Marketing is a discipline that requires implementation of creativity in different aspects of product branding and product placement. To stand out among other business competitors and break boundaries of typicality, it is important to remember about branches of lateral marketing, when creativity fails to work without instructions. Lateral marketing can be broken down into three completely different levels, which include: market, product and marketing-mix. In this article the tools for lateral marketing will revolve around the product.
Substitution
Product substitution doesn’t necessarily mean the change of the whole product that you already have. It can be one or a set of specific changes. For instance, if you were selling strap hangers for the carriages of transport system, demand on your product would rise if their design would remind of something that people like or make them smile.
Combination
Combination implies the addition of one or a few elements to your products. The perfect example of various combinations within a product is smartphone. Over the decades of technological development engineers have transformed this device into a set of practical tools, that include calendar, camera, photo gallery, library, GPS navigator, etc. But it all started with gradual moves. In the early 90s, for one company the decision to make a cellphone Hagenuk for the MT-2000 with a video game in it. Which made them far more attractive to the customers.
Inversion
The principle of this tactic is to reverse the initial details of your product and make it complete opposite. If you think of modifying a robot that has a function to heat up, the next thing you might want to do if you like inversions is to assign your tech department to build a robot that can refrigerate. Or you can do the one that can do both.
Elimination
This method is about deleting a certain item or items of your product. For instance, if your product is water and the policy of your company is strictly against the plastic and you need a creative and risky move to get ahead of your business competitors, you can start produce and cell edible water.
Exaggeration
The final technique is based on both exaggeration, as well as understatement of one or more elements of a product or service. Great example that shows how exaggeration can be a life-changing business idea is the market of fingerboard. Basically, it is a small (1:8) version of skateboard. Once it was introduced to the market, it quickly received a warm welcome from skaters, people who had no chance to skate and sponsors as well.
About the Author: Zack Hargrove is a remote editor at cheapwritingservice.com. He is willing to help anyone who needs professional statistics help. Many of his topics are dedicated to music, fitness, education and ways of strengthening your scientific curiosity. You can find him on Twitter @zackhargrovejr.
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