Chapter 14 This is Marketing

Treat different people differently

Most of the people out there just go with the flow.

They work with ‘This what people like us do’ and just do whatever others are doing. They don’t seek for anything new out of novelty, they adopt what others are doing.

But out of those many, there are some who are called the ‘Early Adopters’, the ones who seek for the new, the innovative and the refreshing things. These people go out of their way to seek for the new and fad stuff.

So a good marketer should know about the people he should spend his time and efforts on.

A person who is satisfied with his existing product wouldn’t be worth the effort as the product that you have come up with isn’t for them, at least for now.

It will be for them when other people start using it and it becomes part of the culture. Not right now.

Your goal initially is to aim for the neophiliacs, the ones with the zeal and novelty for trying out new things. You can build tension here. Because your product is for them.

Everything is voluntary here, you can’t force a product onto someone who doesn’t need it. So we go for enrollments.

Enrollment is what you need to earn permission to engage.

Here, you learn from the customer and they learn from you so it often leads to change. For this to happen, effective marketers seek for those who want the change and that’s how they connect the people who seek this change.

And a marketer wants this change to happen.

What do your people want?

Neophiliacs want the innovation, the thrill and the risk that is coming from trying out a product that can maybe work or not. They are trying to gain appreciation from people like them that, “look I tried something new!” They want to be praised for their innovation.

Whereas others will just want to fit in and avoid any sort of risk or uncertainty.

Always be wondering, always be testing, always be willing to treat different people differently. If you don’t, they’ll find someone who will.

This means that everyone is different and you can’t put the same amount of efforts on everyone. You need to understand your market and work for them accordingly.

Not every customer is the same. Not everyone is a neophiliac and not everyone takes advantage of the opportunities they are provided with. So observe and look for the ones who you require, the ones who are ready to adopt your case, the ones who want the change offered by you.

For that, we need to understand and listen to figure out who can we approach and what exactly we can offer them.

It’s not easy to be in the market and you need money to sustain. You can’t offer your product to everyone and no two customers are the same.

So ask yourself this question, “Who’s it for?”

Is it for the people who just show up once or is it for the people who are your regular customers, that leave a good feedback and spread the word among others as well?

You can serve a whole lot of people but you can only benefit from a few of them.

The whales pay for the minnows.

So aim for those customers who are going to show up to get you going.

Find those loyal and valuable customers and you are all set.