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Understanding The 5 Value-Added Levels of Products
written by Hans
July 9th, 2008Welcome to Catchtheposts! I hope that the content of this blog will be helpful to you. Don't hesitate to use the contact form to send me your comments, feedback, suggested topics or questions. Thanks for visiting!
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Photo by Daniel Morris
As a blogger, your blog may be seen as the product you want to sell. As an example, it could be seen as an online magazine you are creating and offering for free. Unfortunately, most of blogs like yours are offering contents for free, which means that this is not something that may differentiate your product from others. Differentiating your product is critical to gain visibility and brand your name. No matter your niche or what your blog is about, adding-value is the best tactic to build an efficient marketing strategy.
Traditional marketing defined 5 added-value levels related to a product: the central advantage, the generic product, the expected product, the augmented product and the potential product. What I suggest is to take a look at these when we apply those different levels to your own product: your blog.
Let’s move on…
1. Central Advantage.
The central advantage level is the core of your blog. In fact, it is precisely related to your niche and your targeted topic. What are the needs you want to fill? This is the first thing you shall define. Of course, choosing to start your blog on a very crowded niche will reduce your central advantage because it will be quite harder to really add value at the starting point. However, my own opinion is that you always should blog about something for which you really have developed a passion. The most essential is to understand that the needs you may choose to fill defines your audience and the level of difficulty to add value. Thus, your first goal should be to properly identify your audience to create the proper content.
2. Generic Product.
This level may be seen as the central advantage supportive level. In other words, this level is your basic product. In fact, it represented your blog with nothing more than the content, the blogging platform – WordPress for example – and the brand, which includes the domain name. It only contains the essential elements to satisfy your readers’ needs.
3. Expected Product.
Your readers inevitably have some expectations about your blog. In fact, being aware of what readers expect within your niche is essential. For example, they may expect quality content, basic blog functionalities like comments and search, original and regular posts, answers to requested questions or related to comments, etc. These are generic expectations, but your niche may have some specific ones. This may seem very obvious, but understanding your audience’s expectations shall be the basement and the core of your marketing strategy. This added-value level is critical, because it demonstrate your understanding of your audience and of your overall niche. If you properly answer to your audience’s expectations, you are in a good way to develop a loyal audience and to increase your readership.
4. Augmented Product.
This level initiates your blog differentiation. How do your blog stand out from the crowd? Once your readers got answers to their expectations, they may want to look at your differentiators. What makes your blog so different than any other blogs on your niche? This level defines every supplementary advantages and added-value you may include to your blog. As an example, you may offer some free services, consultation or mentoring. Of course, the more creative, the better it is. This level is, to my own opinion, the most challenging one. It shall definitively be part of any strategies. You may want to be very careful about what any other blogs on your niche is offering. What makes them different from other blogs? Being aware on how other blogs on your niche differentiate themselves is fundamental. This information is require to build an efficient marketing tactic.
5. Potential Product.
What is the innovation potential of your blog? Thinking about the evolution of your blog is crucial. Any growth must be manageable and, thus it must be properly planned. Are you aware of the evolution of the web? The age of Web 2.0 is currently ongoing. It bring us tremendous platforms to build communities and work through intuitive front ends like blogs and social media sites. But what’s next? Semantic web? Of course, this may not happen before few years from now; it is something to consider in a long-term view. However, it is my opinion that it worth to stay tune on any web innovations. On a short-term view, the innovation of your product shall be something to keep in mind very seriously. What could you do to be one or two steps ahead on your niche? Innovations and creative actions may give you the keys to reach new markets on your niche. Always remember that the world is built by audacious and creative minds!
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I’ve been thinking about my blog as a product, but never in such details.
For bloggers, personality is a differentiation but to be really unique, what’s the point that really matters? I have seen a blog with very clean and professional design. It certainly is a differentiation, but I’ve also seen other blogs that have amateurish design but with significant readership.
It this something you can nail down? I know you’re talking about creativity, but do you have any recommendation to have the advantage?
First thanks for your comment!
Now concerning my recommendations, I won’t list them here because it would be too long. However, I’ll think about something to make a post on this subject. Of course, I don’t have the holy truth - not so far - but maybe I can give some hints that may help you.
HI Hans.
That’s a post to stimulate some thought!
I think this is why so many people actually fail. To be original and to offer something that everyone else isn’t already offering, takes a lot of work.
You only have to look at all the identical emails that get sent out when affiliates promote the next big launch. The only way they can distinguish themselves is by trying to offer a bonus that nobody else offers.
And in many cases their bonus isn’t worth bothering with. If the product was so good you’d think they would have studied it and be able to talk a little bit about their own views.
Yes, differentiation is good, but you need a solid core product to begin with.
You’re right. Having the solid core product is imperative! In fact, everything start from there. Then, adding value need more and more effort in upper layers. Differentiate the right product with the right audience is something difficult… it require creativity and some experience of the niche. Thanks for you comment… very valuable!
In terms of making your product different from others in the space, I have been reading “Free Prize Inside” by Seth Godin, which says small innovations can go a long way. So, if you have any small idea which you think is beneficial you should give it a shot. One example i recall from the book is Dinosaur shaped pasta from Chef Boyardee. This simple concept made the company millions and didnt require them to do that much work.
This is where creative and innovative minds get the first place! You just need a good and attractive idea! This is why it is so important to really know and understand the need of your audience. Thanks!