IT'S THE MEANING THAT ADDS VALUE

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IT’S THE MEANING THAT ADDS VALUE

May 8th, 2008

Imagine you are a nomadic Bedouin traveling through the hot dry deserts of the Middle East some hundred years ago. Suddenly, bubbling up through a rock formation, you notice a sticky black substance pooling up. Intrigued, you seek to find out if it has any practical purpose for you. You touch it, smell it, observe it. You quickly decide that it is not edible, is not able to be formed into usable tools and in its rough form cannot be burned in a lamp. So you deem the viscous liquid worthless and move on.

Today, of course, that murky black liquid would go for more than $120 a barrel.

The idea here is that the product or service itself does not have value, but the way in which it is experienced gives it meaning.

As marketers, this is our most important role: to add meaning to the products and services we offer. Once upon a time, back when consumers had limited choices, this was fairly easy. Just announcing your product or service, and explaining what it did was enough to create meaning for your products. But today, with so many choices befalling consumers, a plethora of near-parity products out there, and the constant need to continually prove your value to customers, the functional side of your products isn’t enough to add meaning. And add meaning you must, if you expect to move up in the hierarchy of repeat purchases, customer loyalty and customer evangelism.

Think about Starbucks, as an example. The functional side of their offering is pretty cut and dried: We make coffee and serve it fresh. The meaning is added by the look and feel of the locations, the knowledge and friendliness of the staff, the ambient George Winston music and the bistro tables and comfy couches that invite you to linger. (Notice this is all stuff that registers with our emotions.)

Even though you probably don’t want to hear this, most of your core offerings are pretty ordinary. And before you run off to add bells and whistles to them to make them somehow “different,” think about what your customer is really after. With some insight into your customer, you can create a “branded experience” rife with meaning, that customers will appreciate, embrace and tell forward.