Market sophistication plays an important role in every successful marketing strategy. This is where you determine the presence of your competitors and how they position themselves.
Knowing these five stages will grant your business a huge advantage since you’ll understand why some marketing campaign promises and claims work while others flop. This can also be your ticket to ace your next launch and rise above your competitors.
Today, I’m going to enumerate the five stages of market sophistication and how you can take advantage of them every time you sell a product or service.
You can literally have a one or 2 step advantage by just keeping these 5 stages in mind. If you are a copywriter, you will know exactly what to write at each and every stage. You’ll also be able to improve your sales copy and other marketing campaigns that are slowly decreasing in conversions.
The Five Stages Of Market Sophistication And The Copy Structure For Each Stage
Stage 1: You Are The First.
Some marketers call this “The Christopher Columbus Level.” This is a stage where you are the first in the eyes of your target audience, with no competition, and completely new and innovative. An excerpt from Eugene Schwartz’s book says that in level 1, your copy needs to be “simple” and “direct.”
Stage 2: You Are Second.
This stage occurs when you move past the “one-of-a-kind” product. This is where competition has caught up with your offer. By this time, you should be able to explain why your product or service is better than your competitors.
Eugene Schwartz wrote, “If you are second and the direct claim is still working – then copy that successful claim – but enlarge on it. Drive it to the absolute limit. Outbid your competition”.
Stage 3: Many Claims.
Some marketers call this “The Blah Level.” This is where your target market is done, hearing all the direct claims that you and your competitors are making. What you need now is to explain further how this would work. Or, as Eugene Schwartz wrote:
“If your market is at the stage where they’ve heard all the claims, in all their extremes, then mere repetition or exaggeration won’t work any longer. What this market needs now is a new device to make all these claims become fresh and believable to make them again. In other words, A NEW MECHANISM- a new way to make the old promise work. A different process- a fresh chance- a brand-new possibility of success where only disappointment has resulted before.”
Stage 4: Many Mechanisms.
At this stage, competition has already caught up. They became bigger, bolder, and more sophisticated. They [competitors] also discovered their unique mechanisms and have caught up to yours. If you’re a copywriter, take note of this passage from Eugene Schwartz’s writing:
“If a competitor has just introduced a new mechanism to achieve the same claim as that performed by your product, and that new mechanism announcement is producing sales, then counter in this way. Simply elaborate or enlarge upon the successful mechanism. Make it easier, quicker, surer; allow it to solve more of the problem; overcome old limitations; promise extra benefits. You are beginning a stage of embellishment similar to the Second Stage of Sophistication.”
Stage 5: Market Exhausted.
This stage is when your target market has been assaulted with claims and mechanisms for years, so they don’t believe what they see anymore.
If you are to write copy at this stage, this is what Eugene Schwartz wrote about this: “The emphasis shifts from the promise and the mechanism which accomplishes it, to identification with the prospect himself. You are dealing here with the problem of bringing your prospect into your ad-not through desire-but through identification.”
Conclusion
To wrap it all up, writing copy without researching what stage your market is at will put your business at great risk. Know and understand these stages and learn how to come up with your own “unique mechanism” to rise above your competitors.
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