Google has built a business on it, Radiohead has made money from it – is the future of marketing about giving your product away free?
In a recent survey conducted with Paul Marsden, we identified that 70% of brand advocacy can be linked directly to how much a brand surprises and delights its customers – exceeds expectations.
So how do you surprise and delight your customers? Well you can follow the example of the car industry and add features. Do you remember what created the buzz when BMW re-launched Rolls Royce? It wasn’t the smooth ride or the top speed – it was that bloody umbrella in the rear door! You can also add streams of experiences as the fruit juice brand Innocent have done using their product labels, the Village Fetes, the woolly hatted CSR activities etc.
But there is something else you can do. Nothing will surprise your customers more than giving your product away free! Could the value of the eyeballs you bring to advertisers be worth more than the few pence you make from your pack of beans? Could the volume of people you bring to your free on-line insurance service offer a profitable platform to sell other higher margin products? Is this the future of marketing?
It’s an idea, isn’t it … and one I’ll give you for free!
[...] the concept of “Brand Butlers”. It originates from the knowledge that one of the best ways of surprising and delighting customers and getting them talking, is to give additional brand [...]