Marketing myopia is an academic term that dates way back to 1960. In essence, marketing myopia is a common mistake, which is made by newbie sales professionals and marketing communicators. Myopia occurs when a product’s features and attributes are sold, rather than the benefits, which the product will actually deliver.

We don’t buy products, we buy benefits!

It is important for small business marketers and sales professionals to realise that people do not actually buy products! In reality, when we buy a product, we’re really buying the product’s benefits or a solution to an identified problem.

For example, when we buy a movie ticket, we do not actually want to purchase the movie ticket. The ticket, itself, is nothing more than a small piece of paper with ‘admit one’ printed on the front and reverse sides. What we’re really buying, is:

A couple of hours of affordable, relaxing entertainment in a comfortable environment.

The example, above, forms just one focus of appeal. If you think about it carefully, you’ll realise that many more do exist. A focus of appeal is the central message, which advertisers use to capture our attention, in their attempt to convince us to buy their products.

Here’s another example relevant to a domestic service. If we engage the services of a person to mow our lawn, what we’re really buying is:

A chore-free, relaxing weekend. We could also be buying ourselves valuable time that’s better spent with our family, friends, or undertaking recreational activities that we enjoy far more.

No marketing myopia in this advertisement

The YouTube clip, below, relates to tyre manufacturer, Bridgestone. Although the advertisement was banned, it does an excellent job at illustrating how tyre manufacturers can communicate the underlying benefits of their products to ultimate consumers (us). As you’ll see, at no point in the advertisement has Bridgestone sold the features of their product. The advertiser has completely avoided marketing myopia. That is, nothing about their tyres price, construction, size dimensions or chemical composition appears in the commercial.

Typically, tyre manufacturers will promote their products’ benefits, which often include:

• Safety;
• High performance capabilities;
• Incredible durability; and
• Outstanding stopping power (as is the case in this video).