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If you're convinced that marketing is too costly or basically a hit-and-miss venture for your business, BDC Senior Consulting Manager Sean Waite would like to offer you an alternative. Today, entrepreneurs can rely on lower-cost and highly effective marketing techniques, such as Customer Focussed Innovation (CFI).
"CFI basically means getting your customers involved in the design of your product and service, as well as creating your key marketing messages," says Waite. "Historically, businesses relied on market research to better focus on their market segment, but still the information only flows one way — from the business to the client," he explains. CFI, however, alleviates this problem by better aligning client needs to your product or service and creating a two-way exchange of information.
How it works
"None of this is revolutionary. But using your customers' feedback to help you innovate with your products or services is a powerful idea," emphasizes Waite. "Think of the basic idea that if you solve a small problem for a customer, then you have a small potential business, but if you solve a large problem, then you have a large potential business. In the end, what you're doing is working with your clients to solve their own problems," he says.
Traditionally, businesses have used surveys and questionnaires to obtain what he calls the "voice of the client." However, often these surveys are inherently biased by factors such as the wording of the questions and the order that the questions appear.
The most commonly used vehicle for CFI is the round-table discussion or focus group. In this approach, the business gathers a number of clients or potential clients in a room to discuss exactly what the product or service might be and the problems it could solve. "Keep in mind that your role as an entrepreneur is not to lead the discussion, but to get the ball rolling," says Waite.
Here's a typical round-table discussion or focus group:
1. The clients write down the top 3 problems that your product or service should solve. For example, a new skin cream should:
- take care of acne without irritating the skin
- have a matte finish, so that it's not highly visible
- provide value for the money
2. Have the participants write the items on post-it notes so that the moderator can then put them on the wall. Once the notes are up, the moderator then groups like ideas.
3. Take your clients through the process again, but this time, have them write down what they dislike most about your product or service. For example, what they dislike about your new skin cream is:
- the unattractive packaging
- the consistency of the cream
- the astringent odour
4. Finally, go through the process again. This time, however, ask the participants to write down the top 3 things that they would add to your product or service such as:
- a transparent bottle so you can see the product colour
- a clear indication of skin type targeted
- a clear message on the packaging that no animal by-products are used
Shape your message
"Once you've gone through this type of focus group, you'll have a pretty clear picture of both what your product needs to do, as well as the messages that should dominate your marketing," says Waite. "By getting the clients involved in determining your messages, you ensure that you are saying exactly what they want to hear." For example, your clients may want to know that your new skin cream is colourless, is aimed for a broad range of skin types and doesn't harm animals in the manufacturing process.
Following this, you could do a second discussion to prototype your product or service, confirm that you are on the right track, or determine that there are still product changes to be made. "Ultimately, you can have the best product or service in the field, but if it doesn't reflect your client needs or the customer misunderstands the messages, it's not likely to do well," concludes Waite.
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