Stand up and Shout the Custom Way

Wading through the thicket of standardized products and services makes you realize why custom works stand out!

Hello nice people! I hope you have been having a great week so far and you are ready for the upcoming marketing tips from the business trenches. Today, I will blog about quite an interesting topic and I will really appreciate your contribution in the form of comments, tweets, Facebook comments, e-mails, etc, to find out what you think about it! So, let’s cut to the chase and introduce la question du jour that is going to preoccupy our minds for about five minutes, namely the ugly, down, and dirty side of product/service standardization. Why am I making such brazen claims? Well, before mob lynching me, read the explanation below, and then you are free to come at me again!

Some time ago, I was watching a documentary on History Channel about Pierce Manufacturing, the US manufacturer of fire trucks. Initially, I was fascinated by the huge fire trucks equipped with cutting edge technology inside, huge ladders, hoses, solid frames, you name it. Then a quote from one of the CEOs of Pierce Manufacturing simply blew me away. The man was explaining that at Pierce Manufacturing, there is nothing like a standard fire truck. Indeed, they have clients from some 33,000 counties and each one of them fights fires differently. Hence, Pierce Manufacturing customizes all the fire trucks it makes and it takes its employees around 45 days and a huge amount of manpower in order to build a single vehicle.

This got me thinking. Whereas it is true that it is somehow difficult to customize products and/or services, sometimes it is simply worth doing so. Indeed, there are multiple businesses for which offering custom services is a must. The IT industry is just one of them. Communications and marketing are another one. What is more, there is nothing like a standard marketing or communications formula. All the solutions in this interactive sphere must be unique. Probably there are many more industries where customization is possible. Finance and banking are just another example. Hence, I am not reinventing the wheel by remarking that offering personally tailored solutions is a trend that has been around for quite some time and it has proven to be quite cost effective. Yet, before praising the boons of personalized products and services, we should pause for a second and think why tailored solutions are important and whether they should be delivered in each and every case. The simple and somehow complex answer is ‘It depends.’

Customization on an industrial level: Orange Strawberry Jam?

Although you might consider customization to be an industrial anathema, and nothing but a bane, do not fear it that much. Just read on, the following lines might intrigue you.

If you are manufacturing and distributing, for example, strawberry jam, it is not that easy to customize your product. What is it that you can actually do?

Well, for starters, you can sell it in different jar sizes to appeal to different marketing personas (from factories that make croissants and cookies, to restaurants and bakeries, to ordinary households). Of course, there is nothing you can do about the jam itself besides offering a diet version. Is that a form of customization? Yes, it is! Is it necessary and/or appropriate? Of course! It is feasible on an industrial level? Not only is it feasible, but it is strongly recommended. Indeed, it is quite striking that industrial giants have been somehow customizing their products and services, without emphasizing on it and without simultaneously appealing to their marketing personas to inform them about the extra benefits. Consequently, their extra value is lost somewhere along the advertising, marketing, and PR chains. This is quite a significant marketing mistake that big companies might want to address.

Customization for Quality Optimization

It is somehow banal to list all the benefits of custom goods. In a nutshell, custom products and services are tailored to respond a specific need or a distinctive requirement of a particular type of customer. Hence, they are useful and they serve the very purpose they have been devised for.

Standardized products and services, on the other hand, are not so responsive to each and every particular need of a given type of consumer, and they fall short of incorporating the so important value-added features that make the difference between a good product or service and a great product or service.

Whereas, it is true that custom goods are a bit more expensive to produce and/or purchase, it is an investment in the long run that is simply worth it. After all, your clients want quality products and services that meet their expectations and perform as desired.

I guess, I no longer need to convince you why you should go custom. Yet, before plunging into the turbid waters of customization, pay attention to the following points:

• Listen extremely carefully to your clients in order to better understand their needs, their desires, and their expectations;
• Analyze the product/service requirements very carefully and weigh the benefits and the costs of customization;
• Discuss your analysis with your clients or respectively, your shareholders, and inform them of your conclusions;
• Strive to offer products and services that could be upgraded or easily modified in the long run;
• Add the bright layer of customization if it is possible and cost effective.

Customization or standardization? At the end, it is up to you and your clients to decide. Yet, you have been warned. After all, your business is what you make of it!

Thanks a lot for getting engaged! Remember to check our next lesson out! Since I already opened the box, I have no choice but to elaborate on the mystic notion of ‘marketing persona’. In the mean time, subscribe to the feed that rocks, follow us on Twitter, join us on Facebook, have fun, and rock'n'code!