Re: Grateful Dead Marketing

[msimon@xxxxxxxxxx (M. Simon)]

>M. Simon,msimon@tefbbs.com writes:
>>I think the only way FORTH will succeed is to give it all away.
>>
>>We need more free stuff. 
>
>Based on my own experiences, I'm not so sure.  I run a local community
>network in Greater Cincinnati.  We offer free eMail, free participation in
>discussion forums, file downloads, etc.  No registration or setup fees. 
>Free, free, free.
>
>Result?
>
>Local people still flock to AOL to pay them $21.95 per month to do basically
>the same stuff.
>
>I think there's a problem with the perceived value.  That is, if you charge
>for something, people have a tendency to think that it must be worth it. 
>And, if you give away something for free, it must be worthless.

How do you explain Linux?

>On another list I'm on, several months ago a person mentioned that his
>company lost an account, because his price was *TOO LOW*.  The lost client
>told them that if they were offering such a low price, they must not be
>putting as much effort into it as the company they went with who had a bid
>almost twice as high.

Fine. Your price for a DYOP set is $1110. Feel like you got more value?

>Look at how many people will purchase a namebrand product at a premium price
>because they think it must be worth more than a generic product at a lower
>price.  Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't; but people will have a tendency
>to think that the more expensive product is "better".

First we need brand recognition with aprox $0 advertising budget and a 
reputation for weirdness.

>It's true that Linux has done well with the free model, but not as well as
>commercial operating systems.  How many more Linux users do you think there
>would be today if, five years ago, there was a "Microsoft Linux" or "IBM
>Linux"?  I would think that more people would have purchased the M$ Linux
>system than would have downloaded the free Linux systems.

None. IBM can't afford as many people focused on development as Linux
can. Better response to problems. In the end this will make the difference.

>I think the best route would be to offer it at a fair and competitive price,
>rather than for free.  A fair price gets questions like, "Do you take
>American Express?" while FREE gets questions like, "What's the catch?"

I would be glad to sell you support for F-PC. The software is free
the support line is $10,000 per year plus $100 per hour.

They're lining up already. You could be first.

Simon

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>Dan
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Simon - http://www.tefbbs.com/spacetime/index.htm