#1 Marketing tip to get you through the next 10 years.

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It’s no secret that the way we bring products to market is changing drastically.  I just returned from a keynote by noted social media expert Jason Falls.  He argued that search will become much more important in the next few years with the advent of semantic and local search options.

While I agree with some of this, I think that the #1 way to ensure that your product or service will succeed is to…

Build the marketing into the product and create a new problem for your potential customers.

What the hell does that mean?

Let’s use the iPhone as an example.  Back in February I bought an iPhone even though I already had a smartphone that performed all the necessary tasks I needed like email, internet access, etc.  I bought an iPhone in spite of this, because it was so freakin cool that it changed my perspective.

I no longer had a smartphone problem, I had an ‘I need an iPhone’ problem.

Suppose your company is called ABC Widgets and you sell widgets.  You solve people’s widget problem, and that’s fine, except now you have to compete with every other widget manufacturer on the planet.

Now let’s back up and say that ABC widgets sells super-exclusive (and expensive) widgets that CHANGE what the market demands.  All of the sudden people don’t have ‘widget’ problems, they NEED ABC Widgets (even though you charge more)

The marketing is built into the product.  You become your market.  And you have all the competitive advantage you’ll ever need.  Now all you have to do is keep doing it.

As marketing changes and it becomes harder and harder to gain visibility brand recognition is your key to survival.

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  • http://www.oberata.com/ Jeff Timpanaro

    Colin:

    Thanks for the angle; but this seems disingenuous to me.

    I guess we ought just be careful to make the distinction between “creating new waves of valuable products / innovation” and “needless, materialistic flotsam & jetsam”.

    When it’s at its worst, capitalism festers as the mutual pursuit of self-interest, which is NOT sustainable. Any business, relationship, or organization cannot live it exists to serve itself.

    This model of “creating new needs” seems to dishonor the customer / vendor relationship. Sounds deceptive.

    Honorable, reciprocal relationships, by contrast, ARE sustainable.

    As you know, people will always pay for value. I am all for destroying the status quo and leading revolutions in products & services, but not in the interest of creating “problems” for masses of unsuspecting buyers.

    This could be a semantics problem, so if I’ve wrongly interpreted this, please clarify . . .

    Thanks,
    JT

  • http://www.oberata.com/ Jeff Timpanaro

    Colin:

    Thanks for the angle; but this seems disingenuous to me.

    I guess we ought just be careful to make the distinction between “creating new waves of valuable products / innovation” and “needless, materialistic flotsam & jetsam”.

    When it’s at its worst, capitalism festers as the mutual pursuit of self-interest, which is NOT sustainable. Any business, relationship, or organization cannot live it exists to serve itself.

    This model of “creating new needs” seems to dishonor the customer / vendor relationship. Sounds deceptive.

    Honorable, reciprocal relationships, by contrast, ARE sustainable.

    As you know, people will always pay for value. I am all for destroying the status quo and leading revolutions in products & services, but not in the interest of creating “problems” for masses of unsuspecting buyers.

    This could be a semantics problem, so if I’ve wrongly interpreted this, please clarify . . .

    Thanks,
    JT

  • http://www.oberata.com Jeff Timpanaro

    Colin:

    Thanks for the angle; but this seems disingenuous to me.

    I guess we ought just be careful to make the distinction between “creating new waves of valuable products / innovation” and “needless, materialistic flotsam & jetsam”.

    When it’s at its worst, capitalism festers as the mutual pursuit of self-interest, which is NOT sustainable. Any business, relationship, or organization cannot live it exists to serve itself.

    This model of “creating new needs” seems to dishonor the customer / vendor relationship. Sounds deceptive.

    Honorable, reciprocal relationships, by contrast, ARE sustainable.

    As you know, people will always pay for value. I am all for destroying the status quo and leading revolutions in products & services, but not in the interest of creating “problems” for masses of unsuspecting buyers.

    This could be a semantics problem, so if I’ve wrongly interpreted this, please clarify . . .

    Thanks,
    JT

  • http://indyawesome.com/ Colin Clark

    Interesting take… My main assertion is to look at the problem your business solves and find a way to alter it so that you are the only choice.

    Example… I’m hungry. I have a hunger problem. I want a restaurant that isn’t crowded or busy so that I can get food faster to solve my hunger problem. That’s great for me the consumer, but if I own a restaurant I want it to be BUSY!

    Example #2… I’ve heard about this exciting new restaurant that everyone is talking about. They have the most interesting food, decor, and service that you’ve ever seen. I want to go there for many other reasons than just the fact that I’m hungry.

    I get there and the place is packed and the food is expensive. I don’t mind, because this is what I wanted. I didn’t have a hunger problem, i had a “trendy new restaurant” problem.

    Now the question that remains is sustainability. It will probably be very difficult to sustain the novelty, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pack the house every night for years if the story remains relevant.

  • http://indyawesome.com/ Colin Clark

    Interesting take… My main assertion is to look at the problem your business solves and find a way to alter it so that you are the only choice.

    Example… I’m hungry. I have a hunger problem. I want a restaurant that isn’t crowded or busy so that I can get food faster to solve my hunger problem. That’s great for me the consumer, but if I own a restaurant I want it to be BUSY!

    Example #2… I’ve heard about this exciting new restaurant that everyone is talking about. They have the most interesting food, decor, and service that you’ve ever seen. I want to go there for many other reasons than just the fact that I’m hungry.

    I get there and the place is packed and the food is expensive. I don’t mind, because this is what I wanted. I didn’t have a hunger problem, i had a “trendy new restaurant” problem.

    Now the question that remains is sustainability. It will probably be very difficult to sustain the novelty, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pack the house every night for years if the story remains relevant.

  • http://indyawesome.com Colin Clark

    Interesting take… My main assertion is to look at the problem your business solves and find a way to alter it so that you are the only choice.

    Example… I’m hungry. I have a hunger problem. I want a restaurant that isn’t crowded or busy so that I can get food faster to solve my hunger problem. That’s great for me the consumer, but if I own a restaurant I want it to be BUSY!

    Example #2… I’ve heard about this exciting new restaurant that everyone is talking about. They have the most interesting food, decor, and service that you’ve ever seen. I want to go there for many other reasons than just the fact that I’m hungry.

    I get there and the place is packed and the food is expensive. I don’t mind, because this is what I wanted. I didn’t have a hunger problem, i had a “trendy new restaurant” problem.

    Now the question that remains is sustainability. It will probably be very difficult to sustain the novelty, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pack the house every night for years if the story remains relevant.

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