Last night members of #DARTboston had a very stimulating discussion with Sian-Pierre’s company called Swagger Paris.  After 50 minutes of Pokin’ Holes at Swagger Paris’ business model, it was clear that driving eyeballs to his site is not effective.  Not only is it ineffective, it’s not feasible to do that and create what Cort Johnson calls a “sustainable dollar”.

Why eyeballs can’t sustain a dollar

Eyeballs can’t sustain a dollar because they ultimately will change their tastes and preferences.  The second those tastes and preferences change, the dollar loses value.  On a large scale, your company will fail.

Other ways to obtain dollars that will stick around.

1. Put people on a schedule. As much as I don’t like to admit it, I love being structured.  There’s something about getting a Shankman email 3 times a day, 5 days a week, every week.  He even has his own inbox in my email and I look forward to receiving a Shankman email.  How crazy is that?  That’s called building loyalty.  Loyalty is critical for a sustainable business model.

2. Structure your business model like you’d dress yourself in the morning.  Yeah, I wake up and put my pants and a top on. But that’s just the basics.  After, I put a little jewelry on, maybe some cool gladiator heels.  These little touches are what make Sarah, well, Sarah.  So what the heck does this have to do with a business model?  You need a big kahuna (aka the pants) driving your business model.  Something that will generate consistent and significant cash flow (not talking about ads here).  After you establish that, you need supplemental ways to drive customers to your product.  These are the little touches that matter.

3. Make your product about your customers, not for your customers. I buy products because I need them, like them, and want them.   I like brands because I identify with them and they make me feel good.  To get customers, or even better, members or a family, you need to make your product about them.  If the customer feels loved, they won’t only feel like they own your product – they’ll feel like they ARE your product.  And that is a good feeling as a consumer, to feel that you contribute to a brand.  Think custom Nike shoes.  It’s not the shoe.  It’s the fact that I made the shoe.  When in doubt, think of your customers as babies with huge id’s.  What do they want? Me me me me me me.

What do you think about this?  What is better?  A dollar or a sustainable dollar?  Or does it not even matter?