Ozan Irturk’s Post

It’s a known story. Ferruccio Lamborghini was 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐫. One day he complains to Enzo Ferrari about the clutch issues with his Ferrari. Proud Enzo Ferrari says: “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝐹𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑖 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑐ℎ.” So Ferruccio decides to start his own sports car brand. But here’s the funny thing. 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 makes Lamborghini realize that he can make a sports car. He knows more than anybody about engines. And he has a team of engineers already good at manufacturing vehicles. So he thinks: “𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝐼 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 3𝑋 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡𝑠?” And that gave birth to Lamborghini as we know it today. Many founders and executives are like Ferruccio Lamborghini. Their businesses 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 have the capabilities. They have the know-how, talent, and tools to grow their business beyond what they can imagine. But they work on creating the 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 for the 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟. Ferruccio Lamborghini realized instead of tractors for farmers, he could make sports cars for rich people. And he built a much bigger business with 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. So one important point for a successful repositioning is looking for a better target customer. How can you increase the worth of your business’s capabilities? Maybe by focusing on another industry? Maybe by targeting a specific segment within your customers? You know what they say. You can be a therapist for students. Or you can be a therapist for CEOs. Who would charge more? Who would need fewer customers? So question this and look for a better target segment for your business’s capabilities. Don’t work on a tractor 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢.

Customers assess brands with their 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬. Like what? One example is the relationship between price and quality. If something is expensive, we believe it must be of high quality. If something is cheap, the opposite. So brands that claim 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 create a mental tension. You claim to be high quality and very cheap? It might be true. But people won’t believe it. That’s why brands at the edges are easier to understand and more 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. Swatch or Rolex. Kia or Rolls-Royce. But if you want to position your brand somewhere in the middle, you have to work harder to resolve the tension. IKEA is a brand that achieved such a position. It’s not the cheapest, nor luxury. It’s somewhere in the middle. But it has clear 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐬: it’s far away from the city and you have to assemble it yourself. Fair enough. So when IKEA claims their furniture is good quality at affordable prices, it’s believable. But the price-quality belief is only one example. Other beliefs can also cause mental tensions: - 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬: Self-indulgence vs. value, productivity vs. entertainment, sustainability vs. convenience - 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲-𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬: “Banks are greedy.” “Branding is just colors and fonts.” “Real estate is always a good investment.” - 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲-𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬: Privacy vs. personalization, simplicity vs. customization So think about your brand’s claims. Is there anything that might contradict your potential customers’ beliefs? Remember: Claims at the edges are always more believable. If you are going for the middle, justify your claim with 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐬. The more you align the signals you send, the more customers will believe your brand.

Back in 2010, T-Mobile was getting 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 by AT&T and Verizon. They were the fourth telecom company in the US. And they were struggling to grow in the competitive market. T-Mobile executives even tried to sell out the company to AT&T. But the US Department of Justice blocked the deal. After the deal fell through, T-Mobile executives felt hopeless about the fate of the company. But it became a blessing in the long term. How? Well, T-Mobile had used the industry’s “𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠” for years and became a copy of its bigger competitors. And they ended up failing. But their new CEO John Legere was determined to make T-Mobile successful. And he knew that a minor change couldn’t turn things around. So they had to do something 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥. He loved one idea his team proposed: Take everything customers hate about carriers. And do the opposite. Like what? Like no service contracts, free international roaming, or not counting music streaming against users’ data limits. The idea was simple, yet ingenious: Position T-Mobile as the good guy against big (and unlikable) companies like AT&T and Verizon. And become different not only by words but also by action. This radical campaign had to have a special name. And they chose a good one: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧-𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫. You know the result? People loved it. The Un-carrier changed the trajectory of T-Mobile. It became a long-term campaign (and the company’s motto) with new benefits for customers every year. Thanks to it, T-Mobile took its market share from 10% to almost 30%. And today T-Mobile has a higher market cap than 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐓&𝐓 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧. The moral of the story? Most executives overfocus on bigger competitors. They copy them. They try to become similar. And they tell customers: “We are actually the same. But we are only better/faster/cheaper.” But it never works. Customers see through the cliché words. And they prefer the original instead of the mere copycats. So trying to beat bigger competitors by becoming like them is a fallacy. You have to offer something else. You have to 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭.

Rolex had an interesting sentence on their website a few years ago. It said: “Whether it is an heirloom, a milestone of success, or a gift, a Rolex watch frequently becomes an 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 that brings life exceptional moments.” Did you notice? They mention three buying triggers: - An heirloom (succession/inheritance) - A milestone of success (celebrating an achievement) - A gift (important days of your loved ones) Let’s focus on “𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬” for a second. Because this is a non-obvious buying trigger. It’s the moment after a big deal, a promotion, or a successful exit. The moment of “𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑡.” Just like KitKat and work breaks, Rolex identified this non-obvious trigger and claimed it with ads like this one for 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬. And guess what happened? Owning a Rolex became synonymous with “𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑡.” So people started buying Rolex as an 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 after big achievements. Steve Jobs has a quote I like: “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” He was right. It’s funny how many things we accept without thinking (like buying a Rolex after an achievement) are other people’s designs. A group of marketers intentionally target 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 in people’s lives. And they associate the brand with those moments. The moral of the story? Some brands serve for obvious buying triggers. Like TurboTax and tax season. They are easy to understand. But if your product doesn’t serve for an obvious trigger — look for a non-obvious one. Remember: 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 can be a great way to occupy a place in customers’ minds.

Ogilvy’s quote shows a 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 for every founder and executive: Customers will never tell you everything. Because in most cases, even they don’t know 𝐰𝐡𝐲 they make one decision over the other. That’s why it’s challenging to discover customer insights that increase sales. You have to dig deeper beyond the first impressions. I love one example from Clayton Christensen: After months of weak sales, a construction company realized their 'job' was not only building and selling a house. But also 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 and reducing the anxiety that comes with it. So they started including services like moving and storage. Guess what happened next? Home sales exploded. So the breakthrough didn’t come from offering a new design or changing the number of rooms. But it came from understanding customers’ 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬. That’s why good marketing requires seeing the world through customers’ eyes. It’s not easy. And it requires asking the right questions. But when you truly understand their 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭, everything becomes easier.

Elon Musk did something genius with Tesla early on: He knew the big money in the automotive sector was in selling to the masses. But he decided to start with a luxury sports car. Why? Because he also knew Tesla’s limitations as a new car maker: - Low production capability - Early electric car tech - No charging stations So Musk carefully chose this first ‘𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐢𝐧’ to target: Luxury car buyers who are early tech adopters. They have money. They live in specific areas. And they are more likely to drive for joy rather than work. That gave Tesla a much better chance to succeed than a mid-market car. So Tesla’s first model became an expensive sports car Roadster. Roadster made Tesla known. And it funded Tesla’s R&D to improve its technology and production capabilities. Geoffrey Moore calls this 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 in his book Crossing the Chasm. You carefully choose the first pin to hit based on your capabilities. This segment becomes your entry point into the market. You learn their needs, you make the best product for them, and you become known. You jump to the next one only after dropping that first pin. And everything becomes easier. You continue one by one by either adding new target segments to your existing offer or new offers to your existing target segment. The key to this strategy is finding your ideal first segment to target. These three questions can help you: - “What segment fits our strengths and weaknesses?” - “What segment is small enough to dominate and big enough to matter?” - “What segment is overlooked by bigger competitors?”

Buyer’s remorse might be 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀. Yes, that guilty feeling we all feel after buying something. And that means your customers are most vulnerable right after a purchase. They stress themselves with mental tension: - “Have I made the right decision?” - “Can this company deliver on what they promise?” - “Is this product really any good?” So helping them alleviate this tension is crucial. Joey Coleman talks about the importance of this in his book “Never Lose a Customer Again.” He says 20-70% of new customers leave or decide to stop working with the company in the first 100 days of the relationship. So you spend all that money to sell your product or service. Your team spends months optimizing metrics like ROAS and CAC. And boom. All that effort goes to waste because of buyer’s remorse. So here’s a big favor you can do for your business. Map out all the customer touchpoints after the purchase. And help them feel they made the right decision. Show that you appreciate their trust. Show that you care. Even simple actions can go a long way. Like actively informing them about product delivery and sending a mini gift with the package. Or showing your enthusiasm to a new client with a personal message/call. That way, you kill the buyer’s remorse. And you drastically increase the chances of customers staying with your brand longer. It creates a win-win-win scenario: Happy customer, strong brand, more profits.

Is it time to reposition your brand? Use these 15 questions to decide: 1. Do you give your customers a good reason to choose your brand over others? 2. Are you aware of your company’s strengths? 3. Do you leverage them enough? 4. Do you have a target segment beyond demographics? 5. Do you know the buying triggers of your customers? 6. Does your brand have a clear promise to the customers? 7. Can you clearly articulate the value your brand delivers? 8. Are you different than competitors in every customer touchpoint? 9. Do competitors try to copy you? 10. Are your customers willing to pay more only because it’s from your brand? 11. Do you avoid relying on discounts and promotions? 12. Is your messaging significantly different from competitors? 13. Do all your employees know who you serve and how you serve them? 14. Do you exploit the competition’s weaknesses? 15. Do you have the bottlenecks in operations and service instead of sales and marketing? ------- If you have more "YES" answers, congratulations. You are close to your ideal positioning. But if you have more "NO" answers, you might have a problem. Because weak positioning can cause issues like: - Low conversion - Ineffective marketing - Competition on price And tactics won't work until you fix the positioning first.

“Never overpromise or create high expectations” is bad advice. You know why? Because people see what they expect to see. So between two identical products, the one that generates higher expectations wins. There is a known study about wine tasting. The same wine served with a higher price tag tastes better. So the expectation changes the experience. And yes, people are not stup*d. When the expectations don’t match the quality at all, it doesn’t work. A Big Mac is a Big Mac no matter what price tag you put or how you serve it. But when quality is indistinguishable, priming works its magic. The moral of the story? Create high expectations with your: - Price - Design - Messaging If there is no obvious flaw, the expectations you instill will create your customers’ reality.