Prevential » Seth Godin

How Bloggers Helped Brewdog Increase Sales Substantially

J D — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:43:46 +0000

Have you heard of the Brewdog brewing company? They are a micro Scottish brewery who had a tough time selling locally because people grew up with other lager. So, they connected with American and Swedish beer enthusiasts who appreciated foreign beer. They contacted the top beer bloggers in each country and sent them free samples. As a result, their beer orders took off and now exports account for 80% of their business.

Isn’t this an extraordinary success story? They reached out to bloggers and grew their business substantially. What company would shy away from these results?

Ignorant companies, that’s who, but you’re different. You are reading Prevential.com and our main goal is to show you how you can grow your business. In the remaining part of this article, I will show you what you can learn from Brewdog’s success.

Talk to Your Customers

Brewdog used video to talk to their customers. They filmed the staff arguing about the virtues of different beers and then let them vote on how it would taste. They called it “Beer Rocks” and it was a huge success since it was the world’s first democratically designed beer. Now, do you know the best part? All it cost was a few hours filming and the price of a video camera.

This promotion worked well because it added a personal touch to a distant company. As I mentioned in the Mom & Pop Advantage, customers today yearn for this personal touch and this leads me to my next big point.

Let Your Customers Decide

How many of you remember the origin of the Blue M&M? For those of you that don’t, Mars let their customers vote on either Blue, Pink, or Purple M&Ms by calling 1-800 FUN COLOR and Blue won. The people who voted for blue felt like they made a difference and probably continued eating M&Ms because they had a personal investment in the product.

Brewdog’s “Beer Rocks” campaign was similar. They let their customers vote and to no surprise, it created lots of buzz. So, if you’re looking to introduce or change your product, you should let your customers have some input. It will give your customers a personal investment in your product and it will help you avoid travesties like “New Coke.”

Make Your Customers Feel Special

If you take a look at Brewdog’s website, they say “our beers are in no way commercial or mainstream.” That means, if you’re drinking their beer, you are part of the select few who have the privilege of drinking it. While subtle, it makes their customers feel special — it makes them feel like they’re part of a small Seth Godin-like Tribe. If you want your customers to feel part of a small and elite crew, sometimes you just need to tell them they’re already in it.

What Do You Think?

Now what do you think? Did Brewdog join the conversation the right way? Why don’t more companies take a page from their book and do the same?

How to Be a Novice and Join the Newly Successful

J D — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:14:58 +0000

Photo Courtesy of Mike Baird

Almost the entire world relies on experts. We listen to experts talking about our economy, our health, our businesses, and everything else. They say what can or can’t be done and why. They give their “expert” opinion and many people change their life because of it. We blindly follow these opinionated experts and I’m here to say it makes no sense.

We cherish the “wisdom” and “insight” of the experts, yet they are usually wrong. Do you remember when the mainstream media experts considered blogging a joke? They considered it unprofessional, biased, and just plain amateur. Now, they’re tripping over themselves to participate in what the novices started.

Novices are changing the world and the old-school experts don’t know what to do about it. So, are you ready to join us on the fringes?

Novices and New Success

Novices are becoming more successful and have more influence. They are going to further change traditional business and there is nothing people can do about it. The internet and blogging gives everyone a voice and if you’re not participating, good! They don’t want to use your success for their gain anyway.

Now, change every “they” above to “we” because we are going to fuel this change and become the new success.

We change the way people think because we have innovative / non-conventional ideas. While we don’t have years of experience, we don’t have what Chip and Dan Heath call the “curse of knowledge.” We are not stuck in our ways and we are dying to find new ways of doing business.

But what can we do to become successful novices? How can we join the revolution?

Challenge the Experts

If you are looking to become successful, you need to do exactly what the experts say can’t be done. Just find out what they think is impossible and do it.

Seth Godin, Chris Sharma, and Rock Climbing

When I was reading Seth Godin’s Tribes, he talked about rock climbing. The right way to climb rocks was by keeping two limbs on the wall at anytime. It was safe, accepted, and supposedly the right way to do it.

At least that’s what all the experts said.

Then, a man named Chris Sharma changed the way people climbed rocks. Instead of holding onto the wall, he jumps. Impossible rock formations became possible. Just imagine if he listened to the experts.

Comic Books and Business Plans

One of my friends had to write a business plan for a college class. He chose to write one for a comic shop and presented it to a panel of experts. They said it would never work.

Take a guess what happened.

He used the business plan, started the comic book shop, and has ran it for the past 15 years. Just imagine if he listened to the experts.

Blogging and My Success

When I started blogging, I came across opposition from many family members. They didn’t understand the internet or blogging and pushed for me to “get a real job.” They thought I was avoiding reality, but let me tell you that they sure are kicking themselves right now.

Almost everything I have right now I attribute to blogging. I bought a nice co-op with blogging money, I pay my bills with blogging money, and pretty much everything I own is a result of blogging money. Just imagine if I listened to the experts. I would have nothing.

The point is that once you get used to challenging the experts, there is nothing that can stop you. It does not matter what you do because you will be looking at the impossible and trying to solve it. You may fail along the way, but at least you’re trying and if you keep trying, you will join the newly successful.

Accept Novice Fear

Doing something new can be frightening, but it is essential to join the newly successful.

Worst Case Scenario

Just think about the worst case scenario. What would happen if you challenge what people believe to be true? What would happen if you take a stance and hold your ground? Do you really risk anything other than being guilty of expressing what you believe?

Absolutely not.

You can only wear another man’s costume for so long before you want to break free and express yourself. So, why torture yourself?

Best Case Scenario

Now, just think about the best case scenario. How would you feel if you change the world? How would you deal with the success associated with proving the impossible possible?

In a world where we have billions of people there are others who feel the same way you do. Luckily, we have the internet and you can find these people. If you are putting yourself out there and working to change the accepted norms, you will build a following. This applies to business owners, large corporations, and people since it does not matter if you’re writing a blog, selling cars, or drudging away in an office because if you are doing what you feel, you will be happy and other people will find you.

So, what I am trying to say is, you have nothing to be scared of. There are people out there just like you, or, who think the same way you do and will absolutely love what you have to say, sell, or do.

Do Something (anything)

If you aren’t doing anything, you might as well be doing nothing. If you’re not looking for a way to change or differentiate, you are sitting on a growth plateau and you will remain there forever. If you want to join the new success you need to be doing something new and making it your life.

Don’t get me wrong. You can keep a corporate job and still do something new. There are 24 hours in a day and you really don’t have to watch the news or American Idol. You need to use your time wisely and accomplish something. You need to stop being busy and start being productive.

But what can you start doing?

You can start a blog
You can start recording videos to Youtube
You can start reading books
You can start writing books
You can start reading blogs
You can start commenting on blogs
You can start selling your junk on eBay
You can start tutoring people
You can start teaching people
You can start learning to do your job better
You can start reading Prevential.com regularly
You can e-mail your favorite writers

The bottom line is you can do anything. Just start doing it, commit yourself to it, and adapt along the way because your big ideas are meaningless without action.

Start Today

You are extremely lucky to be reading this article because that means you are part of the minority. You are here looking up how to join the newly successful, which means you’re 100 steps ahead of the rest of the population. As a matter of fact, I am so happy that you are here reading this that you should e-mail me right now because I will help you get started today.

Just remember, you can’t start Step 2 until you complete Step 1. So, get to it.

Learn Exactly How Restaurant Mints Will Impress Your Readers and Everybody Else Too

J D — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:08:15 +0000

Have you ever noticed that when you leave a restaurant there is always a bowl of mints near the exit? From low-class diners, to high-end eateries, restaurant owners are giving away free mints. They give their patrons decent meals and send them off with a little something extra for the road.

It feels great. That just-brushed clean feeling puts a huge smile on your face as you leave the restaurant, and there my fellow friends and professionals, lies the rub.

The food may not have been amazing, but you left feeling great. You might even go back to that restaurant to try to duplicate that feeling. The restaurant owner knows this, so he will continue to give out free mints for the road.

Well, blogging and consulting is no different. Your success is directly dependent on how you make people feel.

Feeling Great

When I started blogging back in 2005, I scoured the internet for resources on how to make money online. I came across ebooks like The Rich Jerk (a complete scam), Digital Point, and Problogger. I fell in love with Problogger because every one of his articles gave me a specific action to implement on my blog. And, within six months, I was earning good money on the internet.

Now, do you want to know the morale of the story?

Here I am, nearly three years later, talking about those action items Darren gave me. I don’t remember his writing, I don’t remember his analogies, and I don’t remember his action items, but I remember he helped me succeed and it felt great.

Tip: Focus on giving your readers something they can take home with them (a mint maybe?)

Feeling Frustrated

The new growing trend in the internet marketing world is pop-up subscription boxes. Sure, they convert great, but are they really the people you want subscribing to your site?

Probably not.

The people who subscribe are probably looking for free stuff and moving on to the next website that will offer them more free stuff. This isn’t true “Permission Marketing,” a la Seth Godin. It’s tricking people who wouldn’t ordinarily subscribe into subscribing to your website.

Do you know what also happens? People like me and Leo Babauta are immediately turned off by these subscription boxes because it ruins the user-experience. It gives us an upset stomach before we eat our meal.

Tip: Make us feel great, and we’ll remember you forever. Make us feel terrible and you’ll have to work extremely hard to get us back. After all, you wouldn’t ask one of your restaurant patrons to lick a bar of soap on the way out.

The Bottom line

Your content may be mediocre, your analogies may be below par, and your sentence structure may need work, but if you give your readers or clients a mint to make them feel great, they will come back for more and consistently talk about you, your blog, and your company.

Bonus: Have you seen the main characteristic of successful bloggers? Well, it’s not happiness. It’s discontent.

Why People Buy Anything

J D — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:55:15 +0000

This article is the 1st article in the Sales Training 101 article series.

Photo Courtesy of Volpelino

“Create value and people will buy.” It makes sense. Right?

Unfortunately, I don’t understand jargon like “create value.”

Do people really buy because the product “created value?”

Personally, I never went to a store and thought to myself, “Wow, this product really creates value. I need to buy it.” Quite frankly, I don’t know why I buy anything.

In the past 12 months, I bought two iPhones (1st generation and 2nd generation) and two computers (Mac Pro and a Macbook Air).

I didn’t need the stuff, but I bought it.

So, what are the main reasons why people buy? What makes someone like me buy 2 iPhones and 2 computers in the past 12 months?

The answers are much more simple than you think and successful people need to know them.

Community is Why People Buy

Have you ever walked through the office and had someone say “nice shirt?” Well, I bet the person who said “nice shirt” was wearing a similar shirt.

Or, have you ever been riding your Harley Davidson down the street and someone else on another Harley waved to you? Of course. You’re both HOGs (Harley Owner Group).

People are social creatures and they love to be a part of something – a community, a lifestyle, a Seth Godin Tribe. It doesn’t matter what you call it as long as people feel they are a part of something bigger.

Tip: you should create a community around your product or vision.

Scarcity is Why People Buy

Just imagine if you wanted to attend a training conference that only allowed 100 people to attend, but you forgot to buy your ticket in advance.

Luckily, when you checked eBay you saw there is one, and only one, ticket for sale.

Perfect!

The conference, which allows 100, has one ticket available and it is on eBay. You would be constantly refreshing that eBay auction and bidding on that ticket until you won it.

Not only is it the last one, but you want to be one of those 100 people.

Now ask yourself, what if 95 tickets were available for sale on eBay? Would you still be as excited?

Probably not.

There is no reason for a 100 person limit for a conference that has 5 attendees. Since the aura of scarcity no longer exists, people may lose excitement.

Tip: you should create a sense of scarcity around your product or idea.

Recognition is Why People Buy

Do you know one of the main reasons why people complain about work?

They feel unappreciated.

They drudge through their projects and finish them before the deadline, but they almost never receive a pat on the back and a compliment like “good job.” Instead, they’re given the next project and a new deadline.

The same applies to why people buy.

People buy products because they’re looking for recognition. They want to be recognized wearing the hottest new clothes and carrying the most technologically advanced phone. They want people to notice them.

Tip: you should create a sense of recognition around your product and your idea. Just look at what Seth Godin did when he launched his new book, Tribes. He included a picture of each person who joined the Triiibes community on the inside of the cover jacket. People were ecstatic.

Prestige is Why People Buy

Why do people buy luxury items? Just why would someone spend $5,000 on a watch that tells the same time as a $30 watch?

The quality of time doesn’t change, the features are the same, and both watches run on batteries. Yet, there is a significant price difference.

The $5,000 watch carries an aura of prestige, whereas the $30 watch is just plain cheap.

However, prestige is not just about price.

You may remember how Steve Jobs lured Pepsi’s CEO, John Sculley, from Pepsi back in the day. Steve said, “Do you want to sell sugar water the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?”

Do I even need to ask you what you think sounds more prestigious?

Tip: you should create an aura of prestige around your product or idea. Just be aware, prestige does not come from price, it’s created by positioning.

Needs is Why People Buy

When I started working on the internet, I was working from home while sitting on a cheap and uncomfortable chair from Staples and using a small monitor, which strained my eyes.

After talking to Chris Pearson, he said something that completely changed the way I thought about my home office: “Derek, if you’re going to be working on the internet, you may as well do it with the right equipment.”

He was right.

He convinced me to buy a Herman Miller Aeron chair and a 30″ Apple Cinema display. He made me feel like I needed it to be successful.

Tip: you should create an idea or product that people need. Once people feel they need it, they will be your number one supporter. For example, have you seen Apple’s new Iphone Your Life campaign? They are relating the Apple Iphone to every aspect of life so people feel they need it.

The Bottom Line

While I can’t define “create value,” these five reasons why people buy, will help you craft your personal and business brand so that you tap into people’s desires.

What Do You Think?

Why do you think people buy? Please leave a comment.