New Scuba Product - Makes Diving Cleaner and Easier

[RJP]

Weighing only 2.5kg, you'll hardly notice the difference in your Dive Bag.

The OP (original pretender?) should drop one these into their dive bag and tote it around for a while:

I didn't want to come on here to 'preach' about my product.. I was trying to open it up for a discussion to gain some valuable feed back.

The greatest error any marketer can make is trying to sell a product that solves a problem that their customer doesn't have.

If you're ever interested in conducting market research with divers (product development, positioning, messaging, pricing sensitivity, etc) feel free to PM me... I "found" a guy that does that sort of thing for the dive industry.

 

[gypsyjim]

The greatest error any marketer can make is trying to sell a product that solves a problem that their customer doesn't have.

unless one is able, and willing to spend $$, to convince TV audiences that this is a big problem that they have never been aware of, that they suddenly must solve NOW, with this amazing star endorsed magic product.
".................and if you buy it now, not only will you get this star endorsed magic product, but for a limited time we will ship you a second one absolutley free!.................

 

[Andy Lazar]

As I said in my original response, I like it and would pay about $30 and a few dollars shipping. I agree, a few nails around the garage would work also but on a multi-day trip this would be helpful. If you can get the price point down to an impulse buy in a rack at the register you'll sell some assuming the quality is good.

 

[RJP]

unless one is able, and willing to spend $$, to convince TV audiences that this is a big problem that they have never been aware of, that they suddenly must solve NOW, with this amazing star endorsed magic product.
".................and if you buy it now, not only will you get this star endorsed magic product, but for a limited time we will ship you a second one absolutley free!.................

Common misconception.

Marketing can uncover a latent need (often by shifting/attaching the product to a different, unrelated emotional need or desire) but marketing can't actually create a functional need that the customer doesn't have. For example, Starbucks fulfilled a latent need that their target audience had for a sense of belonging and self-esteem in a world that has become more and more impersonal and detached. Or do you think they actually created a functional need for ridiculously expensive, over-roasted, bitter coffee?

To paraphrase what Theodore Levitt (Harvard professor and, though an economist by training, the father of modern marketing) taught us way-back-when...

"People don't buy quarter-inch drill bits unless they need quarter-inch holes."

 

[gypsyjim]

Common misconception.

Marketing can uncover a latent need (often by shifting/attaching the product to a different, unrelated emotional need or desire) but marketing can't actually create a functional need that the customer doesn't have. For example, Starbucks fulfilled a latent need that their target audience had for a sense of belonging and self-esteem in a world that has become more and more impersonal and detached. Or do you think they actually created a functional need for ridiculously expensive, over-roasted, bitter coffee?

To paraphrase what Theodore Levitt (Harvard professor and, though an economist by training, the father of modern marketing) taught us way-back-when...

"People don't buy quarter-inch drill bits unless they need quarter-inch holes."

Listening to the TV, which I seldom do, I am often quite surprised at some new "problem" that has suddenly become a crisis, that only buy purchasing some magic product can I save myself.

Unlike many people I like to listen to what advertisers are actually saying, and not just respond instinctively as they are trying to get us to do.

---------- Post added March 18th, 2015 at 06:39 PM ----------

"People don't buy quarter-inch drill bits unless they need quarter-inch holes."

bs. folks buy tons of $#!% every day that they do not need, have no real use for, and do not even know how to use.

In my own industry, jewelry, more customer buy the sizzle than buy the bacon, rushing to jump on "50% OFF!" 'saving', instead of shopping carefully for actual quality and real value for their money.

I would bet that if you creatively packaged those 1/4' drill bits to appeal to the impuselive nature of shoppers, and then carefully place them where shoppers would spot these "great deals" just as they were checking out, you could sell those 1/4" drill bits to folks who do not even own a drill.

 

[RJP]

"People don't buy quarter-inch drill bits unless they need quarter-inch holes."

bs. folks buy tons of $#!% every day that they do not need, have no real use for, and do not even know how to use.

It's a metaphor Jim... don't lose any sleep over it.



Dr Levitt's point - which an entire generation of academicians don't consider to be BS - is that a product has to meet meet SOME need that the customer actually has... or they wouldn't buy it. As I mentioned, that need might be an irrational need, it could be a transferred need, or even an illusory need, but there's a need there somewhere.

No one says "I don't need this... give me a dozen of them."

In my own industry, jewelry, more customer buy the sizzle than buy the bacon, rushing to jump on "50% OFF!" 'saving', instead of shopping carefully for actual quality and real value for their money.

C'mon Jim. Your "sizzle" comment is dead on point: jewelry is probably the ULTIMATE irrational purchase. There is no rational "value for the money" when the price of precious metals/stones/etc is de facto set by nothing other than what other people are willing to pay based on perceived or actual rarity rather than any functional utility whatsoever. It's pure ego/self-indulgence. There's nothing wrong with that, but that's not really "value for the money" other than within the acquired in late January? Last summer? God help you if you're holding anything from 2011-2012.)

Are you familiar with what happened with cast iron jewelry in what is now Germany during the Franco-Prussian war? As wealthy people donated their gold and silver to finance the war against Napolean they were compensated with replica jewelry made of cast iron.

The wedding ring above - like many cast-iron pieces - is engraved "Gold gab ich für Eisen" ("I gave gold for iron") and virtually over night such cast-iron jewelry became a symbol of great patriotism and sacrifice. Such jewelry became - and remained for some time - more popular and far more valuable than similar pieces made of gold. Of course now these things are collectors items... which are a whole 'nother "irrational value" story.

Sorry - I'm on a real pedantic marketing jag today.

 

[stuartv]

It's a metaphor Jim... don't lose any sleep over it.


No one says "I don't need this... give me a dozen of them."

I have quite a few drill bits that I have never needed - real and metaphorical ones.

I also have a lot of "things" that I have never needed, and when I bought them I knew I would never need them - but I thought I might want/like to have it/them at some point. A marketing analysis that only addresses "needs" and ignores "wants" is a waste of time.

As for the OP, the idea immediately strikes me as awesome. I got home from Hawaii yesterday. I went on 5 dive excursions while there. I went to the Mexican Caribbean in December and did 3 dive excursions. In both places, I was staying at a resort/hotel. On all 8 excursions, I was using all my own gear (except tanks and weights) and after finishing diving, I would pack all my gear (unrinsed) into my Stahlsac mesh backpack and take it back to my hotel. There, I would rinse it off in the room's shower and then hang it up as best I could to get it to dry before my next excursion. Everywhere I went had a ridiculous (to me) lack of accommodation for hanging stuff up to dry, particularly considering that I was at a beach resort. Do they not expect people to get in the water?!

On my trips, I would have loved to have something portable to take with me that I could use in my room to hang stuff up for drying. That said, looking at the particular unit in question, the Dive-n-Dry, I have so many issues with the design that I don't think I would buy one, even if it were only USD$30.

 

[scoobydrew]

My wife seems to buy things all the time that as far as I can see we don't need

 

[RJP]

A marketing analysis that only addresses "needs" and ignores "wants" is a waste of time.

A difference without a distinction.

Marketers - following the lead of social scientists - understand that what you may consider "wants" are in actuality nothing more than a certain type of "need." Interestingly those things that appear to you to be pure "want" rather than "need" are actually at the TOP of the need hierarchy. They are typically far more more motivating, and therefor far more powerful from a marketing standpoint.

Obviously certain needs (food, shelter) take priority over others (a nice car, an expensive shirt) but they all fulfill some level of "need" for the consumer.

 

[bbarnett51]

Cool idea. My max on this product would be $50. Not saying it's not worth what you are asking but it's not for me personally.