“Marketing”- This is a very common and casually used word. We all know that every product needs a push, it needs Marketing. However, we fail to realise what it really is or should be. Hence, more often than not we fail at it.
To me, this book has been a real eye-opener. It has helped me get to the true essence of marketing and corrected the misconceptions I have been holding onto for a rather long time.
Marketing is definitely not about interrupting or spamming people. It is about recognizing the people you seek to serve and helping them become who they seek to become. It’s about adding values to consumers’ lives by reaching them with a product/service that changes their life. Like makeup does for under confident women or As Swiggy does by providing the comfort of food delivery from your favourite restaurants or Amazon does by getting you that book you couldn’t find in the local book store.
The book is filled with a lot of interesting concepts and examples of their applications. Here are a few terms and concepts that struck a chord with respect to its relevance to me.
Smallest Viable Market
Seth says, while starting out with a product or service, you have to figure out who you are seeking to serve with it. And, the more specific you can be, the better. This is a very common mistake that most entrepreneurs make. They shy away from being specific and try to build a brand that is for everyone. Which is why many fail with respect to reaching anywhere. You have to choose your smallest viable market and work your way through it. You have to learn to tell people “This is not for you” when it’s not.
Your chosen audience should be such that they would miss your presence if you were gone. And the best way to group your audience is based on shared beliefs rather than demographics. A thousand true fans are all you need to succeed. Cause your best customers are the best advocates for your Product.
The Magic of Positioning
For any Business, positioning is very important. Especially in today’s world where there is an infinite number of choices at everyone’s disposal. Your brand must stand for something and not everything. Example: if you sell potato chips, will you be a “Healthy and Organic” or a “Cheap and Popular”. The magic of XY positioning is its simplicity and how that can change the way you operate. This should be the core aspect of every communication you make. But, the important question is, “How are you going to be different?”. The best way is to build your own quadrant. To find a niche, that has been overlooked and build your story around it. A positioning which would make you the obvious choice in that niche.
What’s Your Consumers’ Story?
Marketing is not about the Product or Service, it’s about how your Product or Service makes your customers feel. It’s never fully rational, it’s about the emotions your consumers’ experience. It’s about your consumer’s internal narrative. Does the product/service empower the consumers’? Does it save time, thus giving them more time for their hobbies and families? Your Product/service is just a road for the consumers’ to achieve these emotions. The cognizance of this little aspect can completely change your marketing game!
Connect to Dreams/Desires of Consumers
The Marketer’s job is to identify the customer’s Dreams and Desire and then deliver that feeling through the Product/service. Marketing is about creating a change, a change in their emotional states. It’s about connecting consumers to a product that makes their dreams or desires come true. It’s a promise you make to your consumers you seek to serve. And, this is not often the rational path of numbers and spreadsheets. In Seth’s words, “The heart and soul of every enterprise is the irrational pursuit of becoming irresistible.” This may require you to take on some risks and tests in the marketing game. But being boring is equivalent to being static.
Trust and Tension
Marketing is the art of creating and relieving Tension. For example, Facebook expanded because of the tension it created. When you knew that all your friends are on Facebook, it created a tension, a fear of missing out. When you started losing track of the viral videos and topics hot in the discussion, you had to join. To cause change, to break a pattern, a marketer has to create Tension. And, the forward motion or the step taken relieves this tension. Another example of the phenomenon would be a clearance sale.
Once the customers are engaged, the next step is to work towards building their Trust. Turn them into “The Superuser” or “Loyal Customer”. To earn Trust, you have to build frequency. You can’t be limited to offering what you promise only for the first time. You have to do it every time. Such that they are accustomed to you, such that they don’t have to look back for options anymore.
From the Neophiles to The Mass Market
Every Market has a small set of people who are always looking for the new. The neophiles. These are a small set of people who are easily bored, always ready to take on the risk of trying something new and interesting. They are definitely every new product’s way into the market. So step 1 would be to get these folks interested in your product. These are also people who like the world to know of the new trend they are up to or are trying to set. However, the challenge is that they could easily get bored. The solution to keeping them engaged is to constantly create tension and innovate. Thus, building their trust with frequency.
Once they become your loyal customers. The game is quite simplified. They spread it around. The fire/ the trend then reaches the often unbreakable mass market through the network effect. Once the change you seek to make influences the culture, it becomes a part of “People like us do things like this”. But it doesn’t end at this. You have to constantly work to make people remember why they chose you. The journey to becoming the go-to brand in your niche is not a very simple one. But its definitely worth it!
Figuring Out The Funnel
From getting attention to getting loyal customers, a lot of people drop off at the various stages that exist in between. To avoid a massive gap you have to figure out this funnel. You have to make sure that you are attracting the right people to whom your promise holds value. You must constantly engage them, reinforce their dreams along the way and also use tension to encourage action. Instead of wandering around trying to find new customers, you must invest in your existing customers by creating new things which add value. More importantly, you must know the funnel math. Are the costs being put into market your product reaping enough profits to sustain the funnel?
The Pricing Game
Marketing and Pricing are interdependent. People often make blind assumptions just based on your pricing. Thus, it is important that the pricing is in alignment with the positioning of your service/product. It should resonate with who you are and the story you tell. “Cheap” is not necessarily the way forward. It is more or less an indicator of fear, of doubting yourself.
Make sure that what you deliver adds enough value that the price seems more or less of a bargain. On the contrary, lowering the price may cause consumers to question value and trust. Pricing can be a tricky game and it’s important to figure out what can and cannot be provided free of cost.
Is Marketing Evil?
As marketers, it’s important to be cognizant of what benefits and harms customers. Marketing can be evil sometimes. Marketing should not be about manipulating people or advocating the use of products/services which will harm them.
In fact, marketing is beautiful. It is an art. Art of letting people know what could possibly bridge the gap and help them be who they seek to be. It’s about adding value to lives, about reaching the right people at the right moment with the right product. It’s about improving people’s well being with human inventions and innovations.
Of Course, it doesn’t end here. It is definitely difficult to put out a summary of 260 pages of ideas, concepts and examples into just one page. But, this is the crux of what I absorbed from this wonderful read.
If you believe your product is something that the world needs to know about, then you should go back and read those 260 pages.
Happy Reading!
