So many businesses don't know what their customers or clients are really buying, This is one of the top reasons at least 50% of marketing budgets are WASTED. It doesn't seem to be isolated to one industry or region. Nor does it seem to matter how long the tenure of the business or its owners. Every business in every industry is guillty of this transgression at one point or another. Many never really figure it out. Some figure it out but don't know it and relatively few fix this issue by design.

PRODUCT OF THE PRODUCT

Yep. That's it. Almost too simple to be true. The 'Product of the Product' is what your customer is REALLY buying. I can say this with absolute confidence even though I haven't met you or know anything about the business your in. This is as much a universal law for marketing as gravity is to natural law. 

The product of your product is what your customers or clients are really buying when they buy from you. This goes so much deeper than just features and benefits. It's more about the emotional reason someone buys from you.

Features & Benefits = Transactional

Product of the Product = Transformational

This is nothing new of course though you may not have heard it put quite this way before. I was listening to one of my marketing idols, Dr. Nido Qubein (President of High Point University) talk about this concept when I first heard it. It wasn't until I adopted it that my marketing efforts really took off. Not just by 1-2x. Not by 10x either. I started to see 20-30x results when I implemented this into all my marketing initiatives.

SENDING A MESSAGE WITHOUT SAYING A WORD!

So what do you think the product of the product in this Lexus ad is supposed to be?

The ad copy suggests that the FEATURES are internet connectivity enabling the driver to connect to Facebook and OpenTable and the BENEFITS are a higher standard. They even go so far to provide a mobile app featuring swimsuit model Tori Praver.

The PRODUCT OF THE PRODUCT is something much different. The ad suggests that beautiful women are connected to the brand and this model of Lexus. It infers that somehow a buyer would have a 'higher standing' as a result.

This is pretty obvious as it is with most automobile advertisements; especially luxury or high-end brands. But you get the point.

WHAT IS YOUR PRODUCT OF THE PRODUCT???

Have you figured it out yet? Your product of the product. It isn't usually too clear at first but it comes.

I was working with a construction company who installed and rented scaffold equipment. I was overseeing their marketing and sales activities. One of my first challenges was to get the sales team to think about their product of the product.

When I asked the sales team what they felt the product is, they answered the obvious; provide scaffold for construction projects. I wasn't surprised. That is what the company does. But it wasn't what they provide.

What their clients were REALLY buying were a safe and reliable system to enable them to build the condos, office buildings and shopping malls for thousands of people to live, work and shop everyday. That is their product of the product.

This isn't just a way to wordsmith and romanticize scaffolding into a sexy topic. It is the emotional reason why contractors and sub-trades use them... even if they don't quite recognize it that way.

The emotion attached to a purchase is the only reason your clients or customers buy from you. No matter what industry, sector, geography or stage of business.

Are you a(n)...

Automotive Shop - Make their vehicle safe and reliable...

Lumber Yard - A garage to protect their car, yard equipment, pride in the neighborhood...

Wine Store - pride of sharing a gift with a friend or colleague...

When you figure out what your product of the product is to your clients and customers, then you have figured out how to stop wasting your marketing budget and start to 20-30x the results of your efforts!