Stressed?
Here’s a new product which demands eyeball time. 
A stress remedy in an everyday format.
It’s everything an energy drink isn’t. It’s the opposite in fact.
Further inspection will reveal:
A single minded proposition (100mls – not about hydration just the remedy), first to market, wildcard ingredient (jujube), targeted yet limited distribution (only available on the net & they deliver right to your cubicle) and many other startup strategies espoused on this blog.
With no lack of stress in the world there seems to be a lot of potential in this launch.
Maybe there are overseas distribution opportunities for entrepreneurs?
The revolution will not be televised
TOP 10 BRANDS NEVER TO ADVERTISE ON TV
Venture capitalists (and our employers) will have us believe we need lots of advertising support to launch (start). Here’s a list of contrarian brands:
1. Google
2. Youtube
3. Starbucks
4. Amazon
5. Ebay
6. Quiksilver
7. My space
8. Bebo
9. Second Life
10. Krispy Kreme
Some lessons here. What attributes do they all have in common?
Wildcard Ingredients
What creates brand mythology? That special indefinable element. What ensures ‘me too’ brands never make a dent in the original? Often it is a wildcard ingredient. It’s the thing that makes us ‘the original’.
Does your start up have a wildcard ingredient? Something you can own in the mind? It doesn’t have to be an actual ingredient (food / beverage) It can be some form of technology or anything. It’s an input you can talk about.
Many great brands have a wildcard in their positioning:
|
Red Bull |
Taurine |
|
Toyota Prius |
Hybrid |
|
ipod |
itunes |
|
Yakult |
Casei shirota strain |
|
Ebay & Youtube |
User generated content (UGC) |
|
Amazon |
Unlimited range (long tail economics) |
|
Subway |
Healthy fast food |
|
Bugaboo prams |
Most expensive |
|
KFC |
11 secret herbs & spices |
Wildcards build mythology and cachet. They give us a reason to believe. Build one into your start up.
Trial
We should use these words selling our start up to a first time customer:
‘Let’s do a trial’
It might be a small order, even one box.
It’s a great fear remover. In their mind they’re not really buying it. In reality, nothing is different, except their risk perception is lowered. We’re just confirming that nothing is fixed and it’s Ok to try something new.
Imagine this…
Not hiding anything from your audience
Making everything internal – public knowledge
Posting all staff salaries on your intranet
Staff setting their own pay rises
No official office hours
Staff setting their own hours
No official office location
CEO’s cell phone number on the company website
Every employee a shareholder
Sharing all company financials with everyone (internal & external)
Telling consumers your actual profit margin on the product
Telling consumers the retailers profit margin
Maybe printing these profit margins on the packaging
Staff voting on who should get the internal promotion
Suppliers voting on who gets a promotion
First in, best dressed at the car park
Hot desking – corner office to first person to sit there
No offices at all; or offices for all
Staff doing performance reviews of their superiors
Staff setting their managers salary
All performance reviews posted on the intranet
Any staff member allowed to talk to any media person, on any topic
Your bonus this year, is paid on how the company performs in 5 years
(yes, you have to wait, but we pay it even when you’ve left!)
Publishing the carbon output of the company
Publishing waste created per product
Publishing energy used per product
No email
No meeting rooms (no formal meetings)
A public company blog, an staff member can post on (no moderating)
Sure, some of these things would cause chaos, increase politicking, maybe even fraud. But maybe, just maybe, these ideas could transform your start up into something revolutionary.
What can you think of that your company would never do?
Cash flow project
A mentor refers to his ‘job’ as a ‘cash flow project’.
I love this description. Temporary in nature – raising funds for what really matters.
It ensures that his entrepreneurial vision is not lost. In fact, the job becomes part of the entrepreneurial process. A great way to influence the subconscious mind.
In reality all things in life become projects: The decision to become an entrepreneur, a trip to the supermarket, and any new business. A job is no different. By defining a job as a project it frees the mind. We know we’re using the system to our advantage, so we won’t feel disillusioned in the short term.
Limiting distribution
I’ve just done this without writing an entry for two weeks (it wasn’t intentional). An interesting thing happened. Loyalty remained and traffic increased.
When someone values something having less of it can increase anticipation and desire.
It won’t last forever. In the long run people will get annoyed and disappear…..
But sometimes limiting exposure can ensure our worth is enhanced and not diminished. We’ll remain exclusive.
Start ups with premium goods take note.
leave a comment