I'm Sure Your New Product Is Revolutionary, BUT Does Anyone Care?
I recently received a phone call from the CEO of a new company in the produced water space. He started the conversation off by telling me all the reasons why he reached out to me and to Water Online to help set the conversation expectation. He then complimented Water Online for our reach, name recognition, and finally our approach in helping companies, like his, gain legitimacy in the marketplace. The first five minutes was very flattering and welcomed (of course) but I couldn’t help but think, “What’s this person really needing?” So, I asked, and got my answer, but not before listening to him describe how REVOLUTIONARY his new technology is and how professionals in the water market would be tackling each other to be first-in-line to learn more about and purchase it. His pitch (why he was pitching me I don’t know) lasted 15 minutes before I re-asked the question, “How can I actually help you?”
Basically, it was as I suspected. He wanted to MARKET the heck out of his REVOLUTIONARY technology to the Water Online audience and beyond. The issue with his approach I explained, is that EVERY company that comes out with a new product or introduces one to the water market believes its product is truly REVOLUTIONARY. The hard truth, and one that takes patience and understanding, is that in the minds of those that should be purchasing your product, it’s really not that much different from what they’ve already been “pitched” by others. I truly believe that this is the biggest problem in marketing today, specifically in the water market. If we don’t give them a reason to care, they won’t. Trying to be the loudest person in the room does not work and it will kill your business if you believe that customers are anxiously waiting for your product.
That was a difficult message for him to consider and as a defense mechanism, one that I frequently see, his direction quickly turned to cost vs. audience size vs. sub 12 (under 12 months) sales conversions. Understandable, especially because that was SOP for much of the 1990s and early 2000s. For a sample of modern-day marketing, I gave him an example of a thought leadership article written by us for a Water Online advertiser and highlighted how it tethered the manufacturer and their customers by discussing commonalities. The piece covered various issues concerning problems produced water technologies address while never pitching a solution. Those that engaged in that content piece were certainly the target audience that the publishing manufacturer was trying to reach.
Time will tell if our conversation had any impact, but it will signal, at least I hope, a stop and think moment before he dives in head first. Going all in on being the loudest person in the room, especially when your brand is unknown, untested and unheard of, hasn’t provided a winning scenario for new manufacturers in the past 20 years. Allocating time, funds and focus on helping first and connecting with your potential customers…. THAT has proven many times over to be a winning approach.
Image credit: "Identical Twins," JOHN LLOYD © 2011, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/lcenses/by-nc/2.0/