4 Products That Sell Themselves

Ensuring that your new product or service is of the highest quality is as important as the products themselves. The reputation of your company is forged by the products that you sell. The better that reputation is, the better your word of mouth marketing will be and the easier it is to sell the product.

A quality product saves money by reducing warranty claims and customer service phone calls, and increasing repeat buyers. It also leads to a less substantial role in its marketing and advertising. Make no mistake: you’ll always need to do these things, but reputable products of high quality generally sell themselves many more times than not.

Skype’s rapid growth

Let’s look at the example of Skype. This service allows people to make free computer-to-computer calls; by means of Android and iOS apps, they can also make smartphone and tablet calls. You can also use Skype to place long distance calls to other countries at a highly reduced rate compared to traditional phone companies. As useful and intuitive as this service is, you rarely see an ad for Skype. Sure they’ll publish press releases that relate to the company, or make other announcements that they post on their blog, but it’s the polar opposite of what most companies do. They aren’t actively seeking as much attention as possible. Yet between 2004 and 2005, they jumped from less than 10 million registered users to over 60 million.

The company focuses its efforts on improving the quality of its service. They know that by continuing to give their customers what they’ve come to expect from the company, it will ensure their growth and spread their service by word of mouth. Skype is a good example of how a great product with a free limited version can sell itself.

Apple iPhone product launch

For the best example of products that sell themselves, look no further than Apple and Steve Jobs’ emphasis on quality. The original iPhone came about because of a complete dissatisfaction with existing mobile phones. By developing a product that was intuitive, expertly crafted and solidly designed, they were able to capture the market in a way no other company had been able to before. People loved their phones and they wanted to tell everyone they knew about them. They wanted to let people know how this product had changed their lives.

Of course, Apple did promote the launch of the iPhone extensively. But as a result of the word of mouth the product had built from its users, the need for traditional advertising over time had lessened. The lasting endurance of the product has everything to do with its quality. People have come to expect a certain standard from the product, so every time a new model is released; it’s a guaranteed hit. Apple knows this, which is one of the reasons why they don’t rush their products to market. They’re released when they’re as good as they can possibly be and those tend to be the easiest products to sell.

Conformer’s Brave New Folders

Conformer Products created an innovative solution to a folder-related dilemma. By adding score lines, they were able to craft a folder that remains flat when empty, but has a much larger capacity than regular folders. The snug design is so effective that it’s become incredibly popular, and Conformer has licensed the technology to a wide variety of manufacturers.

Conformer might not be well-known in mainstream culture, but the value and usefulness of their products has made them prolific within their industry. It goes to show that a high-quality product is important even for smaller businesses.

Rackspace’s Fanatical Support

This is a company that has achieved success through exceptional customer service. Rackspace knows that the way you present yourself to customers is just as important as providing a useful product. This is especially true in the web hosting business, and Rackspace’s self-proclaimed “fanatical support” is an integral part of the service they offer. It’s also been instrumental to their success, allowing their sales to grow by an average of 30% every year since 2007.

People are likely to spread the word about a high quality product, but word of mouth can also occur when you’ve got fantastic customer service. Building trusted relationships with your customers is definitely worth your while.

Conclusion

Products that sell themselves by word of mouth is not a lofty goal. It happens in the marketplace all the time. You may not realize it because they aren’t as large as Apple or Skype. These companies go unnoticed to the general public except to the people in their marketplace. Every company has the capability to have a product or service speak for itself. You just have to find that element that your target market is missing and wants. They might not even know they want it until they experience it.

Posted in Branding, Marketing, Product Launch Marketing