Are you using your buffalo?
Inventory — A customer in France made coated metal plates and, for quality control purposes, had to keep a large volume on hand in a warehouse. This tied up valuable working capital. We had the idea to use this as a rapid-turnaround stockpile. They could sell and ship material out of the warehouse for customer emergencies as a premium service — at a premium price!
People — A local company said they needed my help because “everyone was just sitting around” with their business levels so low. I saw this as under-utilized human capital. How could they put these people to use to connect to customers and discover un-met or under-served needs? Turn EVERYONE into a sales person? Study the competition?
Information — A client had developed a weekly email update to keep their salespeople on top of changing market conditions. A survey indicated their customers were hungry for the same type of information. Their email was turned into a premium information service to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. They leveraged information they already HAD to create a siginificant new customer benefit.
Services — I recently taught a class on recession marketing. The class content is now an asset, part of my “buffalo.” I turned some of the ideas into articles for my website and now, my blog. I promoted this content through online forums and social media. One article had more than 500 downloads in two days. These new contacts were added to my mailing list for further follow-up. The session was videotaped and edited into short topics for my website and YouTube.
How are you using the whole buffalo in your business?
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Comment Of The Week
From Paul Castain
"I’ve had this discussion many times and find myself feeling rather silly for referring to Social Media as being “spiritual”. But I too, stand by that description. The context I was using it in is the same as yours but I was driving at a different point. When we embrace social media and just spew information, we don’t interact and we shamelessly self promote, in many ways we are being disrespectful to the spirituality of the venue."[more]Welcome to {grow}
MARK W. SCHAEFER
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow. Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark
By Anonymous, May 22, 2009 @ 2:22 am
a different perspective. thought-provoking as always! — Sam Reynolds