Stupid Marketing Tricks - Part I

Now don't laugh . . .

Being a marketing consultant, I spend my day talking to people who are having a hard time selling their product or service. It seems to me that there is no end to the number of people who are experiencing this difficulty.

This week, I heard a story from one such person. This person could not understand what might be wrong. According to her, she had done everything exactly right. She posted a very long list of all the things she had done, from the development of the marketing plan, to advertising, publicity, blogs, seo work, newsletters - the list went on and on and on and on.

She could not understand, having done everything a human could possibly do to market her product, why the sales were not happening. The answer seemed very simple to me.

So, here is a question.

Who buys medicine?

Really - answer the question - who buys medicine?

Answer?

Sick people, obviously.

People can be sick. Or they can believe they are sick.

If they are not sick, or do not believe the are sick, they will not buy medicine.

Why make such a silly pronouncement?

It is an unfortunate fact that unsuccessful marketers concentrate on the benefits of their product or on the strength of their marketing efforts. They believe people will buy actually their product on the strength of the benefits it offers, or on the basis of a marketing plan based on fantasy. Benefits are important certainly. This is true. However, this is not what sells products (or medicine for that matter).

What sells medicine is the fact that there are enough buyers who are either sick, or believe themselves to be sick.

Again, this seems silly, but this makes a very important point. That point is this:

You can do everything right - perfectly right down to the last detail. However, if there are no sick people, or no people who believe they are sick, no one will buy your medicine. Ever.

The very first question you must ask, before even considering developing, creating or taking a product to market is whether or not there is a market for the product.

IS THERE a REAL market for this product? And precisely how big is that market?

Don't laugh. Hardly anyone thinks of this question before jumping into the market. This is why many fail.

I read hundreds of marketing plans every year. I even have a form I have people fill out before we talk. One of the very first questions asked on the form is 'If everyone who COULD buy your product DID buy your product, how many sales would you make?'

This is another silly question. However, without a doubt, it is the MOST important question.

Very few people can answer it. Nine times out of ten the answer is either 'I don't know' or 'Everyone!'. Both answers are completely wrong.

You have a great product or service. It does great things or provides benefits you feel people need. However, you must ask yourself if THOSE PEOPLE believe they need it. If not, you would be stupid to spend the time, money and effort to try to sell them something they simply will not buy.

Let's cover that again. People will only buy your product if they believe they need it.

If they do not believe they need it, they will not buy it. (Please note that I said 'believe' they need it).

The Internet is many things - however it is primarily marketplace where people go to find something they already know they need. Few people log on thinking "Today I will buy something. I don't know what I will buy. I just want to buy anything. I will look around until I find something to buy."

No indeed. People log on thinking "I need X. I will find the right X at the right price and I will purchase that X."

Throughout the coming weeks I will demonstrate how to begin to build a valid, realistic and working marketing plan - one that may actually make you money. So, before the next post, I will ask you to answer several questions:

1. HOW MANY people NEED your product or service. This requires a numeric answer, not 'everybody' or 'anybody' or 'a lot of people'. Give me an actual number here.

2. Now, prove it. Show me the studies or survey results.

If you can't answer with a number derived from studies or survey results, you are only fooling yourself or being overly optimistic.

I almost said 'You might be a stupid marketer IF . . . ' but I won't. That's already been done.

More at the Free Publicity Focus Group (http://www.freepublicitygroup.com )