An education in ‘marketing mediocrity’

The absolute worst place for a brand is to be “middle of the road.”

If you’re cheap, at least you could focus on being an inexpensive alternative.  If you’re expensive, at least you could focus on being “premium” or “full-featured.”  It can be helpful to be easily accessible and widely available.  It can be advantageous to be rare and hard to find.  A niche product can be just as profitable as a ubiquitous one.  And a challenger brand can often hold its own against established market leaders for different audiences.

But the worst position is to be average, adequate, middling.  Being a “good value” is next to meaningless.  People don’t care about brands that sufficiently meet their needs.  They may buy you once.  But it’s far too easy for them to switch to everyone else in the field.

If you’re in this position, don’t bother marketing.  Don’t buy advertising.  Don’t set up a Twitter account.  Don’t come up with some half-ass promotion.  It’s all simply a waste.

The answer isn’t coming up with clever creative or a media plan that maximizes GRPs.  No social media strategy or SEO consultant is going to help you over time.  Analyzing your click-through rates or conducting focus groups won’t uncover how to improve your ads.

Peter Drucker, said, “the purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”  He didn’t say it was to produce a profitable product or even to maximize revenue.  It’s about the customer.

So too, the purpose of marketing is to get those customers to care about what you do and what you have to offer.  In order for them to care, you have to stand for something.  You have to stand out.  You have to be willing to stand up and say ‘this is how we’re different and why it matters.’

If your brand is mediocre, don’t worry about how to hide it through shrewd marketing strategies and techniques.  They won’t help you in the long run. Better marketing isn’t the answer.  Start with something meaningful and go from there.