Uncovering Market Wants
 Many people believe that the marketing function can create customer wants, or "create demand" for virtually anything. If this were true, new product introductions would be fairly easy; just throw enough resources at the problem and—voilá—you have a successful, profitable product.
In 2003 an estimated 30,000 new products were introduced in the packaged goods sector alone. Nearly 90% of these products failed, despite the average cost of $20 to $50 million for a product launch.1
Clearly, having enough resources to force products on the marketplace is hardly enough to ensure success. And neither is having the best product on the market.
Truly, having the best product is not necessarily a bad thing. Yet the best does not always become commercially viable. There is a litany of great products that never achieved commercial success. IBM's OS/2 is one example. It was largely lauded by many critics as being better than the competition, but when it came out, it was up against Windows 95. Guess who won, despite being considered an inferior product?
Alternatively, product-based companies may also look for innovative ways to solve specific market needs, even though the market may not be ready for such solutions. The Segway, a revolutionary transportation product, is an example of this type of product-centered innovation.
The key to success is not to build solutions in a vacuum, but instead to create solutions that the marketplace will value.
How we can help
One of the best ways to discover what your customers value is to ask them. As you might imagine, this is actually more complicated than it sounds. Paraphrasing Henry Ford, if the Ford Motor Company simply asked their customers what they wanted, Ford would have made faster horses. Therefore, you have to be diligent in your search for what your customers really value.
In uncovering market wants, Aperio Marketing can help with:
- Market research
- Requirements gathering
- Needs analysis
- Competitive analysis
- And more
With our experience in requirements gathering, market research, and product management and through the use of several different methodologies, we can help uncover what your customers value—and match that with your company's capabilities—so that you may better create profitable solutions.
Benefits of good process
A good market research and requirements gathering process will not only help you create more profitable solutions for both you and your clients, but will also help you package and message your offerings. Our experience has taught us how to use the requirements gathering process to not only create a list of offerings your customers want, but also how to use that information to create:
- Articulate and consistent messaging
- Customer demand for your offering before it's officially released
- Quicker profits with reduced costs
To learn more about how Aperio Marketing can help you understand what your customers really want please contact us.
1. Kumar, Nirmalya. Marketing as Strategy: Understanding the CEO's Agenda for Driving Growth and Innovation, 2004, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. |
