13 Jul 2008

Seth Godin's Post On Scarcity

I can't begin to say how much I love this post! Seth Godin uses the Apple/AT&T iPhone PR disaster to talk about scarcity and how companies can use it to their advantage. Some of the points I want to highlight:
  1. In today's internet age, we should not have people lining up to get a scare product. Allow them to buy in advance online forming a queue.
  2. The advance purchase allows you to manage implementation and rollout to control potential for massive disasters like this past weekend (a small disaster can be quickly fixed and kept quiet).
  3. Treat your best customers better. You know who they are because the pre-ordered the phone (or you previous customers who are big users of the product). By allowing them to just go pick up their phone in a VIP line or give a customized phone for the 1st X customers just reinforces the value of scarcity.
Post is bang on and completely relevant because so many companies still market the old way ignoring the potential of new technological advances.