When trying to build a customer base, it's important to build a sticky service that also provides a network effect.
One important thing is to get clients but, once you have them, it's even more important to provide them a sticky service -- one that they cannot live without. If they can go somewhere else for the exact same product at a cheaper price, chances are they will. This world is all about money.
In terms of a network effect, there are a plethora of ways to provide this, and the best network effect comes from a combination of all of the methods.
To illustrate both points, think about blogs. Anyone can create a blog, and there are hundreds (possibly thousands) of starting points and services. How do the high-traffic blogs get that way? How did they become popular? Because their services are networked. Google's Blogger, for instance, can link up to my Gmail account. If I want to post a blog, but I'm away from the computer, hell! There's an APP for that. I want to share my blog with the world? Facebook. I want to email my blog to someone? Bam. The "Email This" button sends it straight from my networked Gmail account. I'm feeling the urge to tweet? Twitter button. I'm really wanting to Buzz? Buzz button. Why would I choose to transfer my blog (or, in the "business sense" detailed here) to another blog provider? If I did, I'd lose all of these cool, networked features. When you think about it, the most popular (and likely most visited sites) all do this in some way or another, all without conscious user acknowledgement.
When providing a rapidly-expanding service, it's important to be developing at a faster pace than your client's needs can grow.
It's no secret that I work at CME Group, the world's largest derivatives exchange. Our marketing doesn't lie: CME is where the world comes to manage risk. Throughout our 110 year history, we haven't just "become" the world's largest derivatives exchange. We grew faster, developed more rapidly, and invested more in forward-thinking ideas than our competitors. We didn't come in and fill a niche; we created one.
For example, take Globex. In 1987, the CME Board approved an original plan to create the world's first electronic trading system for futures and options. To many (and most), an electronic trading system was a horrible idea. With the price of computers, the success of open outcry, and the tradition of trading, CME was, to the opinion of most, making a costly and rather ignorant investment. However, a mere ten years later, this vision undoubtedly put CME light-years ahead of its solely open outcry competitors. "The CME Globex platform was the first -- and remains among the fastest -- global electronic trading systems for futures and options." (cmegroup.com/globex) When Globex was first introduced, it took nearly 10 years before monthly trading volume exceeded 100,000 trades. Now, daily volume exceeds 13,000,000 trades and monthly volume exceeds 1,000,000,000. Customers in more than 85 countries trade on the Globex platform that has rapidly developed by a 60,000x trading volume increase in just 14 years.
To our competitors, this idea was destined to be a bust. To the CME, this idea proved to provide rapidly-expanding services that grew at a faster pace than their clients' needs could grow. It was this radical vision that created the CME Group the world recognizes today.
Automation is the future.
When you click "Search" on Google each day, do you ever stop to think about how many websites are actually being searched? Have you ever taken a minute to look and see just how quick that search takes place? And somehow Google still manages to find the exact thing you're looking for, even after correcting your typos... This wouldn't be possible if your search was directed to somebody, somewhere, that had to manually look up and sift through billions of websites to deliver something that may be close to what you almost wanted.
Automation is becoming the
I'm tired of typing. Hope you enjoyed.
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