5 NECESSARY QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN PLANNING YOUR

CONTENT STRATEGY

You have a website. NOW what?

Adapted from the ebook “I have a website. NOW what?”

by Allison Ross

You know the only way to sell your product is to tell some people something about it. But...who do you tell and what do you say?

You have a product to sell.

In this presentation, I'll show you how to answer

5 easy questionsabout your product or service that will help you jump-start

your marketing strategy.

1. Is your product tangible or intangible/digital? (T/D)

Intangible/digital (D) products require less descriptive marketing content - probably more factual than descriptive in nature - to sell via the Internet than tangible products.

If your product is tangible (T), you have to consider that potential customers may want to taste, touch, hear or smell your product. Except for sound, this isn't feasible in an online environment so your marketing content would have to be very descriptive to convey taste, touch, or smell.

2. Does your product have search or material characteristics? (S/M)

Search (S) characteristics imply that your potential customers can decide to purchase your product or service purely by viewing information about it.

For example, you're able to purchase a holiday simply by viewing pictures of the holiday destinations and customer reviews. A holiday, therefore, has search characteristics.

2. Does your product have search or material characteristics? (cont.)

Products that need further evaluation through smell, taste, touch or sound have Material (M) characteristics. Food or clothing, for example.

When you're trying to sell a product with material characteristics online, again you need to use very descriptive content to convey the taste, touch, sound or smell that would be gained "offline".

3. In which stage of the Product Life Cycle (PLC) is your product? (I/G/M)

In the Introductory (I) stage of the PLC, the product is being introduced to your target market. Because the product isn't well known, your content will be focused on educating potential customers on how it works, why they need it, etc.

For example, a bluetooth speaker that introduces a new way of amplifying sound could be viewed as a product in introductory stage. In this case, it would sell better if the functionality was demonstrated on video rather than just with a picture and description.

3. In which stage of the Product Life Cycle (PLC) is your product? (cont.)

In the Growth (G) stage, the product is already accepted by a critical mass.

You content, therefore, should be less focused on education of the product and more on the education of the brand...the reasons why potential customers should buy the product from you and not your competitors.

Cellphones and computers may be seen as being in the growth stage of the PLC because of the rapid advances in technology and the dramatic growth still happening in emerging countries.

3. In which stage of the Product Life Cycle (PLC) is your product? (cont.)

In the Maturity (M) stage, competition intensifies because the knowledge of the product or service is widespread.

Your content should then be focused on maintaining brand loyalty and retaining your existing customers. This can be done by producing personalised content that will build the personal relationship with your existing customers.

Who doesn't knowing what fashion is? This makes clothing a product in the maturity stage.

4. Is your product durable or non-durable? (D/N)

Durable (D) products are products that are capable of surviving many uses (such as appliances and cars) and non-durables are perishable products that are used up after one or more uses (for example, food).

If your product is durable, you may have to focus on customer acquisition strategies instead of retention strategies because repeat purchases are likely to be few and far between.

For example, if you're selling refrigerators, the repeat sale is likely to be in 10 or 20 years so best to focus your efforts on constantly getting new customers.

4. Is your product durable or non-durable? (cont.)

For non-durable (N) products, your content should be focused on keeping your existing customers coming back for more and telling others about you.

5. Is your product perceived as a convenience, shopping, or specialty product? (C/S1/S2)

Convenience (C) products are those that the consumer is not willing to spend time, money or effort in locating, evaluating and purchasing. Packaging is important to sell the product.

Consider someone who's really thirsty on a hot day. If they choose to drink anything as long as its cold – whether bottled water or a beer – the beverage is perceived as a convenience product.

5. Is your product perceived as a convenience, shopping, or specialty product? (cont.)

For shopping (S1) products, consumers want to make price, quality and suitability comparisons. They make the time and effort to think about their purchases and the product with the best set of attributes is bought. When product attributes are perceived as similar, price is the deciding factor.

Consider someone who's health conscious trying to decide on a beverage to quench their thirst. They would first compare the nutritional value of the different options available to them before making a purchase.

In this case, the beverage can be perceived as a shopping product.

5. Is your product perceived as a convenience, shopping, or specialty product?

Specialty (S2) products are those in which the consumer's buying behaviour is directed at securing a particular good, service or idea without regard to time, effort and expense. Consumers are loyal to their brand, store and person. They will pay a premium price for their products and will not accept a product substitute.

When someone drives to a different store because the one they're at is out of Coke, the beverage can be perceived as a specialty product.

Why are these 5 questions important, you must be thinking?

Consider this.

A tangible product with search characteristics in the introductory stage of the PLC, which is durable and is perceived as a shopping product (TSIDS1) would require a totally different strategy to a digital product with search characteristics in the maturity stage of the PLC, which is non-durable and is perceived as a specialty product (DSMNS2).

Bluetooth Speaker TSIDS1

Ebook DSMNS2

The 1-Minute Marketing Strategy Tool

Based on these 5 questions, there are 72 possible product-code combinations each suggesting a high-level marketing strategy for the product you analysed.

Go to www.1minutemarketingstrategy.com for the online tool and to download the

“I have a website. NOW what?” ebook.

PLEASE NOTE: The answers to these questions are by no means definitive. The aim of the tool is to suggest ways of considering your product in a way you may previously not have considered.