[Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing excerpts as we work towards completing the manuscript for ‘What’s Your Purple Goldfish?’. Today is Chapter 17, the sixth of 12 different types of Purple Goldfish]
Giving Back and Paying It Forward
Sometimes the little extra is not about the customer, but rather giving back to the community or to those in need.
Let’s look at a handful of examples:
Right from the Heart
Plaza Cleaners in PDX submitted by Blue Young.
“I think it counts, though it’s not so typical. They will clean someone’s suit for free if they’re unemployed and need the suit for a job interview.”
Look here… http://applicant.com/how-one-business-is-helping-the-unemployed/
[Say no more . . . a very cool and unique purple goldfish in a sea of dry cleaning sameness]
ONE BAG, ONE BOOK
Tyson Adams helps people with a simple premise. His company liveGLOCAL lands in the Purple Goldfish Project at #432 with a feel good extra.
With every bag of coffee you purchase, liveGLOCAL gives one book to a child in need.
Honoring the Troops
#782 in the Project submitted via e-mail by Ryan Macaulay of Epic Sports. Ryan is running the 2011 Boston Marathon on Monday. Here is a PG from LA in Ryan’s words:
At Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in LA, if you buy a bag of coffee to support our troops overseas, Coffee Bean will buy your round of coffees at the time of purchase- even better, there is a blank white area on the actual coffee bag designated specifically for you to write a personal message to the troops the coffee is going to!
Marketing Lagniappe Takeaway – Creating a little extra that ‘pays it forward’ can be a strong differentiator.
Save $$$ and plant up to dozen trees a year… Chegg gets top grades
Chegg chuggs into the Purple Goldfish Project at #235 from the folks over at Gaspedal.
“College students love Chegg for their cheap textbook rentals, free shipping, and eco-friendly business philosophy. Chegg believes that renting a book instead of buying it new helps save trees. This isn’t just their corporate mission statement, the company actually functions around this core value. For every book they rent, they plant a tree in return. As the customer finishes their transaction, Chegg presents a world map and asks the customer to pick a country or region to plant their tree in. It’s a simple, visual way of engaging during the transaction process and giving back to the community at the same time. Customers can then tell the world what they did by linking their Chegg transaction to their Facebook profile or Twitter account.”
Give to Get
If you gave a day of volunteer service to a participating organization in 2010, you received one day of free admission to a Disney Park. The folks at Disney called this first-of-its-kind program, “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day”.
The premise is simple and straightforward — a free one-day ticket to a Disneyland or Walt Disney World theme park for guests who volunteer a day of service to a participating organization. Nice job by Disney to promote volunteerism.
[Next Up is Chapter 18. ‘Follow up Call’ – the seventh of 12 different types of purple goldfish]
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra for good measure) – Here’s how Chegg works:
