5 ms·
After I'd seen a bunch of people with these who wholly recommended them I kept meaning to buy some. Last week I did. One thing I think is interesting, is that
by sh1mmer 17y ago
After I'd seen a bunch of people with these who wholly recommended them I kept meaning to buy some. Last week I did.
One thing I think is interesting, is that Vibram seem to be getting a lot of grass-roots evangelism but the company itself has done a terrible job of encouraging that. Someone I know who's had Vibram's for way over least a year (to my knowledge) asked them repeatedly if he could sell them somehow, since everyone always asks about his shoes. Vibram said that unless he wanted really large distributor amounts, then no.
It seems to me like they could make a great story by enabling people wearing the shoes to refer people to their online store with a small discount in return for a buck or two. If you wear these shoes people will stop and ask you about them, and this would be a great model to encourage Vibram owners to upsell them.
- aantix 17y agoI like the idea.. Just thinking to myself, it'd be interesting if Vibram included X number of preprinted "affiliate" cards in the box of each pair of shoes you bought from them. The set of cards would contain a custom url (e.g. xyz123.vibram.com) and the wearer of the shoe could carry these cards with them and pass them out whenever someone asked about the shoes. The preprinted business cards would give each customer an easy way to get up and running referring other potential customers.
- lsc 17y agoit's hard to encourage your customers to become resellers without looking like some shady herbalife-like MLM scam.
- lsc 17y agoAlso, vibram is an established brand; I have horribly flat feet and prefer large and heavy boots with industrial-strength arch supports over running flats, but when I go to buy boots, I look for the yellow vibram logo. I don't think I've bought a pair of boots without vibram soles in the last 10 years. The idea is that they don't need to use shady marketing practices; they have a good reputation and innovative products.
- sh1mmer 17y agoI don't see how this is shady. If I like the product and people ask me about it I don't mind evangelizing it. However if so many people ask me about it that it becomes a burden I can see why people want a little love back.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- lsc 17y agodo you think Herbalife is not shady? I think the shady part of herbalife is the MLM, not the placebo they are selling. GNC sells plenty of placebos, and they don't seem to be shady. I guess it's a matter of opinion, but it seems to me that if you have to pay for good word of mouth, then maybe your product isn't so great after all.