Familiarity Breeds Ignorance

I am working with a client who is impaled on the horns of a dilemma (ouch).

The company is an industry leader. Well-established. Popular with consumers. The focus of my assignment is one of their evergreen products that has consistently delivered good results over the years.

So, what's the problem?

The product has been around so long and has been so popular, that many non-users have critical misconceptions about its ACTUAL features and benefits. When shoppers go looking for an item to meet their needs, my client's is often over-looked because buyers believe it does not have what they want.

Perceived familiarity has led the customer to ignore new messages about the product that would serve to re-educate them regarding its actual uses.

Fixing this will require my client to think differently about the way they tell their story. What worked before is now working against them. They won't reinvent the product, but they will need to reinvent the way they talk about it.

Assignment: Read this to your leadership team and challenge them to look for new ways to tell the story about your most successful product or service.