Free Prize Inside
Seth Godin, one of my favorite business authors, discusses company growth through innovation in his book “Free Prize Inside”. I dived into the book this past weekend wondering how his concepts would apply to small pet businesses everywhere. Here is what I learned after finishing the book.
Smaller pet businesses have more flexibility to tailor products and services to their customers due to their size. Using this strength, coupled with soft innovation and edgecraft, these businesses can set themselves apart from the competition while strengthening their positioning within the marketplace. How? By utilizing Godin’s soft innovation and edgecraft concepts.
What is “Soft Innovation”?
A soft innovation is a small change to your product or service that would persuade your customers to buy more. Think about your product or service. Is there something that you can offer to your customers that would make their experience better? Can you add a feature to your product? This sort of innovation is called “A Free Prize” by Godin because of the revenue associated with the innovation is far greater than the cost of implementing it. Now you may be asking yourself, “How do I discover a soft innovation?”
Innovate Through Edgecraft
Edgecraft is the process of strenghtening your product or service by slightly changing it to fit your customer’s needs better. The best way to practice edgecraft, according to Godin, is to push the concept as far as you can take it. For example, you’re a vet that specializes in cats and your customers complain that there is no local retailer that carries products to combat hairballs. You may consider providing product(s) that address this issue in a small retail section of your lobby in addition to a brushing service. These additional services and product ideas may set you further apart from your local competitors and strengthen your position within the local marketplace. You want to be noticed so people will talk about your service and recommend you to prospects.
Still confused? Here’s a four step program for Edgecraft:
- Find a product or service that’s completely unrelated to your industry. (Also called benchmarking.)
- Figure out who’s winning by being remarkable.
- Discover which ‘edge” they went to.
- Do that in your own industry.
About the Author Dara is a brand identity and marketing design strategist at 7 Lucky Dogs, a leading consultancy in marketing to “pet parents”. Through customized marketing and brand identity packages, 7 Lucky Dogs helps you discover what makes your company, product or service different from your competitors. We then translate this differentiation visually into a logo, product packaging, an E-commerce site and promotional materials to reflect those unique attributes. We make our clients look credible and memorable to their prospects while they increase their bottom line. As the owner of 7 Lucky Dogs, Dara is passionate about helping independent pet businesses stand out in front of their competitors and attract more clients. She blends business smarts with creativity with over 13 years of design experience with formal education in both graphic design and marketing.
