An Industry Like No Other
The widget industry is incredibly unique. There's no other industry like it. Widget manufacturers and their competitors know better than anyone that marketing widgets is a practice of its own.
So, if you want to get into the widget business, you have to know how to sell widgets. You'll have to understand the very specific features of widgets and the difference between one widget and another. More importantly, one needs to know the difference between the widget industry and every other industry. If you've never marketed a widget, you wouldn't understand.
This is the natural way of thinking about our businesses. It seems intuitive that to drive marketing and sales results, we need to understand the business. However, this way of thinking may be misguided.
Understanding The Target
As important as it is to understand what makes our industry or product category unique, it is almost never the reason why our customers buy. When you're aiming for the bullseye, focusing on the dart is rarely the winning strategy. Rather, the key is to focus on the target itself.
It's important to remember that reaching our target means reaching our customers. So, as much as we need to understand our widget to make one, we need to understand our customers to attract more of them.
It is easy to forget, but in marketing, the product is not the point at all. The customer is. Because of that, your marketing should be more about them than it is about the product. Buyer decisions are based less on the features a product has to offer, and more on something found deeper than that: happiness.
The Pain. The Desire.
Happiness is achieved when you have the satisfaction of implementing a planned software upgrade on time and you receive accolades from your team. Or by avoiding the pain of shareholder pressure from goals that are not met. It's a feather in your cap when completing a project or breaking through the tape when you get to the finish line. Customers find happiness when they are sitting on that newly finished deck or enjoying a cooler home in the summer.
Happiness is avoiding pain and achieving our desires.
When you develop a marketing message, connect to the customer. How do we see this in some popular brands? Consider Pepsico, the makers of Pepsi, and many other food and beverage brands. On their home page, they immediately connect to customer happiness.
Notice the rhythm of the message. They start with "Create more smiles..." not sip more soda.
Or consider Volvo, which is popularly known for its safety features. They didn't talk about brakes or crash ratings. They talked about you and what you care about—being safe in your car.
When someone makes a buying decision, pain is often the driver. It's hard to get someone to buy a security system when they are not concerned about safety. When pain is not the factor, it is almost always the corresponding feelings—fulfilling one's desires, to look good in your shoes, or feel good after leaving the gym.
Features and benefits are certainly important details, but customer motivations are found in their emotional connection to the buying decision. When creating that advertising campaign or email marketing subject line, don't focus on the dart. Focus on the bullseye—removing unwanted pain and helping your customer achieve their greatest desires.
Building widgets requires an understanding of widgets. Selling them requires an understanding of people.
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