In these tumultuous times, the fundamentals of marketing still apply. We buy because of perceived value. That mop that cleans 10X more thoroughly or the wireless printer that connects itself automatically demonstrates a compelling benefit to the user. If your business is in freefall, now may be the time to get back to basics.
How can your products or services offer exceptional and remarkable value? What can you do today to begin rethinking your business model?
The person enjoying the shade from a tree can thank someone who planted some seeds ten years ago.
Fundamentals:
- Can your product offer a guarantee that is twice as good as the competition? Call it a PROMISE, not a warranty but make it a whopper that you can deliver on. A simple money-back guarantee is not enough to get noticed.
- Is it feasible for your product to use 50% less energy than the leading appliance in your category? Don’t say it isn’t possible – imagine you can deliver on that statement. Then, find a way that this might be possible. This impossible task might be worth the energy you invest.
- What’s the chance you could offer your service for free and sell premium add-ons to that essential product. MailChimp started its highly successful email platform this way. Even if no one else does this in your category, it might open unexpected doors. Zoom has a free platform, but most businesses quickly join their paid program once they get a taste.
- Any way you can make a product that lasts three times longer than the competition? Value can come when you use a different metric of measurement. Could you market a snack that lasts for three hours instead of ten minutes? Is it possible to position your game as entertainment that delivers one thousand hours of playtime?
- Maybe you can find a way to claim security or safety that no one else can do because you offer a different approach to a solution. Because we do X, we can deliver on Y, unlike anyone else.
- Are you able to use 100% recycled fabric or components to be the only brand that provides this eco-friendly advantage to those who care foremost about sustainability?
The Fundamentals of Marketing
One of my favorite examples to illustrate this point is a product that doesn’t exist but will one day soon.
Three words: Silent Leaf Blower.
Everyone hates the loud and obnoxious sound that leaf blowers produce. Whether you or gardeners in your neighborhood are cleaning off the driveway or leaves from the grass, no one loves noise. A silent, leaf blower would blow away the competition. Who wouldn’t want to reduce the volume and annoyance that technology will solve one day soon? This idea would leverage the fundamentals of marketing.
New technology to create the force needed to move leaves off the lawn, but without the noise would be a game-changer. This quiet leaf blower would alter the landscape and offer a precise value.
What will it take? How will you find your game-changing product or service? My wish is that Sir James Dyson will create this product like they recreated the vacuum cleaner.
Now is the time for watching and observing what new needs will emerge after this extraordinary disruption of life is behind us. How will you meet at that moment?
- Find out what people HATE about your product/service category. Hate is a powerful word, but marketers use it to make sure it’s significant.
- Make-believe you can do anything and dream big. Think up products that, if they existed, could dramatically move the needle in your category—conventional breakthrough thinking to what Steve Jobs used to call magical thinking.
- Ask the question, what would need to be accurate, to create this product. Unless it involves rewriting the laws of physics, maybe you can find an unexpected approach to a daily challenge.
The fundamentals of marketing require a sharp and unconventional point of difference. This new offering must bring an unimagined value. Concentrate on some aspect of your product or service’s category that no one else pays attention to or ignores.
Be a verb. Act now.
Need some help with the fundamentals of marketing?
I can help. You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Our initial conversation is free. You talk, I listen. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com Let’s explore working together today.
