Brainstorming a
New Business Concept
As I've said before, I like to mix concept development lessons in with real
life opportunity. I have a new one today for you to learn and possibly earn
from.
A few weeks ago some friends invited my wife and I to go with them to a
comedy club. As we were sitting at the table having a drink, our
conversation turned to a neon beer sign on the wall. I said if I ever built
a bar in my house I'd like to have a neon beer sign on the wall behind the
bar. My friend mentioned he just missed buying one at an auction for a
friend. A "Fosters Beer" one.
We have a friend in common whose last name is Foster and he just happens to
be finishing off his basement and he's putting in a bar. Then I started
thinking, wouldn't that be cool, having a neon beer sign at your bar, and
the name of the beer is the same as your last name. I'd like one. Then I
thought -- I bet a lot of people with bars would like a neon beer sign
featuring their last name. Maybe they wouldn't even need to have a bar to
want one. I know custom or personalized stuff is popular. Just think how
many people have personalized license plates on their car. Neon is also very
popular. I now realize I'm on-to a pretty good idea.
Then I remembered a mail order item from the sixties that made a guy a lot
of money. (know your MO history) He sold family crests and coat of arms
posters that hung on the wall -- by mailing to lists of people that shared
the same last name. The same basic concept as this idea. He'd pick a popular
last name, then got a list of everybody he could with the same last name. He
then had his product customized to that particular last name and sold it
like crazy. When that surname stopped making money he went to the next.
What if somebody was to offer neon beer signs customized with peoples last
names. You could easily get a mailing list of people selected by last name,
that have either shown an interest in personalized stuff, have bought bar
supplies, or beer making supplies. (There's other criteria you could look
for too)
Then send a personalized and limited time offer to these people. An offer
featuring a beautiful photo of the one and only beer sign that bares their
name. Showing how great it would look on their wall, behind their bar.
Wouldn't their friends be impressed, what a conversation piece.
The up-front costs to test the idea are also good. By concentrating on one
last name at time, you only need to design and make one sample sign in the
beginning to use for promotional photos. The template for making the sign
would be used over and over.
Your only other up-front costs for testing the idea is printing, mailing and
list rental. You may even be able to use one of those telephone book CD's to
develop a mailing list to test. The product is also unique enough to get
some free press.
My next thought goes to future sales, what to sell these people next. How
about their own six pack of beer. Bottles of beer with fancy labels
personalized with their name as the brewer. Or maybe personalized beer mugs,
or cocktail napkins. Maybe you could tie in a micro beer of the month
feature. Yep, plenty of options here.
So far so good. But what about having the signs made? Then I thought about
all the neon sign makers I've seen around town. I bet one or more of these
artists are looking for more work. If I were to outline the idea to one of
them, and ask if they would be interested in designing such a sign that
could be interchangeable with different names, (starting with your own) with
the possibility of making and selling a lot more, I would find someone happy
to do it.
You just witnessed a brainstorm that developed a core product for making
money with direct marketing. One that would be cheap to test and has big
potential. For those of you that are looking to develop your own thing,
remember to consider the possible use of other peoples skills. In most
cases, teaming up with someone helps a lot. Also keep an eye open for what's
popular and how it can be applied to other things. We know that
personalization is always popular, we see examples of it everyday. We also
see that neon is once again very popular. So are micro beers. This is
history repeating itself. Learn from it.
Yea! Yea! Yea! But will this sign idea make someone money? I can't predict
absolute success or failure, no one can. Success depends on more things than
just the product. But, this idea has a lot of favorable points. Enough
points that if I had the time, I would try it. The losses are minimal if it
doesn't work. If it does work, the total universe of potential customers is
fantastic. In my opinion the rewards outweigh the risks.
The only problem I see is shipping, glass is fragile. But you might make a
positive out of this by shipping the sign in a big fancy wooden crate, maybe
stenciled with the last name giving it value...and signifying it's
importance. Maybe the shipping crate could be also made to double as a wine
rack. All said and done, the launching of any new concept, division, or
catalog, ends with somebody having the guts and making the decision to...Do
It!
As a final reminder, remember that this is a demonstration in brainstorming
that can be applied to many things; you don’t have to work in neon or beer
signs, just plug the concept into the toolbox of your mind for future
reference to apply to your own particular business and thought processes.
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John Schulte is a Small Business Consultant and Direct Marketing Strategist.
He is a 30-year veteran of advertising, marketing, publicity, promotions and
sales. He is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of mail
order, direct mail, cataloging and overall direct marketing. He is one of
the few people in the United States that has been certified by a United
States Federal Court as a Direct Marketing and Catalog expert, able to act
as an expert witness in federally related corporate disputes. John is also
president of the National Mail Order Association and author of
Direct
Marketing Toolkit for Small and Home based Business. This article
is an excerpt from this book. |