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Be different - stand out to be successful

I swear my mind works in bizarre ways, so bear with me on this one.

So there I was reading the latest issue of Car Magazine - I’m a big car nut and this magazine is a must-read, and I got to thinking about the amazing success that the new Fiat 500 is enjoying right now.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Fiat 500 is the new small car from Fiat that hopes to take on the Mini.

So there it is, its small quirky, fun looking and builds on the heritage of the old model that was last produced 22 years ago. Nice enough (if you like that sort of thing) but nothing earth shattering, But get this, despite the car only going on sale in Europe in July, they have sold out! 51,000 orders for it came from Italy alone. A lot of which were pre-orders before the prices were even released. Fiat have had to increase productivity in their Polish factory to makes sure there are enough for the UK when its launched in January. Despite this being a small car, prices aren’t exactly “cheap”, they will start at around £11k, A Ford Ka starts at just over £7k and a Fiesta just over £8k.

So how have Fiat done it? How can such an ordinary looking car have created such a buzz? By being different.

First of all have a look at the interior:

Now even I had to admit, that’s a cool looking interior. They’ve done other cool stuff too such as chrome detailing on even the entry level models and pearlescent paint and panoramic sunroofs in other models. There are also over 100 accessories to choose from to personalise the car, everything from a ski rack to a fragrance diffuser. In fact, according to the web site, there are over 500,000 different ways to configure the car.

So…the website. Fiat launched the Fiat 500 site well before the car hit showrooms, and is credited with a lot of the success for the volume of pre-orders for the car. Take a look at the site, I mean when was the last time you saw such a fun and engaging site from a car manufacturer? Never, thats when.

As well as serving an actual purpose of confirguring your car using a Video Configurator (cool) to spec your car you can also get involved in tons of different ways. Fiat have got everything on this site from a shoutbox to a 500 web community, a contest for expectant Mums, a 500-ology Wiki and even the chance to provide the “background music for the 500″. Fiat certainly deserve to be commended for such an innovative and original web site that thoroughly engages the user and fits so neatly together with the brand identity of the new car.

So, what can we learn. Here are some parallels…

Fiat launched a new car, lets say we are launching a new website. Both have been done before, but we need to be different to stand out from the crowd, and deliver sales.

So although our site is at the end of a day still a website and we have to work within the constraints of HTML, PHP etc then a car is still a car and has to have 4 wheels and carry people about. See where I’m going here? Here’s what can we learn from Fiat:

1. It may look the same on the outside but it can be different on the inside - On the face of it, our site may look like others out there but lets do what we can to make it a bit special on the inside. Add some sexy Ajax widgets, create a community, engage users by asking them their opinions, instigate a 2 way dialogue with your users, launch some competitions that are a little bit different. Just try and stand out a little from your competitors.

2. Generate some pre-launch hype - Its not just the big companies that can do this, you can too. Why not put up a “teaser” page that serves no other purpose than telling your viewers that something cool is coming soon. Put up an email capture form and tell users that they can be the first to hear about when the site is launched - people like to think they are first to hear about things. Write a bit of PR about your site and tell people what to expect, send it out to online PR sites. Talk about your site in forums and blogs (but don’t spam) and generally build up a bit of hype until you launch. This can be really effective if done well. Update your “coming soon” page with fresh news regularly too, and email your user base with more teasers, gradually releasing more and more information about your site before launch.

3.  Look at your competitors, understand what works for them and adapt it- Fiat saw that Mini could launch a small car that sells at a premium price, so they decided to do the same. By giving customers 500,000 different ways to configure their car, they did just that. So if one of your competitors is doing something good that works then take that idea, adapt it and build on it. Note - don’t just copy it, that’s lazy. Instead there is nothing wrong with taking somebody else’s concept and tweaking it so its right for you, its easy to put your own spin on things.

4. Make it look pretty - Just like the interior of the Fiat 500. I swear I see some really good web sites and great ideas but the sites are let down by godawful looks and poor design. Trust me this puts users off in a big way. So if your skills are coding and not design then spend a bit of money and invest in a great designer, people are fickle and looks do matter!

5. Create some post-launch hype- So you’ve built your site up, its launched and is going well. Don’t just stop there, the next step is to tell people how good it is. Shout about your success, Fiat are shouting about the fact that the 500 is sold out. Its an old saying, but a true one that  “success breeds success”. So don’t be scared to create some buzz about your vistor levels/sales/email subscribers or just how damn good your product or service is.

So there you go, I think the underlying message here is just to think different, be different and this will lead to success.

What I’m listening to right now: Baby Bash - “Cyclone”

Sunday, August 12th, 2007 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Cars, General Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.