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]
[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!
No comments:
Post a Comment