Know-How Exchange : Strategy

while i am not sure I completely understand your product, I do feel like you have to create a need to sell any product.

In your case the need may be a need to:
be socially responsible
be romantic
be chivalrous
be kind
be friendly
be a good father
be a good friend

Forget the product description I have given. My point is that the demographic I am trying to market too is not the demographic that will be the reciever/user of the product.

What I am trying to understand is "What kind of marketting am I trying to do?"

Everywhere I read it says I have to market to my products target audience which makes sense. However my product will "VERY UNLIKELY" ever be used by the person who buys it. So my Target Market is not my Product Target.

Let me draw another comparison:

My product is something which all women would like but will not buy for themselves.

My target market is men who want to buy the product for their partner because they want to make them "feel happy, wanted and loved".

While I appreciate the answers to date I am looking for something more in the marketig terminology space that will help me go and research this kind of marketing.

I am not looking for how to market it (yet), I am not looking for a marketing strategy (yet) I am looking for what it is called that I am trying to do so that I can further research it and build my strategy and my marketing/advertising plan with a little more confidence.

Thanks

Rowan,

The two targets of which you are speaking - the pregnant woman is called the "user." The man buying the product is called the "buyer." This poses a different marketing challenge in that you have two sets of needs to be concerned about - those for the user - the product has to satisfy their needs and show benefit to them. And then there's the needs of the man who thinks, "What's in it for me? (WIIFM)" These needs are less tangible (most likely) because he will feel good, get recognition for his consideration, etc. In the buying decision - that is normally both emotional and intellectual - you hit the emotional influencers (images and words that affect the buyer emotionally into a buy decision) through the benefits and then you close the deal with the intellectual - features, competitive comparisons, etc. In this case, you almost 100% concentrate on the emotional pieces. If you discuss features, it's all about how wonderful he will be perceived by the pregnant lady because he is making happy because your product hits all of her needs. The intellectual content for this will concentrate on why this is a good decision for the man - why any pregnant woman would be thrilled to have such a product. The man will want to make sure that this is the best one he can buy, is useful to the lady, etc, so he will feel secure that he will be guaranteed a good feeling for giving it (and the woman won't say, "Why did you get me this piece of trash, you jerk?")

I hope this helps.

Wayde

I think we could give you better advice if you shared with us what the product is. I'm puzzled by why you're so sure no pregnant women would buy this item for themselves. If it has a value, I think some women would buy it for themselves, even if you think it is likely to be primarily purchased as a gift. On the other hand, if it doesn't have a value, then it's not a very good gift, either.

Marge