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Unfortunately, that turned out to be a very costly lesson for Coca-Cola. They lost millions of customers to their bitter rival and number two soft drink giant, Pepsi.
They also took a bath financially.
Yes, Coca-Cola is still
number one soft drink. But gap has been narrowed significantly.
Here's another example:
Burger King wanted desperately to be "French Fries King." For years, No. 2 hamburger chain beat out McDonald's in taste tests of hamburgers, but Golden Arches kept a lock on having number one french fries. So, Burger King spent several years formulating a new french fry, a potato stick coated--unlike its predecessor--with a layer of starch designed to help retain heat and add crunch. Armed with a $70 million marketing war chest, company rolled out its biggest product launch ever in 1998.
So, what happened? Burger King's new french fries turned out to be a whopper of a flop! "Sales of fries are significantly down," stated a 1999 internal memo. "Double digit percent of consumers avoid Burger King because of our french fries."
Ouch! Fortunately, Coca-Cola and Burger King were able to survive near catastrophic miscalculations, because they had billions of dollars behind them.
But other companies that badly miscalculate that don't have those kind of financial resources, generally end up going out of business.
That's basically why so many dot-com companies are dropping like flies--and will continue to do so.
Don't try to reinvent wheel. Instead, take path of least resistance. Focus on what people are actually buying, and promote daylights out of it, applying sound, proven advertising and marketing techniques.
In closing, you'll incur fewer risks and your wallet will be a lot fatter, if you just sell what people are buying!
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
