Creating Valuable Free Prizes to Boost Success Chances

For those who have been part of my mailing list community and trackers of this blog for quite sometime now, I've always been a believer of giving away free stuff.

This reached the point that close friends were questioning my business model and how do I intend to survive with such method.

Of course, through the years, that free prize business model has refined and by experience, it really works especially when it is something valuable. Some of these includes:

• Free attendance, drinks, food, and raffle items to DigitalFilipino.com get togethers and networking events. If I recall correctly, I've organized 4 to 5 big ones held in venues like AIM Acceed and National Sports Grill in Manila. Have organized similar activities in Cebu City, Davao City, Zamboanga City, Tacloban City, Legaspi City, Virac Catanduanes, Cagayan De Oro City, among others. These activities were key in boosting the growth of the mailing list community and got sponsors some exposure as well.
• Free reports and presentation files
  
• Free e-learning lessons (e-books)
  

Giving the above for free, of course, consume resources but its long term effect are worth it. These activities also sets my offerings apart from those who are trying to do the same today.

However, not all free prizes are repeatable. Their relevance is dependent on the time it was given and what were the wants (rather than needs) of the target audience then.

I just finished reading the book Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin. I agree that ideas need to be cheaper to build and faster to market. This is why giving free e-learning lessons, such as the e-commerce workshop online at that time, came in handy as the offering can already be given while the materials are still being developed.

It also satisfied a lot of those who joined then that got them to refer the program to other folks. Some even forwarded the lessons that were sent through e-mail. This success led to the DigitalFilipino.com Club and publication of my 2nd book.

I created three more similar programs although the quality of work and time spent in building is not the same as the first one. As a result, the benefits that was hope to be gained was not realized.

But those that didn't work out should not stop people like us from creating new free prize innovations that can generate valuable long term results.

14 Challenges in Staying Remarkable

For those of us who have been in the online business for quite sometime, ideas do get dry out from time to time especially when failures have been encountered. Some are due to poor execution, others bad timing, or the market is simply not ready for the product or service.

In areas where we've done well, the pressure is on to launch something better and remarkable.

Seth Godin's Purple Cow was an enlightening book and gave interesting sights that I've been contemplating on lately. Some of them are:

1. Changing user or customer behaviors
   Whether we like it or not, some customers tend to outgrow their need for us.
   
   
2. Seth encourages product creators that instead of adjusting the product to fit to the user, change the user's behavior to make the product work better for them.
   
   • Invest in new products
     If a product's future is unlikely to be remarkable, accept that it is a dying product and invest in something new.
     
     
3. Can your product catch on?
   When you thought of an a new idea or product, consider:How easy is it to spread the idea?
1. How often will people pass it on to their friends?
2. Does the target market segment mingle or talk to each other?
   
3. Are they close?
4. Do they believe each other?
5. How reputable are the people who will spread the idea?
   
6. Is the idea a one-time spread or will it keep passing on?
   
   
4. Find the group that is most profitable
   Instead of targeting everyone, choose customers that can deliver the results you like and are able to spread your ideas.
   
   
5. Competition and underserved market
   List competitors who are differentiating themselves through their target market segments. Assess their impact to your niche. Consider launching a product that directly competes with what you are offering.
   
   
6. Lead by being different
   Explore ways where you can attain leadership by being different with what you do or offer.
   
   
7. Give marketing budget to designers.
   I'm thinking. If publishing 1000 books would cost P150,000, if I give that to designers who can launch something new and cool to compliment my site, what can possibly happen?
   
   
8. Measure for growth
   Whether an initiative works or not will depend if you regularly measure performance.
   
   
9. The opposite of remarkable is very good
   This is hard. It means I have to stop being contented by doing very good.
   
   
10. What can you do for customers that loves what you do?
    Taking care of existing customers can be a big challenge as some of us tend to get busy in getting new ones or we began taking them for granted.
    
    
11. Where does your product end and marketing hype begins?
    I think this is a double edged sword or for start-ups, either one gets compromised.
    
    
12. Make a truthful positioning slogan worth passing on.
    
    
13. Create a business card worth passing on.
    This includes having vital information at the back of it.
    
    
14. Do you want to grow? Have you test your product, service, market limits?