Contrary Marketing...

I have learned over time that I am contrary...

My tendency is to disagree with something - not because it is fundamentally flawed, but because I always prefer to adopt an alternative view...

This has been interesting both personally and professionally - an for Lynn, my wife since 1986, dinner discussions have always been "interesting"..

So when it came to Marketing, when I was told that I needed to "dominate" my sector, be front of mind in every prospect, be all over my market "like a rash" - I began to think..

What if what we did was so good that people hunted us down, we didn't need a web page, Facebook, LinkedIn or have to learn the 7 step sales process complete with navy blue suit, red tie and white shirt...?

What if we did the opposite of whet everyone else does - everyone else by definition is only achieving average results after all...

In 1774, Frederick the Great  - King of Prussia, wanted to introduce a second source of carbohydrates to the wheat (bread..) based diet of his subjects. The plan was to reduce dependence on a single crop, have alternatives should supply fail and introduce competition to the food market.

He sent out a Royal Order that farmers should grow Potatoes - the message was sent to everyone in Prussia, the Royal Marketing machine was in full swing. Not only was the marketing good, but it was compulsory too - so how could it fail...?

The response the Royal Court received from the peasant farmers was that potatoes were not good for eating, even the dogs wouldn't eat them. The refusal by the farmers to grow potatoes as a crop even resulted in executions of some of them. 

Now, imagine a marketing consultant comes along...

The advice could have included suggestions that in order to correct this we need to target the market, come up with compelling offers and through a combined approach of Attention, Interest, Desire and Action the King could "dominate the market"...

Instead, the King applied a contrary approach - I like him already...

He withdrew potatoes from the market. He said that from now on, only the Royal Family could eat potatoes and they would only be allowed to be grown in the grounds of the Royal Palace - and they would be protected by armed soldiers from his personal guard.

Now, all good people know that if something is worth protecting with soldiers - it is also worth stealing - it must be valuable...

The guards were instructed to protect the crops of potatoes "badly" - and to turn a blind eye to anyone trespassing or stealing the crop. Pretty soon, illegal potato crops were sprouting up all over Prussia, and the potato became sought after as a staple alternative to wheat.

Frederick the Great thought the opposite of what intuition may have initially told him - or for that matter his equivalent of an MBA qualified Marketing Consultant.. He kept his product a closely guarded secret, by using the principle of scarcity - and eventually achieved domination by doing the opposite..

What can we learn from this - simply to think in a contrary manner, go where the others don't; do the opposite of what the guru's say and you just might get the best results...