Don’t Fish Where The Fish Are, Become A Fish
Is this how you view your consumers?
It’s a phrase you’ve probably heard, and used yourself, many times. Fish where the fish are. Makes sense, right? You want to target your marketing efforts to where your consumers are, it’s been the prevailing wisdom for decades. In fact, some pretty ‘big fish’ are still using it:
Jeremiah Owyang has a post from March of this year called Fish Where the Fish Are
And Chris Brogan has a free ebook of the same name from November of last year.
Note – Both those guys are crazy smart and I’m not looking to knock their content, which is strong, but rather to note to prevalence of the cliche.
“Women watch Soap Operas, so let’s advertise our laundry detergent on Guiding Light.”
“Kids go to the X Games, so let’s have our energy drink sponsor it.”
Then along came Social Media.
“Hey, everybody is on YouTube, let’s put our ads up, they’ll go viral!”
“We should totally be on Facebook, that’s where everybody is right now.”
[sfx: vinyl record scratch]
Oops. Ur doing it wrong.
First, the set up is that you/your brand are the fisherman and the consumer are fish. Two different species, and you are the superior one. That’s a marketing mindset from about 30 years ago. You’re setting yourself up for failure before you even start if that the way you are thinking.
Now, let’s find a lure. Let’s give the fish something, often something fake, to get them interested. Oh, boy, now we’re really in trouble. You’re going to trick consumers into taking a bite of something fake so that they can put a sharp metal hook in their hook in their mouth.
Fake and painful - Is that how consumers view your brand?
Now it’s time to reel ‘em in! Quick, let’s get the fish (consumer) out of their natural environment and away from other fish (consumers). Don’t want them telling their friends about our sneaky little trick.
And now that the fish (consumer) is in the boat, let’s give it a whack on the head, kill it, gut it and eat it. No chance of this fish coming back (repeat customer).
Now, let’s repeat these steps until:
A: All the fish are killed.
B: The fish wise up and move to a new part of the ocean
C: The fish wise up and avoid our lures
So what’s the alternative? Become a fish.
Swim with fishes (not in the mafia sense). Talk like a fish, eat like a fish, look like a fish, behave like a fish. Show other fish where the best feeding spots are. Take them to the where the water is warm and other fish are thriving. Help them avoid other fisherman.
“That’s all good and well Rick, but at some point I’ve got to move cases of X”
Well, if what you are selling is frying pans, don’t trying selling to fish. My point is, when you become a fish rather than a fisherman, you understand the needs of the consumer. Fish don’t need frying pans (or bicycles). Only once you start acting like a fish do you realize that. If you’re selling frying pans, start acting like a chef. In fact, become a chef. Spend your weekends at Williams-Sonama or a resaurant supply store not trying to figure out how you can get more shelf space, but what it’s like to try and buy a frying pan.
Once you do that you’re truly in a position to help the consumer. If you sell frying pans you should own cast iron, stainless steel, teflon, calphalon, you name it. Can you speak about your product, and your competitors, not like a marketer, but like a consumer? If so, congratulations – you’re a fish.
Great post. In summary you’re saying be more “customer-centric” in an honest way to understand how they operate. Then, talk and act like them. And to your point, if you aren’t genuine about in this day and age, you’re toast, especially w/social media.
I thought this post was spectacular!
Note just because I’m a fly fisherman from Oregon:)
I’m going to share via twitter.
Really great job. I just wanted you to know.
[...] This post was Twitted by MZDadvertising [...]
Very well said. It also falls in line with doing what you love or are passionate about. Your being a fan is infectious to other fans, and you also are seen as someone whose opinion can be trusted, which incidentally it has every reason to be trusted since you’re now doing what you love and actually are an authority.
And it’s “sleeps with the fishes” in the mafia. If there were such an organization. Which there isn’t. Because you don’t wanna talk about them. If they existed, I mean…
James,
[Slaps forehead] Of course, sleeps with the fishes. Good catch, my bad.
Rick,
Great post. You see Proctor and Gamble practicing this more and more. We call it the first unbreakable rule of creating demand – know and understand your customer better than they know and understand themselves. The only way you can do that is to become one of them.
Thanks for giving me a better, more powerful analogy.
[...] http://www.rickliebling.com/2009/08/06/dont-fish-where-the-fish-are-become-a-fish/ [...]
Great post, Rick. I can think of it in reverse. Figuring out what type of fish you are and which “schools” you enjoy being with can help you figure out what you’re good at and what unique experience or insight you could offer, which could lead to business opportunities that are a perfect fit for you.
Interesting way of looking at this and great analogy!
[...] Be open: Openness generates trust and trust generates Earned Media. See how Best Buy and Nike are challenging the traditional received wisdom when it comes to the secrecy surrounding product development. As Seth said, go where your customers are or put another way – don’t fish where the fish are – become a fish. [...]
[...] marketing) i publiciteta (earned media), ima neuporedivo manje brend efekte kada se uporedi sa angažmanom za koji je potrebno vreme, ali koji daje novu vrednost i okuplja zajednicu oko brenda (sa kojom se ostvaruju [...]
[...] marketing) i publiciteta (earned media), ima neuporedivo manje brend efekte kada se uporedi sa angažmanom za koji je potrebno vreme, ali koji daje novu vrednost i okuplja zajednicu oko brenda (sa kojom se ostvaruju [...]
[...] to stop fishing where the fish are. Time to move from campaigns to conversations. If a brand is a story that we tell, it’s time [...]
Very good post. You write verry good, keep up the good work and I will keep on visiting!