The Marketing Fray
We got a hot tip on a Harvard Business Review blog post from Bill Taylor that underscores some of our thinking about ways to improve the ROI of innovation efforts.In the wake of so many bankruptcies, liquidations, and “flat-out disappearances,” Taylor urges companies ask themselves a question that, “is as profound as it is simple, as well as “worth taking seriously as you evaluate your approach to strategy, competition, and innovation.” “If your company went out of business tomorrow, would anybody really miss you and why?”He offers a few reasons why customers might consider you irreplaceable, two of which were particularly relevant to marketers.Taylor says one reason is because your firm is “providing a product or service so unique that it can’t be provided nearly as well by the five or six other companies that are its main rivals.” Easier said than done, we know. The challenge is to find a product or service that is “so unique,” particularly in long-established or commodity categories, but it CAN be done. The trick is to identify where the big gaps between the problems customer say they have that they would like a product or service to solve for them and their satisfaction with the solutions currently offered by the players in the market or category. We've got some examples, too. Citizens Bank did this kind of opportunity analysis and discovered that consumers and small business customers were very tired of not getting personal service from their bank. Mobil found the same thing in the service stations category—there was no “service.” Green Mountain Energy, a small energy company in Burlington, VT, uncovered a big beef with the lack of “green” power suppliers. In each case, these companies successfully developed positionings, products, and services based around solving these problems and their business thrived. Which is why we say directing innovation efforts in towards helping your brand or business become meaningfully unique will go a long way towards becoming indispensable in the minds of your customers.Taylor also mentions the emotional connection customers have with your brand or business as another reason they’d miss you. We'd make the case that fostering an emotional connection starts by satisfying an as yet unmet customer need or addressing an irritating problem. In any case, we whole-heartedly agree with Taylor that as companies think about innovation and what to do to encourage growth, they really need to consider whether the decisions they are about to make will make their business or brand irreplaceable.For more ideas on getting the most out of innovation investments, check out our new white paper, Beyond Luck: Three Steps to Better Innovation ROI.The Marketing Fray/Copernicus Marketing Consulting and Research
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Andy Perkins
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