Offering Of The Unknown & Un-Sexy. How to sell things people don't want.

[AlterJoule]

Hey All,

I've launched a new product to my customers that no one is doing in my vertical. It's been done with great success in several other niches but completely unheard of in my arena. As a result, no one is searching for it and no one knows they need it yet. No one is doing it because it isn't apparently obvious that it has other applications. Because of this, I have some serious educating and convincing to do. I'm doing it because I KNOW it will catch on and work. I just have to be clever.


My 3 main struggles so far:

• No one is searching for it in my niche. (Some of my keywords are getting around 20 searches a month. Yup, two-zero. Some of the "good" keywords are getting 1200 or so searches.)

• Attention spans of a gnat. (People don't read unless you GRAB THEM HARD. So the standard landing page with nice headlines and a few good images won't cut it.)

• HIGH acquisition cost. (It's hard to thoroughly inform and educate with a single picture and 90 characters. This means less CTR and I pay for it. I've had clicks hit mid $2's.)

What I've started doing:

1. I've begun building custom audiences using the customers from other niches with ads that use, " You use this for that, why not use it for this?" type of speech.
2. I've been studying the guys that deal with the not so glamorous stuff like funeral homes, bankruptcy, life insurance etc.
3. I've been using "old school" advertising and keeping away from the "cool" stuff because it's too expensive at the moment.

The question:


I'm looking for ideas or suggestion from those who have had success in bringing something new to the market that isn't cool, isn't sexy, or no one knows they need. How did you overcome this?

 

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[theag]

Well, this is kind of a classic situation. If you dont have demand yet (= search volume), you need to create it. I would create a broad marketing persona and create display ads around their interests. Also has the benefit of having more available space in the ad and cheaper clicks.

Check this out: imscalable.com/blog/2015-rollout-strategy/

 

[theag]

not so glamorous stuff like funeral homes, bankruptcy, life insurance

May not be glamorous, but there is a lot of demand in the form of searches. And also a lot of money in it. Click costs are WAY higher though. I personally manage a few client's Adwords accounts in the debt relief, credit and insurance markets. Clicks are €10++ and monthly adspend mid to high 5 figures, and those are very small players in their markets..

My point is, you cant compare this to your situation.

 

[theag]

hard to thoroughly inform and educate with a single picture and 90 characters

Those native ads from adblade and taboola might work well for you in combination with an editorial style soft-lander... Like a lot of supplement guys do it.. You know the "1 weird trick" stuff..

 

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[Ninjakid]

I can't remember who it was, but some Business,an in the oil industry came upvwith the idea of putting convenience stores in gas stations. Almost everyone thought is was a stupid idea. But look today, how often do you ever see a gas station that you can't buy Doritos in?

Point being, even of people don't know they want it yet, introduced it, and suddenly there will be a demand

 

[Stu_Hefner]

May not be glamorous, but there is a lot of demand in the form of searches. And also a lot of money in it. Click costs are WAY higher though. I personally manage a few client's Adwords accounts in the debt relief, credit and insurance markets. Clicks are €10++ and monthly adspend mid to high 5 figures, and those are very small players in their markets..

My point is, you cant compare this to your situation.

How did you get into doing this and any tips?