Conjuring the future for today's product
March 17, 2004
John's comment today was right on the mark.
Marketing is all about understanding customer needs (and wants) and letting customers know (in the most effective way) you have products or services that meet those needs. If you're not talking to customers, you're just guessing.
I entirely agree with John's statement. Companies that don't talk with their customers are in danger of following the leader at best and missing the boat at worst.
John went on to state:
The only exception is when you're developing discontinuously innovative products (the innovator's dilemma). Then you are taking a calculated guess that your product will meet a future or unrealized need, and part of marketing's job is to create the need itself.
Reaching into the crystal ball and creating products for needs that don't exist is definitely tricky. I think that requires imagination, thinking about the environment your customers will experience in the future. Creating a profile of your customers, putting your imagined customer into those future environments and conjuring their reactions and needs within that future world.