January sees many new year’s resolutions made and broken (in fact, as little as 8% of resolutions stick). Some of you might have even broken one or two already, but when thinking about product marketing for your business, it’s important to make resolutions you can commit to.
According to this article by Fast Company, a better way towards making a resolution that sticks isn’t making a resolution at all, it’s making an anti-resolution.
Instead of putting your focus on things you want to do, whether it be increasing new business, brand awareness, or your Twitter following, focus on things you can stop doing. Don’t commit to running 5k a week. Commit to not-buying chocolate and then fit in as much running as you can.
Identify the habits that don’t offer a high return on investment and get in the way of marketing for business growth. Then, ditch ‘em.
There are endless anti-resolutions you could make, but we've got a great place to start:
Stop selling your product as a product
When you think about how to market your product, Sona Jepsen, Global Head of Sales Enablement at FIS, recommends not trying to market the product at all, “…to achieve the aggressive sales growth that many companies require, sales departments need to stop trying to sell products and start selling solutions.”
It makes sense, but it’s not something that brands do consistently enough. You know you don’t need a bottle of Pepsi, but when new tech comes along (like the Apple Watch, or Google Home) how often have you asked yourself, “Why do I need that?”
To move forward, showcase your product or service in terms of the solution it provides your client or customer—the problem that it and only it can solve. They’ll view it the same way.
The As-Seen-On-TV industry is practically founded on a marketer’s ability to sell a solution, sometimes to problems they invent themselves. Your product probably solves a bigger problem than a Slap-Chop, so your marketing around it should convey that.
Whether you sell specialized experience in a unique type of legal practice or a hammer, think of the solution. Instead of selling the hammer, sell the picture your customer can hang in their living room and the playhouse they’ll build for their kids.
It’s powerful rhetoric.
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