You may have noticed an abundance of scarcity in these pieces lately. (Ha!)
An observation; A slightly deeper look.
Alert reader and friend of the list Rod Aparicio certainly did.
In response, he sent me links to various Seth Godin posts on scarcity. Much appreciated, and all very interesting.
This one stood out.
In it, Seth states: “First, understand that scarcity is a choice. If you raise your price, scarcity goes away.”
A sharp observation (at least for those with existing demand – and cash flow).
But I can’t help thinking of the indie musician who can only afford an initial run of 500 CDs. Or the scrappy micro-agency with capacity for only one client.
I’d say that kind of scarcity isn’t a choice. (And raising prices to the point where no one buys doesn’t make it any less scarce.)
But I digress. And it’s Tactical Tuesday.
Later in the post, Seth lays out 5 principles for handling scarcity. Here they are, summarized in mostly my own words:
- Use technology to spare people from having to wait in line.
- Reward your early supporters generously.
- Treat existing, loyal, ideal customers preferentially.
- Launch in stages, tweaking, fixing, and refining as you go.
- Give your superfans a place/way to show off their status.
Abundantly,
James
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