The Starving Crowd Theory: Marketing’s Most Dangerous Cheat Code

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the "starving crowd theory" in marketing, which suggests that the most effective way to ensure a brand's success is to find a group of people who strongly demand a certain product and offer it to them, rather than trying to create demand from scratch. The article outlines the steps to find a starving crowd and the potential pitfalls to watch out for.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Starving Crowd Theory

1. What is the starving crowd theory in marketing?

• The starving crowd theory suggests that the most effective way to ensure a brand's success is to find a "starving" or hungry crowd - a group of people who strongly demand a certain product - and offer them what they want, rather than trying to create demand for a product from scratch.

2. How does the starving crowd theory differ from the traditional approach to marketing?

• Traditional marketing often starts with the product and then tries to artificially create demand for it. The starving crowd theory, on the other hand, focuses on finding an existing demand that is already present in the market.

3. What are some examples of the starving crowd theory in action?

• During the pandemic, the high demand for toilet paper did not require the toilet paper brands or supermarkets to change anything about their products - they simply catered to the existing demand.
• When the author's brand launched a men's hairstyling line, they initially did not see strong demand. But after conducting focus group interviews, they discovered that the difficulty of washing off the product was a pain point for customers. They then improved the formula, and demand for the product increased.

[02] Finding the Starving Crowd

1. What are the key steps to finding a starving crowd?

• Step 1: Conduct necessary research to identify a credible pool of customers with consistent demand. This can involve online surveys, focus groups, and purchasing consumer insights from data companies.
• Step 2: Identify and address the pain points of the target audience. Pain points are gateways to finding new target audiences who will love the product once their needs are satisfied.

2. Why is the starving crowd theory considered dangerous?

• Because starving crowds are usually more niche, the target audience is narrower. If the brand doesn't successfully address the needs of this target audience, it may fail spectacularly.

3. How can brands mitigate the risks of the starving crowd theory?

• By engaging in A/B testing, where the brand tests its marketing tactics on different target audience groups to see which delivers better results. This way, even if one group doesn't have high market demand, the brand can still rely on the other group.