Written by Katie Lamberg in Marketing
We come up against this issue time and time again. Clients want to be the best, No.1, top dog, yet, often what they perceive as a really good business marketing route is often different but very safe within their sector. The trouble with different is that it doesn't last. Once someones seen it a few times, it's no longer different and it means you're going back to the drawing board and chasing the next 'different' very soon, wasting valuable marketing budgets, time and time again.
Disruptive on the other hand, lasts. Yes it's harder to achieve, but the benefits are far reaching, longer lasting and far more cost effective for your business. People talk about disruptive things, they tell their friends, they become promoters of your brand and this reduces your marketing spend.
Often businesses play it safe, they do their research, evaluate their competitors, and draw up strategies to compete. Yet customers are tired of the same old. Gone are the days of an average campaign succeeding as long as you market it to a large audience. You can no longer just place an advert in a magazine, or target a niche audience through Facebook ads and expect the leads to come in. Your customers expect something new and exciting.
Another huge plus point for being disruptive in your market place is people always remember who did it first. Tesla aren't the only electric car company, but we all know and remember them as they were the trailblazers of bringing road legal electric cars to the masses which went further than any other electric car before them. Now BMW, Mercedes, Renault, Citroen, the list goes on, all have electric cars on their production lines, yet it's Tesla that have the market share and are the number 1 brand for electric vehicles worldwide.
Another disruptive brand is airbnb. It's been that successful that people often don't realise they have competitors, such as Flipkey, TurnKey or HomeAway. Yet such is the power of the disruptor that people just go straight to airbnb. Netflix is yet another, in fact so are Apple, McDonalds, Amazon, Uber etc... All of these everyday brands we use and love are disruptors. They've broken the norm, often continually do so, and enjoy the main share of their marketplace.
Now you could say, well my business doesn't have an innovative product or service, it isn't technologically advanced, in fact it's very traditional. This is where disruptive marketing can have huge influence. Think about what your business does, where it excels, how it's different and what its story is. Then consider what your customers want and expect. Map out how to improve what you do, your product or service and what your customers wouldn't expect. The example below is a very simplified explanation in which our team created a disruptive strategy for a composite door manufacturer. As you can see it can create some innovative ideas and possible ways to adapt your business and disrupt your sector.
Competition within the composite door marketplace is very high and finding a difference is difficult. By thinking disruptively and looking at other growing sectors our team quickly saw the potential in integrating wireless door cameras right into the doors themselves. This not only offers a very inventive solution to the market, but offers cost saving over purchasing both products separately and design benefits of not having to have an external camera mounted. Now this may or may not be a game changer within the sector, but it does show the innovative thought process of what is possible when thinking disruptively.
If you can disrupt your marketplace you too can become the memorable first choice, innovative brand that leads for years to come. Don't play it safe. Playing it safe has become the risky thing to do. You'll simply blend into the competition and constantly battle for position and business.
If you're interested in growing your brand awareness and increasing leads through disruptive business marketing? Get in touch today.
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