Tramdock
"Holy crap. Your stuff just shipped."
I found Tramdock via EpicSki.com. I found EpicSki.com via Google.
You could launch an expensive advertising campaign, buying space and time everywhere your agency can rip you off, but it probably won’t sell your product. The nation has become immune to hype.
Look at Bruce Springsteen’s appearance at the Super Bowl. In the wake of his show, he sold a grand total of 100,000 copies of his new album, "Working On A Dream". 98 million people watched the game, but almost none of them want the new album. Bruce famously told Bob Costas that he was doing the Super Bowl because he had an album to sell. A better strategy would have been to come up with one great track and hope that it spread virally online.
Same deal with U2. The band thought that it was immune to public opinion. That it could will a hit single. But despite opening the Grammy telecast, "Put On Your Boots" isn’t even in the iTunes Top 100. (Actually, sales were so poor, it’s been pulled from the store.)
What’s fascinating to me is both these acts NEED the success. U2 NEEDS to be the biggest band in the world. Last time around, they bought insurance by writing a ditty reminiscent of a classic hit and flogging it via not only an iPod commercial, but an iPod itself! Where does the band go from here? Does it go on the Disney Channel and perform with the Jonas Brothers in "Camp Rock 2"? Nothing can sell the lame track they released, because the public has rejected it. Just go online. You’ll find out.
There’s an alternative culture in cyberspace. Ironically, one larger than the mainstream world touted by big time media and most inside the D.C. beltway. President Obama utilized the Internet to spread the word about his campaign and raise money, but two legendary artists are tone deaf to new media?
I found EpicSki.com because I was researching a new pair of skis. We live in an information age. You not only solicit your friends’ opinions, you do research, often exhaustive, to get the exact product you want. Want to buy a TV? I didn’t trust the salesman at Ken Crane’s, he was ignorant, too focused on his commission. I studied the ratings on cnet. I read the comments on Amazon. I cross-referenced actual sales with comments on Amazon. And what I found out was ten out of ten of the best-selling LCDs is a Samsung. Are you really going to buy a Sony after that? Especially when further research tells you that the glass is manufactured in a joint venture (Sony needing to pair up with Samsung to utilize their technology)? I don’t trust those ads for TVs during sporting contests. They’re stupid. How can I see their picture is better when I’m watching on MY set? And the fact that they’re authorized by the league…is there anybody unsophisticated enough to think this means anything other than an exchange of cash?
Turns out there was this one expert on EpicSki, named SierraJim. He worked at a retail store in Northern California. I read enough posts to learn that he was truly knowledgeable. And he offered this information for free. There was no sales pitch whatsoever. So I checked out his store (http://www.sierraskis.com/). And found incredible deals. I told a friend and he purchased skis from this outlet.
But there was another retailer bitching on EpicSki. Wondering how he could survive competing against Tramdock.
Huh? What’s Tramdock?
I Googled it. Ah, just another company selling remainders, the equivalent of the old record cutout. But I always perused the cutout bin, I found more than a few gems, I plucked Move titles from the detritus. Kinks records too.
So I bookmarked Tramdock.com.
And you do know that in most browsers you can create a list of bookmarks that you can open all at once? I’ve got one entitled "Ski". I put the Tramdock.com url in there, I started studying the offerings.
So frequently clothing. And I’m not a clotheshorse. Oftentimes last year’s skis. But one day, I saw a Swix waxing iron.
Last spring, with the ski season done, I ironed my skis to seal their bases for the summer. But my old steam iron, stolen from my mother in the sixties, almost melted my Volkls. It was impossible to get the temperature right.
Should I buy this waxing iron? The incentive is the price. It’s sixty-odd percent off.
I didn’t. Then realized my mistake. If I was using a forty year old iron, what difference did it make if the new one I purchased was last year’s model?
I haunted Tramdock.com until the offer came up again, and then I laid my money down.
And I immediately received an e-mail confirmation that said "Get stoked – most items ship within 24 hours." That’s how they talk on the hill. But most e-commerce sites use the traditional phrases, vetted by attorneys to avoid any and all lawsuits. These companies are not run by humans, but computers. Just try to complain when you’ve got a problem.
And then, three hours later, came another e-mail. With the above quote. Yes, "Holy crap. Your stuff just shipped."
Wasn’t I supposed to wait ten days for them to make money on my money? They ship within twenty four hours?
But what truly sold me was the irreverence. Real people work at Tramdock.com. Or at least real people wrote the computer scripts.
Real people did not write the Grammy show. You could have employed the same verbiage back in 1968. As for the Jonas Brothers… How do you build a business on teen idols? Isn’t that like those one-off hi-def screens they sell at warehouse clubs? With licensed legendary names, like Polaroid and Westinghouse? Who do they think they’re fooling? And it appears only one low price independent will survive the squeeze, Vizio, if it survives at all.
Sony’s faltering? That’s not hard to believe. Its image sucks. It’s not hip.
And neither is Bruce Springsteen. Which is fine, if he owns his true identity and plays to the core.
If Tramdock were to advertise in "Newsweek", almost all of the money would be wasted. And those skiers who saw the ad would be suspicious. But when the site is vetted by others, and you have a good experience, you tell everybody you know. This used to be the key to growth in the music business. Before easy TV exposure created instant hit acts.
But those acts fell by the wayside. Too many of the acts that remain are like Sony, thinking the landscape never changes.
Play to your core. If you deserve to be bigger, your fans will spread the word. And don’t be afraid of offending those not in the loop. They don’t matter.
http://www.tramdock.com/(epicski just had a site redesign, in the interest of further monetization. The regular inhabitants hate it. To experience the old flavor, go to: http://www.epicski.com/forum/ However, trying to jazz up the site, they made it prettier, with less information on every page. Sometimes utilitarian/industrial is just fine. After all, as Apple has proven again and again, it’s about USABILITY!)
