Choosing the right people for marketing the product
We have developed a new product that will hit the travel business soon at Pune India. One part needs to be installed on the cab drivers phone, and the other part needs to be installed on travelers.
I need to market the product to 2 types of people, drivers and customers. Drivers visit certain places daily, like airport parking and gas stations.
I need to target drivers to start with.
I am wondering if I should choose "not so good looking" marketing folks, those who sell shaving kits, old items at gas stations to represent the driver side of the product to drivers. The Pros in this would be that driver will interact with people of his own level. The Cons is, if I get them to meet someone with a coat and suite, they may feel that the product is overpriced.
Any thoughts ?
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Where are you looking to target this at first? I personally wouldn't want to launch this as a huge effort, test it in a larger city to see if it works, that way you don't invest too much. Please edit with a little more details of your target location so we can give you a good answer. – Randy E 11 years ago
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Starting in Pune, India. And I need to target drivers now. Thanks. I have edited the question too. – Siddharth 11 years ago
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Do these drivers work for company's or are they individuals? – Randy E 11 years ago
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I will contact them as individuals and not from their represented company. – Siddharth 11 years ago
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@Siddharth: if there are 5,000 cab drivers working for 50 cab companies, wouldn't be easier to sell to 50 companies rather than trying to reach out to 5,000 drivers, at least initially? – Frenchie 11 years ago
1 Answer
First of all, i would strongly recommend to cut a deal with the company rather than the individual. it should be incentive based. (the more interaction / value a driver brings to the platform - the more earnings he'll have).
if you really can't do it this way, you can have the kit sellers give away a nice looking package for free for the drivers to have a look at, rather then "selling" it to them like a shaving kit. This way, you gain a few things:
- to take advantage of their similarities - the driver would be more open minded and will take the free marketing package with pleasure.
- you can have the good side of the 'suit' effect by designing a nice looking package rather than just a simple flyer. the driver should get the feeling of a premium customer.
- this way, you put your financial efforts into the message (which is the package design and content) rather then in more costly human resources.
- you don't have to train the employees because they simply need to give away those packages.
Would love to get your cut on this.
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Well, its a fantastic way to think about it. And I will take all of what you said. But within the Indian context, drivers are not educated. Just handing them a kit wont do it. They have to be told step by step what to do with the kit. – Siddharth 11 years ago
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then you'll have a problem doing so anyway i think... educating the market is sometimes just not worth it... – Uri Abramson 11 years ago
