Copyright 2007 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
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I submitted this in Inc.com in response to an article, you can read it using this URL-
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070701/features-start-up-enlightened-mba.html
Find problems your niche members have when they use the wrong (a competitor's) products or no product & no solution. Then put those into marketing messages.
Though I focus on B2C, I'll write from the B2B perspective since Hayden Hamilton expects more B2B sales for GreenPrint.
1st, how much hard copy printing is done? Example: I have copies of thousands of articles in PDFs. I store them in CD-Rs & send them via email. But people's eyes get weary from looking at monitor screens, so I've printed some. But searching for information, in many documents, is easier through computers. Am I typical? If so, GreenPrint is in trouble.
So, as Hayden figures, big businesses may use GreenPrint more than small businesses.
How will he find viable prospects? Do they think they have problems with wasted paper & ink? (What marketers think is a problem doesn't mean much.) Will prospects consider GreenPrint to be a solution to a problem?
Is GreenPrint easy to install & use? Does Hayden have tech support people? Or should Hayden focus on companies with IT staffs?
There are more benefits than saving the world & saving money on paper & ink. These other benefits may be more important to prospects.
It's good for GreenPrint to offer multiple benefits, but it's vital to promote the main benefit customers will get. As important as conservation is, it can conflict with business survival--a green business can't survive without cash flow. It's not a green business if it goes out of business. Good or bad, saving money takes precedence. Show prospects how they'll save money & the world.
Even major companies, which seemingly won't blink at $70 per user license fees, have CFOs who blink a lot. CFOs don't want to tell stockholders, "You won't get a dividend this year; but we're saving the world."
I wrote a variety of choices below; Hayden can find answers to the questions he feels are more important. Then he can craft his marketing messages using these. If answers aren't quickly available & he doesn't have time for research, he can test marketing messages to find what's most appealing. But if he does it on paper, he may seem like a hypocrite if he focuses his marketing on using less paper to save trees.
By testing messages & offers, businesses are apt to get some sales, while gaining insight. Plus, as David Freedman wrote in his July "What's Next" column, people don't always answer research questions accurately.
Look beyond what seems to be the main benefit. Ask yourself hard questions like prospects would. Using GreenPrint saves ink & paper, so what? What's important about it? Which problems are associated with using paper?
To save money & time, businesses buy paper in bulk, this requires storage & shipping costs. These also cost internal labor. How quickly can somebody reorder these, then go back to their other tasks? How often is this task done?
Are ink cartridges & paper delivered or does somebody go to a store to buy & haul them? What about liability insurance for employees who drive to get supplies? Insurance is apt to cost more when employees drive a lot. Fuel prices are extra high & paper is heavy, how much money can a company save--on fuel--by decreasing paper usage?
Paper is lifted, moved & stacked, how many workers' comp claims are attributed to this grunt work?
After articles from Inc & other web sites are printed, what's done with them? Are they discarded the same day or sent to colleagues? Sending them to colleagues may require going through the mail room. More paper means extra labor costs. Do the senders keep a copy & send another to a colleague? Do these copies get filed? How many filing cabinets or boxes will be required when non-essential pages are printed & filed? How many in- & out-baskets are full of these articles? How much extra clutter do these articles cause?
From an opposite side, how many businesses prohibit printing articles? How much might this lack of knowledge cost? (It may be hard to quantify, but raising the question may be valuable.) Would it be cost-effective to allow printing articles, if non-essential pages were avoided?
It's good to recycle paper, but how many businesses pay to have the paper hauled away? How many pounds less will be hauled away if a business uses GreenPrint?
How many printers do these businesses have? Will printing articles disrupt & delay printing proposals? Will a network printer screw up & print pages of proposals interspersed with pages of articles? If so, more pages means more time sorting through them & possibly sending an article in a proposal - not good for credibility.
Will somebody grab too many sheets from a network printer? Example: The first page of an article may be missing because it was sent to a customer, in a business letter by mistake.
If a printer is reloaded with paper less often, will this decrease paper jams? How many times are proposals or letters delayed because paper trays are empty?
How much extra maintenance or printer replacements are necessary because extra, unneeded pages are printed? How much time is spent filling paper trays & replacing ink cartridges?
Hayden can test prospects' responses to various messages with potential Unique Selling Propositions. After this, he can determine what GreenPrint's Unique Selling Proposition is.
Example: "Using GreenPrint is like getting a bonus of X reams of paper & Y ink cartridges every time you order those."
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2007 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
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