This 6 minute article is for those who want two things:
- To understand why great products can often fail to get any traction
- To experience -with your own eyes- that my wild claims of “must have components” to ensure market domination, are true.
It’s not meant for everyone (that’s okay).
But those who accept the “gory truth” of what they’ll discover today…
…those who put today’s insights into practice…
…will forever find their business transformed.
Let’s dig in!
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Lately I’ve been “spying” on the insect industry.
Not because I’m some malicious secret agent, but because it’s my job.
And one thing in particular stands out:
An opening statement on most insect/BSF companies’ websites and LinkedIn profiles that sounds something like:
“Reinventing the waste chain”
Or…
“Rethinking organic waste”
Or…
“Innovation in sustainable feed”
If you feel like you’ve read SOME version of this before then it’s a sure sign these businesses are in trouble…
And today you’ll see why these are all signs of impending doom.
The (simple) Neuroscience Of Marketing
Whether you think marketers are sleazy liars or engines of revenue for your business, there is no escaping the following quote from Todd Brown:
“You get more attention by being different than by being better”
-Todd Brown (paraphrased)
That statement -about being different- is the lynchpin of EVERY effective marketing strategy, every effective marketing tactic and every effective persuasion attempt.
The "Classification" Paradox
Humans classify what we see into neat little “mental buckets” to make things easy to relate to, later.
We’ll group copywriters into the “creatives” bucket.
We’ll group Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches into the “supercars” bucket.
We’ll group brutal death metal into the “can’t-be-bothered-listening-to-that-noise” bucket.
EVERYTHING gets labeled.
Even if that label is wrong.
(Example: Copywriters are not creatives. They’re engineering-types and problem solvers)
The brain simply needs to label things quickly in order to try and make sense of this complex life of ours.
Because if we didn’t label things, we’d go insane.
The brain simply takes in too much information every single second to be able to relate to it all.
So to keep us all out of the asylum, those inputs are labeled, bucketed and handled in the same way.
The Psychological Insight That Ties Back To Effective Selling
The overwhelming majority of your prospects will have tried certain solutions before.
Because they know they have a problem worth fixing and as a consequence they’ve attempted to do stuff.
And those attempts have all failed by definition, or they wouldn't be prospects. they’d be happy with their current solution, instead.
Since every solution has failed them so far, they (think they) need something NEW in order to make progress.
Positioning yourself as “new”/different is thus the first thing you need to do, to get any kind of positive attention.
Again… Why?
Because: Since they’ve failed in the past, and your solution is “new”, that means that what you’re offering them is not really related to engineering or expertise…
Instead the freshness of your offer offers them HOPE that this time they’ll find the solution they need.
The Tendency To Bucket Things Get So Bad That…
…people will reject proven methods if they think they've seen them before, simply by virtue of not being new.
People will even reject SUPERIOR solutions, if they feel like they’ve seen them before.
And you’ll experience exactly how bad this tendency to reject superior solutions if they feel familiar is, in a cute self-test below.
(It’ll be fast and easy. Also: you won’t be embarrassed, I promise! Some people even find the test funny.)
Three Fast and Easy Self-Tests Prove This
The first self-test proves that what I’m saying is true.
The last two self-tests will not only continue to prove my claims, they’ll ALSO put your mind at ease about how to do this.
These self-tests only take a few seconds to do, but they’re so instructive you might end up changing the way you market forever…
Also, you can solve them sitting in front of your computer so you won’t have to write anything down.
Heck, you won’t even have to think.
Because the point is that you’ll immediately FEEL the right answer.
Self-Test No. 1:
Imagine you run a BSF factory and for some absurd reason three different freelancers send you a cold DM on the same day.
Now imagine these are their three different pitches:
- “I sell innovative insect solutions”
- “I sell frass to all of Western Europe”
- “I sell frass to all of Western Europe, using a complete outbound sales process that makes use of both cold calling and direct mail to land new clients - All on a ‘No Cure, No Pay’ basis.”
If you had an insect rearing facility and you had tons of frass lying around - which one of those three salesman are most likely to get a “Tell me more…” reply from you?
When you go over your competitors’ websites you’ll see statements like the first 2 above.
Informative, but not really FEEL new or different.
They might use the phrase "breakthrough" to give a feeling of freshness - but does it really feel fresh in the eyes of the prospects who arrive on their social media profile or on their website?
That vagueness in your competitors is a sign YOUR biz has a chance to corner that market.
By now, there’s a risk you’re thinking something like…
“I don’t know Fred, you’re making me feel kind of uncomfortable. I can’t offer fancy technical solutions or the world’s best product to change people’s minds…”
-Your inner voice right now
To ease your worries here comes self-test no. 2:
(It’s one of my favorites)
Self-Test No. 2
(The one that puts your mind at ease)
This is a cute little test that should give you a sense of comfort.
Maybe even a little pleased snicker, too.
Read This Carefully:
Below you’ll see an image of 17 cars all jumbled together.
The test involves looking at the picture of those 17 cars and answering this question: Which car is immediately noticeable?
(It’ll take you LESS than 1 second - promise)
Ready?
Good.
Now scroll down quickly and figure out which car is immediately noticeable.
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You noticed the taxi, didn’t you?
I BET you did!
Well hot diggity dang!
16 supercars that cost at LEAST $200,000 each…
Competing with ONE butt ugly, yellow-and-checkered beater.
And “yellow” won in less than a second?
Why is that?
(You know the answer already, but let’s drive this message home)
Because it had an OMGBABE leaning against it?
(Did you even notice her?)
Because you want one right this minute?
Because it’s a status symbol?
Because it’s a powerful car?
Because it’s beautiful?
No.
The taxi simply stood out!
All it took to draw your eye away from the world’s most luxurious…
…most prestigious…
…most vaunted and cherished material possessions…
…was a yellow paint job.
(Remember I said you need to be “different, not better” above?)
Self-Test No. 3
That shows your differentiation doesn’t have to be fancy or technical
Have you ever heard about The Prince Man?
No?
The Kent Man?
The Dunhill Man?
What about The Camel Man?
Still no?
Okay, okay…
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What about The Marlboro Man then?
Oh, you HAVE heard about The Marlboro Man?
Cool!
Here’s the point.
Kent, Dunhill and Camel are all cigarette brands.
And yet, Marlboro captured MASSIVE market shares with a product that was 100% identical to everyone else’s…
Because their advertising stood out.
Not because their product itself was in ANY way different, better, world-leading, more known, built by better engineers, contained more nicotine, or had a different toasting process or anything of that sort.
It was simply presented differently.
Associated with a different image, a different story.
If you want to full timeline of how Marlboro did it then: click this link
Next Steps
You’ve seen how marketing is about being different rather than being better.
And you saw three different tests that showed that:
- A better offer can help you stand out
- Superior solutions will lose to an inferior solution if they fail to make themselves stand out
- Advertising alone can actually serve as a differentiator without needing to change your offer…
… and you saw it with your own eyes, too.
To figure out way to differentiate yourself: Access The Market Domination Toolkit via this link
(the link goes live as soon as the toolkit is finished)
If it’s been a while and you’re wondering if the toolkit will ever come out, shoot me an email at frederik [at] beyerconsulting.net and say “HEY MAN WHERE THE HECK IS THE MARKET DOMINATION TOOLKIT?”
If you have questions then...
Click the link above to see exactly why such a call is NOT going to be a painful pitch fest - but a 100% useful conversation that WILL help you make progress.
Take care
/Fred