There is an old saying that “the best product is the one that sells itself.” But this is one of the biggest myths of business. Self-selling products simply do not exist. If they did, you would not see thousands of TV and magazine slots for million pound brands like Cadbury, Nike or BMW. The assertion that any product can succeed entirely on its own merits, without the help of marketing, is at best lazy and at worst delusional. So how do you go about promoting your product?
Well if you ask me, marketing is about more than advertising, PR, brand, design and blog posts. It is also about proving to the market that you have “the” product in your particular niche, that it is the “best of breed” in practice…. I have found that one of the most successful ways to engage people with my product is to get out there, meet people face-to-face and show them, through demonstration and interaction, exactly why it works. In short it’s as much about selling myself (the person behind the product) as it is the product itself. I designed and developed echo barrier.
This means I know how and why it works better than anyone else. I also know how it compares against its competitors and how to get the best performance for any application - which makes me the ideal salesman. And it is for this very reason that I like to attend events such as the Transport for London (TfL) Health and Safety Forum and the HAUC (UK) conference which I did last week. I used both of these events as opportunities to demonstrate how effective echo barrier is, as well as making myself available to answer questions and to help with applications in person.
We have been working with TfL for a while on projects such as Farringdon Station, so the health and safety conference was a perfect opportunity to have some face to face time to keep the momentum going. We have a great contact at TfL; through working in the CDM department he has a fair bit of power in specifying that contractors must use acoustic barriers so it’s vital we keep him in the loop with current and future developments so that he has the information he needs in a form that makes his life easier. Above all, there were some really influential people from TfL present, who would be difficult to get in front of under normal circumstances.
My advice, if you’ve developed a product, is to get out and sell the advantages over the “me toos”. Attend events and if you can, speak at them. Show your enthusiasm and pride and enlighten your customers with the story behind your creation. Events are also great in boosting your own network and knowledge and getting both your product and your expertise in front of the people you want to do business with. Don’t just sit back and hope people see the merits in your merchandise. It’s up to you to show them. .