All the notes were taken directly from “This is Marketing” by Seth Godin 

– – –

Quarter-inch drill bit Analogy

“Harvard marketing professor Theodore Levitt famously said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want a quarter-inch hole.”

The lesson is that the drill bit is merely a feature, a means to an end, but what people truly want is the hole it makes.

But that doesn’t go nearly far enough. No one wants a hole.

What people want is the shelf that will go on the wall once they drill the hole.

Actually, what they want is how they’ll feel once they see how uncluttered everything is, when they put their stuff on the shelf that went on the wall now that there’s a quarter-inch hole.

But wait…

They also want the satisfaction of knowing they did it themselves.

Or perhaps the increase in status they’ll get when their spouse admires the the work.

Or the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the bedroom isn’t a mess, and that it feels safe and clean.”

We are not so much interested in features as we are in the emotions that those features evoke. People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want to feel safe and respected.

That’s what they’re buying: a feeling, not a wallet. Identity that feeling before you spend time making a wallet. Think how the form, sound, look and feel of your product or service triggers the unconscious of your audience.

***

Thanks for reading. Did you like the content you just read? You can help me spread these ideas by sharing this blog post through your social media channels or sending it as a direct message to your friends.