How to sell 8020 profiles to a consumer market

Let’s say hypothetically that you have company that sells t-track aluminum extrusions¹—let’s call those “80/20 profiles”. You have a solid footing in the commercial and industrial market, but how do you break into the consumer market²?

Your job is to convince people to buy a solution made of your wonderful building material, and not that lame old fashion wood, A36 steel, cast iron etc.

So how do you do that?

Let’s take the example of the completely-not-hypothetical company, called 80/20 Inc—the company that (probably) had done the most to popularize t-track aluminum extrusions—and examine their marketing strategy.

How to impress your prospects?

One of the pillars of the 80/20 marketing strategy for the consumer market is their product demonstrations, showing off the different use cases for 80/20 profiles.

You’ll find countless examples of 8020 profiles used in all sort of applications: workbench, computer stand, bicycle rack etc. You can even get free plans for them.

The purpose of these demonstrations is to get people excited about the wide range of solutions that 80/20 can offer, which would lead them to buy the product.

The problem with this approach is that all most of the examples used are underwhelming, or to use the more scholarly term—

Meh.

Let’s take this miter saw stand (from the 80/20 “Xtreme DIY” section) as an example:

So you can build a miter saw stand it with 8020 profiles… but why would you?

I mean, this miter saw stand looks OK, but there are about a gazillion of-the-shelf products that are at least as good and don’t cost $1400-$1800.³

Not to mention that this stand doesn’t integrate an accurate scale (or any scale for that matter), flip stops, clamping, improved dust collection, tool storage or anything of interest for that matter.

The same goes for almost all other product demonstrations⁴.

But you’ll say,

“But they can sit through the 80/20 University and learn how to use 8020 profiles to match their application”

People don’t like learning things unless they’re obsessive or have real pressing needs. If they can buy an off-the-shelf solution, why would they spend a week learning about t-track aluminum extrusions, and try to figure out how it can work out for them, especially when there’s no guarantee this investment will pay off.

Don’t sell aluminum profiles—sell solutions

So rather than focusing on what you’re manufacturing (8020 profiles), your offer should focus on the solution your prospects want (a desk, a storage rack, a pet tiger cage etc.), and how your solution is the absolute best.

To do that you need to understand your market and design your solutions to be better than other “standard” solutions.

Then go on to demonstrate that, explaining the different design choices you’ve made. Emphasize the benefits that can only be gained with 80/20 profiles. The focus should always be on the end-solution, not the 80/20 profiles themselves.

A good example for a company that has a deep understanding of their market, offers clever solutions and is able to demonstrate their superiority is Woodpeckers.

Let’s look at the video of their AutoScale Miter Sled:

Notice how they, from the start, mention the key differentiator of their product vs. other miter sleds, that is that the scale stays true at any angle⁵ . Then it goes on to list the advantages of their design, and how it integrates with other accessories.

Oh, by the way, there’s one toolmaker that has tool demonstrations outclass all other tool companies combined, but with one major flaw. But he deserves his own post. Subscribe to get the posts to your email.

Offer off-the-shelf solutions

One of the selling points of 8020 is that they make custom-made solution, and overall that’s a good thing, but not having any off-the-self solutions is a bad idea.

Not everyone wants nor needs a custom-made solution. To such a prospect, the design process adds unnecessary complexity and friction. Give people the option to skip the design stage and go straight to the ordering form.

Even if a customer does want a custom-made solution they will still benefit from being presented a ready-made solution.

First, it gives a frame of reference—an estimate of what type of solution you can offer and how much it would cost.

A second benefit is that you can offer solutions that they wouldn’t even think about asking.

This leads to the third benefit—by presenting a wide range of solutions, you can offer more complete and expensive solutions.

So if you offer a basic bench for $1000, and an ultimate work bench for $20,000, you’ll get a few additional benefits:

1. Some people would buy the most expensive option. There’s no need to explain why that’s a good thing, right?

2. It generates interest in your brand. I mean, what features can a 20,000$ bench have? That’s and interesting.

3. Having a “luxury” product elevates your brand preception.⁶

4. This also makes the less expensive offers feel cheaper. The $2000 offer doesn’t feel that expensive when you have a $10,000 one. (That’s “price anchoring” in marketing speak)

Add spices

Once you have created the ideal product for a specific market and have a strong argument to support that it is the best solution, your next task would be to effectively communicate it to your potential customers.

You want your message to be as easy to digest as possible. One way of doing this is making your pitch interesting. If reading your marketing material is a chore, no one will willingly sit through them.

Ideally, it should be interesting even for someone who will never buy it.

So when you’re talking about 8020 profiles have better weight to strength don’t say:

35,000 PSI and A36 carbon steel doesn’t mean much to most people, and isn’t very exciting even for those who do.⁷

I mean, is it so strong that you can make a vise with it? An anvil? A 3-story building? If the answer is yes, then it would be both interesting and impressive. It doesn’t have to be a practical idea, so long as it demonstrates your point.

Take this classic example from Blendtec:

Needless to say that crushing an iPad⁸ is not a practical application, but it does get the point across, that this is a very high quality and durable product. This series of commercials spread like wildfire, and made them a ton of money.

The same logic applies to demonstrating practical benefits: make it interesting, make it impressive.

If you want to show how much it’s easier to move, take apart and assemble compared to a steel construction, then show the whole process side-by-side. Show the world of possibilities that can be achieved with this modularity—how you can fit a full sized work station inside a comically small car.

Present your offer, or maybe…

Once you have a good offer, you need to show it to your prospect. They wouldn’t just show up on your website to read about 8020 workbenches if they don’t even know 8020 exists, right?

But just before we discuss how to do that, you first need to think if focusing on a consumer market even makes sense.

First, creating a groundbreaking product is no simple feat. You cannot simply conjure the genie of innovation from a bottle ordered off Amazon with free 2-day shipping.

Second, if your end-goal is to market tailor-made solutions, it's essential to acknowledge that they will come at a higher price point than pre-made options. Therefore, they must offer significantly greater value in order for potential customers to even consider buying them.

And third, even with a highly persuasive argument for your product, it would demand a significant amount of your prospect's time and mental effort to contemplate. And why would anyone do that when there’s a quick and easy solution off-the-shelf solution⁹?

A better strategy is to:

1. Improve your marketing aimed at the enthusiast market.

2. Leverage other people’s innovation.

How do you do that?

First step…

Wait,

I think I’m running out of virtual ink, so maybe I’ll talk about it in another time. Would you like to know more about that? Subscribe, and let me know.

1. In case you don’t know, T-track aluminum extrusions are a type of building material used for T-slot structural framing systems. They have many advantages over traditional building methods, like:

• It has a better weight-to-strength ratio than wood and steel.

• You only need simple hand tools to assemble it.

• Assembly is much faster that with other building methods - welding, woodworking.

• You can easily take apart and modify your build to accommodate changing needs.

• It doesn't rust (like steel), nor does it twist, bend or otherwise change it’s shape when exposed to changes in heat and humidity.

• I haven't seen it mentioned, but aluminum extrusions are supposed to be much straighter than steel profiles.

• Another thing I haven't seen mentioned explicitly is that you can build practically anything with these profiles with only a miter saw, a vertical mill (perhaps even a drill press), a vice and some threading taps. Compare that the amount of tools and setup needed for woodworking or metal working.

2. “Consumer market” in this context is broadly referring to anyone who wants so buy their way out of a problem. They don’t want to participate in designing their solution, unless absolutely necessary.

3. Granted, this is more of a miter station, and most of the available commercial products are portable miter saw stands.

However, there are abundant plans created by skilled woodworkers that incorporate refined designs and a wide range of features developed and refined over many years. Making any of those plans—even if you order all the parts from a CNC service—would still cost significantly less.

4. Let’ take a few more examples from the “Xtreme DIY” section:

• 80/20 racing simulator—how’s it better than any commercial racing simulator kit, like, say this one?

• Sliding Truck Bed Shelf—this one is a bit more interesting, though not mind-blowing.

• Combo Cabinet, pop-up workbench, glide rack, workstation, mobile folding worktable, bike rack etc., etc.—meh.

• 3D printer frame—well, of course, 3D printers frames are made with 8020 profiles. We already know that.

5. For the record, Mafell already had this feature on their Erika “push-pull” saw.

6. There is a viewpoint that Apple deliberately sets exorbitant prices for certain items such as their $1000 monitor stand, to create an air of exclusivity around their brand, when in truth their primary products are fairly priced in comparison to their competitors.

Some people got upset for some reason, but Apple received free publicity for their $5000 XDR display monitor and didn't lose any sales, I assure you.

7. Aside from not being exciting, this is also a very vague benefit. So it’s three times lighter than steel, so what? Does that matter in my application? I need to make that calculation in my head.

And at what cost? Is it the same, slightly higher, or 5 times higher? I don’t know. What do you mean it’s “resilient and can flex under load”—like, more than steel? How and when does that matter?

8. One smart technique they used (perhaps, without realizing it) is showcasing popular items in their demonstrations. So, if you're searching for an iPhone vs Samsung Galaxy comparison, you’re likely to come across a "Will it blend?" video featuring those products being crushed either in the search results or suggested videos.

9. And even in the case of a “DIY project”, there’s a larger selection of plans.