Monday 20 January 2014

4 Best Kept Secrets of Product Marketing



Believe it or not, you can sell anything. No matter how odd, weird, geeky or downright crazy a product is – it has a market, and can be sold (profitably!). You just need to know the few golden rules of product marketing. 

Read on to learn the 4 best-kept secrets of product marketing: 


Secret #1: It’s all in the package

I can’t stress this point enough – people DO judge a product by its packaging. If you’re not going to invest enough money, time, and creativity in coming up with a really unique and attractive packaging for your product, then maybe you won’t really hit the sales highs you’re looking for.

[Related Article: Product Costing for Small Businesses]

People LOVE icons. Things they can remember. Everyone remembers their favorite cereal growing up – usually because it had such a wonderful cereal box that was so appealing to their 10-year old mind – or maybe it was the advertising they saw on TV that was just so cool…

You have to make your product hard to forget – and if you can’t really do anything about what’s on the INSIDE – you better be damn sure you can do something about the OUTSIDE! 

Let me give you an example. Simple kitchen sugar is one of the most common products you can find on the market. There’s really no way to make sugar different – unless you want to color it green or blue – and I’m betting you won’t sell many boxes if you do that.

The only effective way to sell it is purely in the packaging. Imagine if you saw a brand of kitchen sugar in the department store labeled “ROCKSTAR Sugar” with a really cool design and catch phrase – I’m betting you’ll throw it onto your shopping cart just because the branding appeals to you. So there you have it. Packaging. 

Secret #2: Become the Product (Love Your Product!)

How else can I say this? If you don’t LOVE the product, you can’t sell it. Most experienced marketers will tell you that passion alone can sell a product at least 60% of the time.

People want to see your passion for the product you are trying to convince them to buy. Passion is infectious. People eventually believe if the product works for you, it can also work for them.

Try selling a new detergent to moms – who already have a favorite detergent brand for sure. They’ll take just ONE look at you. If you come across as being passionate about this new product, and can really tell them WHY they should give it a try, then they will – otherwise, they’ll shut the door on you – pronto!

Secret #3: Identify with the Customer (and Really Care!)

Let’s say you’re trying to sell a new weight control pill that makes people lose their appetite for short amounts of time.

You have to understand that your target market for this product will probably consist of people who are already overweight or actually concerned about becoming overweight. 

Don’t just sell benefits; be sensitive to their needs as well. Sure, they want to lose weight, but they may not always enjoy not having an appetite. It’s about finding the best of both worlds – sell a product that is effective but also sensitive. Come across as actually caring about their needs, not just trying to shove the product down their throats!

Secret #4: Always Provide an Incentive

Throw in a little extra. People LOVE having more value or additional incentives to buy. For example, a customer walks into a store and sees two identical buckets of custard power. Both are yellow 500ml packs with a similar name and branding. But only ONE has a FREE GIFT attached to it.

Guess which one the customer will pick? It’s a no-brainer, buddy.

Always provide an incentive!

So there you have it – the 4 best-kept secrets of product marketing. Things you should do to really sell your product at its maximum sales potential. If you can make it, you can sell it – you just need to apply these four little secrets. 

Thanks for reading!

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