We are the 80%

Economists and business men often see marketing as an opportunity to promote products and distribute information of their superiority over competitors. It really is seen as a form of intelligence to be able to professionally market things, which is ironic since the reality is that marketing can simply be referred to as “making a product appeal to the most ignorant percentage of a population.” With recent technology, marketing has become the most important part of selling a technological product. Marketing can lead people to not only buy the product, but also let it define them. Is this false? A simple search about a product on a discussion website would show how much consumers are willing to defend people that simply want their money. This type of strong brand loyalty has become the sole marketing strategy that is put to use on tech products. No one has yet come up with a specific technique to generate more brand loyalty, but it is very clear who is winning in that race.

Who can deny the Apple or Nintendo empires’ loyal fan bases? Their products can be priced at any range and have competitors offering all sorts of qualities and prices and still sell more than these competitors. However, according to the Pareto 80-20 rule, 20% of the buyers are causing 80% of the influence on the company, meaning that the company only has to appeal to 20% of the population and satisfy those individuals to create a monopoly over the entire country. When Microsoft attempted to sell Zune, they created something with very similar features to IPods and assumed that they had enough brand loyalty for people to switch from an IPod to a Zune. However, that did not work, since Microsoft ignored the 80-20 rule. They did not choose a 20% as a target audience. Microsoft’s customers range from gamers to bargain hunters to professionals building power machines. If they had targeted any of these 3 with the product’s advertisements and features, they may have had a better chance of collecting the 20% needed to cause the brand loyalty influence. Same can be said about Google’s Google+ recently rivaling Facebook. If Google had targeted a certain category of consumers that use Google products, they may have had enough to gain the 20% needed. That being ignored, people saw no need to switch from Facebook. Features alone aren’t enough to have a solid fan base with today’s consumers. That is why marketing techniques must appeal to those with the least knowledge. 

Androids have been the only successful rivals of Apple products. When Android OS was first released, it wasn’t much of a rival, but as it formed the 20% needed to cause the influence, Android sales grew at a rarely-seen exponential rate. That 20% consisted of customization lovers. A special category of tech junkies that Apple failed to satisfy many times. It did not matter who the 80% were. If that 20% of brand-loyal customers was able to define the product to the 80%, the marketing strategy was successful.

As fascinating as it is to be a brand loyal consumer, people need to wake up and realize that they’re not users; they’re the ones being used. They are defining a simple entity while letting it define them. Being a consumer means to help people sustain their jobs and help improve the economy, not be the toy of the market. Influence may come from the 20%, but ambitions of life only exist within the 80%. Which percentage is the ignorant one?

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References:

F. John Reh, "Pareto's Principle - The 80-20 Rule," about.com; http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Pareto081202.htm

Sarah Mackley Gonnella, "All Those Looking for Loyal Clients, Raise Your Hand!" Acumen Advisors Blog, 2012; http://www.acumenadvisors.com/blog/?Author=Sarah+Mackley+Gonnella