Read Michel Fortin’s latest blog article titled “Don’t Be The Best… Be The First!”. [Article Reprint]


Michel Fortin’s latest blog article is reprinted here.

Don’t Be The Best… Be The First!

After that last article on viral marketing, some people emailed me wanting more information about how to create at least the perception of uniqueness.

Let me give you a few tips, inspired by the “Law Of Leadership” from my two favorite mentors, Jack Trout and Al Ries.

Often, many businesses build their entire marketing strategy around a particular brand and its “better” qualities. Claiming superiority smacks of being untrue and is often a very risky endeavor. In other words, if you claim that you’re the best, your statement will be suspect.

When a mentor told me that “implication is more powerful than specification,” I realized that this, in itself, implied many things as well. What I pulled from that statement is, it is much more effective to imply superiority – to be perceived as being a superior company or one with a superior product – than to simply being (or outright stating that one is) superior.

But how do you get others to perceive that you’re the best? How does one imply superiority without stating it outright? The following are a few pointers to guide you in that direction.

If you’re the first in some category, you are also considered as the best. People have the natural tendency to attribute superiority to a product that’s first in its category. But if you’re not the first, you can usually invent your own position.

If there’s no category in which you can be first, then create one. By being the first in your very own unique category makes it tremendously difficult for competitors to copy you. But even when your competitors do copy you, their marketing efforts will only help to remind people of you.

For example, the upcoming Apple iPhone is not just another wireless phone. (And “wireless phone” or “cellular phone” are the more conventional categories. If iPhone promoted itself in these categories, it would have a lot of competition to contend with.)

However, it’s more than that. The entire keypad uses a touchscreen, and the phone doesn’t use any keys at all. And as such, it created its own product category – call it the “wireless, keyless phone.”

Any subsequent phone that enters the market and tries to copy the iPhone will only remind people of – you guessed it – the iPhone. So iPhone is the first in the marketplace in this new category.

But there’s something that’s more important, here: being the first in the marketplace is not as important as being the first in the mind of the marketplace.

Working with cosmetic surgeons, I’ve personally experienced this undeniable truth. A particular hair transplant doctor is one of the first surgeons of this type. While superiority in this field is a matter of artistic ability and not seniority, he is still widely recognized as the best surgeon there is – even if he still uses outdated techniques.

He still uses the old-fashioned “plug” technique. But even when his competitors use more modern techniques or their results are far more natural-looking, people still associate superiority to him since he is the first in their minds.

Jack Trout and Al Ries, the fathers of positioning, developed the category concept into a science. The first law in their book “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing,“ which is the law of leadership, is based entirely on the concept of being the first.

In essence, the law states that no two bodies can occupy the same space. If you get to a position first, nobody else can ever take your place. Hence, being the first virtually guarantees your position.

But by being first in the mind, the position is not held by you – it’s held by the consumer or client. And because “they own it,” they will, often unconsciously and reactively, fight tooth and nail to keep it there.

You don’t have to be the first with a product or service. You only have to be the first in the consumer’s mind. By owning the leading position in the mind people will automatically assume that you’re the best. Why? It’s because uniqueness separates you from the rest rather than compares you to them. It’s immensely more effective than actually being the best.

For instance, Ries and Trout prove this point with a very simple question. They ask: “Who was the third person to fly over the Atlantic in a solo flight?” Now, if you’re not a history buff like me, you will more than likely be stumped. Almost everyone remembers that Lindbergh was the first because, being the first, he comes to mind immediately.

But if you were asked the same question but rephrased in a different way (e.g., “Who was the first “˜woman’ to fly over the Atlantic in a solo flight?”), your answer will likely be “Amelia Earhart.”

See the difference? Essentially, the question led to the same answer. But by repositioning Amelia Earhart, the answer came to mind instantly.

Similarly, look at your own life: what are the things you remember the most? More than likely, you will remember your first kiss, your first dance, your first love, your first car, your first day of school, your first job, and your first heartbreak. Can you remember your second kiss let alone your fifth one? In all likelihood, you don’t.

When it comes to marketing, the same holds true.

Many people try to compete by comparison and may even generate some recognition as a result of their efforts. But where they often fail is in creating lasting top-of-mind awareness by drowning their image in a currently known category.

Everybody knows who is the first in some category or another, but rarely do people remember who’s second let alone third. If you market your company as a better firm with a better product or service at a better price, all you are really doing is reminding others of that which you are better than, which is your competition.

Again, if there’s no category in which you can be the first, create one. Having your very own category is powerful because it is impossible for competitors to beat you. Being the first, your place is therefore guaranteed and you will thus be perceived as the best by default – because there is no competition!

Remember in my previous article, I talked about Coke outselling Pepsi because Coke was the first in the mind.

Here’s another example: Coke, which was touted as being “The Real Thing,” is an old company with a hundred-year old recipe locked in some secret safe. So, after years of trying to compete with Coke, Pepsi decided to go the other way and proclaimed that it was for the “New Generation.” Its sales shot up.

On the other hand, 7UP floundered until it became the “Uncola.” As a result, the more Coke and Pepsi advertised, the more it helped 7UP. It created its own category, which allowed it to stop competing with Coke and Pepsi.

For a long time, Avis was an unknown car rental agency. One day, it finally conceded that it was number two – second only after Hertz. Their “we try harder” campaign, which focused on their underdog position, turned the size of their bigger competitor into a negative.

Domino’s Pizza was surely not the first pizzeria. But in a recent interview, Tom Monaghan, who started the pizzeria with his brother, claimed that, by being the first to deliver its pizza “in 30 minutes or it’s free,” it went from a small restaurant to a multimillion dollar franchise operation.

And there are countless other examples.

How can you do this yourself?

You can be the first to cater to a specific market, the first to offer an alternative to an existing product or service, or the first to cater to a market in a unique way – such as by offering an ordinary product or service but with a unique twist.

You can also customize a general product or service for a specific market. For example, you might be a travel agency. You could decide on being the first to sell business trips catering exclusively to financial institutions.

However, if you’re not the first you might then market yourself as “the first to serve the financially inclined,” “the leader in business trips for bankers” or “the first travel agent for the smart financier.” In other words, don’t be the best in some existing category. Be the first in one – one you create.

John Carlton, the master at finding hooks for his copy, is well-known for his “one-legged golfer” salesletter. After interviewing the author of the “how-to golf better” course and getting him to talk about how the product came about, the owner nonchalantly claimed that he got the idea from watching an amputee golfer who seemingly hit balls farther.

The idea was that anyone can hit longer drives if they knew how to balance their bodies correctly, which is what this one-legged golfer was forced to learn. As a result, that letter became the most swiped salesletter in the world.

(Even John tends to position himself in a unique way by calling himself “the most ripped-off copywriter on the planet.” And he definitely has earned that position.)

What unique twist can you find or add to your offer? If you can’t find one, then manufacture it. Now, I don’t mean to manufacture in the sense of lying. I mean to find pieces of information about your offer you can put together in a different and unique way in order to create an entirely new hook.

For example, when I use to work with hair transplant surgeons, one of my clients used a common surgical procedure with the help of stereoscopic dissecting microscopes, which enabled him to transplant hairs one strand at a time, rather than the more traditional “plugs.”

Doctors are prohibited by law to claim superiority. So, we needed to imply it. How? We called his technique “Micro-Follicular Redistribution Process.” (The technique even became known as the gold standard in the hair restoration community, as a result.)

This doesn’t have to be limited to the name of a product, service or process. And the product doesn’t have to be entirely new, too.

It can be a story behind its creation, it can be adding extra elements that are not part of the core product (such as unique guarantees, customer services, delivery, hybrid offers, which couple digital and physical components, etc), or it can be selling the same product to a whole new niche or market.

Bottom line, don’t try to be the best. Be the first, and by doing so you’re going to create an almost instant trustworthiness, credibility and perceived superiority – without having to outright state or claim it.

What’s better: claiming to be the best (which comes from you, and therefore makes your claim suspect)? Or letting your audience believe that you are? Naturally, the latter wins. Because in this case, they own that position – not you. And it therefore becomes unshakable, even if someone else appears on the scene and tries to compete with you.

So ask yourself, what can you make unique in your copy? Your business? Your offer? It doesn’t have to be unique. It only needs to be perceived as such. And remember, perceived truth is more powerful than truth itself.

Fortin

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker and consultant. Watch him rewrite copy on video each month, and get tips and tested conversion strategies proven to boost response in his membership site at http://TheCopyDoctor.com/ today. Other sites include: Michel Fortin’s Blog, Copywriters Board.

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Michel Fortin for granting permission to reprint this latest blog article.

 

 

 

 

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