The Flash Pass
December 2, 2009
The Flash Pass
Whenever I speak to groups about marketing their products or services, I always stress that, ultimately, it’s about the experience people have when interacting with the company as much as it’s about what they’re actually buying.
And it’s equally important to note that customers are often willing to pay more for a better experience, whether buying something in a store, planning a trip, or retaining professional services. Hey, even my kids - college students both on very limited budgets - hate Walmart so much they’re willing to pay a bit more to shop at other stores with better service.
Ignoring this basic fact of human nature can cost you a small fortune in lost business. So with that in mind, here’s an example of one company that understands this: the Six Flags theme park company.
Six Flags owns and operates 20 locations in the US, Canada, and Mexico, and is working to establish an international presence over the next few years. And one of the keys to their success is recognizing and meeting the needs of guests willing to pay more for a better experience.
And they do this with two different programs. I’ll explain them both in a minute, but first, let’s have a brief review of what happens when you go to a theme park - any theme park.
You get up early, drag the family out of bed so you can be there right when the gates open. You pay more for parking than you thought the park tickets were going to cost, and then you buy the tickets themselves.
As soon as the clock strikes eight, and they let everyone in, there’s a mad dash - kids in tow, their feet barely touching the ground, as you try to get in line for the “premium” rides - the ones everyone wants to get on. And - good for you - you get a good place in line! But what happens next? You go on to the next great ride, where you’re greeted by a line that will eat up at least 45 minutes of your day. And you have five other big rides to go on. Plus you have to get lunch at some point. Sounds like a fun vacation, doesn’t it?
So recognizing this, Six Flags introduced the Flash Pass. When you get to the ride you want to go on, the Flash Pass holds your place in line electronically so you can go on other rides instead of waiting on line. When it’s almost your turn, the Flash Pass device notifies you. The process doesn’t put you at the front of the line, but it lets you go on other rides instead of waiting in line.
The cost? $34.99 per person for the regular Flash Pass, or $64.99 for the Gold Flash Pass that cuts your wait time by approximately 75%. And that’s on top of the $44.99 per person admission price ($29.99 each for children).
But if that’s not enough, they also have VIP Tours that include front-of-the-line ride privileges, valet parking, reserved show seating, meals and snacks, and a private autograph session with some of the characters.
The cost? $249.00 per person. At least this one includes the park admission fee. Still, for a family of four, that’s $1,000.00 of revenue to attach a minimum-wage teenager to your group for the day.
Not a bad return on investment, and certainly a fantastic illustration of offering premium products and services for people willing to pay for a premium experience.
The question on your mind right now shouldn’t be, “Who in their right mind would pay that much money?!” It should be, “What can I offer that would deliver superior value at a higher price?” Answering that question can be as much fun as a trip to a theme park!
Disney Obsession?
October 29, 2009
Prospective customers can be broken down based on three broad categories: demographics, psychographics, and subcultures.
Briefly, demographics refer to characteristics which are easy to observe or determine: age, gender, race, education, location, etc. Psychographics point to more subjective areas including personality, interests, hobbies, and attitudes. Subcultures come into play when psychographics take on a dominant role in the person’s everyday life. Examples might include vegans, bikers, endurance athletes and “Trekkies.”
Let’s look at an example of how you could use knowledge of these characteristics to your marketing advantage.
We have some friends who probably wouldn’t object to describing them as “Disney fanatics.” They have original animation cells hanging on their walls; they own lots of Disney paraphernalia; and they go on Disney cruises for their vacations.
And they’re not alone - there’s a whole subculture of people who have been Disney fans from a very young age (another important lesson we’ll address another time). But if you knew who these people were and had something to sell to them, you could use Disney references, Disney gifts, and Disney stories as a component of your sales letters.
Because when you speak the language of your prospects you connect better with them, build rapport more quickly, and get better results.
Sure it takes a bit of effort to do this successfully, but your list is your greatest asset, and taking full advantage of your unique and intimate knowledge of it is your best marketing weapon.
Go Away and Come Back Tomorrow!
October 15, 2009
You may recognize that line from The Wizard of Oz, when the wizard tries to send Dorothy away after she’s killed the wicked witch. But the line also has some relevance in our marketing…
We recently returned from a great trip to California. We visited some close friends from college who live in San Jose, and then headed north and spent about five days doing one of our favorite things: drinking wine, and, more specifically, finding new wineries - preferably small, family-owned, off-the beaten path places you wouldn’t even hear about unless you knew what you were looking for.
Our old favorites are RustRidge (which has a great little B&B where we stayed), and Nichelini (the oldest continually run family-owned winery in Napa valley).
On this trip, we were fortunate enough to add four new wineries to our list: David Bruce and Testarossa in the Santa Cruz area, Summit Lake in the hills above Napa Valley, and De La Montanya in Sonoma Valley. All of these are worthy of a visit if you’re in the area - tell them I sent you!
And, although it didn’t make the list, one winery took “first place” for marketing: Joseph Phelps. This one had been recommended by some friends who had just returned from a similar “wine-hunting” trip, and they said that the views, in particular, were outstanding.
We knew we needed an appointment, but we happened to be driving right by the place, so we stopped in to take a look. We really did need to have an appointment, so they couldn’t do the full tasting with us, but they did two things that are worthy of mention here.
First, they pulled out the schedule for the next day to see what might be available. Second, they gave us a coupon for a free tasting (normally $20). And third, they asked if we’d like to take a glass of wine to sit out on the terrace and enjoy the view.
Booking the appointment, a “bounce-back” coupon, and “try before you buy” - all in about 30 seconds. Well done! And while the wines were good, they weren’t quite what we like to drink, and, having already enjoyed the view (which was spectacular, by the way) we decided not to come back the next day.
Still, there are valuable lessons here, and remember - great marketing examples are all around. You can find them anywhere - even while drinking wine in California - if you’re paying attention.
A New Audience
September 17, 2009
If you’re doing a good job serving your customers, they’re going to be looking for the “next big thing” you can offer them. And while you should continually strive to meet these needs, it can become challenging to constantly create new products and services.
Fortunately, you can take a lesson from a talented magician and try a different approach.
Michael Ammar is a fantastic magician, and a great teacher of magic, having written numerous books, and produced over 40 different instructional videos. And if that’s not enough, his lecture tours - teaching advanced strategies to other magicians - are extremely popular, and booked months in advance.
As a child growing up in West Virginia, Ammar took an early interest in magic. He ordered tricks from catalogs, and put together an actual show, which he presented to different groups within his small community.
But as he became successful, and as people invited him back for repeat performences, he always had to develop new material. One of his big breakthroughs was that if he expanded his radius, he could do shows for people who hadn’t seen him before, and this, of course, took considerably less effort.
In other words, it was easier to get a new audience than a new show.
During these challenging economic times, when you might not have the capital available to develop new offerings, you can make a deliberate effort to find new markets for what you already have.
* Who else sells to people who might become customers of yours?
* Is there another use for your products that could open up entirely new markets?
* Can you bundle your products with someone else’s to make something new?
Just because things are slow doesn’t mean there aren’t abundant opportunities for growth. Growing your business isn’t magic; it just takes creative implementation of proven strategies.
Now, All I Need is a Man!
July 23, 2009
A few weeks ago, our daughter had her tonsils out. The procedure is straightforward, and recovery is generally fast. That is, if the patient is four years old. It’s a different story altogether if she’s 18 and has a low threshold of pain.
But that’s a whole other story. When we were staying with our daughter in the recovery room immediately after the procedure, we were talking with one of the nurses. In the conversation, it came up that Lorie and I had recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. (Go ahead, you can say it: “She put up with you for that long?” - it’s pretty much all I’ve been hearing - especially from my own family)!
She asked what the secret was to our relationship (it’s “fighting fair” if you’re interested, but, again, that’s another article) and after we offered a few other tidbits of advice, she smiled and said, “That’s really helpful. Now, all I need is a man!”
In a way, she was putting the cart before the horse, not unlike what many people do with their marketing: creating a product or service before identifying and qualifying a market with a definite and satiable need.
I won’t pretend to have all the answers about relationships, but I do know a thing or two about marketing. Be sure you know whom you’re selling to before you decide what to sell them.
Timing is Everything
July 10, 2009
Serindipidity - basically being in the right place at the right time - is a wonderful thing. But timing is everything, and sometimes events completely out of your control can have a profound impact on your life.
Starting on June 25, and continuing as I write this now, the airwaves are still dominated with stories, retrospectives, and allegations about Michael Jackson. I suppose this is fitting. After all, he was one of the major musical figures of my generation; his 1982 release Thriller is the best selling album of all time, having sold over 28 million copies; and, well, he was good!
Unfortunately, earlier the same day, another icon of the ’70s also died: Farrah Fawcett. She was in a collection of TV commercials, did a couple of guest spots on several shows, and is best known for her role as Jill Munroe on the hit series “Charles Angels.”
She also holds a record - her pinup poster sold over 12 million copies, and could be seen everywhere during the late ’70s.
But on June 25, 2009, because she happened to die on the same day as Michael Jackson, her entire legacy - the complete body of her work, including her outstanding performance in 1984’s “The Burning Bed” - was reduced to nothing more than a footnote in the media circus surrounding Jackson’s death.
Even Billy Mays - the near-screaming pitchman for “OxyClean” and “ShamWow!” who died just three days later got more press than did Fawcett.
Setting aside the tragedy of three people losing their lives and the impact on their respective families, there is an important lesson for us as marketers: make sure you’re not playing to a crowded field.
This means identifying and targeting specific niche markets, developing value-rich propositions, and presenting them when the target audience is most likely to be receptive.
It means recognizing your competitors’ fears about spending and taking advantage of a less-crowded media space to draw more attention to your offers.
And it means you have to truly understand the concept of timing as it applies to every aspect of your business. It may not be possible to control everything that happens in your environment, but to the extent possible, remember that “timing is everything” and make that knowledge work to your advantage.
Jon & Kate Plus 8…Minus 1
July 1, 2009
Focusing on benefits and not features is a critical skill most people still struggle with. You have to understand what’s important to your customers, clients, and members if you’re going to get any brand loyalty at all.
Earlier this week, I was presenting at a conference, and happened to glance at an issue of USA Today. On the front cover of the Life section was this headline: “It’s official: TV’s Jon and Kate have filed for divorce.”
As I was explaining to the group the difference between features and benefits, I pulled out the newspaper and read the headline out loud, and saw puzzled looks on the faces of most of the 200 people in the room. I asked how many of them knew who “Jon & Kate” were, and about 20 hands went up. When I asked how many people cared that they were getting divorced, one hand went up. One person out of 200.
(In case you don’t know who they are - I didn’t before seeing the article - Jon & Kate Gosselin are the parents of eight children: a set of twins and a set of sextuplets who have their own reality TV show.)
This whole story concerns me for two reasons. First that people can become famous and get their own TV show for having six kids in one shot, or for being rich (Paris Hilton’s “The Simple Life”) or for being promiscuous (”A Shot at Love”) - all extremely popular shows, by the way.
The second reason is that many people seem to get caught up in these shows, obsessing on other people’s realities while short changing their own. Don’t get me wrong, I watch TV, and you could question my own choices in programming. But I’ve overheard conversations where people just go on and on and on about what’s happening to the people in their favorite reality show, while completely neglecting the actual work they’re being paid to do, or even worse, underestimating what truly matters: their own lives.
The lessons here are important to achieving success in your own marketing. First, make sure that what you think is important is also important to your market. Don’t make assumptions for other people based on your particular viewpoint on a given issue. Remember, in most cases, you are not your customer.
Second, recognize that people do crave diversion and escape from their own realities. If you can provide this through your own products and services, you can tap into a marketing channel that most people completely miss.
You don’t have to be a reality TV star, but you can position yourself as a “rock star” in your own sphere of influence.
“Middle of the Road” Springsteen
June 4, 2009
Sometimes people have a tendency to wait for exactly the “right time” to do something - to launch a new product; to hire a new person; or even to take a vacation. But sometimes things don’t have to be absolutely perfect.
Bruce Springsteen played here in North Carolina last year. While I’ve seen him before, I didn’t make this particular concert because I was out of town. I did read David Menconi’s review in the local paper, though, and it contained an important message for all of us:
“Of course, every Springsteen show can’t help but conclude with triumph, thanks to ‘Born to Run,’ arguably the greatest encore song in classic-rock history. It wasn’t the best version of ‘Born to Run’ I’ve seen, or the best Springsteen show. In fact, I’d call it middle of the pack. But middle-of-the-pack Springsteen is still better than just about anything else out there.”
The same thing applies in your business: if you employ strong, proven marketing tactics - and do them with “middle of the road” quality - you’ll still be way ahead of the vast majority of people who insist on doing things the same tired old way they’ve done them for years.
Things don’t always have to be perfect - sometimes “good enough” is good enough. People spend far too much time making certain that every conceivable outcome in a marketing campaign is considered and addressed…to the point where they never launch the campaign or miss an important window of opportunity.
There’s a story you may have heard about two friends camping in the woods. Suddenly, they hear a rustling in the distance and see a bear starting towards them. One friend reaches into the tent, grabs his sneakers, and starts putting them on. The other friend says, “Are you crazy? You can’t outrun a bear!” To which the guy with the sneakers responds, “I don’t have to outrun the bear - I just have to outrun you!”
Put on your marketing sneakers and let someone else deal with the bear!
Cadillac Care
May 13, 2009
I returned last week from a fantastic full day of private consulting with a client in Illinois, and I have to say it was one of the sharpest groups I’ve worked with in a while. Not that the other groups are somehow mentally deficient, it’s just that this particular group had an almost innate grasp of the high-level marketing strategies I was presenting to help them grow their association.
One participant in particular, the owner of a private-duty nursing company, shared her strategy for placing their nurses in the homes of affluent elderly clients, with a program she called “Cadillac Care.”
These nurses also know how to cook, and provide a level of professional service that makes it possible for the company to charge premium prices for a premium service to people who can afford to pay for it.
Even the name of the service, “Cadillac Care,” shows a fantastic understanding of marketing concepts. It could have been called “Lexus Care” or “Mercedes Care” but this wouldn’t have been nearly as effective. (For extra credit, see if you can guess why - e-mail me your answer and I’ll pick a winner at random who will receive a 20-minute private consulting call!)
Virtually every business has the opportunity to develop a product or service targeted at an affluent market segment that’s not affected by the slow economy. Doing this can add a steady and reliable stream of income that others in your market are missing. Can you find this hidden money?
Lahaina Strikes Again!
May 13, 2009
Most business owners and salespeople seem content to sit back, complain, and rattle off an endless stream of reasons why business is slow…while they continue to work in exactly the same manner they did when the economy was strong - or worse still, sit around and wait for business to come to them.
This second strategy is unreliable even in the best of circumstances, and downright foolish in today’s economy. And yet you see it in use constantly. We certainly do…with one notable and recent exception.
First a quick bit of background. Lorie and I like Asian art. In fact, we like Asian food, Asian culture, and, of course, Asian martial arts. We joke that if there’s such a thing as “previous lives” then we were both certainly Japanese during the samurai period.
One of our favorite artists is Hisashi Otsuka. Lorie bought me a framed poster of one of his pieces as a wedding present nearly 25 years ago. We’ve since bought two prints of his that grace our living room.
So it came as a pleasant surprise when Lorie got a call from Mike Summers last week. Mike works at Lahaina Galleries, the company that represents Otsuka and many other prominent artists. Based in Hawaii, Lahaina Galleries has locations in Maui and on the Big Island, in San Francisco and Newport Beach, California, and in Bend, Oregon.
Mike called to let us know about a new release by Otsuka we might be interested in, and to tell us about an October event they’re having at the San Francisco gallery called “I Found My Art in San Francisco” - a play on words on the classic Tony Bennett Song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
As a bonus, they’re hoping to have Otsuka at the gallery for the event, which would be a real treat since I’ve never met him before.
There are three extremely important things Mr. Summers did, and I’m hoping you’ve already picked up on at least two of them:
1. He contacted previous customers - We’re not big-time art collectors. In fact, the two Otsuka prints and one poster we own make up our entire collection. But we did buy two of them, the most recent one a little over a year ago. So in addition to sending us periodic e-mails and print newsletters (hey, there’s a bonus strategy for you!) he reached out and presented us with an additional opportunity to acquire a third piece from the artist.
When was the last time you got in touch with past customers?
2. He called - The personal touch of reaching out and talking to us personally is something that’s not done quite enough, particularly with people who’ve suddenly and mysteriously stopped buying from you.
Do you call regular or lost customers with special information and updates?
3. He took initiative - I’ve never met Mike Summers. He didn’t sell us the recent print we bought, and he certainly didn’t sell us the first one we bought back in 1995. For all I know, he could have been seven years old back then. What he did do was compile a list of the gallery’s customers, call to introduce himself, and offer something of interest (the October event) to get our attention. This took a lot of time and effort, and was certainly more difficult than sitting on his butt in an empty gallery, complaining about how bad the economy is, while waiting for buyers to walk in off the street.
What creative, innovative, and proactive strategies are you using to get new business?
With no clear end in sight to this economic downturn, you simply can’t rely on previously successful strategies or simple good fortune to see you through - you need to develop a new mindset and a different approach that will seem like a “work of art” to your customers, clients, and members.
