How do you market an edgy product?

Though it may seem so, marketing is not necessarily an easy task. On the surface, yeah, all you are doing is promoting products in a way that consumers find appealing, and one may think that is an easy feat. However, finding out how people will react to certain campaigns and finding out what people's preferences are can be a fairly taxing and tedious process. Also, there is vast diversity among consumer preferences that it is nearly impossible to appeal to an entire population. Everyone has their own personal beliefs and preferences. It is a marketer's job to find out how many people share those beliefs in order to market a product. 

Marketing can be a difficult enough task on it's own, but how do you market a product that a large percentage of the population views as edgy or socially unacceptable? In my opinion, the United States is overly sensitive on many topics. For instance, consider the debate on marijuana. While the drug does have drawbacks, those drawbacks can be considered minimal when compared to the risks associated with tobacco and alcohol use. However, because of how much of the public views the narcotic, it is difficult to market the product in an appealing way.

One way that is used to market the product is to extract the active ingredient from the plant and infuse it into other products like candy and baked goods. These are called edibles and come in a large variety of ways and strengths. Again, this faces much hate and ridicule as it can be mistaken for a normal treat. It is also extremely difficult to market anything that has to do with marijuana as it is still illegal in the majority of states. These legal barriers force dispensaries to market their goods in less traditional ways. For instance, packaging is becoming a leading way to attract new customers in the professional and older populations. The traditional packaging of buds in a Ziploc bag has graduated to branded and more sophisticated packaging. Also, as seen in the image above, parody branding can be used to attract the younger generations that may or may not already be users. But again, that poses a threat to those that may accidentally mistake the edible for the normal candy bar that they are used to. Many dispensaries are also expanding into the drink industry. Each of the above ways are excellent ways to market the good as they are creating customers by expanding the products in the industry, however, new laws and regulations are very common in this industry and constantly create new obstacles for providers to overcome.

Other examples of products that are tough to market include birth control pills and abortion clinics, illegal automotive accessories or removal of automotive parts such as the catalytic converter, and countless other goods and services. 

Apple/Smart Gear

What is it about Apple that makes their customers so loyal? Other companies such as Samsung and LG create similar products that to some are considered better than Apple products. Personally, I have owned multiple Apple and Samsung products, and to I do not think one is truly superior over the other. Both are god enough to please the consumer, but they both also have their flaws. But why are Apple users so loyal to their brand?

Apple is a very well known brand and everyone knows that one of the smartest men on the planet, Steve Jobs, lead the company to its great success. Apple has always been either leading the way with technology or perfecting what others had already tried. They have always had reliable products and now carry that standard with them. While Samsung and other companies also have good reputations, they will likely never achieve the level of respect that Apple receives from their most loyal customers. Again, this is because Apple was the first major company to start introducing quality innovative electronics that revolutionized the way people access the world and their media pleasures such as music, videos, books and more.

Apple has also always had a very attractive looking product that others have since tried to simulate. This shows their customers that they are still a leader that other companies are using as a lead to what they should be doing. Some companies do end up creating new valued products before Apple gets to it. For instance, smartwatches started coming out far before the Apple Watch. Apple did however manage to take an idea that another company had created and perfected it. So far, it has not been as successful as predicted, but I think it's too early to measure the success of the Apple Watch and other smart gear. This is a new radical idea that people may need some time to find value in. Along with that, maybe a value in smart gear is still to be created.

I have always been interested in smart gear and actually am one of few with a smart watch. I don't have anything special, just a cheap used one that I bought to test the waters. Though it is a cool gadget, that is all that it really is, a gadget. Yes, it tells you the time and notifies you when you get a text or phone call, but all it is really doing is allowing a human to be more lazy than they already are. If a company were to create a reason for consumers to need this watch in their day-to-day life, something that would again revolutionize the way people do things, I am sure that smart gear would be a huge success.

While reading through Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, two lines have stood out to me and made me take a second to think. I've only read through the first chapter thus far, however, after reading it, I am excited to finish the book to fine more of these "tweetable" one-liners.

The first of the lines was on page 3: "Like an airplane pilot landing at night, we want runway lights on either side of us, guiding us to the place where we can touch down our wheels." This sounded very poetic to me and makes a ton of sense. This line referred to others around us or others that are related to us influencing what we want to do. The book talked of a scientist that wanted to receive a Nobel Piece Prize for cancer research, however, when his friends were making more money than him in the field of science investing, he took a job on Wall Street so he could really start "stacking the cheese." He ended up making plenty of money, but gave up on what he originally intended on doing with his life.

I notice this idea of people around you leading you to your final decision in my life on multiple occasions. For instance, when I was in middle school, I enjoyed drawing floor plans of houses, businesses, schools... You name it. Teachers saw what I was doing and suggested that I become an architect. From that day, I was determined to become an architect. I continued to draw floor plans, I got a drafting program for my computer, and went to Montana State to study architecture. I switched my major after my freshman year to business marketing. Because of something that others had told me in middle school, I had decided to go to school for architecture, and found that I was not as passionate for it as I had originally been. As a result, I had no idea what I wanted to study, but had a few friends in the school of business. This was a big reason why I am studying marketing right now. As it turns out, I really enjoy marketing so far and couldn't be happier with the switch. But again, those around be influenced a big decision that I was facing.

The second line that stood out I don't even have to check my notes to recall: "The more we have, the more we want." This was another that really spoke to me because of its simplicity and accuracy. As a college student, I don't have much. However true this may be, I still am looking to upgrade my current possessions to something bigger and better. For instance, I bought and installed new fog lights on my vehicle. A month or so later, LED light bars were becoming a big thing. I have always been a fan of LED lighting and have many LED bulbs on my vehicle already and immediately wanted to upgrade my recently installed fogs to a light bar. In doing so, I spent money that could've been spent on food or on beer as cold as the Rockies. Another example could be found with my stereo deck (I love upgrading my vehicle). I purchased a stereo deck for my first vehicle back in high school. This deck worked fine and would connect to my phone just fine via USB. However, that wasn't enough with the advances in Bluetooth technology. I upgraded to a new stereo deck with Bluetooth capabilities about a year after I purchased my last deck.

The first chapter of this book has been very interesting to me and has made me think about how some of the key concepts have impacted my life. I am looking forward to digging further into this book and finding more connections.