There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to a marketing perspective. One looks at the validity and quality of a product or service, and the other addresses the customer that is being targeted via the marketing process.
As a business owner in an increasingly commoditized world where customers can find virtually any product online, how do you stand out above your competitors? Since it is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate yourself within your field, it’s important to ask yourself: Is it more effective to focus on your product or your customer?
Read on to find out as we look at how these two types of business marketing differ:
Product-Focused Marketing
Product-focused marketing places all the emphasis on the products being sold. This means factors like price, selection, product usefulness, availability, and innovation are all important in building the brand message. The focus is to celebrate the features of a product and hope that those features are what will bring customers in the door or to the website. The benefit to the consumer is often implied, and it's left up to the consumer to make the connection. When a target consumer is specifically looking for particular features, then the campaign can be very effective. When the product selection in a marketplace is crowded, however, it's much more difficult for the campaign to drive the results a business owner may want.
Customer-Focused Marketing
This style of marketing places all the emphasis on the target customer. It seeks to develop relationships with them, showing that the business understands their needs, desires, and concerns. A business's goal is to delight customers with an experience that sets the company apart from others via high levels of excellent customer service. Building a brand with a customer-focused message bypasses the services and products themselves and hones in on the person buying the service or product. Products can be niche specific and while price is a factor, it is less of one. The primary goal of customer-focused marketing is to become the best in 'wowing' a customer - the emphasis isn't on what they are buying but rather on how they are treated while they do so.
Which Option is Best?
Is it more advantageous in today’s market to be product-focused or customer-focused? In an age of online purchases, where many products can be found from a wide variety of places, with fewer differences in quality all the time, or where consumers are willing to sacrifice quality for price, the product-focused business is being forced to evolve. Many product-focused businesses are now examining their strategies to create a more customer-centric edge, lifting them above their product-focused competitors. This strategy seems to be working.
Consider one great example of this in action by looking at KFC vs. Chick-Fil-A:
KFC has a decent product. It’s not bad, but it’s fast food. There is no customer experience to write home about. It is just one drop in a sea of fast food options. Its uniqueness comes from its niche product specialty of featuring chicken only, no burger or fries. KFC does pretty well, and a franchise will bring in an average of $1.2 million yearly.
Chick-Fil-A decided to change the ballgame and differentiate themselves from the many fast-food chicken options. They focused on the quality of their product, just like KFC, but didn’t stop there. They built a customer-centric business model. Their goal is to ensure every single customer is delighted when they enter their restaurant or go through their drive-through. This consequently has yielded amazing financial results. Each Chick-Fil-A franchise makes an astounding $4.2 million yearly, even with being closed one full day a week. They chose to invest in their customer service over their product only, which earned them more than double the profit enjoyed by KFC.
Customer-Focused Marketing is Key
As is exemplified in the comparison above, today’s market responds better to extraordinary customer service. Customers are now accustomed to being able to access products from the palm of their hand via their smartphones. Therefore, you as a business owner must stand out another way, by wowing your customers with customer-focused business marketing. So the question for you to consider is...how can you raise the bar on your customer experience without sacrificing quality? Do that...and customers will remember and respond.
Originally published 12/10/20 - Updated 8/22/23