You may have heard the buzz term “disruptive” marketing.

…But is it just another marketing-hype term? Or does it mean something more than that?

I think the latter. Take a look:

1. What Makes Disruptive Marketing Different Than Any Other Form of Marketing

When you market your products or services, you usually adhere to some abstractly defined set of “best practices.” Consultants and other “thought leaders” often preach these things.

They do work. Nothing wrong with following them. But the problem is, everyone else does too. So if you’re trying to beat the competition, what sense does it make to do the same marketing they do?

With disruptive marketing, you fundamentally alter what your market values and perceives.

2. Examples of Disruptive Marketing in Action

You can always find companies disrupting their market. Uber’s disrupted their market to the point of their valuation rising to $66 billion.

What’s so different about Uber? You can’t call ahead. You simply use their app to hail the next taxi driver available to get you where you need to go. Both the driver and passenger give instant feedback on each other after completion of the ride. Uber also gives you more time-efficient and comfortable rides.

In the taxi industry, this is unheard of. So when Uber markets this to customers, it’s completely mind-blowing. On top of this, Uber also makes no secret that it charges more than a typical taxi ride.

And customers are happy to pay it.

In the B2B space, you could look at Apple. Yes – Apple. It now generates $25 billion in B2B sales annually. That’s up from almost 0 in 2013.

OS X, iPhone, and Macs are used by its customers. In fact, IBM, once one of the world’s greatest PC sellers, now has thousands of its employees using Macs, in addition to the 130,000 other Apple devices at the company. Their marketing claims 40% of the PC users need help desk support compared to just 5% for Mac users.

Crazy!

Who’d have expected that from Apple?

3. Finally, Understand What Disruptive Marketing Is Not

You know what disruptive marketing is. However, know that it is not being different just for the sake of it. You have to be different in a way meaningful to your market.

Apple, for example, disrupts the B2B market by being more reliable than PCs. That reduces support and administrative costs for businesses.

Uber gives customers more comfortable, fun, and fast rides.

In both cases, the companies deliver benefits their target customer really wants.

4. Will You Disrupt Your Market? 

For many businesses, disruption is scary. It means risk. You have to put yourself out there. You’ll be vulnerable. Some people won’t like you. You’ll make mistakes. Your market will call you on them.

But in the end, disrupting your market gives you more predictable and stable revenues than ever before.

So it’s a risk worth taking.

Will you take it?

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