Astonish Your Customer(s)

Can't have it = Want it

Hugh MacLeod: Advice for Entrepreneurs includes the following gem (along with others in his list).

"People want what they can't have. In fact, that's pretty much all they want." 

That question would be a great starting point for a product innovation exercise.

Start by finding and listening to a community (a group of people who are proven to actively, frequently and passionately interact with one another) and find out what they want and don't think they can have.   

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

"Critics are our friends ...

... for they show us our faults." Benjamin Franklin

Market research data is often abundant, sometimes too much so, especially for big brands. Despite having the data, brands still find it difficult to define a breakthrough opportunity. Try this.

Create a detailed critique of your industry:

• Question and challenge all the conventional wisdom & practices of an industry
• Challenge some fundamental dimension or driver in the category
• Challenge some aspect of the way the consumer shops for, experiences, or consumes a product
• Challenge the culture surrounding the category (e.g. wine is snobby) 
• Challenge some broader aspect of contemporary culture (e.g. Sex sells)
• Challenge some dimension or quality of the competition/market leader
• What would it take to make people change behavior

Go ahead, become a critic - you'll be your own best friend before you know it.

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

TY: Adam Morgan

Stick, then Switch

Read, learn and act on the recommendations of the Heath Brothers. I read "Made To Stick" (what marketer hasn't), I read them in Fast Company magazine and I subscribe to their blog and Twitter feeds.

I just pre-ordered their new book "Switch" from Amazon after reading the insightful excerpt  in Fast Company.

My uptick: When confronting any type of problem in any setting, don't look at the just the problem, nor the enormity and complexity of the problem. Instead, zoom in, find even one thing that is going right or bucking the negative trend, ask a few simple questions about why it is going right and start cloning the positive things. In typical Heath Bros. fashion, they give practical everyday examples that show that we can indeed make it happen ourselves, in our everyday life.

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.   

Logic be damned

I just received one of those internet emails that outlines some of the basic contradictions in and around our life and world. It is always good for a laugh but it may be an even better lesson for marketers because it shows what humans are really like ... individualistic, idiosyncratic, irrational and deeply impulsive beings.

Why do we marketers try to create things that appeal to the rational mind, when that part of the mind is seldom engaged, nor is it the decider when people make a decision. Find the contradiction in your ideal customer's mind, as well as your own behavior as a marketer, and build to that.

• Why do people order a double cheeseburger, large fries and a DIET Coke?
• Why do people leave cars worth tens of thousands of dollars in the driveway but lock their useless junk in their garage?
• Why do people buy and install expensive home security systems and then never use them? 
• Why isn't their mouse-flavored cat food?
• Why do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counter?
• Why do food stores make the sick walk to the back of the store to get their medicine but healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front of the store?  

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

I have an idea - now what

If you have an idea for a product, what should you do to develop that idea? 

Follow the example of two tech executives who had an interest (a deep interest) in bacon. They conceived of a product called Bacon Salt . They searched for people on social network sites who professed a love for bacon, then friended them. After many months, the community of Bacon Salt fans swelled to 37,000 and then Oprah called (cha-ching).

This is not a case study about how to hook Oprah. The success of these food-industry neophytes hinged on first finding a very small group of self-identified fans to serve. They started in the right place, finding an audience they knew for certain they could reach who would respond very favorably to their offering.  

What now? Maybe you should rummage through social networking sites looking for groups and, more specifically, sub-groups and super niche groups that are interested in the things that you are passionate about. See what bothers them, see what they want and yearn for, listen to their frustration. Then create a solution and go back and ask them if they absolutely love your idea (not like it, or like it a lot, or like it better than whatever they are using now) - do they love it.

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

TY: Jackie Huba & Ben McConnell as told in What Matters Now

Sacrifice vs. Prioritize

When deciding on your goals, why is sacrifice better and different than prioritization?

Sacrifice means that there are just some things, sometimes worthy things, that you just won't do, no matter what.

Prioritization is flawed because it still lets the plate get overloaded with secondary and tertiary goals.

At best, you can only do a few things really well and it is better to go all-in on the things that will definitely make a difference than try to fit in the other stuff.

What are you sacrificing this year?

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

TY: Adam Morgan 

"x" for people that hate "x"

"A Church for people that hate Church".

Apparently, that was the positioning that Rick Warren pursued when he started, developed and evolved his wildly success ministry, the Saddleback Church, which has over 20,000 people attend weekend services.

That positioning, "x" for people that hate "x", would be a great starting point to create a relevant product in just about any category.

• Diet program for people who hate to diet
• Video camera for people that hate electronic gadgets
• Hat for people that hate hat-head
• Scrub brush for people that hate to clean a toilet or tub 

What do people hate about your product or product category and how could you create a product for that distinct group?

O.D.O.o.O.D.B. 

What's a good customer look like

I probably buy ~15 books per year (but read only 10-12). Here's the way I shop for and buy books.

I find books that interest me via reviews, recommendations and browsing in book store and then I go to Amazon and put it on my wish list.

Then, I usually wait until I get a 40% off electronic coupon sent to me by Borders and then I go to my local Borders and buy one. Or, I buy it on Amazon at 30+% discount or from a reseller at a very deep discount. By the way, I buy very little from either retailer besides books.

So, am I a good customer or a terrible customer? Can you be a good customer if you generate no profit?

It all comes down to the metrics you use to determine what you value in a customer, and those metrics may go beyond sales and profit dollars, like frequency of visit, size of purchase, involvement with brand (writes reviews), refers others to brand, lifetime value vs. individual transaction value, community involvement, does this customer have a blog or lead a tribe, how big is his family.

Would you fire me as a customer? What metric do you use to decide when to keep or fire a customer? 

O.D.O.o.O.D.B. 

Do you love it

Do you love the brand you're working on?

Do you really love it?

Do you even use it?

Do you use it as often and in as many ways as you'd want your most loyal customers to use it?

If not, how can you expect to create a product that your customer will love?

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.

Wizard or Wunderkind

Look back on your body of marketing work, namely product development/introduction, and look forward at what you are planning for the next year.

Would an objective observer declare you the Wizard of the Line Extension or The Marketing Wunderkind who births relevant and remarkable products?

What would you say as an unobjective observer? What do you want people to say about your work? What do you want to work on? What will your marketing legacy be?

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.