I guess you got me on a video kick now and just can’t get enough of me. In the video below I tell a story about me and some of my past adventures.

*disclaimer: some of the information in this post could be considered illegal activity depending on your country, state or city. This is meant for entertainment purposes only and not as a guide to do anything that violates any national, state or local laws.

How’s that for a setup? I bet you’re interested now. Lets roll the tape. Also I noticed the auto gets a little fuzzy in some places. I apologize.

I’m sure by now you have figured out this post is about developing a story around your product. Doing so effectively can make a huge difference in profits and brand loyalty. Why do you think iPod does so well? Its not because iPods are the best made product on the market, actually they fail a lot. But nobody cares because of the emotion that accompanies the product. Everyone knows you are cool when you listen to an iPod.

It’s amazing how people are willing to purchase a sub-par product just because of how the story makes them feel. But I am not advocating for you to go out and develop a story around a crummy product just for the sake of selling more.

Next time you are about ready to go and launch a new product, look at the story you are about to tell and see how you can tell it a little better. Start by telling people how life was before you made your widget and how you thought there could be a better way. So you set out to find that way that could help all of humanity. In your quest to do so you developed your widget. Then out of the kindness of your heart you decided to share that widget with the rest of the world so they would not have to go through the same troubles and termoils you had to endure. Do this in about 30 seconds and you have a winner. What do we give them, Johnny? A shiny new widget for $19.95.

Now see, that wasn’t so hard.

Tell me about products you have purchased that totally sucked but came with a good story…

If you were interested in the knife I was talking about you can find it here for $36. The brand name of the knife was Min Sheng. Not all countries allow such things, so make sure to double check before ordering.

The two greatest items that can be marketed are either a one-of-a-kind, patent pending contraption that is the only thing that can do its job (at least better than the rest), or a not so valuable, cheaply made, easy to replace item that comes in bulk.

Everyone has probably heard of the Dyson vacuum cleaner by now. If you haven’t, they are the end-all, be-all of vacuum cleaners. The key to its success and also the justification of its price is the ability to vacuum the whole house without losing one pound per square inch of suction. I really don’t know if a $500 vacuum is worth purchasing, because I have never bought one. But I do know that my family’s Hoover vacuum is over 20 years old and still works like a charm.

This leads us to the Farberware cook set. The Farberware 19-piece cook set can be found on Amazon.com for about $60. Why on earth do people buy cheap cooking ware? I know I have bought cheap sets of pots and pans because they were a “great deal.” The truth is, I only use 3 of the 19 pieces, and I have to watch the food like a hawk in order to not eat charcoal for dinner. When I finally make the cross over in buying a nice pan, pot and sauce pan, I am going to go all out and buy the best or close to best I can find. If you have ever cooked on an $80-100 pan, you will instantly notice the difference. Not only does the food cook more evenly, but the pan lasts forever. This brings us to the tale of two marketing strategies.

1. Provide the highest-quality product possible (HOM furniture).

2. Provide the most you can for the least you can (Costco).

Both of these work really well when it comes to making money. The first option is to sell something that is valuable for a higher cost, meaning it takes less to sell in order to make good profit. The second choice is to sell as much as possible with a smaller profit margin to a lot more people. Both will make good money, but one typically has a lot less inventory and takes up a lot less space.

Personally, I think standing behind a great, one-of-a-kind product is much easier to sell and feel proud of than a bunch of cheap knock-offs. The people who support their product 100% are going to have happier customers and deliver a higher-quality product. I am not saying there isn’t a marketing place for lower-quality products, because there is. The point is to provide the product you are most comfortable selling and ideally know the most about. Nothing turns someone away quicker than a salesman who doesn’t know enough about his or her own product. If I know more than you about what I am buying, you have probably lost my sale.