The Tranquilizing Drug Of Gradualism

by | Mar 10, 2019 | Management, Marketing

In his book Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing (p.134) Harry Beckwith wrote:

Beware the deadly middle. If you price in the middle, what you are saying is “We’re not the best, and neither is our price, but both our service and price are pretty good.” Not a very compelling message.

Echoing that same sentiment business consultant Steve Dennis writes about “The Tranquilizing Drug Of Gradualism”

The tranquilizing drug of gradualism

In his “I have a dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged a slow and steady pathway to civil rights reform. Those in favor of an incremental approach feared that making waves–that being too confrontational–would backfire. It was seen as too risky a strategy.

Marketing Chart: The most affluent consumers also the most likely to engage with marketing | MarketingSherpa

by | Jun 11, 2017 | Marketing

The big important takeaway from the article:

You might assume that the most affluent customers are harder to reach and the least likely to engage with marketing. After all, the time they spend engaging with marketing is more valuable based on their income level. And, as the saying goes — time is money.

However, when we broke down the data based on income level, we made a surprising discovery — the most affluent customers were the most likely to engage….

Marketing Chart: The most affluent consumers also the most likely to engage with marketing

Affluent customers’ time is more valuable (when measured monetarily) than less affluent customers. So, you might assume they are less likely to spend that valuable time engaging with your marketing. However, we discovered the exact opposite to be true.