Proximity’s powerful. Recall being caught by the sugary scent of Cinnabon whilst hurrying through an airport? Whatever is nearby we’re more likely to sample. So what if there were handy locations near home, work or places you visit where you could borrow or rent a bike, rather than get in a car?
That’s a healthy choice. That’s why the health insurance firm, Humana partnered with Trek to give more people that inviting choice. Together they launched a ZipCar-style program for bicycles. First, Humana offered the service to their own employees. To make their service part of a movement the partners turned to edgy ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. With B-cycle, you can rent and return a bike at handy locations. All three firms reaped considerable press coverage when they demo’d the program at the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention.
Next step I’d suggest: involve the major cycling organizations and the National League of Cities in creating a how-to template to help towns jumpstart their own program.
What, for example, have Philadelphia, Montreal, Denver, Minneapolis, Miami South Beach learned? Creating the template and an online community around B-cyle would encourage crowdsourcing best practices for faster adoption – and keep the original partners in the center of the movement.
Next? The partnering firms could invite the mayors to join them in asking the feds for money for more towns to adopt that green and healthy template. (Partnering, done right, inspires participants to share and hone what they’ve done – and go for bigger benefits for everyone.)
The core partnership benefits this illustrates:
o By encouraging people, including their clients, to get more exercise, Humana saves money.
o By piggybacking on the much larger Humana for marketing power, Trek reaches more would-be bike buyers
o Unlike bikes, health insurance is harder to picture and not as fun. Humana benefits from the friendly “face” of Trek.
o By creating a first ever service, partners help launch a movement and inevitably attract attention. (The Humana/Trek partnership is part of the sustainable transportation movement.)
Hint: What could you co-create with partners that would benefit your customers while reducing your costs of doing business?
Here another way to cut costs while adding value for your customers – co-location …..
Attract More Customers by Co-Locating Your Business
What if your store or office was closer to others who serve your kind of customer? This is especially valuable if you are helping would-be customers in the same situation – like their landscaping. You and your partnering business owners would all save on overhead and, collectively, become a bigger magnet for your mutual market. A landscape architect, gardener and fence and deck builder might share an office space that has a door into an adjacent plant nursery.
For further cost-cutting (without reducing quality) they could jointly hire a remotely-located person to answer their individual office phone lines. That person could be knowledgeable about all partners and trained to cross-refer their services, and those of the nursery.
This way they offer the “one-stop” differentiating benefit from their competitors (including bigger firms): convenience and collaborative support.
They remain independent yet can offer a more seamlessly service to homeowners and businesses that want to create or upgrade and maintain their landscaping.
Explore more customer-attracting ways to attract more customers with less overhead by – co-location – in the next post.
Source by Kare Anderson
