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For some, the term creative emulation means copying, so I guess that’s what I’m talking about. But, I’m not talking about copying, like stealing, no, I’m talking about the kind that takes a much greater amount of creativity.
Some of the best marketing innovations I have witnessed came about by some smart marketer emulating a concept long established in one industry and brining it over to another.
For example - happy hour. This is a long established practice in the bar business in an attempt to lure patrons during slower hours with cheap food and drink.
A flower shop could creatively emulate this with a Happy Hour Cash and Carry special during evening drive time luring those on their way home to pick up a quick bunch of flowers.
A plumber could offer happy hour pricing for appointments during specific slower days or day parts.
A personal trainer could put a healthy spin on the concept.
I’m sure an attorney specializing in DUI defense has already latched onto this concept somehow.
Or another example might be financing. Auto dealers, for example, are the kings of using financing deals as marketing messages.
I think more service businesses could and should offer creative financing - even if that simply means accepting credit card payments for services rendered. What if you took it up a notch and simply made payment plans part of your marketing message?
One more - affiliate sales forces. Online businesses and direct selling organizations pay thousands of sales folks through commission earned by promoting or recommending products and services to friends, site visitors and colleagues.
Could your business create an affiliate componant and use this as a method of differentiation in your industry? What, nobody in your industry does that? Perfect, you’ve found an avenue for innovation. There are a number of services that can help you create and track such an innovation. Check out e-junkie for one of the simpler online ones.
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This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at Jun 02, 08 | 6:18 am and is filed under Marketing Strategy, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
It’s a great point John. When I started my marketing firm, I used a lot of the methods I learned from recruiting to build products and gather data.
For the clients, what I did was absolutely unique and extraordinary, but any recruiter would have seen it as run of the mill. On the flip side, as I worked more and more with employment firms, I used basic marketing techniques, and again, they saw it as unique and eye-opening.
Since then, I continually look for ways to copy from one industry and apply it to the next. An example? Why, using recruiting sourcing tools to build a list of new business leads.
A recruiter wants to hire a Director of Operations in the Packaging industry. They source the names, and then call through to see who is interested. In the same way, a salesperson should use those tools to build the same list, but call for different reasons.
Great ideas to get small biz marketers thinking outside the box. I’ve already got some ideas running through my head that I can’t wait to try out! Will definitely be back to check out more of your blog. Thanks for the insightful info…
Even though creative emulation can be very effective if done carefully, I don’t really think it is truly a form of innovation. To me, a great innovation is a completely new idea which is a result of necessity.
John,
I’m glad you brought up affiliate marketing because I rarely see it talked about on internet marketing blogs and websites. It seems like it’s usually dismissed as a “get rich quick” type of scheme but there are many mainstream companies using affiliates (i.e on Commission Junction http://www.cj.com ).
Once I launch my business in about a month, after 6 months I want to explore using affiliate marketers to help my business reach more people and leverage relationships or websites that they may have.
Have you explored this avenue as a viable option for small businesses? Any ideas/conclusions?
Regards,
Matt
P.S. Duct Tape Marketing was the very first marketing book I bought when I started planning my new business. It’s been tremendously helpful! Thanks for all the knowledge and insight you’ve shared in the book and on this blog!
I am often on the receiving end for e-junkie and I agree with you that this is an easy to use service. I can pick up code easily and efficiently for all of the people I sell for, Payment has been wonderful
I am often on the receiving end of ejunkie.com as an affiliate representative. The system is truly easy to use and the payment smooth and efficient. I join you in the recommendation
Instead of calling it copying, how about “synthesis”. It has a snappy ring to it only merely means adaptive copying–i.e., copy a little here, a little there and putting the borrowed parts together. They say synthesis is he mother of invention … or at least borrowed inventions.
Dear John,
Your thoughts on innovation is quite ingenuous. I am the Marketing Director of a radio station in Nigeria, and I have used the drive time hour in my city {4pm to 6pm} to boost the revenue of the station by simply exposing my client’s ads to a large audience at cheaper rates. My blog deals with broadcast marketing issues. I will appreciate if you could visit and offer some professional advice. It quite new. Thanks
A favorite quotation of mine on leadership came from Peter Drucker who said “Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information. .” Many top managers in the United States need a refresher course on accountability.