SmallBusinessNewz

Go to the car dealership of a top luxury brand - or at least go to the car configurator tool on its website - and you'll see that buyers are given a stunning number of choices.  They might be able to pick between 18 grades of leather for the seats, 36 types of wood for the trim, and 128 exterior paint colors, for example.  And this kind of participatory experience can be a real key to success.

Now, nobody's suggesting that you go quite as crazy as Rolls Royce and Bentley.  The market for that sort of thing is tiny (at least at their prices).  Actually, you might not even have to address people's needs on an individual basis.

Crowdsourcing and contests represent a more practical path.  Jennifer Van Grove wrote today about a Vitamin Water Facebook app that's a good example.  It "lets you monitor the top 10 most buzzed about flavors right now, play games related to health and wellness, and eventually vote on your favorite flavor and design the label . . ."

Then, "Not only will the new flavor and bottle design be unveiled in December and released to the public for purchase in March 2010, but the winning designer will take home $5,000 cash for their efforts."

Of course, having who knows who many folks help you for about six months is probably worth more than $5,000, and the Vitamin Water people must be betting that a lot of the contest's participants will buy some of the new stuff.  So consider giving your customers a voice in designing different products.