For the last few months I have been poking around the internet reading articles on how to market a commodity.
A commodity is a product with little to no difference when compared to competing products. There are many substitutes and therefore many consumers focus on price when making a buying decision. While there are obvious examples like commodity trading in corn and coffee there are the not so obvious. Ketchup is widely available. Perhaps Heinz is the best known brand, but is it incredibly superior to other products? Maybe, but only by a few orders of magnitude.
However, Heinz has survived on its brand and continually charging more than lesser known or generic ketchup. I could easily buy generic ketchup, but I know I am taking a slight risk in giving up taste and the satisfaction of using a known brand to save a few dimes.
Diamonds are also a well known commodity. Why is it that buying the same ring you could buy in a local shop at a Tiffany’s costs three times as much? Is it the blue bag? The feelings generated from buying part of Tiffany’s and bringing it home? The feelings of your girlfriend or wife when she opens the package to reveal the blue iconic brand? The answer is “Yes.”
Based upon my experience and all that I have read on the subject, people buy based on emotion and back it up with logic. In marketing a commodity, one must supply the recipe to create emotion within a buyer and the knowledge which forms the logic.
For instance, take the Sham-Wow infomercial. Sham-Wow is what looks to be chamois cloth made to soak up liquid easily and be continually re-used. The television host does a good job at taking real life situations and demonstrating the product’s uses. The theater created produces the emotion in the buyer.
What happens next is he states openly, “You’re going to spend $20 a month on paper towels anyway.” This is the logic behind the purchase.
Finally, product testimonials are given. This backs up further the logic portion…because other people buy it/use it.
I find myself looking for these components when someone gives a sales pitch to me. It is a bit of a habit now.
