Last updated on September 22nd, 2017 at 11:00 pm

Regular readers of this blog are aware that I am a big proponent of the use of exclusivity as a marketing tool.We’ve discussed the concept of creating a feeling that your product is so unique that the ownership or use of the product creates a feeling of membership in an exclusive group in your customers.

But can you go too far with this concept? Seth Godin explores this question in regards to last week’s release of the iPhone 3G.Godin’s hypothesis is that Apple created too much of a demand for the iPhone, which resulted in forcing Apple’s most loyal advocates to battle with the newer adopters to get the phone.Godin describes his theory this way:

The danger is that you can kill long-term loyalty. You can annoy your best customers. You can spread negative word of mouth. You can train people to hate your scarcity strategy (Apple did all four this weekend).

We’ve discussed the pitfalls of alienating loyal consumers in the chase for new buyer previously.By lumping long tanding Apple loyalists in with new consumers, Apple is running the risk of turning those loyalists against them.In effect,in attempting to make the new iPhone exclusive by limiting access to it, Apple is weakening the feeling of exclusivity that people who have been Apple consumers prior to the iPod/iPhone era have.This weakens the resolve of those long time consumers to remain as evangelists for the products.

This becomes the balancing test for companies like Apple.To dominate the market, you need to reach the largest number of people possible.The goal is to have every one want to be using your product.But if everyone is using the product, is the product still exclusive and special? Godin’s solution is to reward early adapters with ability to order early and other VIP style treatment.While this will satisfy your most loyal evangelists, how does it play out with the casual audience who Apple needs to reach?Won’t it anger a buyer who waits online for 3 hours for someone to just waltz right into the store and jump in front of them.Godin believes it will just make the slighted party want to buy earlier.But at the same time, it can also anger that new consumer turning Apple’s exclusivity into a form of exclusion.

That is the point of the headline of this post. Exclusivity is a great selling tool. But in creating that exclusivity, you need to be sure that you do not become so exclusive that people feel that they cannot get the product and move onto something else.

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