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You take photos & videos of your loved ones, your social gatherings (BBQs, weddings, games, etc.), your or your friends’ pets, etc., right?

Those are precious memories. That’s why they likely take up the bulk of your phone’s memory.

But I bet that you don’t use a GoPro camera to preserve those memories. Why is that?

The GoPro is a rugged, waterproof, easily ‘packable’, easy-to-use with camera that shoots unreal video quality.

And it’s an OG gadget of amateur filming for the digital age.

The GoPro was invented in 2002. That’s 5 years before the first iPhone. And 3 years before YouTube was born.

Speaking of YouTube and GoPro, not that long ago a lot of people would add GoPro in the title of their YouTube videos to signal that the video was high quality and Ferrari-fire in terms of entertainment & emotional value. If you were the GoPro brand, you couldn’t ask for better word of mouth, right?

Did you notice how we said “not that long ago a lot of people would add GoPro in the title of their YouTube videos”? Because that’s not the case anymore.

That’s not us talking. The evidence that the GoPro brand is not what it used to be is clear even in their stock price. Each GoPro stock used to be worth this much..

These days? About this much..

So, what happened?

In short, the problem was that the GoPro brand self-identified as an action camera brand. The high-octane kind of action, that is.

In their images and words, the GoPro brand practically never ventured beyond that small neck of the woods.

And what’s the total addressable market for action cameras? If you bother to look it up, you’ll find that it’s tiny.

(As you may know, the total addressable market describes the total available market, aka the overall revenue opportunity that is available to a product or service.)

“Wait, why would the GoPro brand self-identify as an action camera brand?”

I don’t know.

But if you glance at their branding, ads, website, etc., you’ll see that the content is pretty much all about the high-ish octane kind of action. You’ll likely never see someone calmly cooking, or doing some other calm activity. Why not? I don’t know.

Why not, for example, show some kids using GoPros to share their field trips with parents and grandparents? We may not want to give elementary school kids smartphones, but why wouldn’t we give them rugged, waterproof GoPros so that their parents and/or grandparents can see their field trips?

This is just one example of how the GoPro brand could teach us how to use their flagship product. In doing so, they would grow their total addressable market. But the GoPro brand has never taught us to do so.

Instead, the GoPro brand taught us that they are for high-octane action. And many of us — if not most of us, including Wall Street — simply don’t care to own a high-octane action camera.

Let’s wrap this story up.

So many —  if not most — people love to film themselves. We also love to see footage of other folks doing all kinds of different things.

Those facts are why Apple shipped 2.2 billion iPhones just between 2014-2024. That’s 2.2 billion cameras. Just from Apple. From water droplets on the petals of flowers in your backyard to globally liked movies such as ‘Searching for Sugar Man’, Apple has taught us that their camera is for any kind of occasion.

(That’s how you grow the total addressable market, and it’s a big part of why Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world.)

So, don’t narrow too much how you self-identify your brand. Because the market will believe you.

Instead, knock on EVERY door, not just some doors. Do it with marketing that speaks to dormant desires. Because buyers have dormant desires.

Below are two quick examples about that.

Say you’re a general contractor or a home builder. Why don’t you show us how our lives would perk up with a drive-through garage? (Sometimes also called a pass-through garage.)

As you may know, a drive-through garage has two entrances. This means that you can drive your vehicle(s) through it without backing out. This is fire for trailers and towing. It’s also great for driveways that exit onto busy roads, and/or homes built with back alleys and front street access. Overall, drive-through garages are more convenient. Safer, too. (Within reason and whenever suitable, of course.)

If you’re a mortgage broker or a realtor, you could have stories with openings like this: “Ever seen how a drive-through garage can perk up your life? If your current home doesn’t have it, I/we can help you change that. Time to chat?”

Over to you: what’s stopping you from planting seeds of new experiences for the dormant desires of buyers?