I met with a business associate this week named Herb who works in Greenfield, MA. Herb is a really smart guy. Not only does he help people in developing products, he really has a good mind for marketing. We had a nice long chat one morning in his very interesting office which was surrounded by products that Herb helped business people develop.
Herb told me the story of what he does and I thought I would share his up-to-date statements on marketing. Remember, this is related to tangible product marketing, but for those in non-tangible product marketing such as service, think hard about how they may apply to you.
First, today the typical consumer takes 4 – 5 seconds to look at a product on a shelf and decide whether to put it in their shopping cart or not.
Second, the outside of a product is what gets a consumer to buy something the first time; the inside of the product is the second buy and hopefully the continuous buy.
So, 4- 5 seconds is really not a long period of time. I have to say that if I am bringing a bottle of wine to a friend’s house and that friend is not fussy about wine, I buy by the label, the fun in it, the uniqueness of it. I guess Herb would call that the first buy. I have found some really good wines that way, and of course, it is up to the quality of what is in the bottle if I ever buy it again, the second and continuous buy.
My belief is the 4-5 second rule, and the 1st and 2nd buy ideas apply even in service industries.