In a January Marketing Minute entitled “They’ll Buy What?” Marcia Yudkin—who is one of my favorite marketing gurus—talks about exercising creativity in offering personal services. The premise behind her article is that people will purchase services you never imagined they would. The example she provided was of an organizational guru who comes in every month to help comedian Drew Carey deal with his email in-box and to-do list.
That led me to think about unlikely-seeming services that actually make perfect sense. What about, for example, those cheerful-looking little pickup trucks manned by folks who pick up dog poop? Now, I’ve dog sat over the years and have done my share of that. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that dog owners couldn’t perform that task themselves. On the other hand, if you’ve got more than one (big) dog and delicate sensibilities, perhaps hiring someone to do it for you is not such a bad idea.
In my own copywriting business, I’ve helped clients out with website QC. I check spelling, grammar, and whether or not links work. It’s great fill-in work, particularly when the famine part of the freelance feast-or-famine cycle hits. It’s a great way to sharpen my attention to detail and improve my ability to be systematic, and of course it’s a bona fide, legitimate service.
How might you use your business as a springboard for new offerings?
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