Your "Product" Isn't Your Business

Your company sells widgets. That is how you make money. At the end of the day if you sell one million (a milli, a milli) widgets at $1 a piece your company makes $1 million. Sounds really simple right.

Where this whole world of marketing is anything but. Think about it:

• Real Estate Agents sell houses. The buyer wants a home, a home that will create memories, be a place to raise children, be a source of photos, videos and forever-lasting memories.
• Scissor manufacturers sell scissors. The buyer picks up scissors to make something. They may be wrapping a present and the smile that it makes on the receiver is priceless. They may be scrap-booking memories of a vacation or a wedding. It's not about the scissors, but about what you do with the scissors.
• McDonalds sells hamburgers and fries and colas. The customer is feeding a need, hunger. Is longing for taste and a fun environment in which to enjoy it.(McDonald's is inviting moms into the restaurants to let them learn about their food and rid its reputation as terribly bad for you, great initiative!)
  
• A movie theater sells the opportunity to see a new movie. The movie goer walks into a theater for the sound, for warm popcorn, comfy seats, a date, a night with friends and water cooler talk the next day.

As a company, you need to see the larger picture. You are not selling your product, you are selling what your product can make a person

• do
• feel
• see
• remember
• touch
• act
• etc

The next time you think about finding your next customer, client, fan, etc, think about what it is that makes your business what it is. What is the end goal of the user. *Warning, it will cause you to think and it may cause you to change your business strategy.* Are you prepared for that?

What does your business "product" do? Let me know in the comments!

-Greg Rollett