Go Big or Go Home

I've been thinking about how to write this post, and the right phrasing is escaping me, so hopefully the idea comes out and it is not too muddled.

Basically, conservative marketing is no way to advance your position. You can't grow, and you can't change the game if you aren't willing to throw something out there. If you are Microsoft and you want Bing to be huge it has to be bold and different from what Google is doing.

As marketers, we have to realize that our customers are bombarded on a daily basis with messages and camapaigns and the like. They (and you as well) have become very good at filtering these messages. It takes something way outside the norm to get them to notice.

Maybe an example is a better way to look at this. Let's say that you manufacture widgets. And in your widget industry/market, it is standard for all of your customers to offer a 1 year warranty on these widgets. After that, customers can buy a service agreement or have someone else take care of their widget, but for the first year, they are covered. Now, if you were to decide that you would offer a two-year warranty, but only on Widget A and only for a few special customers, does this change the game? Maybe for the lucky few, but is the industry going to now turn to you for your Widgets? And what if you aren't the market leader in widgets? Is this enough to pull people to your side?

Now, what if you decide that every widget now gets this two year warranty? You tell everyone, if you buy my widget, you get this additional warranty! Does that change the game? Or what if suddenly your Widget is upgradeable to a Whatsit?

My point is, what is the point in developing a program if you aren't going to be bold about it, to do something that is going to get noticed and change the game? How can you expect to continue to grow and evolve if you aren't willing to step out and take chances?

As a marketer I try and ask myself if what I'm doing is going to help my company grow, if it is going to change the game, open new markets, help us be successful. If the answer is no, then why am I doing it?