by Call2actionmedia | Feb 24, 2015 | Your Call To Action
I’m a huge fan of Eric Ries of The Lean Startup. I think every startup ninja needs to implement the concepts found in this book into their everyday lives. What that means is if someone is about to embark on a new project they should break it down into 3 clear goals and those three goals should result in the minimum viable product the MVP. At this point it should be clear whether it’s worthwhile to chart out the next phase of MVP. The first phase might be getting X users to embrace the product and the next phase may entail monetizing this batch of users. Founders should have these concepts drilled into their DNA otherwise its very easy to get lost in developing full-scale projects only to realize there’s either no consumer demand or built incorrectly. A good example of mine is www.Autoinq.com, an auto shopping portal geared towards women. More details on this another time, but relevant to MVP was having to build a full service portal similar to cars.com having multiple tools, multiple search functionality multiple angles financing options all the bells and whistles when of what was only needed was a simple search path with a unique angle.c. If MVP thinking was deployed, it could have resulted in building out a marketing funnel/path based on intuitive car matching for a women buyers such as needs + personality present = results (see:http://www.autoinq.com/personality.html) . Live and learn. Until next time....
by Call2actionmedia | Feb 23, 2015 | Your Call To Action
As a Digital Media Agency/Startup Incubator my hands are in many types of projects/businesses. Currently, I am working on a unique mixed marketplace in the Home Improvement space. Over they years, in E-commerce, I have been involved in a few different verticals such as Building Supplies, Watches, Gifts, Nutraceuticals to name a few. Each have their own nuances in order to be successful as well as rules to follow. One interesting vertical I found was in the Lighting business. This is a tightly controlled category ruled by a handful of brands releasing distribution very carefully. Beyond being able to sell product, there is the IMAP (Internet Minimum Advertised Price) that must always be adhered to… although savvy merchants know how to circumvent that. There is the constant tension between vendor and distributor to keep certain pricing and distributor to vendor for timely shipments. One thing, which to most is obvious, holds true regardless.. once a destination proves to have a critical mass of purchase ready shoppers, they are king and are clearly in charge. Amazon is a great example. The site design and user experience is arguably terrible. They were smart enough to lock in consumers with the Prime program which gives great benefits such as free shipping, video and music streaming. They also give the appearance of a marketplace where you can “shop” for the lowest price when in fact there is alot happening under the hood ensuring you usually dont (see: http://recode.net/2015/01/13/how-amazon-tricks-you-into-thinking-it-always-has-the-lowest-prices/). One feature I am excited about seeing more widely used across the Shopping Web is the ability to make an offer. Apparently Amazon was begining to...
