“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose…
That is not a weakness. That is life.”
- Captain Picard, Star Trek, The Next Generation
This quote is true on so many levels in our business.
It immediately brings to mind another quote that I constantly refer to:
"There is a great deal of advertising that is much better than the product. When that happens, all that the good advertising will do is put you out of business faster."
- Jerry Della Femina
In my last email I talked about CHANNEL-MARKET FIT.
Today’s topic is PRODUCT-MARKET FIT.
Without getting too technical,
Product-Market Fit is when your audience sees your product for the first time and HAS to have it.
Once they have it, they beg for more.
They share it with their friends and talk about it to whoever will listen.
The big takeaway:
There is massive value in knowing you are doing everything right, even if you’re not getting a ton of sales.
You have incredible product photography
Your copy is fun and cheeky
Your ads are compelling and your campaign structure is correct
You have videos
Social proof (even if it’s manufactured)
The value is in knowing something needs to change.
9 times out of 10 the thing that needs to change…
Is your product.
To put it better, it needs to ADAPT.
When Kathryn Stockett wrote the famous novel, “The Help”,
She submitted it to 52 agents,
And guess what, they all rejected it.
Finally, after years of failure and heartache, agent 53 said, “I’ll take you on.”
When you read between the lines of this little anecdote,
Or ask the author herself (this is a true story),
You’ll find out that she did not simply send the same PDF to every single agent,
After rejection #1, she read the agent’s notes.
She made changes,
She strengthened the beginning,
Went deeper on character motivations.
She knew she had something great, it just needed work.
Iteration after iteration.
Of course, the book ended up selling millions.
If you’re struggling with profitable customer acquisition,
I’m not saying to scrap the whole product.
But you must adapt it.
