This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Thinking about “better”

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It’s tempting to decide that there’s a transitive relationship, that A > B > C.
This works, for example, with length. A ruler is longer than a thumb and a
thumb is longer than a peppercorn, and therefore a ruler is longer than a
peppercorn.
But linear comparisons don’t make sense when we’re building stories
and opportunities for humans.
An Hermès bag is more expensive than a Louis Vuitton bag, which is
more expensive than one from Coach. But that doesn’t mean that the
Hermès bag is “better.” It merely means that it’s more expensive, which is
just one of the many things that someone might care about.
Expense might be easy to measure, but it’s never clear that more of it is
always better.
What about more subjective categories like “stylish” or “fashionable” or
“status”? Suddenly, it’s not linear. Not easy to measure. Not clear at all
what better means.
Better isn’t up to you
There are more than 250 models of motorcycles available for sale in
Cleveland. Can you name them? No one can, not even a motorcycle
collector.
And the same thing is true for ketchup, for insurance brokers, for
churches.
So, how do we process this, remember this, choose a product?
We remember the best one.
Best for what?
And that’s the key question. Best for us.
If we care about sustainability and price, then our brain has a slot for our
favorite brand, and it’s the one that’s the best at sustainability and price. No
surprise.
But our neighbor, the one who cares far more about status within the
group and luxury, has a very different brand in mind.
Which is not surprising, because we’re humans, not machines.
Your job as a marketer is to find a spot on the map with edges that
(some) people want to find. Not a selfish, unique selling proposition, done

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to maximize your market share, but a generous beacon, a signal flare sent
up so that people who are looking for you can easily find you.
We’re this, not that.