An article by Gary Durkin © Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved worldwide.We’ve all seen some absolutely fantastic products, services or systems which are incredibly hot profitable money-spinners, and many of us have often wished we had thought of it first.
But just where do
ideas come from? How do
creators come up with
products and concepts?
Surely it’s based on massive research and development, huge capital investment, public scrutiny, market assessment - and that’s just a start.
WRONG! Whilst
above may be true of some products, services, systems, ideas and so on,
absolute best don’t involve any such in-depth planning - far from it.
I’m going to reveal to you
secret of how some of
biggest, best and hottest ideas are conceived. - and how some of
most successful ever product ideas, were positively
simplest.
Don’t get me wrong, product testing and market analysis is still very important, but completely pointless until you have clambered over
initial hurdle of ’thinking up’ a product.
Let’s look at a couple of brilliant examples of a product which is a world-wide name and multi-million dollar profit centers,
Firstly, just about everyone on knows about Duracell Batteries, and how they came from nowhere, and trounced
competition virtually overnight.
Was it because their batteries were better than
competition? No, not really….. Not in general terms. But
marketing people behind Duracell came up with not one, but TWO pieces of absolute sales and marketing brilliance.
Firstly, they looked at
competition,
market-place,
mode and method of battery sales, then compared their product side-by-side with other leading batteries. It seemed that their battery was just as good as
rest, or at least as good as
market leader.
But in
marketing world, trying to sell a product on
basis of “It’s just as good as
rest” - doesn’t really work.
They needed an EDGE.
During comparative product testing, it revealed
Duracell was in fact, better than
leading battery, in a particular way. They had discovered that Duracell batteries lasted longer, much longer than
others….. during ’continuous use’.
EUREKA! That was it! They had found their edge….. The marketing angle….. The secret weapon.
So now, we all know that …. “ Duracell lasts longer any other battery during continuous use “…..
They had found a NICHE in
battery market……. ‘continuous use’.
Why is this so important? Simple. Most people who use products which require batteries, seldom actually use
product (and therefore
battery) for long periods, i.e. continuous use - but rather use them in shorter, regular periods - like flash-lights, electric door-bells etc.
But that was of little importance - they marketed heavily on
’lasts longer… ’ concept - with
funky little Duracell Bunny going on, and on, and on… and on……..
Duracell were not misleading anyone - they were completely truthful in their advertising, and with it, became a virtual household name overnight.
BUT - they also wanted a second scoop of
market, and devised yet another unbelievably simple, but so effective concept….. of gigantean proportions. What was it? Sell
batteries in PACKS! Simple but Brilliant!
Many readers may not recall, but before today’s multi-packs of batteries, they were simply sold loose, separately, individually. If you wanted just one - you went to
local store, and purchased just a single battery.
Now, Duracell decided to sell in multi-packs, and that was
only way to buy their new batteries. No singles. Period. Instead of selling one at a time, they sold FOUR At a time. Battery for battery, against
competition, they blew them away.
The multi-packs have another great side-effect. Some products which require batteries, need perhaps just one, or maybe three batteries, leaving an odd number of batteries left in
pack for future use. Next time
consumer needed to replace
used batteries in
product, they went to
drawer, and noticed perhaps that there were ’some’ Duracell batteries left, but not enough. So
consumer had to purchase more. And if they had already looked at Duracell’s, and had some Duracell’s left to use up, what are they likely to buy? You get
idea.