Jump Start Your Business Brain

Jump Start Your Business Brain

By Doug Hall

Part 1: The Laws of Marketing Physics

No doubt about it: The customer is always right. Anyone you’re trying to convince of anything is your customer. Maybe you’re trying to persuade your brand manager to let you head up a marketing project. Or perhaps you’re trying to sell your best client in Albuquerque to try a bold new sales strategy. Or you’re trying to convince your significant other to make it a permanent thing. If you can’t get the customer on your side, you don’t have a deal. The good news is that there are reproducible principles that can dramatically increase your odds of success with any customer and any endeavor. We call these principles the Laws of Marketing Physics.

They’re based on a 6-year analysis of 4,000 new products and services by a team of Ph.D’s. Our research shows that what matters in the marketplace is what you say, not where you say it.

That’s the essence of the First Law of Marketing Physics: Overt Benefit. Of course, the importance of focusing on benefits and not features has long been recognized. The new news is how overt you must be in today’s cluttered marketplace. Analysis of thousands of concepts shows that, all other factors being equal, the odds of success nearly triple when the stated benefit is unquestionably clear.

Probability of Success

Low Overt Benefit 13%

Medium Overt Benefit 26%

High Overt Benefit 38%

Today’s customer is overwhelmed with marketing messages. The average supermarket contains more than 40,000 different items. The total of all printed knowledge is estimated to double every 5 years. The New York Times reported that humanity publishes as many words each week as it did in all of human history up to the year 1800. Whether the customer is the guy on the street or your department head, he or she has fractions of seconds to evaluate your idea. So you have to be brash, bold and in-your-face OVERT about your benefit. Now, to convert an overt benefit into sales, customers must be able to trust that you’ll deliver. Here again, credibility has long been known to be important. The new news is how important it is.

That brings us to the second law of Marketing Physics —

Real Reason to Believe.

Analysis of thousands of concepts indicates reason to believe is as important as benefit. The data indicates that, all other factors being equal, you more than double your chances of success from 18 to 42% when you offer a Real Reason to Believe:

Probability of Success

Low Reason to Believe 18%

Medium Reason to Believe 29%

High Reason to Believe 42%

If benefit is "what" you’re offering, reason to believe is "how" you’re going to make good on your promise. To succeed, you need both the "what" and the "how." And the greater the promise of your overt benefit, the stronger your reason to believe has to be.

Why? Because confidence in marketing messages is at an all-time low. We’ve all learned the hard way about so-called delicious low-fat foods that end up tasting like cardboard, easy-to-program VCR’s that end up blinking 12:00 forever and simple instructions for assembling toys that read like Egyptian hieroglyphics. Reason to believe is about credibility and trust. It’s built through clear and direct communication, enhanced by a multitude of small acts that add and subtract from the customer’s perceptions of your trustworthiness. To paraphrase author Tom Peters, coffee stains on airline seat trays make you wonder about airplane engine maintenance. The best way to provide credibility is to tell customers the truth about how you intend to accomplish delivery of the promised benefit. The truth has a vitality that transcends hype and slick marketing. Let’s recap. You’ve articulated your overt benefit and you’ve given your customers a real reason to believe that you’ll deliver that benefit. Now it’s time for the Third Law of Marketing Physics:

Dramatic Difference.

Uniqueness has long been known to be important. The new news is that for it to be effective, the uniqueness must be DRAMATIC — and the drama must flow from your combination of over benefit and real reason to believe.

People are creatures of habit. To change purchasing behavior, you must offer a meaningful perceptible difference. The data shows that enhanced dramatic difference levels increase probability of success from 15 to 53%. This means that you have a 353% greater chance of success when you have a high level of dramatic difference.

Probability of Success

Low Dramatic Difference 15 %

Medium Dramatic Difference 40 %

High Dramatic Difference 53 %

These results confirm an earlier study reported in the Harvard Business Review that found a 370% greater chance of profitable success for ideas that are extremely different.

One important test of a strong dramatic difference is whether you can explain to a person not knowledgeable in your field. When you can explain your uniqueness easily you are on your way to success.

A few more points to remember:

Any idea worth pursuing contradicts established history. One of the simplest measurements of a Dramatic Difference is the granting of a patent. When you file for a patent at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, one of the first questions asked is: "How does your approach compare to standard industry practices?" If it follows established protocols and it’s historically proven, you don’t have an original idea. Your request for a patent is denied. But if your idea contradicts established ways of thought, you’re your way to a government-sanctioned monopoly. Consider that patents are given mostly to crazy rebels and revolutionaries. Patents require that your idea go against the accepted wisdom and knowledge. And that requires a touch of inspired insanity.

Dramatically different ideas ALWAYS cause chaos for one or more areas of the company structure. No way to avoid it. For one thing, bold ideas often require significant R&D. And by R&D, I mean research and development — not the more common approach of large companies to "rob and duplicate."

As I said before, business success is not random.

There are reproducible principles that can help you win more, lose less and make more money with your business ideas. And they orbit around the notions of trusting in the power of customers to respond to authentic offerings. Once you’ve focused your resources on customers’ true needs — whether the customer is the person surfing your web site or your boss — you can’t lose.

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