In The E Myth, Michael E. Gerber poses the question, "Are you beginning to get a sense of the complexity of this business called Marketing?" (pg. 139)
A friend works with the start-up Xandem, an innovative wireless technology for locating people, without the person carrying an electronic device. They are in negotiations with a huge brand management company that is taking marketing to the next level. To help understand customers better they build mock stores to evaluate customer shopping habits. They track everything from eye movement to the time customers view products. They use data to figure out preference to placement, colors, presentation, etc.
Here are examples of marketing based on data from The E Myth:
1. Blue suits outsell brown suits. (pg. 76.)
2. In a television commercial, the sale is made or lost in 3 or 4 seconds. (pg. 135)
3. In a print add, 75 percent of the buying decisions are made on the headline alone. (pg. 135)
4. In a sales presentation, the sale is made or lost in 3 minutes. (pg. 135)
Gerber reminds us that business is all about finding perceived needs of customers and fulfilling them. Xandem is helping a customer base that realizes marketing is as much a science as an art.
The point: Think deeply about your customers’ perceived needs.
I love the blue suit red tie thing he shared. In fact, when I went suit shopping a few months ago, I had that in mind when I picked out a blue pinstripe suit.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I didn't like the way the salesperson talked down to me, so in the end, I didn't make the purchase.