Category: Distribution

Territory

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I just saw a stray cat enter our backyard much to the distain of our moggy. You know what happened…

There was a lot of hissing, a couple of left jabs with claws out, bushy tails and the obligatory chase up over the back fence.

Territory is about physical space, location, proximity to food, water and shelter. The basics which sustain life. Our cat was simply protecting what it needs to survive. Humans do it too. And so should your business or startup.

Cats are pretty smart. They know that there isn’t really enough room for two in most houses. It’s no different with brands. Great brands are always territorial. When the local alley cat turns up for a feed, the incumbent brand wont move to the left and share the food bowl. There’ll be fight, every time.

But the trick is this, brands are only territorial about their house (read here key distribution point). If you’re getting a great feed elsewhere, they won’t even notice. You can build some momentum and cashflow before they notice you’re gaining size and power. If you want to get off the street like your local alley cat, stop living day to day, then you and your startup have to find a new place without a cat. Be nice to the owners (your customers / audience), offer them something emotional and they might just adopt you.

Badvertising – New Mother by Coke

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Many including startup blog predicted the death of Mother Energy Drink before it was launched. By the way this was Coca Cola Australia’s 4th attempt to get a share of the energy soft drink market. Other attempts included Lift Plus, Burn and Sprite recharge. All of which bombed.

As predicted ‘Mother’ should have been called ‘Dog’. So they’ve burried the old stock on hand and Coke have re-launched Mother with an all new fix all flavour. Which has lead to the following badvertising:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvgIopzPflI]

Memo to Coke Marketing team: Taste has nothing to do with it. Half of Red Bull’s consumers even admit they don’t like the taste. Consumers know the same people developed the flavour profile of this launch too, and yes they know it’s made by Coke.

The energy space is already occupied in the minds of consumers. The market is already dominated by two powerful brands with strong identities & distribution depth. Save your money on advertising and put it towards buying Red Bull gloablly or V for the Asia Pacific market – because this category is already game set match. The two horse race which all categories become has been run and won.

One more thing – this spot is so contrived, your target market would be laughing at you.

Kind regards – Startup Blog.

Note to start ups – if you’re launching a me too, without a price, distribution or technology advantage – best to re-think the launch plans. If Coke can’t do it – why can you?

Cafe press & customer service

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I recently ordered this most rad t-shirt on line from cafe press:

After a month it still hadn’t arrived. So slightly upset  sent them through a note as below.
My email:

My order was meant to arrive between these times: Estimated Arrival: Monday 6/30/08 – Monday 7/7/08. But I am still yet to receive it and I am getting worried that It will never arrive. It is now 7/13/08 so it has been nearly a month! Can you please follow up for me. I am a first time cafe press customer and so far it hasn’t been a good experience.   

1st cafe press response:

Dear Steve,

Thank you for contacting CafePress.com! This note is to inform you that we have received your inquiry and are assigning it to a representative. We respond to all email messages within 24 hours. If you do not receive an answer within 24 hours please call us toll-free at 1-877-809-1659 during our customer service hours Monday – Saturday 9:00 am to 9:00 pm EST.

To help track your inquiry we have generated the following reference number LTK419015882692X. Please use this number in any further communication.

2nd ‘real person’ cafe press response:

Dear Steve, I am sorry to hear you haven’t received your order. I checked and it is past the date it should have arrived. To make sure there are no further delays please confirm back with your correct shipping address. As soon as I get this information I will replace your order at no charge. I look forward to your reply.  

If there is anything else I can do for you please let me know. 

Please click this link to take a quick survey to help us improve our service. 

Best Regards, Crystal R.

A few things for startups to notice: 

  • Yes, it was an automated response, but a real living, breathing person got back to me within 24 hours. ‘We want to deal with real people.’ Only real people can respond to emotion.

  • They offered a toll free number for me to call on if a didn’t hear within 24 hours. All websites should have someone you can call.

  • They advised they would replace the order, no questions & immediatly. They accepted fault.

  • They included a link where I could rate there customer service even though, I was potentially an upset customer. No excuses, no hiding on their behalf.

In short, cafe press offered; guarantees, to fix the proble, they accepted fault, and started a feedback loop which has lead to great customer service, from a potentially negative situation. Now I’m blogging about a positive situation when it may well have been the opposite.

Webpreneurs – Be like cafe press.

Singapore Series – episode 2 – Crumpler; Single Minded Hero

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

While cruising through a local Singapore mall I noticed many students with their Crumpler bags. As seen below:

 

 

They make cool bags. I knew the brand was doing well.  I own a Crumpler and on any given Saturday in Melbourne Australia, their store is packed with people from around the world buying their super terrific bags.

 

I’ve since found  that Crumpler is now in 19 countries.  They have 3 stores in Singapore – the locals love them.

 

Here’s the thing that’s really cool: Crumpler was started by – two Melbourne bike couriers Dave & Will in 1995. Who deserve all the success they get. Simply because they created a product which is hand crafted & brilliant. Upon success, they didn’t fall into the trap of product range expansion. They stuck with bags. They stayed with their single minded proposition, and remained the experts in their specific category – Satchels & bags. They haven’t even extended into luggage. This is how power brands are built. By being experts. By focusing on a micro niche. Even when you’re a startup.

 

 

They just kept doing what they do, and expanded geographically. You can read more about them here.

 

Be like Crumpler.

Reliability

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

4.17pm – Get email from friend advising of a small bug on rentoid.com

 

4.17pm – I email my main guy from my tech team to ask him to check it out  

4.21pm –  I receive email from my tech guy saying – bug fixed please check it!   

4.23pm – I email my friend advising that it’s all fixed saying – ‘my guy is quick.’ 

4.25pm – Friend emails me back saying “..Wow… that’s amazing.” Blog worthy!! 

As above.

Never underestimate the power strong relationships within supply chains. Strong relationships build efficient supply chains – not the other way around.

As seen on (TV) Google

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

As seen on TV Google… 

Back in the halcyon days of the TV industrial complex, an oft used selling point was the fact that something was actually on TV.

The thinking went something like this: 

  1. TV advertising is expensive
  2. They (brand X) are advertising on TV
  3. They have the money to make this investment
  4. So people must be buying this product
  5. This product must be good
  6. I will buy this product

as-seen-on-tv.jpg 

It built a sense of trust. Trust that evolved from assumed scale.  

Guess what? It’s back! Only this time it’s ‘as seen on front page of Google’. 

The new thinking isn’t too different:

  1. Google knows everything on the web
  2. It’s on the front page of Google
  3. Google has done the sorting for me
  4. Lots of people must be using this site
  5. Lots of sites must be linked to it
  6. I can buy from (trust) this website

The cool thing about this for start ups, is that it really only takes an investment in time and thinking to get there. Not a big media buy.

Uncovering the gold nuggets

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

One more quick rentoid spruik. We’ve just added a couple of cool things to rentoid.com: 

The rockstar list

The quirky list

and the ‘surprise’ function

 rentoid-home.png

They’re all decided by members through a tagging system. We’re hoping they’ll add a bit of a social element and in turn unlock some of the gold nuggets we have hidden in our database of listings…. Click ‘em and be pleasantly surprised.     

    

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