Lateral Marketing, more people need to start doing it

by Marian Berghes

Posted: 12 years ago 10 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

It seems to me that A LOT of people are ignoring this, so I am trying to bring some attention to it because it can help newbies and experienced marketers as well.

Lateral marketing allows you to promote the same product that 100's of affiliates are promoting, but instead of focusing on the same market as everyone else, you re-position the product in such a way that allows you to target a whole different market.

All you have to do is figure out every possible way that your product helps somebody: physically, mentally, financially etc...

Ill get you started with 2 simple examples:

1. Promoting weight loss type products on dating sites (losing weight can not only boost their looks but also their self confidence

)

2. Promote money making programs on dating sites (wanna be a babe magnet? learn how to make more money)

Just brainstorm a bit and you will find some angle to promote your product to a different market.

#lateral #marketing #people #start

Martin Pupke 12 years ago

I like the idea you put forward, however conversion rates might be a at "not worth it" rates if you are not creative enough. I suspect you need a really good understanding of both the niches/markets you are trying to merge in order to have good results.

The thing I like about this idea is that competition will be minimal if you really think out of the box and introduce a product type that has never been seen before by a certain audience.
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Dan Allard 12 years ago

Good post Marian. Sometimes you have to think out of the box to spot opportunties others have missed.

A couple years ago I started working for DinoRoar as their online marketing manager. They're an iPhone game development company and they had just released their first game 'Memory Loss' but weren't getting any sales.

They were marketing to gamers, I decided to also target the 'improve memory' niche through articles videos and press releases and the campaign turned out very successful. So I always make it a point to see what other markets would be interested in products I promote.
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kimonerz

12 years ago

Wow, this is a pretty good idea. I never heard of it before, nor did I ever hear anybody promote this type of marketing.

But I'm pretty sure if you brainstorm the right idea, it can make for good marketing.

Thanks
1 reply

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Marian Berghes

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Martin Pupke

I like the idea you put forward, however conversion rates might be a at "not worth it" rates if you are not creative enough. I suspect you need a really good understanding of both the niches/markets you are trying to merge in order to have good results.

The thing I like about this idea is that competition will be minimal if you really think out of the box and introduce a product type that has never been seen before by a certain audience.

yes conversion rates could be horrible, just have to keep testing and coming up with new ideas.

Originally Posted by Dan Allard

Good post Marian. Sometimes you have to think out of the box to spot opportunties others have missed.

A couple years ago I started working for DinoRoar as their online marketing manager. They're an iPhone game development company and they had just released their first game 'Memory Loss' but weren't getting any sales.

They were marketing to gamers, I decided to also target the 'improve memory' niche through articles videos and press releases and the campaign turned out very successful. So I always make it a point to see what other markets would be interested in products I promote.

That's a great example of how this works.

Thanks
1 reply

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fin 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Marian Berghes

yes conversion rates could be horrible, just have to keep testing and coming up with new ideas.

.

I don't think it works.

Money sells. Sex sells. I tried to sell make money online products to sex tourists lol

Thought I was being creative and they would sell like hotcakes. They didn't and I was lucky someone else thought they could and I sold the website for a few K.
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- fluffythewondercat 12 years ago
  
  The reason you don't see a lot of people recommending this technique is because it rarely works.
  
  It's one of those "sounds logical" ideas that occurs to people just starting out.
  
  We had a person in the WF yesterday who had a site about shopping, weddings and travel. Because, you know, brides have to book their honeymoons and they have to shop for their weddings, and people who like to shop sometimes get married and everybody loves to travel.
  
  See? Everything I said was true, but that doesn't mean the shopping/weddings/travel approach will work.
  
  If someone is deadset on trying this, I'd recommend brainstorming a long list of possible associations.
  
  Let's take the person who is currently trying to sell a book on how to make money manufacturing and selling your own herbal remedies for pets.
  
  Could be marketed to...
  
  People who like books about pets
  People who are looking for an answer for their pet's problem
  People who want to make money
  People who want to build a pet-centered business
  People who want to sell herbal remedies
  People who want to create their own MLM business
  etc. etc. etc.
  
  Then think, really think, about which of the possibilities on the list make sense and which are too general or too specific. (Personally, I would choose "People who are looking for an answer for their pet's problem" as #1 and "People who want to build a pet-centered business" as #2. Which did you choose?)
  
  Be prepared to lose some money in testing.
  
  fLufF
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  myob 12 years ago
  
  This is certainly not a new concept, (marketing across niches rather than limited within niches) has been used at least since the early sixties.
  
  However, lateral marketing does require an understanding of marketing and sales principles as well as the underlying demographics.
  
  Examples of very successful lateral marketing can be found in food stores at gas stations, coffee shops inside bookstores, banking within grocery stores, cyber cafes, diapers (marketed for newborns, older children and incontinent adults), aspirin for preventing heart attacks, golf carts within large manufacturing facilities, etc.
  
  With testing (market research), creativity, and some ingenuity, products may indeed be repurposed for different applications far beyond the original intended primary market.
  
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joona 12 years ago

Sure, this can work but it requires that you are very good at pre-selling the product. After all, you have to convert basically cold lead in to hot lead and that is not an easy thing to do.

But good idea. Using this kind of stuff can help you identify untapped markets where there is less competition.
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Marian Berghes 12 years ago

I agree, don't expect this to work right out of the gate, but I have seen it work in different markets.

You can also use it to add a new revenue stream to your existing business, just like Fitness product creators started to make a modified/rebranded copy of their product and start selling it in the Golf Fitness market, which has seen a big boom in the past couple of years.
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RedShifted 12 years ago

/\ Those are some great examples maybe next time you can space out your post a bit?

(this is not a new concept either =])

-Red
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Lateral Marketing, more people need to start doing it

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