In the world of marketing—whether it’s online or offline—we’ve learned the stages of developing a product, working on it, finding the right idea, and choosing a marketing and sales strategy. You might opt to lower the price at the expense of quality, offer the same price with different features, or provide a high-performance, premium product at a higher price. But before all of that, your offering needs to actually qualify as a product. For example, if we’re talking about a car, it should at least have four wheels to be called a car.
But what happens if the product is terrible by all standards, and on top of that, when you decide to launch it in the market, you do so in such a foolish way that no one buys it? Or worse, if they do, the buyer will swear a hundred thousand times that they’ll never make that mistake again.
So, as a buyer, how do you know that a product is stupid and avoid falling into the trap of a failed purchase?
1- The product with a copied design:
Whether it’s a copy of the same product’s previous version or of another company’s product, the key element here is imitation. In our region, often what we do best is imitate. I’m not against imitation if it’s done with sophistication and to improve the original work, not just to create a lousy replica that ruins the original.
2- The product with repetitive phrases:
As a daily consumer, you’re bombarded with the same repetitive phrases in advertisements, whether on TV, radio, newspapers, or other media. It’s easy to recognize these overused slogans. Look for products that avoid the clichés (like “the best,” “the most important,” “the greatest,” “the most famous,” “the weirdest”), which have become nauseating.
3- The completeness of the three elements:
Let’s talk about pizza as an example. From start to finish, it goes through three essential stages before reaching you:
1. The chef prepares it.
2. It’s baked in a particular oven.
3. It’s sold in a specific market.
If you try it for the first time and find it delicious, make sure that when you buy it again, it’s made by the same chef, baked in the same oven, and sold in the same market. But what if it’s from the same vendor and the same market but not the same chef? One element is missing! It might still be acceptable, but it won’t taste like it did the first time. It could even be inedible, but they’re selling it anyway because their reputation doesn’t matter as long as they’re making money. This applies to (websites, CDs, art projects, etc.).
4- Your gut feeling:
In your daily life, you might see your friend every day without noticing anything different. Even if they change their clothes or get a haircut, you might comment on how they look, but it won’t change your internal perception of them. However, if one day they seem sad, you’ll notice it immediately or sense that something is wrong, regardless of their outward appearance. This principle applies to all products. Trust your inner voice; don’t fall victim to lies, deceit, and fraud.
5- All forms of exaggeration:
The forger or imitator knows exactly what they’re doing, so they’ll go to great lengths to cover it up. This might make you feel that something is off or that there’s an exaggeration in some aspect, whether in their promotion of the product or in the product itself. Your sense of something being off is key.
What I’m trying to say is that in all areas of your life, whatever the product you need, make sure you get it as you want it—not as the distributors want to sell it to you, or how they think it should be. Otherwise, you’ll end up as the victim in the end.