Go, Speed Racer!

I was watching Speed Racer with my little boy (the original series, not the movie) and one of the episodes made me chuckle.

Speed's dad opened an auto repair store and business was slow. Speed came in with this advice: "Why don't you give away the first repair for free? Then that person will tell of his friends how great you are, and what a good job you do. Then you'll have so much business you won't know what to do."

His dad took him up on the advice and soon had so much Model T business he couldn't handle it all. Got me to thinking about a couple of things:

- Doing something nice for someone usually creates a stronger relationship with customers than simply advertising.

- Especially for restaurant marketing, giving away a sample at an event (or better yet, giving someone a free sandwich/app/dessert so that they have to find your location) has always been a great way to show your product in action.

- This type of marketing was the norm back in the day. What makes you think it doesn't work now? Because we're more sophisticated and can reach 100,000 people in one message? Try that, let me know how it works for you.

- Word of mouth spreads faster in small groups (in this case, Model T owners - then do it for Corvette owners, then for Cadillac owners, and so on). Maybe the objective of your marketing should be to spread word of mouth, instead of create awareness.

- "But if I give it away, I'll have too much business and people will be mad." For the love of Pete, would you listen to yourself? First you don't have enough business, then you have too much. Be smart about it and this is never a concern. If you can't handle it, you should probably return to middle management.

- "But if I give it away, it will cheapen my product." Hogwash. Plain and simple. $1 off and BOGO w/purchase of a drink cheapen your product. Give someone free food, or support their event with discounted catering, and chances are they'll be grateful instead of taking you for granted.

All of this from a leisurely evening with my seven year old. Some things were just easier back in the day. You go, Speed Racer.