Fight Club has a fantastic "exclusive product offering". It's the only business that offers torn ligaments and abrasion as part of a satisfactory customer experience. The first two rules of Fight Club (you do not talk about Fight Club) make it hard to market, but is it impossible? Let's explore how simple and inexpensive marketing techniques can make your customer experience more profitable and exciting. First things first, know your client
You know why they come. They had a tough day and they want to snap a tibia to take the edge off, but what else do you know about them? A good marketer takes the time to talk to their target and understand their needs and desires. You would be surprised how often the feedback you get from patrons can inspire and spark an idea that shapes your entire marketing approach.
The simple gift of swag
You might think key chains and t-shirts don't add any real value to your brand, but if your brand has a founding myth, a sense of community, or any kind of tribal initiation, your target audience would likely see these items as a symbol of pride or ritual or fellowship. Just because you might not wear an "I went to Fight Club and all I got was this dislocated jaw" trucker hat doesn't mean someone else wouldn't. Now try to think about more strategic offerings and how you might partner them to differ costs: a carrying case for collecting your teeth at the end of the night brought to you by a local Dentist's office as an example.
Strategic partnering
Whether you approach a national brand like Band-Aid or a local Reconstructive Surgeon, consider what you each bring to the table and how you might cross-promote. Consider partner-branding ideas, and don't be afraid to be creative. Maybe it's a crushed eye-socket, and maybe it's Maybelline. Here's a simple creative exercise to get your thinking outside of the box. Draw the human body (a handy reference here), and indicate an injury to any part of it. Now make a list of every product or service that could benefit from the associative repair of those injuries.
The classic black eye = sunglasses, make up, long brimmed hats, halloween masks
Promotional ideas
So the rules of Fight Club pretty well kills brand advertising and obvious word-of-mouth strategies. This does not mean you cannot market within your niche audience. A promotion of the "$10,000 Separated Clavicle Challenge" sponsored by your local HMO is a great way to generate excitement and trial while offsetting the cost by associative branding. The HMO picks up the tab while you put a map to their clinic on the back of every entry slip. Be creative.
Social media
Fish where the fish are. Nothing spreads a message more effectively and inexpensively than a carefully crafted social media platform. Consider the viral potential of Twitter as a great example. In previous stories I've shown how Twitter has the power to unite a niche crowd into a localized spending frenzy.
@nucklelicious will be handing out hairline fractures in the Mill St. Sharky's Grill basement after 11pm
Bearing in mind the frown put upon open discussion of Fight Club, you can consider a cross media platform like YouTube to share videos or Flickr to gallery images and to help bond your community. Budget permitting, you might talk to a web developer highly adept at social media to creating your own moderated FightBook social network. Many platforms such as YouTube and FaceBook can essentially be bought as a package and customized these days.
On a long enough timline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero, unless you prepare and plan ahead. The first two rules of Fight Club make it hard to market, but not impossible. With a little imagination and guts, even the most inexperienced operator can turn a satisfactory customer experience into a fantastic customer experience!
[author note: I found the ceramic punching mug here]
Suggested reading is Bertrand Cesvet's "Conversational Capital" to change the way you see the customer experience.
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