June 5th, 2009
by Pamela Sherman
Don't conduct UN-focused Focus Groups. Good ideas are a terrible thing to waste... WE ALL NEED INNOVATION!
To watch a humorous marketing research video, click here:
“A Stone Age Focus Group” on YouTube.
-Thank you, Silvio Helbig and Juergen Joppen of Germany for creating and sharing such a great video. As they say, “Killing good ideas can harm your future.” (Hey, where would we be without the early invention of the wheel?)
All joking aside, product and service innovation is a huge factor in determining economic success and survival! It’s important for us personally in our businesses… and for our nation’s health and prosperity!
THE BEST PRODUCT INNOVATIONS:
* fulfill market needs that aren’t currently being met.
* solve problems, making life (or business) easier, more successful, or more enjoyable.
* tap into niche markets where product lines and services can be expanded.
* contain proprietary or patentable components.
The founders and management of the most innovative products created, best understand team-building, partnering and accumulating expertise. (It’s better to bring in partners and have a small % of something that is successful, than to have 100% of nothing.) They also understand their market niches. They themselves are often the same type of customer they are targeting (but not always).
USE THE INTERNET FOR MARKET RESEARCH & INTELLIGENCE.
The innovation process involves both qualitative and quantitative research, which includes numbers and statistics as well as a deeper level of customer understanding (the profile, interests, and values of your target market). With the internet, you can gather an additional level of customer research and survey feedback. You can even test-market your product before it’s created!
At WMT, we believe that a large area for product and service innovation will be intertwined with the new medias generated by internet/phone communications, computer databases, interaction, learning, etc. The benefit of such connecting technologies is the development of a potential new level of worldly intelligence and awareness. It will help us to more clearly identify needs and issues, while drawing upon a greater array of ideas for problem solving and new creative development.
Go FORTH, be STRONG, be INNOVATIVE! Good ideas are a terrible thing to waste.
Allen
(July 8th, 2009 at 4:30 am)
I appreciate the labor you have put in developing this blog. Nice and informative.