10 Comments

  1. Ken Ca|houn on May 7, 2013 at 11:40 am

    I enjoyed your points, Mike — you’ve done a great job of capturing some of the “Disney marketing magic” strategies. Having grown up down the street from Disney-Anaheim it was always a favorite spot to visit. Their stock (DIS) has been on a solid ride up too, as of late.

    What stands out from your analysis is “all the different flexible and varied ways there are, to spend your money there”; vs the single-price point approach many entrepreneurs use (or, single-price with a single upsell, and that’s it). The wide flexibility creates the question in the customer’s mind of not “whether or not to buy” but “which of the choices do I buy?”, a critical difference.

    One strategic point about the dialogue, is that it’s Because of the branding, history and already-established appeal, that Disney can do well at premium price points. It’s a function of fame/positioning; the less known you are, the tougher it may be to apply all the strategies, and command premium pricing. As businesses grow they can expand and start testing out what converts best.

    “If you can dream it, you can achieve it” – Walt Disney

    To the mouse-ears,

    Ken



  2. Mike Capuzzi on May 7, 2013 at 11:42 am

    Hey Ken – how are you? Good additional points!



  3. Edwin Soler on May 7, 2013 at 12:52 pm

    Mike, I have a question regarding price points and payment options:

    I have an offline newsletter and offered a monthly rate, 6 month and 12 month options. I found that the 6 and twelve month customers did not stick around after the time was up but the monthly customers almost always stay subscribed. Any thoughts on how to keep the 6 and twelve months subcribers to keep coming back? Thanks.



  4. Mike Capuzzi on May 7, 2013 at 4:29 pm

    Edwin- there are many “stick strategies” you can employ at the 6 month and 12 month time, however if you are seeing a big difference in retention – why not just offer monthly???



  5. Jon Toy on May 8, 2013 at 10:33 am

    Great points and so very true a out the Disney experience which is amazing
    The one we implemented and drastically increased our sales over the past 15 months was number 4
    We just started talking more to our customers and in turn asking for more sales
    It’s amazing how when you ask coupled with value they buy

    Now I need to work on a few more of these
    Great article
    Thanks Mike!



  6. Liza Reekie on May 8, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    On the point of Special Offers for Certain Segments of Your Customers. A few years ago Disney started promoting to the UK market a 14 day ultimate ticket, which is priced around the same as their 7 day ticket and gives access to all the parks/waterparks/Disney Quest etc for 14 days. They obviously realised most visitors from the UK where there for 2 weeks and what better way to get them to spend their money in resort than allow them to visit the parks for the full duration.

    The thing that really makes me laugh is so many travel companies in the UK promote it like it’s a great short term deal that you’re getting 14 days for the price of 7. When in actual fact it’s the standard pricing for the ticket and has been since they introduced it a few years ago. I guess that gives away that I’m a Disney fan too!!



  7. Mike Capuzzi on May 9, 2013 at 8:14 am

    Thanks for the note Liza!



  8. Steven Dickinson on May 11, 2013 at 3:50 am

    Mike,

    Thank you so much for a great article. I look forward to going through it at a deeper depth and implementing its lessons.

    I can see we used some of your ideas at an event I performed at last weekend. I’m a magician and a balloon twister. My wife and I sold balloons at a trade show with a horse them. This was a family event.

    We captured the adults and kids focus by selling a wearable balloon horse. You should have seen the smiles on their faces. Both the kids and the adults.

    The last year was our first year at this same event and I didn’t know how to create a horse. What a big difference when I was able to offer them what they loved and enjoyed…something horse related.

    We doubled our sales from the previous year and created fun moments that will last a life time. Multiple times during the weekend I heard, “you made the kids so happy.” Oh, and the crowds were down because of weather and we still doubled.

    Our weekend also fits with Mike’s point number 3 – We captivated our audience-I thought our price for the horse might be too high but the idea of wearing that balloon horse ‘roped them in’

    Thanks again,

    Steven



  9. Mike Capuzzi on May 11, 2013 at 9:02 am

    Steven – thanks for your comments and notes. Appreciate your marketing!