Does the Electric Car Need to Be ,000?
I posed this question on my Facebook wall today with a Ho-Hum from most but I did elicit a few responses. One was this, I am paraphrasing:
“Odd question, markets are determined by demand and there will be people there to by this car…”
I think that my friend is right, but only partially right.
I think a little background is necessary. It would probably help if you read the story here about GM’s most recent announcement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705834_pf.html
Interestingly, it depends on a $7,500 government tax credit (we can get into the mertis of that another time, but I am supportive..somewhat) and fuel economy.
Here is the key and the thing that does not make sense to me, if you read the Washington Post story:
“The Volt can travel 40 miles on its battery charge and an additional 340 miles on a gasoline-powered generator. The all-electric Leaf has a range of 100 miles.”
So in other words, you really don’t have an electric car. You have a glorified, more advanced Hybrid. It is what the authors in “Start Up Nation”pointed out is a mermaid. You have gas and electric, and therefore only have half of an electric car.
And so here is what is wrong with the economics. In the United States, we do not yet have an electricity grid to support a charge, so you are constrained to go any farther than 40 miles. Then you have to switch over to gas if you want to go farther or hope that the grid will eventually support it. The Volt, is part of the way there, but not yet ready for prime time.
I should not “hate” on it though. They are trying.
The point that my friend made was that people are going to buy it anyway. And that is exactly my problem. We are going to subsidize this inefficiency and we could doom ourselves in this new era of automobiles to the one that we have had for the last 5 decades. We pay more for cars that don’t work as well as foreign ones do, and we (Americans) do it willingly.
But we didn’t always know better. And there has not always been an internet. So can it be that people who “know better” will opt out of this experience, that does not necessarily save them any money? What happens if Leaf decides to test the market here with their car that is totally electric, going farther on a charge?
So I say again, does this car need to be $41.000 if the technology that is of value to me is inferior?
What then is the lesson here to new era entrepreneurs, executives and solo-preneuers. The point of putting a product on the market is not is value to you or your company. What matters is the value to the buying customer. You have an obligation to go beyond your current supply structure to re-create it if you have to, in order to provide things and services that matter to them….not you.
Building a product to “protect one’s investment” is short sighted, ole economy and worst…a job killer in the long run. It is worth a read about:
The Life Cycle of the Community Leader of a Membership Site – Part One
One of my heroes in life is Bill Hybels, the Senior Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church and founder of the Willow Creek Association who puts on a conference that I attend most years. I could probably tell you quite a bit about why I do a but one thing you have to say about him is that he thinks about church and communicates it in ways that are unoffensive to my brain. But that is not why I am introducing him to you.
He typically gives the keynotes at the conference that I mentioned to you. And in 2006, he gave a keynote entitled: “The Life Cycle of a Leader”. What he did was trace the life patterns and trajectory of church leaders and biblical characters. Again, that is only background. It caused me to think about the life cycle of an online community or at the very least the life cycle of its leadership. It is interesting because so much of what we do for online communities in marketing centers around the individual who starts the community or membership site.
It is important to note that membership sites or online communities for marketing or profitable purposes start off at different stages. Some start as the result of a product or service. In other words, you and I are “enthusiasts” about a certain product and join a membership where we can share tips, tricks and practices. Some start as the product. In other words, you and I join a membership where we get cutting edge information on a topic that we are concerned about (typically a problem we are trying to solve).
Some are part of the product and continue on long after the product has been completed. In other words, you and I buy a marketing course, we are no longer engaged in the method but we continue on in the learning that is done with the group through the relationships we have formed over time.
None of those differences or categorizations would cause these principles to change. In effect, we assume that the product that you are making is worth having a community to talk about it. We assume that the information that you are sharing is worth building a group to talk about its nuances. This is not an essay about how to create products. There are enough courses out there to help you to do that.
That said–it goes without saying that if your product has neither sizzle nor steak, you need to go back to the drawing board before you decide to tack on a community as a gimmick. I think that is why some marketers get rid of communities because people will get together and run you down online if your product or service is not up to part. It is easier to create another product than to support a community that is built around a product you created.
But I think that you can see the logic that this leaves so much money on the table; due to the fact that you miss the opportunity to create evangelists (okay enough with the religious imagery..I know…) who will end your need to “create” social proof. It is the secret weapon to circumventing the new FTC regulations on testimonials without violating the letter or spirit of the law. Apart from that, how do we profit from these “soft” or qualitative factors–or the life cycle of a community and/or its leader.
A community leader or product creator, when they create their forum or community must enter with “white hot” passion. It really should be evident (now that the person is on the inside and that you have made the sale) that you are ‘geeked’ about the method or solution you are presenting. This really is the cornerstone and foundation of the community. The passionate belief of the leader, at the Genesis of the community, is necessary and can actually overcome technical problems with your products.
At the outset, if you are going to experience the long term profitable benefits of a community built around your ideas, your product or your service, you have to be passionate about the product, the people and the process. Most importantly,you want your work to build on itself and cause the community to work for you. When the community works for you; voluntarily–I might add, you will not have to “do a launch” as we know them. The profit is generated perpetually on (hard) work you did one time.
In other words, we call them the Six P’s of Marketing Using Online Communities:
1.) Passion
2.) People
3.) Product
4.) Process
5.) Profit
6.) Perpetually
What passion does is that is safeguards against putting together information products that are…just…plain…bad. In other words, one thing I look for is whether a not a person has a user forum because typically if they do; they know the method is going to work for others. They know that the way it has been put together can help others to be successful executing it. When there is no forum, it is usually an indication that a product, ebook or method may work but that the person who created isn’t necessarily passionate about me.
That does not mean that they will not sell copies or memberships; it probably means that they are leaving money on the table for future sales. long time loyalty and evangelistic ferver from customers or clients. One way that a forum takes on life at its beginning, when sales are coming in is that the owner or the creator is there with tips and tricks on how to make it all work. He or she gives not only because it is good marketing to do so, but also because they are excited about the possibilities for the buyer.
So, if you are going to start a membership site:
1.) Make sure you are ‘visible”,
2.) Make sure your excitement is evident
3.) Demonstrate the benefits of taking action (don’t rely soley on your past action–demonstrate new actions)
4.) Always work on your next upgrade and transformation
Well that is enough for today. We will pick up at Part II where we will discuss the next stage of the life cycle and the 2nd “P” of marketing with online communities.
CT
How To Sell Things To My Wife (Hint)–In Her Quilting Community
My wife is pretty frugal, and she would be the first to tell you that she grew into it. She didn’t necessarily come into our friendship (and subsequently our marriage) that way. But she grew into it. That means that it has become habit for her and she is unlikely to change. She is not all that susceptible to impulse buying (save Chicago food/fare) and really does know how to make her dollar go far.
She is also a blogger and has a quilting blog on Blogger.com, called Lively Stitches, and has been working on it and at it for quite a while; probably for the last two years. Up until this weekend, she had a fair following of 20 – 25 which was not bad for somebody who has done it part time over the last few years. If you notice the blog, yes it is very colorful and relevant to it subject matter of quilting. But that is not where the lesson is for marketers.
Because she reached 25 followers last week, she said that it was customary to do a “giveaway” of something quilting related. Interestingly, she did not learn this from a “Blogging for Big Dollars” course or e-book. She learned it by participating and commenting on other people’s quilting blogs. She did in on her way to chronicling and learning about quilting. When I asked her, “why 25?” She said, it really doesn’t matter what you do, you just have to make sure that you do it in a certain way.
So last week was about celebrating with those who read her blog that she had reached a milestone.
“Celebration”, “Milestone, “Community”
A community has rules and has an order even though no one is “in charge” of it necessarily. The quilting community is passionate about what they do and their craft, and they would smell a marketer a mile away. No, if you are going to market long term and effectively, you have to do it from the inside. My wife has been working at this for about two years and in one day doubled her “following”.
That following produced additional traffic and bookmarking to her Etsy Shop,which heretofore, had been a ghost town. There has not been a day that has gone by that there has not been a fabric sale (Go Wifey Go!). Now, here is the lesson in that. Without trying to market anything, simply becoming and insider she is slowly become a likable figure in the quilting community.
The lesson is this. Community matters. Authenticity matters, but you can hardly get it (in the long run) without the credibility of the community. Information marketing does not have to be a transient trade unless you choose to look at it that way. What you are monetizing within community is credibility. And if you can do that, you have equity and you will not have to stress over customers. Here is the interesting thing that I have learned about quilters. They will pay a little more to buy from somebody within the community. They will drive a little farther to their local quilt shop.
Community matters.
The more your marketing communicates the inside perspective…the community perspective, you will have credibility. The question in any niche is how does one authentically become part of a community. It has been said that search engines have a preference toward authority sites. People think that is because they are big. I don’t think that is it. The indicate that you don’t have your focus all over the place. You are not only an expert but you are a participant. That provides value to your customer.
That is the way it should be.
Marketing Immersion
In working with an Economics course I am teaching with MBA students, we have been talking about how strategy and metrics have changed in the information age versus the industrial age. That said, I think that most of us are using information age tools, but we are using them in an industrial age way: one dimensional, and thus sometimes we are missing the long view. I mentioned the economics course, because they are networking to figure out how to get themselves involved in the electric car industry. Wisely, the are considering purchasing the stock of Telsa who just launched their IPO this week.
Interestingly, one of the things that buying a share of stock typically allows you to do is to go to the shareholder’s meeting of any publicly traded company. I really like that because as an information marketer; I can’t think of a better way of immersing yourself into a niche: buying the stock and going to a shareholder’s meeting. That really puts you on the inside of the company in a way that allows you to be a real asset to the person coming to your page. You are immersing yourself, as close as you can get to the community surrounding the niche.
Again, the closer one gets to the community of activity, the closer to heart of what matters to people you get. Of course, I need to test this theory. I am not sure who has a product or service where I can attend the shareholder’s meeting but, I think I would like to try to figure it out. What does the community say about what I am providing information about to the internet public?
Another way to accomplish this immersion, of course, is to purchase the trade publications in the niche where you are working. The trade publications will give you an idea of what to look for and what the community in that niche is saying. If at all possible, you should find some way to participate in that niche by perhaps writing or editing a publication for them in your field of expertise. The research you gather to be authentic and community based and again give you a context to present valuable information to your readers.
In sum, here is my theory:
Information Marketers can immerse themselves into a niche, by purchasing a share of stock and attending a shareholder’s meeting. Then as they write and put together and market information; they will do so from a community perspective and be valuable to their site visitor.
Kelly Felix and Mike Long talk about this in their internet marketing course: “Bring the Fresh”. They have made a fortune from niche websites and they have done so by becoming ‘insiders’. Kelly got personally involved in his niche and it flavored his work on a blog that still provides good information to his visitors with a profitable reward to him.
That is the way it should be.
I have a difficult time joining a community for the sake of extracting information from it. I have no problem purchasing stock in the niche that I am working in and getting personally involved from that perspective.
That too is the way it should be.
What is the End Goal of All Good Marketing?
In short, the end goal of all good marketing is community.
That does not necessarily mean Facebook marketing or twitter marketing. I think the popular term now is Social Media Marketing. Candidly, those things facilitate community (sometimes), they do not make a community. And as marketers, we cannot be married to the form; but we had better get used to being married to the substance.
What is meant when we say, that the end goal of all good marketing is community? Isn’t profit enough. Isn’t cash flow desirable? The answer of course is yes to both. But the fact of the matter is that you may not have accomplished what you want if you to not have rabid raving fans who talk to their friends about you. It is really that simple. Direct response marketing, will die a very slow and painful death, but die it will.
Marketers will have to work to establish trust for the first purchase, but if they want the second and third purchase; thy are going to have to cause conversations to happen when they are not present. In other words, the conversations that matter are not the ones that you have on your “suggestions for improvement” facebook page (even though those are quite helpful). They will be conversations that people have on their page, when you are not there.
When Seth Godin talks about being a purple cow, he is talking about more than “being different”. He is talking about carving out a space in the client’s brain that you occupy. In order to do that, y0u have to be extraordinary…sort of like a purple cow.
I am not even sure we are talking about you starting a membership website (even though this can be quite profitable and mimic what I am talking about). While the membership site can create community it does not have to and the things that you and I do to keep people there will not keep them there long. The reason that I say that is because at the rate that information travels and is disseminated, you no longer have a lock on knowledge. In other words, if you think that your subscribers are going to stay (and pay) because they cannot get this information anyplace else, your days as a leader are likely to be numbered.
There is something more fundamental about community, that once you achieve it; you stop worrying over product launch tactics. You worry over making sure that you have high quality and high value. As a matter of fact, you don’t really even worry much about price.
So what do you see as an information marketer? Is your vision to see a community around your thought, y0ur idea, your method? If not, you may be profitable, but you are probably missing a long term opportunity and you are leaving some future monies on the table. You are probably also missing forced authentic development that takes place when you seek to provide high quality value to those you are marketing to.
My challenge to you is that you begin as leaders, information marketers and internet marketers that you seek something more. That you seek to cause long term empowerment and growth in those who purchase your information. This is probably going to be anti-direct response and a little Pollyannish, but the trends say that all of business is going this way. And you need to move this way if you are going to go with it.