Marketing and Beyond…
While traditional marketers in its competing firms were spending huge budgets on forming ‘focus groups’ for qualitative discussions for a product launch, here’s what Barbara Messing, CMO of travel site TripAdvisor,was doing –designing “dummy banners” to advertise the feature her company was considering to launch. If users clicked on the banner, they would be taken to a 404 / “Not Found” message; if enough users clicked on the banner, the product would go into development. It seems all you need is a little out of the box thinking, not extravagant budgets or cumbersome planning.
Well, here’s the basic question: I have my product ready, how do I take it to the market? Let’s say there are a few simple tricks of business that work here. One, keep your approach very dynamic. In this day and age, where rigidity/ stagnation means downfall, brainstormers need to maneuver intelligently with market realities, adapt continuously and make sure they deliver exactly what the customer needs. A seemingly elementary rule should be kept in mind-‘Better before cheaper’. Design your product in a way that customers become dependent on it. Compete on differentiators other than price. Provide such quality and features that customers can’t abandon your product.
Two, adopt strategies that are action-oriented and forward-looking. Make mistakes, they allow for your creative growth. “And it’s absolutely okay to fail”, says Olga Vidisheva, founder of Y Combinator fashion startup Shoptiques, who keeps aside some auxiliary budget for each of her employee to spend on any creative marketing idea. And this has reaped the company substantial benefits. Also, when we say action-oriented, we mean taking your campaign beyond the stage of infinite reviewing. Always ask yourself- What next? It certainly helps to simplify the parameters you want to look at. Look only at a handful of metrics that will help you reach a decision at the earliest possible. Take the information that’s most relevant to you and your business and discard the rest. Adapt and execute — that’s the key to continued success.
Three, conduct focussed market research. Focussed research also helps in reducing the cycle time of your campaign- greater analysis of the market you perform, longer it takes for you to roll out an omnipotent marketing campaign. Get rid of this idea of a ‘perfect’ solution;learn to embrace a solution that meets your needs of the hour and be prompt in execution. A good idea could be to get in touch with local entrepreneurs for advice and support in terms of contacts and resources. At the same time, beware of those who claim to have unique access and ability to take your product to market. You are the best person to take your product to the market, so get started right away!
The crux of the matter really is that marketers need to become ever more agile and flexible to succeed. The solution isn’t to work harder to achieve perfection, but to work smartly and be ready to learn.
