Leadership

Why Marketers Must Choose Between Passion and Pop

By Jessica Stillman

Updated on: May 8, 2008 / 3:52 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

The Find: Marketers must tune their products and message either to a mass-appeal "pop" audience, or to a smaller, more cult-like "passion" crowd. But never in between.
The Source: Marketing guru Seth Godin's consistently thought-provoking blog.

The Takeaway: Seth Godin uses a couple of simple bell curves to illustrate that marketers need to decide whether to target a large "pop" audience or the slightly more limited group of buyers in search of the cool and edgy. Why do you have to choose between "passion" and "pop"? Godin notes that targeting either group can work, but waffling and getting stuck in the low-selling valley between the curves is always a failing strategy:

Every day, millions of businesses get stuck in that gap. They either move to the right in search of the masses or move to the left in search of authenticity, but they compromise. And they get stuck with neither.

Before you dismiss this insight as only applying to musicians and clothing designers, Godin reminds readers that every business must make a choice:

Even dentists face this quandary. Should you be the most expensive, best trained, most extreme dentist in the world, catering to the edge of the passion market, or perhaps develop a chain of $19 five-minute whitening shops for the outer edge of the pop market?

The Question: What products are stuck in that unattractive valley -- neither chic and best-in-class nor a solid option for the average customer? (My vote goes for Microsoft's Zune -- by imiating its rival the iPod, it loses any credibility with the passionate, but with a starting price of $130, it's not exactly the populist's choice in music player either. Result: 4% market share.)

(Image of Seth Godin's passion and pop curves from Seth's blog )