“It worked really well, until it didn’t”
Thu, Mar 9, 2023 |
Over dinner with Ted, the retired founder/CEO of a successful company in the electric power sector, I heard an interesting story with a widely applicable lesson.
Shooting Some Holes in the Minimum Viable Product
Thu, Apr 2, 2020 — With the right vision, appropriate resources, and more than a sprinkle of luck, a really good idea can quickly become a sensational success. When that happens, as late-night comedian John Oliver might say, such an idea becomes “a thing.” Unfortunately, when a good idea becomes “a thing” — like the product equivalent of John, Paul, George, and Ringo – the quality can suffer if too many producers try to put their imprint on the hit record. The idea can get watered down, generalized, and misused.
Ready, Set, Innovate: Four Questions to Ask Before you Launch New Products
Fri, Nov 30, 2018 — Taste can be a fickle thing. When a finicky public is constantly demanding the newest, best, and latest of your enterprise, it puts an insane amount of pressure on you to meet their changing demands. Companies often respond to this challenge by launching new products or services. This solution should be carefully considered, and prepared for.
When do I need to Hire a Product Manager?
Thu, Jun 28, 2018 — Over the course of my career I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside some really good product managers. The good ones tend to be easy to spot even though many don’t like attention cast on them and are quite content being behind the scenes. Like the conductor, they’re focused on keeping the trains going on time. The “trains” in this case are the products or services a company offers. There is a cadence to product management done right and the frequency they operate under is tuned into by the entire organization. Think of Max Weinberg, Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band drummer. It’s said that drummers are the heart and soul of bands. While Springsteen was clearly “The Boss”, Weinberg set the beat and always had his eyes constantly fixated on Springsteen during live performances and could make adjustments in a microsecond that allowed the band to be at its best.
A Best Marketing Practice: Cultivating “Lead” Customer Relationships for Breakthrough Products and Services
Thu, Aug 3, 2017 — It’s been many years since I learned what a “lead” customer is and how to build lead customer relationships to build confidence and reduce risks of new product or service launches. The concept of a lead customer, or lead user, is probably one of the most beneficial best practices I’ve used in marketing and product management roles. Want to design and launch a breakthrough product? The lead customer approach is absolutely a winner. The lead user methodology was originally developed by Dr. Eric von Hippel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and first described in the July 1986 issue of Management Science. You can read a revised version of the original article here.
Lessons in Innovation: The Customer Development Team’s exposure to Prospective Customers
Fri, Jul 28, 2017 — In my last post I shared a process for companies to consider using when evaluating new products for new markets. The core idea is to test “customer readiness” before making significant investments in Marketing and Sales. And the vehicle for testing is to use a cross-functional Customer Development team to reach out to prospects to create and expedite learning moments. Uncover the facts, test your assumptions, and iterate on the product, if absolutely required, before executing the big launch. In this post, I’ll share an experience I’ve had when using this approach.
3…2…1… We Are “Go” for Product Launch
Wed, Feb 8, 2017 — Part 1 – Gathering Strategic Insights B2B product companies have to move quickly to innovate and release new offerings to remain viable and sustain growth. All too often, B2B companies rely too heavily on their sales channels to launch their products. Because we are always connected to the Internet, your sales prospects have access to a wealth of information making the traditional sales journey less relevant. Your marketing team now has a greater responsibility than ever in driving success of a new product launch.
Forging a Solid Go to Market Plan – Without the Assumptions
Wed, Sep 14, 2016 — Business owners and entrepreneurs live in a constant state of observation. Equal parts tenacious and curious, they never stop watching, listening, and comparing their product and service offerings to the competition. They ask themselves daily, hourly: “Is the competitor’s product better?” and “Am I really putting an impactful marketing message out there?”-- often secretly wondering if they truly know the answer.
Attention, Company Founders: Keys to Avoiding Colossal Marketing Flops
Mon, Jul 25, 2016 — They’re some of the worst American marketing flops of all time: Smith & Wesson Mountain Bikes, Cosmopolitan Yogurt, and Coors Rocky Mountain Water. These three powerhouses are some of the most well-known brands on the planet – and yet they still hit the skids when their seemingly unique and interesting idea failed to meet customer expectations and gain traction in the market.
New Challenger Brand Tees Off with Hilarious Video
Thu, Apr 7, 2016 — As they say, “Dumb as a fox.” Attitudinally provocative “Challenger” brands have long been around for decades using contrarian positioning (The UNCOLA!) to separate them from the more normative incumbent brands in a given category. But in recent years with disruption strategy almost becoming the expected method of launching every new product, we seem to see more brands becoming the champions for disaffected consumer segments by promising a substantially better product or deal and by attacking the category leader with advertising featuring a loud, irreverent or downright outrageous brand persona. More or less censorship free online media have also opened the door to the use of profanity and lowbrow bathroom humor by some Challenger brands to create even greater juxtaposition between the new upstarts and the brands they mean to steal share from.