Learn about marketing lagniappe

Those of you who've been in Des Moines for awhile are probably familiar with The Lagniappe, a store located in Valley Junction that sells art, jewelry, gifts and in the last few years, has added the rooftop wine bar.

If you've bought anything there you know that they always toss a little gift or something extra into your bag at the check out.  That's lagniappe.  

The word came into the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans and there acquired a French spelling. Today, it denotes a little bonus that a friendly shopkeeper might add to a purchase. By extension, it may mean "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit."

So what is marketing lagniappe?  That's the question author Stan Phelps posed when he started looking for 1,001 stories of businesses that went above and beyond and did a little something extra for their customers.

The result of his two year search is the just launched book What's Your Purple Goldfish?  As you might expect from an author who has spent 24+ months studying a business model where you give a little -- Stan has made it possible for you to get the book for free. (see below)

This book is more than just a collection of stories.  It is a playbook for your business.  I guarantee you, among the many examples -- you will find plenty to riff off of for your business.  

At MMG we talk a lot about the power of word of mouth.  There's just nothing more influential than having someone you know and trust endorse a product, service or person.  But...people seem to think that just magically happens.  Well, it does not.  You have to be remarkable enough to generate that buzz -- and that doesn't happen by accident.  

This book will help you teach you about the spirit of marketing lagniappe -- and how to bring it to life for your customers.

To get your FREE PDF of the book. Download and read the book here on Scribd. If you enjoy it, Stan invites you to share it with others freely.

If you'd rather have an ebook version (click here to buy) or the paperback (click here to buy) you can do that too.

Either way -- you'll be glad you did.  I promise.

P.S.  I was delighted when Stan asked me to write the forward for this book.  If you'd like to see what I said -- click here.

- Drew McLellan

Comments

[Kristian Oberon]

What a nice read Drew! "The Lagniappe" really raked in a lot of benefits with their business strategy huh! I totally agree with the concept of putting in a little extra for your customers. I mean, some stores or merchandisers don't even care about customer satisfaction anymore. They're so caught up with other marketing techniques that they forget to attend to the basic needs of their clients. That should be the priority right? I'm definitely going to check out the PDF of the book you referred. Do you have any other good marketing reads you just recently found? Thanks!