The “Take It Offline” Issue
1> Take The Music With You: Nike
2> Take Them Shopping
3> Take Them To A Party: Match.com
4> Check It Out: GasPedal, Spam, and Fast Company
1> Take The Music With You: Nike
Do you still have a relationship with visitors after they leave your web site — or are they gone for good? The Nike Goddess web site offers an hour’s worth of MP3 files called the “Gym Mix.” You can play it online or download it and take it to the gym with you. Web site visitors are thinking about the Nike brand when they listen to the songs. Even better, they have a reason to come back to the site every time the mix is updated. Nike has covered all the angles, including a smooth “tell a friend” form on the page and links to the MP3 players that Nike sells.
You can use this technique, too, by offering free white papers, books, or anything else that keeps visitors thinking about your site after they go offline.
THE LESSON: Create giveaways that promote your web site even when they aren’t looking at your web site.
MORE INFO:
http://www.nike.com/nikegoddess/
2> Take Them Shopping
Everyone shops in different ways. Some prefer online, some like catalogs, and other like to cruise the mall. But study after study shows that consumers who buy through multiple channels tend to spend a lot more. A report from Shop.org reports that multichannel customers spend an average of $600 per year more than one-channel shoppers. That means that you should do whatever you can to introduce your web visitors to your offline world.
Gift sites Eziba.com and RedEnvelope.com send print catalogs to online purchasers. Funky fashion site Karmaloop.com delivers stickers, coupons, and product flyers in the box with every order shipped. You don’t need to get fancy, you just need to give buyers the tools to shop whenever they want, wherever they want.
THE LESSON: When you take an online order, you should find ways to keep your customer shopping when they turn off their computer.
MORE INFO:
http://www.shop.org/research/reports.html
3> Take Them To A Party: Match.com
Dating sites are great at making connections online. But visiting these sites is never the same as being able to check out a potential mate face-to-face. Match.com has launched a new division that hosts parties for singles across the country. Each local chapter sponsors wine tastings, cocktail parties, gallery viewings, and more. The dating site’s large web traffic drives people into the local events. The local events add a special edge that drives singles to use match.com instead of competing services. Match.com makes money offline and online, as they build deeper relationships with loyal customers.
Of course, our regular readers know that GasPedal has been using this technique for years. Our Feast for Smart Marketers and Last Man Standing CEO dinners have attracted more than 2,500 great executives — and they are our biggest source of new consulting clients.
THE LESSON: Get your customers together. Web sites come and go, but a face-to-face bond lasts for years.
MORE INFO:
http://www.matchlive.com
http://www.gaspedal.net/events
4> Check It Out: GasPedal, Spam, and Fast Company
We hate spammers. We’re doing something about it. Read the whole story by Fast Company Deputy Editor Keith Hammonds.
CHECK IT OUT:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/73/spam.html
