[Question] What is your USP (unusual selling point)

[IanF]

I have just read this article

See, the water cooler company actually buys these dogs and pairs one up with each of their delivery guys. They know that admin staff at their client’s offices will just melt whenever puppy arrives with a water top-up.

It’s their customer retention strategy.

The office supplies industry is cut-throat. Every supplier is competing in an over-crowded market, racing their competitors to the bottom of their profit margins through aggressive discounts.

This is a great idea of how to differentiate yourself from the competition. Now that is something to look for in the new year!

[murdock]

being the pesimist that i am...my next question would be...has anyone thought what happens to the puppies once they grow up...do they just keep replacing the puppies with new ones and send the "dogs" no longer puppies to the pound...or the spca where the stats lean more towards the dog being exicuted after 2 weeks than finding a home....i hope for the dogs sakes...not...i hope the dogs are taken home and looked after by the cooler guys and not put in a cage for the next day just to make some corporate suckers happy.

[tec0]

This is a sad day, see this kind of behaviour is not to be tolerated. I am sorry but if I know a company is doing this then I will terminate my relations with that company. On every street at every robot there is a blind person running around with another person hoping to make you feel like sh!t so that you will give them money.

But what I really can’t stand is mentally retarded people and children being used at the local super-markets. Now I happen to know that these people have sponsors but still the person responsible for them are so bloody greedy that they will force those retarded people to sit there and beg!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry but abusing animals like this are BS abusing people the same way must not be tolerated. I personally am so sick of charities because each year they get millions!!! But next year all that money is gone? Funny how those millions are not invested so that long term income can be provided....

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a useless charity, I personally made them aware of animal abuse in our community and to this day no action was EVER taken. Now the big boss wants to go around parading puppies its like saying “it’s your fault if this animal is not cared for but we will keep it as emotional ransom”

[IanF]

Wow what a tangent this has taken. From just putting out a different idea on business it turns into an animal abuse thread. I am sure that the points raised have been taken care of by the company, people will raise these points with the delivery guy who will answer them.

What I was looking for has anyone used something like this, say taking a little bag of biltong or a lindt with there deliveries. Just something so that customers look forward to receiving your products.

[Dave A]

Wow what a tangent this has taken.

I'll second that.

When I read the OP, in a way I was stumped, but looked forward to reading some unusual ideas. At least I got surprised

There are a few things I can think of that can be classed as unusual - at least to the extent that I haven't seen something similar being done by my competitors, and they seem to work.

But nothing as dramatic as puppies.

I've seen some unusual stuff in the way of attention grabbers. Wooden business cards comes to mind.

Then there was a competitor who dropped off envelopes all over town with an intro letter and a handful of Cryptotermes brevis fras inside (woodborer droppings in English - looks like poppy seed).

The idea was the prospect opened the letter, got a shower of fras in their lap, and the letter said something along the lines of "Just a reminder why you need me to check your house."

It sure was messy - and won me quite a few clients who didn't appreciate the mess. I guess I should have sent a thank you note to the poor guy. It really backfired quite badly

[IanF]

I've seen some unusual stuff in the way of attention grabbers. Wooden business cards comes to mind.

Then there was a competitor who dropped off envelopes all over town with an intro letter and a handful of Cryptotermes brevis fras inside (woodborer droppings in English - looks like poppy seed).

The idea was the prospect opened the letter, got a shower of fras in their lap, and the letter said something along the lines of "Just a reminder why you need me to check your house."

It sure was messy - and won me quite a few clients who didn't appreciate the mess. I guess I should have sent a thank you note to the poor guy. It really backfired quite badly

Dave
Maybe we can get Adrianh to make us some wooden business cards on his new laser cutter .
I ordered some toner refills from a company in the US and got a little packet of M&Ms with it. I was just too messy with the refills to carry on with that. My thoughts are it has to be something unusual so the customers appreciate it. So when I come up with an idea I will share it.
One printshop near me used to hand out pads printed customer overruns (maybe rejects?) so the back had random printing. They have had to sell all there machines and still owe me R600 for a job I helped them out on.

Any other ideas.

[adrianh]

Just wait till the laser is installed....My brain is already running overtime with bright ideas...The ship has docked in Table Bay harbour and the containers are being moved to the depot - My wife thinks I'm totally crazy - tracking the container movements - I think she'll be too glad once the laser has been installed - then she wouldn't have to listen to my whinging about it anymore...like the kids (are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet...)

It is interesting what a negative effect advertising can have - There is a new Garmin ad on TV with a soldier landing in Normandy running, riding his bicycle and it eventually changes to him running a marathon with his Garmin. Some people love the ad because the GPS signifies his weapon - I really hate the ad - the progression from lucky soldier who didn't get shot to marathon runner just seems like a cheap shot.

[Mark Atkinson]

It is interesting what a negative effect advertising can have

On the subject of advertising - It can have such a huge impact if done cleverly.
The advertising guys at Nandos and Toyota, for instance, are absolute geniuses!

Also, with regard to USPs, do yourself a favour and read this thread blog post by one of my favourite online business gurus, Naomi Dunford: http://ittybiz.com/home-business-mar...homeless-dude/

She has this no-BS way of delivering content which not many people can do effectively. I for one enjoy her manner of going about things and that is definitely one of the best and most entertaining marketing posts I've read.

[adrianh]

The advertising guys at Nandos and Toyota, for instance, are absolute geniuses!

Nondo's is great but...

It is interesting how people see things differently - I can't stand the talking Toyota dog...

I just love all the Vodacom "We've been having it ads" - There's one ad where the general tells the guy to surf during the evening "Surf's up dude" - and he stands there shivering in his white underpants - brilliant (When the kids go "Surf's up dude" - we all know where it comes from)

[tec0]

Sorry about the above I used to work for the SPCA as volunteer and it was not “nice”.

Well as any contractor knows, if you need to talk to management then a strip club is a good place to start, our beloved power company’s manager simply adore these clubs and the mining managers are a close second.

You then include a private table and very expensive drinks and you WILL get the contract it is 90% certainty. I also know of mine managers that accept expensive gifts like fishing trips is a really good incentive and works 80% of the time.

But if you deal with the customer the game changes. Having a pet in the office is never a good thing because it is a distraction. Rather a nice Golf set with a net, that is always a winner with the executive. Depending on the customer gifts like IPods works wonders I myself have done this. After you get the business you send a nice thank-you for your business gift, an R2500 IPod is a most wonderful gift and you do get repeat business.

Keep it fresh, R4000 notebooks are a close second and people enjoy it. I recommend you stay away from mobile phones because if they give trouble it is your fault that they couldn’t be reached.

Board games are really a bad idea, but a really good Idea is jewellery “moderately expensive look between R1000 to R2000 depending on the size of the sale. Expensive liquor range from R300 to R900 a bottle works well for the moderate customer.

Stay away from wooden or plastic business cards, they don’t work... No 4 GB USB flash drives that are surprisingly inexpensive when you buy in bulk is a much better idea because they will use it all the time and people will see it all the time...

Stay away from food, it is never good when your customer ends up with a stomach virus. But people love optically correct sunglasses worth about R300 to R600 depending on brand. “You do get good deals so shop around I have done this and people loved it.

Really it comes down to how much your customer is spending and if the customer is worthy of these gifts. I personally know that my notebook gifts worked very well.

As a side note IanF sorry about the first post it is just I get so angry when people use animals.

[IanF]

Teco
No worries.
The cheapest 4 gb memory stick I have seen is R49 +vat so that is a bit much per delivery. I just want to see if the trick is to give that little extra to the small guy in the company. One guy who ran a garage used to give a coke to company drivers when filling up so he got a lot of the corporate business like that.

[adrianh]

I think that one needs to know who your "Marketing" target is. You need to SCHMOOZZZ the right people. If you are a corporate lawyer, giving flashy wooden business cards to the guy at the gate won't do you any good.

Once the target has been established, one can then look at ways to make the interaction more memorable. Ian, I can only summise that you would deliver posters or art to your customers - you want your customers to remember you and call on you again. The trick is to have the customer instantly associate your business with the product. Yes, one could take a puppy along, but this my work once or twice and it might backfire the third time when another staff member rocks up with the same puppy. I think it better to give the customer something useful that is in plain view. This is probably why desk top stationary items are so popular. The pen, ruler & calculator is generally found in plain sight on the desk. There was a time when mouse pads were popular gifts (for the same reason)

So, the questions are as follows:
1. What can you give to a customer that will uniquely identify your business - keeping in mind that the object has to signify your business in some way - whilsts being cost effective (not cheap & tacky)?
2. How can you ensure that the item stays in plain view?
3. How do you make sure that your contact details are plain to see?
4. Old hat?
5. (Most important) Cost per item?

Some words that spring to mind to be used in the formulation of the answers:
Q 1. Colour, art, printing, poster, card, birthday, calendar, 3D, photograph, photo frame, plastic, laminate, coffee mug, water bottle...
Q2. Desk, screen, kitchen handbag, keys, keyring, photo frame, poster..
Q3. Telephone number, email address, careful - too big (in your face) nice, subtle...
Q4. Pen, calendar, ruler, business card, calculator.
Q5. As little as possible.

I have a stunning idea that would be perfect for your business:

An Oragami photo frame

Think about it:

1. It costs nothing to make (bit of cardboard & paper).
2. You can easily create new designs.
3. Use your own facilities to print unique designs, shapes & colours.
4. You have the equipment i.e. You can use a vinyl cutter or laser to cut the cardboard & paper.
5. Your staff can put them together when they have nothing better to do with their time.
6. You can even create a range that your customer can take home for the kids.
7. They can be made in different sizes - a little one to stick onto the PC screen, a big one for the desk.

Ok, I'll shut up now, my brain is running away from me again...