Category: business

Consumer benefits

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Marketing expert Ben Rowe was ahead of his time on the Gillette Fusion launch, as can be seen here.

 

The jury’s in. For the first time in their illustrious history, Gillettes latest innovation hasn’t become their best seller. Gillette Fusion 5 blade razor launch has failed for two reasons. I speak with authority as a former employee at Gillette.  

 

Reason 1: We don’t have a shaving problem

Reason 2: Innovation and research are not consumer benefits

 

 fusion-2.jpg

 

Reason 1 details:

The Gillette Mach 3 and its various spin offs have made shaving about as good as it can get given we are running a sharp blade across our faces. We no longer have a shaving problem. It’s smooth, safe and comfortable. They’re trying to fix something that doesn’t need fixed. In this situation very few people will trade up, before we even consider the price premium they’re asking.

 

Reason 2 details:

8 years of shaving innovation and research doesn’t translate into an actual consumer benefit. It’s a diary, not a benefit. They’ve even placed stickers on other Gillette shaving products trying to convince consumers to switch. We won’t.

 

In the early days the Gillette strategy of obseleting themselves was a good one, but no strategy works forever, and there is always a point of diminishing returns. Seems Gillette has reached theirs.

 

Start up lesson: If your innovation doesn’t solve a problem or significantly improve the consumer experience, you haven’t got one.

Employee psych tests

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Put simply prospective employee psych tests are:

  • A waste of the potential employer’s money

  • A waste of the potential employee’s time

psych_testing.png

 

Here’s why:

Every job I have ever gone for has required one. Which I have completed successfully. Some jobs I’ve done well in, some jobs I’ve done not so well in

Anyone from human resources will tell you it’s to ‘weed out the weirdos’. But every company I have worked had its fair share of weirdos, bullies, corporate psychopaths and control freaks.

The testing is not real world – it’s what you say you’ll do, while sitting at a desk with a pencil and thinking of what the company wants to hear – not what you’ll actually do in a given situation.

It’s a “HR justification of existence programme”, and an insurance policy of ass covering if things don’t work out. It’s old world.

Start up blog says: Don’t waste valuable resources on them.

Entrepreneurs wages

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

It’s easy to get dispirited while working very hard on a start up business, yet at the end of the week there’s no wage.

 

Here’s a way to view the situation:

 

We’re earning more than we’ve ever earned before, we just haven’t been paid for it yet.

Keeping promises

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

We’ve recently challenged ourselves at rentoid as part of our clustering strategy. We promised our members in ‘Melbourne Australia’ that rentoid has ‘anything’ they could possibly want to rent. Especially given our moniker for Rentoid is “the place to rent anything”. The promise can be seen here.

 

Some may think this is crazy. The fact is we couldn’t possibly have everything available for rent. But that’s where the depth of idea is:

 

Here are the possible outcomes:

  • People search Melbourne and see the depth of items for rent.

  • They may find what they need, or not.

  • If they don’t, we have promised to find what they need.

(unless they ask for something like elephant tusks!)

 

We’ll find what they need by asking other members if they have it, or we’ll find it through other means. In short we’ll keep our promise. We’ll find them what they need. 

 

The idea ensures we stretch ourselves to serve our customers and it gives us an authentic way to create a positive customer experience. Which we hope they’ll talk about.

 

If you’re in Melbourne, test us!

Risk – repost

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

The post below is from the early days of startup blog. For those who’ve already read it, it’s a good reminder. For those who haven’t it’s worth considering. 

 

If you’re reading this blog and not involved in your own business, stop for a second and ask your self why?

You’re obviously interested in entrepreneurship, marketing and small ‘start up’ business. You’re smart and capable.

But we’re Risk Averse. All of us. But isn’t risk relative? Isn’t risk relative to what we have to lose? Maybe we should reconsider what we ‘could’ lose.

Are we risking:

  • Our Health?

  • Going Hungry?

  • Shelter?

  • Access to medical services?

  • Our Education?

The fact that we’re on the internet tells us it’s none of the above.

Maybe we’re only risking ‘Status’. Maybe we’re only risking ‘Title’ and ‘Conspicuous Consumption’.

What is our true assessment of the risk? Is starting a business really that risky?

Simple Permission Marketing

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Here’s a really simple way to execute some permission based marketing.  Get a story of your business in a newspaper. 

Pages need to be filled. Business writers are interested in reporting on new businesses. Start with a small local newspaper. Tell them why the local community needs to know about your business. We must focus on what’s in it for them – not us. 

Most big newspapers are also interested in start ups these days, and even run entrepreneur and enterprise specific sections. So why not go for some big fish:

  • The New York Times? 

  • The Australian Financial Review?

  • The Wall Street Journal?

  • The London Daily Telegraph? 

It’s permission based marketing because people choose to read or choose not to read the article. If they do read it, they’re engaged and obviously interested. The article title tells the reader if it’s for them. It’s content, not interuptive advertising. Simple permission marketing.

                  

                                                                                                                                                              

Here’s the trick: It’s got to be news worthy.