17 ways to market invisible products

It can be difficult if you are asked to market products:

• that the custgomers cannot see / inspect / experience before paying
• whose effect / benefit comes very late or sometimes not at all
• whose outcome is uncertain. 

Examples of such products are

• Life Insurance Policy : you can never see its benefit when you are alive
• Lottery : you know that only a few will get the benefit
• Anti Acne treatment in a beauty salon : benefit comes later, if at all
• Medical treatment of a doctor : you do not know if and when you will get cured 
• Educational course : Will you get a good job and salary at the end of it?
• Consultancy assignment  : will the recommendations be new ? feasible ?
• A longer-lasting paint coat for a car : who will remember how long it lasted ? 

In such cases, you need to market a "surrogate"  

Life Insurance Policy 

• Tell people the large number of customers you have
• Visible and prominent offices
• People and vehicles and evidences are visible and easily identifiable
• People need to feel you are not going to run away overnight. 
• The building should look solid
• Overall aura of trustworthiness

Lottery

• Sponsored by the state government ( UP Government Lottery )
• For a good cause ( For improving irrigation in the state )

Medical ( Say Homeopathic ) treatment of the doctor 

• The degree of the doctor hanging on the wall
• The locality of the clinic
• The quality of the interiors and upkeep of the clinic
• The type of other customers who come to the clinic
• Whether the doctor and employees dress and behave well

Educational course

• The location and look of the campus, buildings and interiors
• The quality of the faculty 
• Other students who come to the same course
• The number and type of alumni who have passed out
• What the employers talk about the course  

Consulting Assignment

• The reputation of the consultant
• The client list of the consultant
• The quality and relevance of the experts that the consultant can provide access to
• The intellectual capital : patents, publications

 Long Lasting Paint for Car

• Certifications provided by expert organizations
• The client list of the company 
• The quality and relevance of the experts with the company

When people cannot see or feel what you are marketing, you need to focus on the seller as being trustworthy. Consider the following 17 ways

1.     Give an impression : number of people are associated with you
2.     Make your offices and places visible and prominent
3.     Make your people and vehicles visible and easily identifiable
4.     Make your buildings look solid : stone, pillars
5.     Sponsored / Chartered by State / Government / Known Institutes
6.     For the benefit of a well known and good cause
7.     Signs of expertise like a degree of on the wall
8.     Your address and location should be respectable
9.     Good  quality of the interiors and upkeep
10.     The type of other customers who come to your location
11.     Well dressed and well behaved employees
12.     What do the ex-customers and ex-employees say about you
13.     Your reputation
14.     Your client list
15.     The quality / relevance of experts you bring to the assignment
16.     Your intellectual capital : patents, publications, magazines
17.     Certifications provided by expert organizations