See if this sounds familiar.  You’re responsible for marketing a product that is either middle of the pack, a commodity, or unremarkable for one reason or another.  You’re a big fan of Seth Godin and know that what you really need to wow is a Purple Cow that will set the world on fire.  Unfortunately, you don’t own the product road map, you don’t control the resources needed to redesign and redevelop the product, or it’s impossible to change your product and you need to keep your job.  So what should you do?

Seth would say that you need to work to create a Tribe within your organization that you can drive towards realigning the company around building that Purple Cow, and I agree completely, but what can you do right now?

One thing you can do is start looking for ways to change the frequency of use or purchase.  This works well in especially entrenched industries.  My favorite example is motor oil.

Castrol, Jiffy Lube and other companies who work in the undifferentiated world of car repair and, well, oil, came up with a campaign and slogan that said mechanics recommend changing your oil every 3,000 miles.  It was a brilliant marketing campaign.  It appealed to something easy that car owners could control to extend the life of their cars.  It was easy to remember and easy to do.

It also changed purchase frequency.  Most car manuals recommend changing your oil every 6,000-7,500 miles.  By redefining the interval these companies were able to increase the frequency of purchase of their product and services.  Every 3,000 miles became the default behavior.

In reality it was nothing more than a marketing message that was well designed.

There are plenty of environmental and moral issues around the oil change interval. But the message and the ability of the marketers to reframe the use of the product is nothing short of brilliant.

There are lots of other examples of this frequency tactic.  Replace your razor blade when the indicator strip disappears, eat an apple a day, see the dentist twice a year, to name a few.

So if controlling or changing the product is unrealistic or impossible, see instead what can you do to change purchase or use frequency.  Can you come up with your own 3,000 mile rule?