I was reading this article earlier today about how the consumer is not looking for “better” when there is an established brand, they are looking for new, and I compared it to the current state of the class of so-called-marketers, internet marketers.
In the internet marketing world, a large mantra of what is taught by the gurus is to identify a market by an affiliate product that is selling well, then creating your own product that is “better”. The trouble is, if that product has a good brand awareness, then going up against it with a “better” product is not going to matter one little bit. Case in point, Jamorama is the number 1 selling “learn guitar” product on the internet and has been for a while, yet so many wannabe Jamaromas pop up on a daily basis trying to outdo them. Unless they can do something new and different, they have wasted time and effort even trying to meet that product head on.
People buy what they know, or what is new and exciting.
This made me think about some of the activities I have been planning and how it reduced a great deal of anxiety that comes with comparing apples with apples….Bugger the apples, it’s time to be an orange! I am looking forward to working with women who are brave enough (or can pretend to be brave enough) to put some of that orange thinking into place.
Planned and executed my exit from the corporate world. Walked away with a 6 figure payment to boot.
SUPERB POINT!!!!!!!!!!
“Bugger the apples, it’s time to be an orange!”
Can I steal this – I love it !!1
While I agree with you, I think that the point is that selling your product is not just about your product. If you can create a better product and market it in a new way, or create a new identity that works with your market, you’ve also won.
I would like to work with equally brave men, so would my catch phrase be ‘Bugger the apples, I want to be a banana’?
Great point! I seem to remember something from Stomper land suggesting you pick the 2nd best selling product rather than the best.
A great point. looking forward to keeping up with your journey. cheers. For any business person.the holy grail of success is giving a great customer experience. Good example of this: Ed Dale commented here and his 30 Day Challenge is free and he gives people looking for hope a great start. People are responding to this great online course experience by buying his product and recommended services– you can read their postings –they use services he gets paid on just to give back to him and his team.
Thanks Ed, your comment means a lot to me.
Pete steal away, you PR dudes need all the help you can get
Riaan if you can’t make the point of difference, you are screwed. Think of the world of mobile phones at the moment. Marketing the “best” phone in the world is not going make a blind bit of difference against the iPhone. Something needs to come along that is so different that it pulls the market away from what it knows.
Pete number 2 lol…sure! Maybe I should have used melons?
Susan…I am not familiar with Stomper stuff so I might be misunderstanding your point, but being second best isn’t what I was getting at. Being so different from the incumbent product that you are playing in a whole new ball game is what I am trying to say.
Hi Stephen I must be losing my self promotion touch! I am a moderator for the 30DC and if you come to the TV shows I am the one razzing the crowd up and saying the outrageous things
(allisonr)
Your post reminded me of the concepts of blue ocean vs red ocean in Blue Ocean Strategy.
Red Ocean = target existing markets
Blue Ocean = target untapped markets
Allison,
Thank you for your humor and your support during the 30DC!
You made such a great analogy using the example of marketing a new phone against the iPhone. I “Get It”.
Now, back to work(for me)!
Allison darling… you are soooo an orange…