Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Product Marketing Plan #3 - Mine Your Assets


This is wickedly effective, so stop what you're doing and pay attention. This product marketing plan is all about digging deep to identify the benefits that your product offers as well as putting your hand on under-used assets that you can use as bonuses or pre-launch content.

Some of these may be obvious and some are not. I mean that the ones that are not so obvious may need to be re-purposed to stack more value into your product launch offer. These probably fall under the 'law of Unintended Consequences'.

You probably have under-used assets too, if only you could identify them. Claude Hopkins - the father of marketing - famously did just that with a failing beer. Hopkins was hired in 1919 to create an ad. The company was drowning in debt and failing fast. Bankruptcy loomed. Beer sales were dismal. Market share was through the floor, just 15th in terms of U.S. sales.

Hopkins insisted on making the trip to Wisconsin to visit the brewery. Like any good product launch manager he had to reveal the beer company's hidden assets. He wanted to know what - if anything - made their beer remarkable. He knew that it was impossible to tell an engaging story or create a crushing offer without knowing every detail of how the product was made and what values the company had. Hopkins had to find an inspiring 'hook' with which to transform the market's perception.

The Wisconsin executives could see nothing exceptional in their brewing methods. They had lived with them every day for as long as they could remember.

They saw nothing different in how their deep drilled wells gave the purest water; nothing different in how their glass enclosed rooms stopped contaminates leeching into it; nothing different in how their bottles were cleaned, re-cleaned, and sanitized a dozen times; and nothing different in the kind of yeast they used or where they got it.

But Hopkins was astounded by what he found. "That's amazing" He cried "Why haven't your advertising people told the world about this truly remarkable brewing process?"

The beer company executives shrugged "Our competitors use virtually the same process for their beer too" they said. "Maybe" replied Hopkins "but no-one has told the market. We'll be the first. The beer drinking public will see your beer as something truly remarkable!"

The value of a fresh pair of eyes. And so they did. Hopkins was able to see something truly remarkable in a process the beer executives thought mundane and normal. He knew that these values would stir emotions in the heart of the market. Their appeal was undeniable.

The result of his visit to Wisconsin? Six months later, the beer company was producing the #1 selling beer in the country. So never underestimate the importance of a fresh pair of eyes to help you identify your most relevant and powerful assets.

Product Launch Tactics - Using Autoresponders to Boost Your Product Launches   The Best Ways to Launch a Product Online   Launching A New Product? 5 Necessary Questions to Ask   Product Launch Copywriting Requirements   Do You Have a Product Launch Strategy?   



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