I’ve always been a big fan of intelligent discourse on marketing. 

Way too often, marketing seems like 1 part mysticism, 2 parts voodoo, 2 parts common sense, and an extra-large dolop of B.S. People that think things through, explain the rationale behind things, and provide a framework for determining what’s good – and what’s bad – in marketing do our entire industry a service. 

One of the most influential (and dare I say brilliant) marketers is actual a family of marketers. The Ries family has been pioneering common sense in marketing for years, first with a series of books by Al Ries and Jack Trout, then with Al and his daughter Laura Ries Brown. Books like Positioning, Marketing Warfare, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, and The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR have altered the ways marketers think about their craft. I don’t necessarily agree with every position the famiy Ries stakes out, but I always find their work to be thought-provoking, and, more often than not, find myself agreeing with them.

Recently, I stumbled onto Laura’s blog – Ries’ Pieces - and I once again find her insights thought provoking. Her latest entry discusses the evils of line extensions – something both father and daughter have railed against for years. If you’re not sure what a “line extension” is, set your WaBaK machine for the 1960s. If you went into a “convenience” store (what today we refer to as a 7-Eleven, or in the vernacular, a “Stop-N-Rob”) and asked for a “Coke” – your biggest decision would be to choose between an 8 ounce (Regular) and a 12 ounce (King Size) bottle, of the glass variety. (I am among the Coca-Cola Cognoscenti that can tell the difference between the taste of an 8 oz. and 12 oz. Cokes in glass bottles. Don’t even get me started on the difference between the taste of cane sugar and that abomination that is “High Fructose Corn Syrup.”) Today, ask for a Coke and you have to choose between Coke, DIet Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Lime Coke, Diet Caffeine-Free Coke, Diet Coke Plus, Diet Cherry Coke, Coke Zero, and so on, and so forth. Everybody’s doing it, so that must make it right…right?

Not according to Ries. Or me, for that matter. 

Back in the Swingin’ 60s, Coke had a product – Tab – that was (essentially) Diet Coke. It was a cola-flavored drink. And it had all of ONE calorie. I thought it tasted like used anti-freeze (or at least what I imagined that used anti-freeze would taste like, sans the glow-in-the-dark green color), and had no use for it. But at the very least, Tab had it’s own brand, it’s own identity. Diet Coke, on the other hand, is a bat – neither bird nor rodent. It’s Coke, but Not Coke. All Some of the taste, and None of the Calories. 

Years ago, I worked for a software company, a game publisher to be exact. The CEO told me he was in the “CD-ROM Game Business.” I argued, that he was, in fact, NOT in the CD-ROM game biz, but in fact, he was in the entertainment business. The CD-ROM part was the distribution method, and not the market itself. When game distribution changed from CD-ROMs to online, his company was unprepared for the switch, and was unable to transition. They were subsumed into another company, and faded from the market. The company dabbled in both a variety of titles, and a few line extensions. Interestingly, the line extensions never sold as well as the original titles. 

I’m in the process of starting another company – a manufacturing company that will build and market a variety of accessories for musicians. In the process, I’m having to decide what my little company wants to be when it grows up. As a marketer, I’ve learned that focusing on something specific makes it easier to own a piece of a market. When starting a new company, it’s easier to be the expert in chrome-plated wing nuts, than it is to try to be a mogul in all things fasteners. However, product specificity can severely limit your market. The trick is to come up with a focus for what your company does, and then focus on best-of-breed products within that marketspace. 

For instance, I came up with an idea for a really cool guitar stand (we’ll launch – Really Soon Now – at www.guitarfurniture.com, if you’re interested). However, I know that while there is a market for guitar stands, that’s a market with some really big, well-funded players. However, I quickly realized that there’s nobody playing in the high-end of the market, and I suspect that there’s a good bit of money to be made there. Rather than focusing on a single product (i.e.: a guitar rack that will hold six instruments), or a huge market (say, guitar stands in general), I’ve chosen to focus on a product line that will target a segmentof the guitar stand market – the high-end segment. This seems to me to be the right compromise between focusing on a specific market, while not getting TOO focused, where you have no room to grow, and make money. 

Time will tell if I have the right idea on my market focus. Too broad, and I’m tilting at windmills. Too specific, and I’m chasing a market too small to be profitable. 

So when it comes to your marketing, how do you stack up? Are you canibalizing your own market with line extentions that only appear to be the lynchpins of a sound strategy? Are you focused too tightly on a market, and find yourself leaving money on the table? Or have you carefully examined your market, and figured out the best way you can stake out your own territory in it?

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 10:11 am and is filed under marketing.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.