Marketing is essentially telling a story and conveying a message to customers and users about a product or a company. But how do you tell a compelling enough story when there are 50,000+ products out there each competing for a slice of the market? Perhaps it would be easier to get a slice of the pie if you’re marketing strategy was baked into your product. The strategies for doing so are highlighted in my latest read: BakedIn. The authors discuss 28 rules that infuse every aspect of your product and business with a story.
While I’ve been called a marketing genius on stage by Aaron Forth, VP of Product at Mint.com, I hardly warrant such a title. It takes a lot more than just a simple name to create a successful product and brand like Mint.
Here’s are a few highlights of what it does take:
Cultural Trends – understand where the consumer culture that your product is using is headed.
Design – think about ways to design each element and use them as touch points to interact with your customer and evoke an emotional response.
Find out what business you’re in – list all the service and the emotional benefits you create for customers.
Know the entire business category – use a competitors products to see what advantages and disadvantages it possesses.
Get your hive on & Knock down the walls – siloed organizations do not lead to innovation (another reason why great firms fail). You need to foster a collaborative culture within your organization across departments, and make sure that information is flowing between the departments, instead of it being hogged or withheld by a few. If need be jump across silos, but be aware that it might cost you your job.
Absolute – strive to be the superlative in a field (fastest, smallest, quickest)
Design to your weakness – confront the big hairy monster that is standing in the way of your organization’s success and find ways to design around it.
Good short read for anyone who wants to infuse life into a flailing product, create a new product, and most importantly tell a compelling and gripping story to keep customers engaged.
More genius!