A few days ago in the circle of friends, I happened to see a person selling advertising courses advertising himself-14 systematic methods to help you find the best selling point of your product.
At first, I didn’t think much. After all, there are many such courses.
But then I suddenly realized a problem: If there are many people who spend all day thinking about the selling points of their products, then it is really a big problem.
Have the product or the selling point first?
Is there a product or a selling point first?
According to the conventional thinking, it seems to have the product first, and then find a good advertiser to explore the selling point of the product, and then you can sell it on sale.
A well-known example is Helix beer:
Heineken, whose performance was declining, found the famous advertising master Hopkins, hoping that the master could write a powerful slogan to save the brand. After Hopkins went around the beer factory, he was pleasantly surprised to find that every glass bottle here will undergo high temperature disinfection four times. He asked the executives of Heineken: “Why don’t you tell the consumers about this?” The executives replied: “Because every brewery undergoes high temperature disinfection four times, this is nothing special.” Hopkins said: “Whether every brewery does this is not important, the important thing is that consumers don’t know.” Therefore, Hopkins succeeded in making Heineken through the USP of “Each bottle undergoes 4 high-temperature sterilization”. Zi jumped from No. 5 in the market to No. 1 in the market.
This case has also been written into Harvard textbooks and spread widely. In fact, this story was quite useful in the 1980s and 1990s. Because at that time China was transitioning from “product competition” to “sales competition”-a large number of companies did not have enough sales awareness and experience, and only knew to improve product quality, they could get more orders. Later, overcapacity intensified, and gradually realized that sales is also a core skill necessary for enterprises.
However, today, the basis of market competition is changing from “sales competition” to “marketing competition”-whoever can meet consumer demand more efficiently will win the competition.
Therefore, the key here is no longer product quality, nor sales skills, but more effectively to meet demand.
Because there is no shortage of products on the market, and the availability of information is getting higher and higher, what is lacking is only a solution that better meets the needs of consumers.
Let’s go back to the initial question: Is there a product or a selling point first?
The answer is obvious-you must first determine the selling point corresponding to the demand, and then develop the product.
Even go further-first think about how to run the advertisement, and then use the product to turn the advertisement into reality.
For example, Keke’s “Chilling Throat for 30 Minutes”: In the beginning, there was no product. I only knew how to make a lozenges. Later, it was first determined that the product’s selling point was “long-lasting”, and then the name was “Chilling Throat 30 Minutes”, and finally the product was developed-the whole lozenge was made harder and larger, so that it could indeed reach 30 minutes effect.
Another example is Nanfu battery: first think about the visual target of “energy gathering ring” in the advertisement, and then go back and let the product department add a small red ring that actually has no energy gathering effect on the bottom of the battery (it It’s just an ordinary insulating ring, and other brands of batteries also have this accessory, but it’s not placed outside).
Although these two cases are many years ago, their marketing ideas will never be outdated even if they are put today.
Low cost trial and error
Just now we said: We must first think about how to sell, and then think about product development.
What is the corresponding idea here? Before making a product, you must first determine whether it is good for sale, do it only if it is good, and don’t make it if it is not good.
This is very important for entrepreneurial teams or new projects. Because many projects are so good for people in the team, but in the end, no one pays for it, which wastes a lot of social resources.
In fact, this idea can be realized through crowdfunding-first write down the product plan you want to do, and if enough people buy it, do it, and not many people buy it.
Of course, many products with a long R&D cycle are not suitable for crowdfunding pre-sales, but it is not impossible.
Before the project is established, you can verify whether the product is attractive by publishing “fake ads” on a small scale, that is, to see if it can make people who have not used it see it at first sight I really want to buy it.
For example, make a flyer with the slogan, detailed copy and renderings of the product you imagined on it, and then see how many people are willing to scan the code/call, and finally make a version of the flyer of similar competing products for data comparison .
This kind of research is actually the most authentic. You don’t need to ask consumers at all, but you can directly see: If this product goes online, how many people will really want to buy it.
Some people may say: Isn’t it a lie to send fake ads?
You can honestly tell those who scan the QR code/call that this is a survey. In order to thank him for his cooperation and support, he can get a small gift for free and it’s done (it would be even better if he could get fans in advance).
Why are you still looking for a selling point?
Back to the beginning of the article, why are there many people looking for selling points for the product? It may be because he has not learned the systematic method.
But from a deeper level, this is actually a typical social phenomenon. In Zuckerberg’s words, it’s: “Entrepreneurs want to solve problems, not to start a company. Many people don’t I started a company before thinking of what kind of problem to solve.”
Yes, because many people didn’t think clearly what problems they wanted to solve for the society, they founded the company and even started to produce products. So in the end, the product was produced and found that it could not be sold, so I turned around to find a selling point…
What is the selling point? It is the solution you provide for a certain social problem-this should have been determined before the establishment of the company, before the establishment of the project, and before the production of the product.
Of course, there are indeed many products that find their real market only after walking halfway.
For example, Super Orangutan, what they wanted to do at the beginning was a capsule gym. Later, they couldn’t do it anymore. Then they accidentally discovered that there is a market for a model that does not apply for a new year card on the basis of a traditional gym. Another example is Viagra. It is a project used to treat heart disease. After doing it, I discovered that this thing is better for curing sexual dysfunction…
But there are both luck factors and differences in different industries. Generally speaking, companies dominated by cutting-edge technology (such as biopharmaceuticals and software development) are more suitable and should do some things that cannot be verified in the initial market. product. Because even if it fails, it can accumulate many technological achievements for the company, such as patents. Even if you don’t need it today, you might use it someday in the future, and it may even detonate the market.
However, most companies are not operating those sophisticated technologies, nor do they have such a strong foundation for technical teams to try and make mistakes. In this case, a project is launched in a hurry, and the success or failure really depends on luck.
Why are so many failed startups? This may be the main reason.
What is the key to success?
Regardless of whether it is a company or a project, after removing the element of luck, what are the key factors for success?
Is it to determine a good selling point first? Do you first determine what problems you want to solve for the society?
Shallowly speaking, yes.
But from a deeper level, you actually have to solve the “Tao” problem.
What is “Tao”?
“The Art of War of Sun Tzu” says: So the classics are based on the five things, the school is based on the calculation, and the love is sought. One is Tao, second is heaven, third is earth, fourth is general, and fifth is law.
It means: if you want to accomplish something, the most important are the five factors of Dao, Heaven, Earth, General, and Dharma.
Dao: Do the people you work with (investors & employees & customers) really support what you want to do?
Tian: Is the time to do this right now?
Ground: Do you have the environmental conditions to do this?
Will: Can you find talented partners.
Law: Whether your rules and regulations and reward and punishment mechanism are perfect.
The priority of these 5 points is lowered in order, the most important of which is Tao-it is not morality, but a sense of identity and mission.
The mission is that all people work together and sincerely to solve a certain problem for the society, and the selling point is the specific solution to this social problem.
