Marketing in a conservative industry

What's the secret to marketing in a very conservative industry? An industry where change is a bad thing, because the risk of change is so high, is hard to market to. Their default is to stick with the companies and processes they have had for years.

One possibility is complete innovation. For this, you have to have a method or product they haven't seen or heard of before. If you have such a thing, the industry will distrust you completely, and you need to win them over.

You can win customers over with case studies, showing them that people in similar situations have used your product and made or saved money with it. Of course, to get a case study you need to have someone install your product in the first place, and this may be the hardest thing of all. Depending on your product, you may want to try a powerful guarantee. This is the technique that Asepco used in the medical industry. They promised that hospitals could buy their pharmaceutical tank valves, and if anything ever went wrong they would replace it quickly and for free. This guarantee even included if the problem was caused by the customer.

This extreme guarantee helped Asepco win 90% of their market over 15 years. It took a big gamble, but their faith in their product was enough to mitigate their risk, and the guarantee was enough to mitigate customer risk.

Of course, such a guarantee may not be possible for you. If your product could cause a power plant failure, which can cost tens of millions of dollars in damage, you may not be able to justify a guarantee like that. On the other hand, the cost of your product is probably reflected in the amount of risk it involves. A ten dollar part is less likely to cause millions in damage than a million-dollar part.

When you're introducing a new product to a market, try thinking out of the box on the marketing as well. Try something that your industry hasn't seen before. This can attract attention to the product, enabling it to break through the conservative nature of the industry, and letting you get a foothold in the market.

It's not impossible to market to a conservative industry. It's difficult, but it can be done. The trick is knowing that you are not going to make sales overnight, and that it may take time to break into the market. But the trick is also in knowing that a market can take a long time to snowball, and when it does you might just be riding an avalanche.