Street People and Marketing 101
By Ken Reiners, Senior Vice President, Marketplace Delivery, Badgerland Financial
On a recent trip to San Francisco, we noticed that there were a lot of street people asking for money - more than most large U.S. cities. You can tell the locals as they keep their head down, don’t make eye contact and keep walking as far away from the street people as possible. We could imagine that locals become desensitized to these people after awhile.
One street person did catch our attention as someone who understands marketing and differentiation from their competition (other street people asking for money). He was on the street with a dog on a leash sitting next to him. He held up a sign and it said: “Would you please spare your change so I can feed my dog - Sara”. We stopped and observed people’s behavior, and more people than normal were putting money in the can next to him and Sara. This particular street person did a great job of analyzing his market opportunity and finding a way to differentiate himself (people’s love for animals) from his competition. We hope he took some of the money and did actually feed his dog well, as the dog looked skinny to us. Although, we suppose his marketing tactic would not have worked so well, if Sara were a fat dog.
If a homeless person in San Francisco can differentiate himself, and stand apart from everyone else for their benefit – then perhaps there is a lesson here for all of us.
If a homeless person in San Francisco can differentiate himself, and stand apart from everyone else for their benefit – then perhaps there is a lesson here for all of us. What sets your business apart? There are 4 basic traditional components of value:
- Product(s)
- Service
- Convenience
- Price
- And, there is a 5th more non-traditional component that could best be described as: “Other” - (social and/or economic equality, environmental preservation, anthropomorphism, religious preference, etc.) The “fair trade coffee” movement was founded on the basis of social and economic equality.
What differentiates your business? If you are having a hard time definitively answering this question, perhaps there is something to learn from the San Francisco street person and his dog – Sara.
