Avoiding Marketing Myopia, or Back to the Basics

“Marketing Myopia” is an idea coined in a 1960 Harvard Business Review article by Theodore Levitt, and refers to the marketer’s inclination to focus on the product they sell rather than the benefits it offers to the customer. It asks the classic business school question, are you selling a drill or the hole? 

Most of us recognize that you can’t just build something, but rather you have to build something that solves a customer's problem. Simple, right? Maybe. But too often we create marketing about the drill and not the hole, even though we know we are selling a solution not a product.  

How does this happen when we know better? We get wrapped-up in the crisis of the moment, the issue of the week, the problem of the month. I’ve run high performing marketing teams and understand the myriad of demands that pull you in many directions. These are often quite urgent matters that require changes to your ongoing activities. Most are necessary and provide immediate improvement. 

When under pressure, the easy and most comfortable way to market is to regurgitate our product and services offerings. The result is ‘we do this and this and this and this.’  But little understanding of the customer is demonstrated when we talk about this. Bring it back to the customer. Thoroughly understand what you are trying to solve and try talking about it without mentioning your product. Difficult? Maybe. But there is no doubt you will be more successful when you have a customer-centric approach.

My advice is this: When you think you are ‘done’, take one more minute to make sure you are talking about the customer, not just to the customer. Below are some highlights to get you started.