The Business Blog at Intuitive.com

Dave Taylor has been involved with the online world since 1980 and is recognized globally as an expert on both technical and business issues. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startup companies, has written twenty business and technical books and holds both an MBA and MS Ed. He's a columnist for the Boulder Daily Camera and Linux Journal and frequently appears in other publications both online and in print. Additionally, Dave maintains four weblogs: The Business Blog at Intuitive.com, Ask Dave Taylor, Dave On Film, and GoFatherhood. Based in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, Dave is an award-winning speaker, sought after conference and workshop participant and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs, as well as active member of his community and busy single father to three children.

Get Out Of Hell Free

This is a great entrepreneurial marketing story that should provoke creative thoughts for your business too! First, it's irreverent and pokes fun at a lot of self-important people, which I like, but perhaps even more importantly, it's a great example of how having a fun idea and executing on it can produce really great results. Oh, and did I mention that the purveyor of this idea is a friend of mine? Even better.

Yes, it's a rip-off [parody] of the "Get Out of Jail Free" Chance card from the board game Monopoly, but for Randy Cassingham, it has turned out to be a splendid way to promote his amusing site This Is True and spread the word.

How much has he spread his URL through this means? He just announced that he's shipped his millionth Get Out Of Hell Free card.

Randy explains how the idea was born:

"My parody "Get Out of Hell Free" cards were introduced as a response to one of my readers who told me I was going to hell for daring to write a 87-word article about the "anti-Christian" topic of feng shui. I told my readers the story and offered them cards too, if they wanted, for the cost of printing, packing and postage..."

Dozens, then hundreds of readers and would-be readers ordered the cards, stickers, t-shirts, and more, and a quick look at Google Images shows that Randy has also inspired various knock-offs too, perhaps the ultimate compliment.

One smart decision Randy made was to sell the cards for his production and shipping cost only. Though he might have thought about slipping in a bit of a profit along the way, he resisted, and as a result the cards are still darn cheap: 50 GOOHF cards are only $5, including shipping.

That's an important idea because had he have charged, say, $10 for 50 cards, then people would have perhaps thought twice about leaving them for a harried waitress or abused bus driver. But at $0.10/card, well, why not brighten someone's day, and if it happens to point people to Randy's This Is True site and creates a new subscriber, well, that's the point of the exercise, isn't it?

Randy again: "I didn't feel a need to make a profit on the cards," Randy says, "because they all have my URL on them. Rather than create a photograph or video for people to pass around online, I created a real object that I knew would be passed around in the real world. And what's better in the 'dotcom' era than to have your URL spread around?" The customers pay the cost of creating the viral object, he says, and they benefit by the good feelings and message that they pass along with the card. "It's a terrific win-win," Randy says. "Not to mention that it works: people wonder who's behind the card, and they check out the site mentioned there. It has led to a lot of traffic, and a lot of new subscribers to my weekly weird news newsletter."

I admit, I've seen Randy give them out at various events and the response seems to be about 50% befuddlement and curious looks and 50% laughter and great appreciation. Of course, every so often someone likely takes offense at the ostensibly sacrilegious nature of the card, but knowing Randy, that's probably part of what he likes about the entire concept.

Learn more about the GOOHF cards here: Get Out Of Hell Free.

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