calls this the FREE PRIZE INSIDE.

According to Seth a FREE PRIZE is a secondary product benefit so remarkable, that it drives word-of-mouth, and drives sales.  Invest in these, instead of running huge media buys, or huge IT projects.

So you already have a product you’re proud of.  How do you create a FREE PRIZE inside?  Something secondary that will be so remarkable, it will drive word-of-mouth, and sales?

 

Some of Seth’s examples include:

1. FedEx truck mailing slots (drop your mail into any parked FedEx truck you see!)
2. Flintstone vitamins / orange-flavored vitamins (Kids enjoying taking their medicine? What?)
3. A bank that’s open on Sundays
4. A grocery store that gives express lanes to shoppers who buy a LOT (reward your most loyal customers)

 

Or how about:

1. Hidden music tracks on your favorite artist’s latest CD
2. Fortune cookies at Chinese restaurants
3. Snapple’s humorous facts on the inside of the bottle cap (-ex- Camel’s have 3 eyelids)

 

As you can see, none of these are terribly complex or expensive for the company to implement.  But by observing customers, finding out what they could use, you can build a cheap free prize inside.

The beauty of these soft, cheap innovations is that if they don’t work, you haven’t spent a lot of money! Scrap the idea, and try another one.

So.  Go buy a box of Cracker Jacks.  Reminisce on your childhood.  And let that inspire you to create your first free prize inside.

Thanks for reading this blog in its entirety!  To show our gratitude, here are some free prizes inside!

1. 1960s Cracker Jack TV commercial (Video)
2. The History of Cracker Jacks (Video)
3. A Free Summary of Seth Godin’s “Free Prize Inside” (pdf eBook)
4. Fortune Cookies aren’t from China (Video)
5. Did you know:
   My favorite hidden track of all time, Lauryn Hill’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” on the 1999 MisEducation of Lauryn Hill, was nominated for a Grammy. 
   First time that ever happened with a hidden track. 
   How’s that for a free prize inside?

Note: Seth Godin’s book, Free Prize inside, was sold in what looked like a mini-cereal box. 

Seriously.

What’s your Cracker Jack Free Prize Inside?

 

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an online marketer and word of mouth maven. In his spare time, he explores how to generate passive income via blogging and affiliate marketing. Escape the Rat Race, and Find your Buried Cheese.

Follow me on Twitter…

Popularity: 26% [?]

Rate this:

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• September 4, 2008 -- Tell Me a Story: How to Get People to Remember You. (5)
• September 7, 2008 -- The Skype Laughter Chain: How to Make your Product Infectious. (0)
• August 25, 2008 -- Michael Phelps vs Usain Bolt: How to Gain More Notoriety while Doing Less. (5)
• October 2, 2008 -- How simplicity drives word-of-mouth. (0)
• September 30, 2008 -- Stop redesigning the STOP sign (The customer is often wrong.) (2)
• September 24, 2008 -- “We Heart Pig Lipstick”. Why gimmicks don’t drive word-of-mouth. (1)
• September 22, 2008 -- Find your Ness. 3 ways to word-of-mouth. (0)
• September 11, 2008 -- Want Word-Of-Mouth? Tell the Chinese Backstreet Boys. (2)
• August 22, 2008 -- Tiger Woods Walks on Water: How to be an Oxymoron. (1)
• August 9, 2008 -- “I’m Running for President.” Driving word-of-mouth by putting your customer in the story. (3)

 What is the Skype Laughter Chain (video)?

First, Skype (for those that don’t know). Skype is a Voice-Over-IP tool that lets you make phone calls from your computer.  All you need is a head set and microphone.  And the Skype software (which is free).  Then you’re good to go.  All calls are dirt cheap, even international ones.  And Skype-to-Skype calls are… free.  Even international ones.

Skype is already incredibly successful, with tens of millions of users worldwide.

So why did they feel the need to create a “Laughter Chain“?

Here’s what they said:

“Laughter is a universal language.”

“It’s no accident that LOL (Laugh Out Loud) is one of the most popular acronyms on the web – we all love to communicate, to share and feel part of a community. Laughter brings us closer together – it’s a language we all understand and everyone loves a good laugh.”

“Spread a little happiness.”

“At Skype we believe that face-to-face communication is the best kind, which is why we’ve created this Laughter Chain to promote our free video calling feature. You can use Skype to make as many free video calls as you want. Seeing the person you’re talking to makes your conversation come alive – you can share excitement, laughter, tears or even just pull a silly face.”

Watching the skype laughter chain, I found it terribly silly.  And infectiously funny.  Who knew watching other people laugh would be funny?  And what does this have to do with Skype again?

Oh yeah. These people are video-conferencing.  For free.  Using Skype’s product.

And Skype is getting thousands more users daily, because of this silly video.

Who’s laughing now?

The thing is,

Interactive = viral.

Interactive = word of mouth.

• So. What is interactive about your product?
• How do people interact with each other, around your product?
• How can you turn that into a viral experience that people just HAVE to talk about?
• Think about the Skype Laughter Chain.

Whatever your line of business - observe how people interact with your product.  And then enhance that - either by using features of your product, or something related to the interaction, which can be used in conjunction with your product.  (Like Panera Bread and free high-speed Internet).

If you bring people together around your product, they’ll talk about it.

They may even laugh about it.

What’s laughable about your product?

Or, if you’re not in the mood for the giggles, how can people interact around your product?  And how can you enhance that interaction for them?  Word-of-mouth, after all, comes from memorable shared experiences.

Let’s hear your thoughts:

How do people interact around your product category? Let’s create a Skype Laughter Chain for your product.  Even if your product is a service - people must interact with it in some way that can be enhanced by bringing people into a shared experience.  Let’s talk about it.

---

Bolaji Oyejide is an online marketer and word of mouth maven. In his spare time, he explores how to generate passive income via blogging and affiliate marketing. Escape the Rat Race, and Find your Buried Cheese.

Follow me on Twitter…

Popularity: 29% [?]

Rate this:

2.5

Related Posts

• September 8, 2008 -- What’s your Cracker Jack Free Prize Inside? (6)
• September 4, 2008 -- Tell Me a Story: How to Get People to Remember You. (5)
• August 25, 2008 -- Michael Phelps vs Usain Bolt: How to Gain More Notoriety while Doing Less. (5)
• October 2, 2008 -- How simplicity drives word-of-mouth. (0)
• September 24, 2008 -- “We Heart Pig Lipstick”. Why gimmicks don’t drive word-of-mouth. (1)
• September 22, 2008 -- Find your Ness. 3 ways to word-of-mouth. (0)
• August 9, 2008 -- “I’m Running for President.” Driving word-of-mouth by putting your customer in the story. (3)
• August 9, 2008 -- The 1-page Web Site: How to get more word-of-mouth by using fewer words. (3)
• October 6, 2008 -- 10 ways to drive Word-of-Mouth: Lessons from my neighborhood garage sale. (0)
• September 30, 2008 -- Stop redesigning the STOP sign (The customer is often wrong.) (2)