It pays to keep your eyes open when you’re surfing the web or out and about because sometimes the best marketing ideas come from businesses outside your own industry.

I was at Cracker Barrel last night after the local Glazer-Kennedy chapter meeting and after checking out, and a sign near the registers caught my eye  “Audio Books for $3.49.”

When’s the last time you saw an audio book for less than $5?

Turns out, its a rental program. You pay full price for the audio book, then when you return it to any Cracker Barrel location, they subtract $3.49 for each week you had it and refund the rest.

It’s brilliant because the restaurant benefits three ways…

1. Returning it requires another visit to Cracker Barrel–upping the number of repeat customers within a relatively short time frame.
2. For all those who never follow through with returning it, so the restaurant makes a tidy little profit because they get the money up front.
3. But knowing they could return it and get everything but $3.49 back entices many people who otherwise wouldn’t have paid $25 or so for an audio book.

While I’ve seen similar ideas with DVD’s, audio books are a great fit for their market–which probably includes a lot of traveling retirees and families who may not have DVD players in their cars.

And of course, it’s super easy for the restaurant to manage since they don’t have to hassle with late fees.

Obviously, this particular idea works best for businesses with a physical location. But every business owner should think about–

• How can you drive customers back to your website shortly after purchase?

• Can you use a  a low “trial” price to encourage more customers to buy–and leverage the fact that people are more likely to NOT take action than to take action?

(In a completely above-board, fully disclosed way, of course).

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