Geoff Dillon - Marketing, PR, Strategy Blog

Need a New Product? Simple...

 

Looking for new product ideas is really an exercise in simplification, not complication.

Take OxiClean for example. Brought to fame by the late Billy Mays, OxiClean is billed as a breakthrough cleaner that can get out any stain through the "power of oxygen”.

So how complicated is the formula for OxiClean? Well, it contains sodium percarbonate, soda ash, and a few other common ingredients. That’s it. Nothing was invented to create this breakthrough cleaner. Sodium Percarbonate has been used for cleaning for many, many years, so it’s not like they even discovered a new use for something in creating this product. It was just a simple formula, well marketed, and marked up quite heavily I’m sure, that drove the phenomenon. Simple.

3M is still making a fortune on Post-It notes, created when a 3M employee needed a glue that was “less sticky” to use on the pages of his church hymn book. A piece of paper and a less sticky glue. Simple.

It’s tempting in the age of gadgets to look to complexities to drive product innovation, but there’s a huge opportunity for people who can think simple thoughts and make connections that aren’t obvious to others.

Convincing or Conversing?

Look at your marketing and PR efforts and ask yourself - do you spend most of your time trying to convince people that they need what you are selling, or do you spend your time conversing with people who already know they need the type of product/service you offer and positioning yours as the best choice. 

The former is a lot harder and much more expensive to pull off. 

Of the many things I like about Seth Godin's views on marketing, one of the most relevant for marketers and PR folks is the concept of a "worldview". Everyone has a view of the world. It's really, really hard to change it through marketing and PR (not impossible - just hard). You are far better off trying to market your product to these people whose view of the world is favourable to your offer in the market.  

Some people believe having a smartphone is a time saver that makes your day better through it's variety of apps and functions. Others believe the cost of these types of phones is way too high and that anyone foolish enough to buy one is just falling prey to the latest fad in gadgetry. 

The most fertile ground is in the first group. Sure, some of the doubters in the second group will come around eventually, but only after they get sick of hearing from people in the first group about how cool their latest app is. 

This is fairly intuitive, and yet everyday you see ads that have that "did you know" flavour to them, where the advertiser tries to educate and convince the prospect that:

1 - a problem/need exists

2 - the prospect might have that problem/need

3 - the advertiser has a solution to that problem/need

Wouldn't your marketing be much more effective if you could just skip the first two steps and talk to people who "get it"? And if there aren't very many people who "get it", what are you selling, and why?

 

Lessons from Local Businesses

Larger companies spend an incredible amount of time and money on training for their frontline employees, in an attempt to standardize the customer service experience and maintain a consistent level of quality when it comes to customer interactions.

But sometimes the simplest, unexpected gesture seals the deal.

I went to a new dry cleaner the other day - it's owned by a family who's been running the business for quite a few years. The owner did the usual dry cleaner stuff - took down my name and number, told me when the stuff would be ready, etc. When he realized I wasn't in his computer system (since I'd never been there before) he did something suprising.

He shook my hand and introduced himself by name, and thanked me for coming in. He was sincere.

Now you tell me - how am I supposed to take my drycleaning anywhere else? That single, memorable, unexpected gesture gave him a chance to get all of my drycleaning business.

Don't you wish you could teach your customer facing employees how to do the unexpected? 

Wrestling and Branding?

You wouldn't think there was a real connection here between the world of pro wrestling and branding, but you'd be suprised.

I stumbled across a quote from a pro wrestler describing how you survive in the business. His simple message was this:

- if they love you, you're ok

- If they hate you, you're ok

- If they are indifferent to you, your career is over

When you reflect on that, it makes some sense.

Fans come out and pay money to see the "good guys" beat up on the "bad guys". But they don't pay to see two wrestlers they are indifferent to fight it out.

So even if they hate you when you walk through the curtain on the way to ring, it's good news for a wrestler. It means you've connected with the audience and hold a clear position in the mind - albeit a negative one in this example - but at least you matter to the audience. They know who you are and they know why they don't like you.

It's similar with branding.

If they love you, great. If they don't love you, well at least they know enough about you to make that decision. It means that your brand message is getting out, and while this crowd may not like you, you can bet there will be pockets that do.And with a clear position in the market - even one that doesn't please the massess - you have a shot.

But like the wrestler who walks through the curtain to a muted reaction, a brand that has staked out a middle of the road position in the market and generates neither love nor hate might well be on the slow road to oblivion.