Think of a pendulum steadily swinging from side to side and you are visualizing Simple Harmonic Motion. From children on play gound swings to highly skilled engineers, simple harmonic motion surrounds us. It involves the give and take between potential and kinetic energy. In the example of the pendulum this would be height and speed.
You could even use the principle of Simple Harmonic Motion to prove that the world rotates. If you were to place a pendulum on the North Pole on a sunny day, the shadow it created would move in a circle as the day passed — eventually returning to its origin 24 hours later. However, this motion would not be evident at the Equator. So while the principle of Simple Harmonic Motion is evident in both places, deriving meaning from it is dependent on perspective. Yes the pendulum swings back and forth in both places, but the change in perspective offered at the North Pole would yield unique meaning.
So, on to the Marketing part of the post.
Here is what I came up with. Treat different customers differently. Create simple harmonic motion with your best customers. Develop a predictable experience for them, innovate based on their specific needs, and create something so remarkable that so they want to come back time and again. Do it well, and you should even be able to add a cyclical nature to this pattern thus creating predictability — simple harmonic motion.
Why treat your best customers differently? It is as simple as this. You can’t please everyone. If you are doing something interesting than there will be many, if not most, who will dislike what you do. Try to please everyone and all you will accomplish is mediocrity. The perceived safety of “the middle of the road product or service” only sets up a business to get hit from oncoming traffic on both sides.
instead, create a unique identity. Establish a deep bond with the right customers. Listen to them. And then use your strengths to regularly develop new ways to help solve their problems and improve their lives. This ties in directly with the product life cycle. What to make, why, when, how many, and for whom all can be tied into simple harmonic motion. All of these ideas work best when done for a specific group.
So that is my take. What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on how to apply Simple Harmonic Motion to Marketing. I welcome your contribution and thank you for stopping by.
We have lived in our current house for almost 9 years now. The realtor that we worked with to buy our house has a great marketing strategy. He calls every year on the anniversary of our closing date. Asks how things are going with house and family, offers up some free seats the local Dragon’s game, etc. He established a predictable rhythm at an appropriate frequency. If he called every week, that would get annoying and I would probably not consider him if I needed to sell my home. If he never called, I might have forgotten his name and considered another realtor. He found the resonant frequency. I remember who he is and although I’m not selling my home, I have recommended him to others.