(by pulpolux)
Imagine walking into a bookstore. You walk to a shelf, find the book you were thinking about buying, take it to the counter, pay, and then leave. When you get home, you read the book, appreciate what it had to say, and then you put the book on your shelf. You feel better for having read the book.
Now, imagine being in the bookstore, finding that book on the shelf, and then seeing a note stuck to the cover of the book: “Are you interested in this? Let’s talk about this book! There’s a group of us meeting whenever it’s convenient for you.” You take the book to the counter, and the cashier says, “Oh, I’m glad you’re buying this. Did you know his former student wrote a book that contradicts what he says? It’s fascinating to read the two books together.” You decide to get that book, too. When you get home, there’s a postcard in the mail saying, “We’re so glad you bought that book. If you feel like talking about it, send your thoughts and feelings about it here.”
In both cases, the same product was selected, purchased, and consumed. In the second case, there were all kinds of additional services and attempts at community wrapped around the very experience of making something as simple as a book purchase. By the way, Amazon.com does everything I mentioned in the second solution and more.
Create “Experience Packages”
A friend of mine wants to start a scrapbooking retail oepration. I think this is admirable, and yet, I want to add more to the base concept. I want her to host scrapbooking “slams,” where everyone agrees to meet at a mall food court and gets together for an hour of group scrapbooking. She can provide all kinds of resources, and the scrapbooking people can interact, share, and perhaps generate even more revenue. I think the scrapbooking retail website should include a monthly project, complete with the kit to create such a project. “May is ‘Spring Antics’ month. Take some great memories of your family experiencing spring and put them on these beautiful pages from Rothman Papers.”
Social, not Just Social Software
Web 2.0 is touted as being the revolution for social software and social networking applications. At the very baseline of this is the understanding that people want to reach out, to extend the experience of their interests beyond rigid borders. Why does Flickr work? Because they invite groups, mutual tagging of pictures, an ability to mark something interesting. It’s all social.
Regular, street-level products and services have opportunities hidden within them to be social experiences. Food lends itself easily to this. Starbucks, for example, convinces people to pay $4.00 for something that costs about $0.08 to make, and they convince you to stick around by playing music, offering you nice furniture, providing things to read and browse.
If I sold wine, I’d host wine tastings. If I ran a movie theater, I’d pitch theme nights right in there with my primary screen events. Not to get more money, but because it would stretch the experience for users, and it would make people remember the event more. Creating memories is almost always a value-enhancer.
Experience Packages and You
I wrote about creating a memory before, referencing a great book by John Maxwell. I believe there are lots of use cases for creating experience packages. Some, on the more personal or 1-to-1 level, are more in the vein of creating memories. I think experience packages are just ways to create a memory on a larger level, or for products.
Lots of people are considering small businesses for themselves. It seems to me like this is the age of the entrepreneur. I believe that if you’re considering creating your own business, that you should consider creating experience packages instead of just products or services.
Are you starting a mobile car wash? Why not host special “parking lot party” events, where you get a local band to supply music, and local business owners to show up (as if by magic) with samples of their new corn chowder and their lemonade? Have your jewelry business grow by hosting small, intimate parties, with wine and a few simple snacks, and show your pieces by candlelight with soft music playing in the background. Tupperware and Mary Kaye don’t own the market on home parties.
How could you turn your product or service into an experience package?
tags: entrepreneur,business,experience,design,
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