Episodes
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It can be infuriating how much time your marketing efforts take—especially when they get zero traction.
Wouldn't it be great if you could focus on acing activities you know will generate results? Chris Smith, cofounder of Curaytor and author of the bestselling (and newly revised edition of) “The Conversion Code,” shares data-proven ways to attract and convert buyers by making smarter use of all the tools you use, from text messages to TikTok.
After working for two billionaires, a billion-dollar publicly traded company and a startup that was acquired for 9 figures, Chris wrote “Peoplework” and the first edition of “The Conversion Code,” now used to teach marketing at Johns Hopkins University. In the six years since that first edition was published, the marketing landscape has been turned on its head by privacy restrictions, and Chris knew it was time to offer new solutions. Lots of them.
In this mind-blowing episode, Chris Smith shares some of the most valuable insights from the new book, including clever hacks and tricks you can use right away to get exceptional results from your website, social media, TikTok—and everything you do.
Buy The Conversion Code 2nd Edition on Amazon
Curaytor Website: https://www.curaytor.com
Graphos Product, The Product Marketing Agency website: GraphosProduct.com -
It's not unusual for product makers to be terrified by the mere notion of product validation work. Often over-invested emotionally and financially in the product, they're afraid of what they might learn. And many don’t have confidence in their approach to conducting validation research.
But the learning will come one way or another, Darshan Mehta points out. And far better to get as many insights as possible early on, while there is time to make changes and the cost of doing so will never again be so low.There is nothing worse than learning once a product is IN the market that it has fatal flaws—except for discovering equally far along that nobody wants to buy it!
Darshan Mehta is the founder of iResearch, and author of “Getting to Aha!: Why Today’s Insights Are Tomorrow’s Facts.” In this episode, he explains the fascinating nature of insights, and how they can help validate product ideas and lead to meaningful discoveries for improvements. At iResearch, Darshan has created a unique resource for conducting cost-effective and insightful online focus groups via chat, anywhere in the world and in any language. Whether you are considering traditional focus groups, surveys, or interviews with prospective users, you'll find Darshan’s advice timely and helpful.
It might even fast-track the “Aha!” moment you really need.Episode Highlights:
• Why we do product research (01:00)
• How insights predict the future (03:50)
• The real-world masters of testing and iteration (04:45)
• Fatal research flaws of product giants (05:37)
• Focus groups come in various forms (07:55)
• When customers are never wrong (09:36)
• Listen now or learn later: take your pick (11:21)
• Finding the people who represent your market (13:40)
• Learning to recognize and tap into insights (15:45)
• Conducting research without focus groups (16:46)
• The downside of analytics (18:29)
• Using insights to fill important gaps (19:04)Buy Getting to Aha!: Why Today’s Insights Are Tomorrow’s Facts on Amazon
iResearch Website: iresearch.com
Graphos Product, The Product Marketing Agency website: GraphosProduct.com -
Missing episodes?
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Nearly all product companies grapple with pricing. What model is the best fit? How do you maximize the market value for a novel product without losing customers when it comes time to pay?
Dan Balcauski has spent 15 years helping product makers solve exactly these challenges. As founder of Austin, Texas-based Product Tranquility, Dan has guided many products from new concept incubation through successful launches and transitions. He helps high volume SaaS companies assess pricing practices and optimize pricing and packaging, guiding his clients to make the most impactful pricing decisions and communicate value convincingly to decision makers.
Highlights of this episode:
• How to know the value of a brand new product (01:47)
• What emotional value is, and why it matters (02:39)
• The purpose of Jobs To Be Done in pricing (03:33)
• How Airbnb got its value proposition right (07:04)
• The 4 components of Packaging (09:09)
• Why Freemium is a terrible idea (11:46)
• Upgrading perpetual license customers to subscription (13:05)
• Why Who and How you charge is what determines success (19:18)
• How to approach Willingness To Pay questions (20:00)
• The critical importance of segmentation (23:44)
• Talking to the RIGHT people about pricing (25:16)
• What most product makers get wrong with pricing (26:40)
• Understanding the process of pricing to do it right (30:32)Product Tranquility Website: producttranquility.com
Graphos Product, The Product Marketing Agency website -
Ever noticed that while most brands battle constantly with competitors for small gains, leaders like Apple, Tesla and Amazon play in an entirely different sphere? Stan Bernard, author of “Brands Don't Win” believes it's because the branding game is a lost cause. In this episode, he tells you how leaders transcend branding by creating a game no one else can win — and how to do it for your product.
As a senior fellow at the Wharton School of Business, Stan Bernard taught his Transcender System to MBA students for 14 years. He's been a consultant to top businesses for nearly four decades, and over 15,000 professionals have taken part in his business "War Games" simulations, his seminars and speaking engagements.
Stan's new book walks you through the Transcender System's proven and practical three steps, with case studies including Amazon, Starbucks, Nike and Tesla as well as emerging leaders like Halotop and Peloton. Join Graphos Product President and Lead Consultant Laurier Mandin for this mind-blowing discussion with Stan Bernard.
Episode Highlights:
01:30 What makes the Transcender System "the world's most powerful winning system for companies and their products."
02:45 How Transcender businesses, like successful political campaigns, use Agendas to focus and win
04:30 How Starbucks “Transcended” from one store per year in 1987 to 1,350 stores per year
07:15 The 3 ways to win: Competitive Creation, Competitive Re-creation and Competitive Categorization
11:15 Why "competitive advantages" are setting the bar too low
15:14 How changing up the Agenda can hurt your product
20:45 The four steps to communicating the Agenda: Memorable, Ownable, Winnable and Alignable
25:30 The Transcender System's "Four Winning A's" to champion and execute the Agenda effectively
35:00 How to adopt a Winning Mindset to lead your business through the Transcender SystemBuy “Brands Don't Win” on Amazon
Graphos Product, The Product Marketing Agency website: GraphosProduct.com
Bernard & Associates website: DrStanBernard.com -
R-RRIP! That was the way we've marketed and sold products for ages, being torn apart. Facebook, Google Ads and other digital ad platforms have been hammered by consumer privacy implementations, making it impossible for many advertisers to sell their products online profitably.
Meanwhile, a succession of unbelievable supply chain issues make costs and material availability a nightmare that threatens the future of nearly every product maker—including those sourcing locally.
Maureen Mwangi teaches growing product makers to navigate challenges like these profitably, and joins host Laurier Mandin to share advice and insider tips from her work in launching products for the likes of Lays, L'Oréal, Dove and Chobani. She explains why huge brands like GE, Toshiba and Johnson & Johnson are suddenly transforming to become smaller, and what that says to startups and growth-oriented product businesses.
It's a jam-packed episode that covers many of the most important challenges facing product makers and product managers in the incredibly transformative era unfolding before us day-to-day. Here are a few of the highlights:
1:04 What you can learn from product giants becoming smaller, and have customers lean into your “smallness”
3:52 The two factors that MOST influence a customer’s buying decision, and how they relate to your product
5:44 How to leverage Fame, Frequency and Fluency to make your brand a household word with any audience
6:46 Why “scientific precision” is the key to profitability and success for a product business
8:48 Value Based Pricing, and how it can transform a product business into a profit leader
12:11 How to transition safely from a PPC-dependant eCommerce business to your own retail storefront
16:20 Why product makers’ growth strategy is different now, and how to embrace community building
18:35 How to manage supply chain gaps and avoid disappointing loyal customers
20:55 What is a “cash multiplier system,” and how having one can dramatically increase profitability
22:40 The one sure way to prevent customers from turning to your competitionStartward Consulting: https://www.startwardconsulting.com
Graphos Product, the product marketing agency: graphosproduct.com -
Selling an innovative product relies on making change. And there can be a lot of resistance to adopting a new product of any size, but especially for B2B products with long sales cycles and complex onboarding processes. Margie Agin, author of Brand Breakthrough and chief strategist of Centerboard Marketing, helps product makers to accelerate adoption and achieve breakthroughs by distilling functions down to their core value propositions. Margie engineers “AHA!” moments for the brands as well as customers.
Be sure to grab Margie's Brand Breakthrough Action Guide for hands-on activities, checklists, interview questions and templates to kickstart your brand journey.
Here are some highlights from this can't-miss episode:
1:24: How to cruise through a blocker in the sales process
3:41: Using language and narrative to dissolve buyer resistance
4:45: Asking all the right questions (based on Margie’s market research experience)
5:41: “Poking the bruise” to trigger an urgent sense of need
7:10: Pulling the value from features to answer “What’s in it for ME?”
8:28: How (and why) small companies can connect better than the giants
10:50: Using archetypes in convincing tech people to embrace fun, customer-friendly narratives
14:43: Resonating with a diverse assortment of audience types
18:11: Building trust, in a world that distrusts brands
21:00: Testimonials that move buyers forward
22:35: Avoiding the most deadly mistake even the biggest product brands makeCenterboard Marketing: centerboard-marketing.com
Graphos Product, the product marketing agency: graphosproduct.com -
We talk a lot about the high failure rates of consumer products. It’s a tough road, and launching a hit product is a rare event. Michael Sandeen is an innovator who’s exploded those odds—and he’s now done it twice.
Thirty-five years ago Michael created Spin Jammer, a uniquely spinnable flying disc that sold by the millions in big-box retail stores like Walmart, Toys R Us and K-Mart. Then, in late 2020, he introduced SearBQ, a cast-iron griddle and press combination for the barbecue, and it turned to be his second hit product. But SearBQ doesn’t sell retail: it is only available direct-to-consumer (DTC), through what is now one of Shopify’s top-selling new stores.
It’s very deliberately a different strategy, and Michael Sandeen has been quick to adopt other new ways for SearBQ. He started out with a successful Kickstarter campaign, and due to pandemic-induced supply and shipping challenges, launched his summer product in the middle of winter—the winter solstice to be exact—and too late to capture holiday sales.
Sales exploded nonetheless, and Michael quickly found himself facing new challenges, battling retail giants for shipping freighter space and Amazon for packing materials. Growth would be the next frontier in his DTC experiment, and he’d need to pull out everything he’s learned to manage it successfully.
In this mouthwatering episode (we do talk about food more than we’d meant to—SearBQ has that effect) Michael Sandeen shares how he leveraged three-and-a-half decades of product design, manufacturing and selling experience to make launching a breakthrough product seem so easy. It ain’t just spin and sizzle—but those things help!
Here are some key-takeaways from this exciting and enlightening episode:
How selling consumer products has transformed since the late ’80s (2:00)Why a retail veteran decided to sell only direct-to-consumer (3:30)How one big idea and two burned steaks sparked SearBQ (5:04)Delighting ideal buyers and winning over the haters (8:00)Why Michael won't use Kickstarter for another consumer product, despite his success (12:47)Things product-makers need to know about Kickstarter marketing agencies (15:08)The biggest lesson from supply-chain challenges and inventory depletion (17:00)Where you CAN'T beat Walmart and Target (17:45)The importance of continuous improvement, even when you’re crushing it (19:20)How beautiful product design and smart engineering are critical success triggers (20:00)The importance of putting the brand name front and center (22:15)Leaving room for buyers to surprise you (23:30)The (hands-down) best things SearBQ's inventor loves to cook on it (24:42)The innovation curve never ends (27:45)Buy the SearBQ Griddle & Press online: SearBQ.com
The Product Launch & Marketing Agency: GraphosProduct.com -
Consumers have had enough of phony product brands. Fabricated figureheads like Betty Crocker and the Marlboro Man ruled the twentieth century, but social media and customer reviews have permanently altered the landscape. Not only can we handle the truth—we demand it.
While everyone talks ad nauseam about “authenticity,” it’s still much easier to fall back into the old-world playbook. Emily Soccorsy and Justin Foster created Root + River to help product makers succeed at branding from the heart and build an enduring culture of truth. Doing it right creates new levels of joy, satisfaction and loyalty, but requires a new and very deliberate way of thinking. When businesses brand from the heart, amazing things happen, particularly three invaluable breakthroughs that always do.
Emily and Justin join Graphos Product Principal Laurier Mandin to talk about their proven approach to intrinsic branding, and share insights that will help you find and articulate what’s at the heart of your own product brand.
Here are some key-takeaways from this informative and inspiring episode:
Why today’s consumers refuse to buy falseness (1:45)How repelling the wrong buyers is as important as attracting the right ones (3:30)The “big gap” that causes branding failure, and how to close it (7:12)Why it’s smart to pause marketing to think about the brand (8:00)Why branding is a practice, not a department (10:19)The 3 amazing things that always happen when you brand from the heart (10:30)Why marketing is not the numbers game many CMOs think it is (14:35)How love is the reason products and teams succeed (17:00)Why you’re not looking for customers—you’re looking for believers (18:48)The real secret to creating emotion in your audience (20:00)How to build anticipation and demand before you even get to market (23:36)Why storytelling can make even “boring” brands thrill consumers (26:19)Finding and sharing YOUR belief system, whether your product is old or new (28:35)Root + River: RootandRiver.com
The Product Launch & Marketing Agency: GraphosProduct.com -
Pricing can make or break any product. Set it too high, and even best-fit customers will take a pass. Too low and you’re devaluing the product, stunting growth and possibly starving it for cash.
But how do you craft a pricing structure that is just right—and be confident it is? And then how do you package your product offerings to attract specific buyer types, without alienating others?
Pricing is a science, and those who do it effectively seldom fall into that success. Ajit Gjuman has led enterprise software product teams through the pricing process, and has interviewed a multitude of tech product leaders in writing his new book, "Price to Scale." He's also the head of product marketing at Narvar, a customer engagement platform that helps brands like Yeti, Levi's and Dyson drive long-term customer loyalty by unifying shipping and returns.
Ajit’s ultimate goal for the book was for any product manager or entrepreneur to be able to read it over a weekend, then methodically assemble end-to-end pricing in just 30 days.
Ajit Ghuman joins Graphos Product Principal Laurier Mandin to explain how that is possible, and offer advice to listeners challenged with setting or resetting product pricing in order to profitably scale their business.
Here are some key-takeaways from this power-packed episode:
What team member is best-suited to implement your pricing structure (1:45)Ajit’s definition of “Positioning” (3:00)What is “Packaging” for a tech product, and what does it look like done right? (4:32)Identifying market segments for a brand new product (6:17)Where do “freemium” products work, and where are they a bad idea? (8:36)Understanding “Product-Led” strategy (11:32)How pricing and your margins relate to going to IPO or being acquired (13:44) How to lead a team in pricing implementation, and influence the CEO (17:06)The alignment hack Helpshift used to 10X revenue from a key account (21:27)Using value metrics to optimize pricing and revenue (22:31)Why your cost to produce has nothing to do with what the customer will pay (24:55)
Price to Scale book: AjitGhuman.com
The Product Launch & Marketing Agency: GraphosProduct.com -
As a 3-time startup founder and 5-time entrepreneur, Étienne has worked in the trenches of building tech companies and introducing innovative products. In “Solving Product,” he has created a reference book to help product creators through the many complex puzzles from ideation to startup, growth, expansion and retrospective. Feeling stuck with solving product-market fit, evaluating your product's true value, finding leaks in your funnel, or targeting new segments? It’s in “Solving Product.”
The book is crammed with advice and diagnostics, peppered with hundreds of powerful quotes from many of the greatest minds in product — and tethered to reality by more than two dozen highly relevant case studies.
Throughout our discussion, Étienne shares actionable advice on how to reveal gaps in your own product, using research and proven processes to become more profitable, faster.
In this episode, you will learn:
Why every product is a succession of problems to be solved (1:45)How it can give clarity to envision your product as a service business (5:23)What is the greatest predictor of whether your product will truly be needed (7:42)Why your product must be at least 10x as good as what customers are using now (10:06)The biggest competition to your product — and it's not another product (12:30)The hidden, growing danger of the subscription model (13:55)Why a majority of businesses do little or no research (18:15)Using research to answer the most important questions for your product (21:30)Setting your product up for success by identifying where it adds the most value (24:10)The single biggest certainty when creating any new product (26:40)Étienne Garbugli’s Solving Product website: https://www.solvingproduct.com (Get the first 3 chapters free!)
Graphos Product Product Marketing Agency website: https://www.GraphosProduct.com -
If you’ve been involved in creating and marketing a new product, you know all too well the danger of having your ideas stolen or copied. In fact, it probably keeps you up at night—just as it did for innovators like Steve Jobs. Patenting the features that make your product unique is a common approach, but is having a patent worth the hefty initial and ongoing costs? Registering one or more patents is an expensive legal process, and the maintenance bills can be burdensome for any startup struggling with cash flow. Yet those standard expenses can be dwarfed by the costs of litigation. To top it off, the majority of patent infringement suits ultimately get thrown out of court!
So is getting a patent really worth it?
In Episode 23 of Product: Knowledge, Intellectual Property strategist Trevor Prentice joins host Laurier Mandin to discuss the costs and some less-known benefits of having a patent—and advice to develop your product patent strategy. Even if you own multiple patents already, what you come away with from Trevor’s answers will likely be surprising:
In this episode, you will learn:
The types of patents and what can be patented (2:45)Is it worth including multiple claims? (3:20)What is “prior art” and why the way you describe it matters to your patent application (4:51)Why all patents are not created equally (6:51)Why so many patent infringement cases are dismissed (7:15)How to identify in advance the value you need to extract from having a patent (8:00)The most valuable (but less-known) benefits of having your IP patented (9:30-11:00)Patents and your business’ credibility (11:40)How much to budget for getting and maintaining a patent (13:00)When it's time to call an IP consultant (15:50)What most lawyers don’t do for their clients—and why it’s a major gap (17:10)How an IP portfolio can increase the overall value of your business (18:30)
IP Strategist Trevor Prentice at The IP Link: TheIPlink.com
Graphos Product Product Marketing Agency website: GraphosProduct.com -
Product positioning is essential to sales, and you simply can’t scale without getting it right. Yet most marketers and executives can’t even tell you what positioning means, much less how to do it.
April Dunford is on a mission to change that. As an internationally recognized product positioning expert, April helps startups get their positioning straight. She has written a bestselling book on the subject: "Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It."
According to April Dunford, positioning defines how a product is the absolute best at delivering specific kind of value for which a well-defined set of customers deeply cares. Only by conveying THAT value to THOSE customers can you achieve product success.
It's a process best guided by analytics, research and market intelligence. Software product brands typically achieve it by studying sales figures, surveying customers and learning what value is sought by true best-fit customers.
It makes a lot of sense. But what about new and innovative physical products, for which best-fit customers don't yet exist, let alone gigabytes of customer data? How can you perfect positioning for a product the world has never seen, and de-risk gambling a fortune on a massive launch?
In this episode, April explains her 10-step process for perfect positioning she has taught to over 100 business leaders and used to lead numerous product businesses to acquisition.
April tells how she has used multi-layered launch techniques to reduce the risk of physical products, a technique she even leveraged for her own bestselling book, in defiance of conventional publishing advice.
There is no more respected mind in product positioning than April Dunford, and you'll find this an engaging and richly informative interview.Buy "Obviously Awesome" at Amazon in Kindle, audio book or paperback formats
Learn more and schedule a hands-on workshop at April Dunford's website
Graphos Product official website -
What if science could prove that marketers are doing EVERYTHING wrong?
Patrick Renvoisé is a brain scientist who has co-authored two books claiming that is exactly the case. At SalesBrain, the consultancy where he is Chief Persuasion Officer, Patrick has helped over 100,000 CEOs identify and target the secret Buy Button inside their customer's brain.
The co-author of "Neuromarketing" and "The Persuasion Code," Patrick shares his simple, proven scientific methodology to create desire and entice people to buy your product. Using sophisticated physiological measurements, measuring brainwaves and tracking eye movements, Patrick’s team discovered that what people say does not reflect what they truly want.
Patrick has identified that decision-making is governed not by the rational neocortex (known as System Two), but by the ancient primal brain, or System One. The primal brain only recognizes six stimuli—which Patrick tells you how to trigger using four specific steps.
If you’re a product marketer and want to start leveraging brain science to sell MUCH more, you don't want to miss this episode.
Graphos Product:
https://www.graphosproduct.com
Read the episode transcript, our blog and learn about our unique product marketing servicesSalesBrain:
https://www.salesbrain.comBuy "Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in Your Customer's Brain" at Amazon
Buy "The Persuasion Code" at Amazon -
Taking an innovative product across the commercialization chasm from the Innovators and Early Adopters to the much larger Early Majority is an immense challenge at the best of times. During a crisis—or in the days following one—it often becomes even harder. Yet with the proper focus, chaos can even thrust some products across the chasm faster than they could manage in "normal" times.
The Chasm Institute is a Silicon Valley consultancy founded by Geoffrey Moore, author of the product marketing classic "Crossing the Chasm." The book, which introduced the chasm concept and popularized terms like "Early Adopters," has sold over 3 million copies and built a cult following since it was first published in 1991. (For a summary, listen to Product: Knowledge episode 5.)
In this episode, Graphos Product founder and CEO Laurier Mandin talks to Michael Eckhardt, Managing Director of the Chasm Institute. The Institute works with industry leaders including Spotify, Adobe, HP and Nest through workshops, tools, consulting and training to achieve product launch success.
Michael shares his 5 Best Practices for Achieving Product Success During Challenging Times—and leaves Product: Knowledge listeners with a special free offer. It's an inspiring discussion you won’t want to miss, packed with insights and practical advice to help you achieve focus and results.
Graphos Product:
https://www.graphosproduct.com
Read the episode transcript, our blog and learn about our unique product marketing servicesThe Chasm Insitute:
http://www.chasminstitute.comTo see the visuals Michael refers to in this episode, visit the episode page at GraphosProduct.com
For your free sample chapters of the "Crossing the Chasm 3.0," please contact the Chasm Institute and mention this episode. -
Marketing is all about differentiation. The leaders behind every product brand have thought about, rehearsed, or delivered an elevator speech about why you should choose their offering—but VERY few have baked in a concise way of articulating it to their customers.
If you create physical products, the most important differentiation may not be the products themselves. In fact, focusing too much on selling your product features is probably counter-productive. Research is clear that people make decisions on a deeply emotional level, and then consciously rationalize the decision to explain it. But how do we make use of knowing customer choices are emotional? How do you begin to differentiate your product, emotionally?
Ian Chamandy and Ken Aber wrote the book “Why Should I choose you: Answering the Most Important Question in Business In Seven Words or Less.” They’ve developed a process for companies to come up with more than just a mission statement: it’s a promise, a core differentiator and an attitude. And another essential quality: it must be very short—no more than seven words. These principles all translate directly to product brands, and cracking the seven-word code for your own can change its competitive landscape.
Graphos Product founder and CEO Laurier Mandin talked with Ian Chamandy on Skype to do a deeper dive.
Blueprint: https://www.7words.biz/
"Why Should I choose you: Answering the Most Important Question in Business In Seven Words or Less."
https://www.amazon.ca/Should-Choose-Seven-Words-Less/dp/1443436399/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=why+should+I+choose+you&qid=1584993641&sr=8-1Graphos Product: https://graphosproduct.com/
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Podcasting is just complicated enough to introduce anxiety and resistance for those who might otherwise want to try sharing their voice. A new audio market segment of "podcast mixer-recorders" aims to address the complexity problem. Podcasting is complicated because usually more than one speaker is involved. Getting audio into a computer is easy. Getting broadcast quality from disparate sources, for people who all need to hear the same thing at the same time—some of whom may be in another part of the world—is not.
Graphos Product uses a RØDECaster Pro for in-studio podcast and audio recording. It's the first entry and leader in that brand new podcast mixer-recorder segment. But when Andreas was in the market to buy a replacement recorder for his home studio, he chose a different device: the ZOOM L-8. That apparent contradiction opened up internal discussions about the differences between competing devices, including the aesthetic and psychology of design, and how complexity works for or against a product.
For Andreas, mobility, audio quality, and reliability were the top priorities. To him, a studio is inherently complex because of its diverse instantaneous requirements, and a visually simplified interface in reality means navigating through layers of controls via a touch-screen menu. On a more “complicated” board like the ZOOM L-8, almost everything is available instantaneously.
We decided to turn the podcast recorder design conversation into a podcast—and brought in ZOOM North America's product specialist Samuel Greene. (Seeking balance, we also reached out to RØDE who has so far opted out.) The conversation ranges from the reasoning behind including or excluding certain kinds of software or hardware, always with the end-user in mind.
We talked to Samuel on Skype about the decisions that go into creating a device for a market segment that’s familiar, yet in many ways completely new. Along the way, we came across themes that will resonate with anyone involved in taking a new product to market, including developing features, balancing the demands of a vocal user base—and navigating a crisis situation.
The Zoom L-8: https://www.zoom-na.com/products/production-recording/live-sound-recording/zoom-livetrak-l-8
Graphos Product: https://graphosproduct.com/
The RØDECaster Pro: https://www.rode.com/rodecasterpro -
Inspiration for a new product can come from anywhere—even a pet store. Once you’re inspired and you’ve got a fire in your belly, you need to find a way to make your idea real. Having ideas is easy; paying for them, not so much.
Some startups use their own money or try to find angel investors. It can be equally challenging and discouraging to find venture capital for modest-scale projects. Crowdfunding is a more recent approach to investment capital. While micro-support is a popular idea, it still requires a dedicated marketing strategy and execution to succeed. No one doubt that Kickstarter often works, but how and when it works best is more mysterious.
Jackson Cunningham is the founder of Tuft and Paw, an online pet furniture store that says its products are “Modern cat furniture both cats and humans will love.” Jackson started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new cat litter box called, “the Cove.” The fundraising goal was US $10,000. Clearly the COVE is a good idea because it reached its goal within hours and has raised over TEN TIMES the goal to $150,000 with 10 days left in the campaign.
What are the most important elements of a Kickstarter campaign? How many people are involved? Where do you even begin? Jackson Cunningham Skyped from Vancouver and joined Graphos Product CEO Laurier Mandin to talk about The Cove cat litter box, including how Tuft and Paw engaged the company’s online community to help design it.
Tuft and Paw: https://www.tuftandpaw.com
Graphos Product: https://www.graphosproduct.com -
Naming a company is more complicated than naming a baby. It just is. There’s more family involvement. Is the product for men, women, seniors; is it for a particular activity or sport that has its own jargon and vocabulary? What country is the product going to be sold in—now and down the road? What are the social mores of that country, and what cultural taboos do we need to avoid; which buttons are we able to push without offending? It’s like learning a new language. We do it all the time, and everyone in marketing has said, “Someone needs to write a book about this.”
Jeremy Miller, the author of "Sticky Branding" has written a brand new book called… “Brand New Name” — a proven step-by-step process to create an unforgettable brand name.
The book codifies the brand naming process and guides you on ways to think about a name. There are abstract names, concrete names, acronyms, and more. Jeremy Miller’s approach to naming a brand has a lot in common with how we think about it and develop and execute product naming strategy for our own clients, so it was a pleasure to just drop the list of questions and talk shop about this really critical first step for a new product.
https://stickybranding.com/brand-new-name-book/
https://graphosproduct.com/ -
For our first episode of 2020, we go to the very heart of product launch: the product development cycle.
It used to be that if you had a product idea you had to not only finesse the ideation, but somehow cobble together a development team for each stage of the process. For first-time inventors or even seasoned product brands, it was a journey fraught with pitfalls.
Technology has transformed the product development cycle. Photorealistic 3D rendering makes visualizing new products easy. Your product can be near-perfect, but to be successful, the marketing, packaging, and shipping need to be at the same level. It's a staggering array of moving parts. And often the biggest barrier is knowing where to start, especially knowing your manufacturer will produce your product a world away, in a foreign language and culture.
Kyle Handfield knows exactly where to start. His company, Ventrify, leads brands and inventors through the entire product development cycle using a nine-step process starting with discovery, and culminating with shipping. The consultancy also provides industrial design, engineering, testing—even going as far as managing regulatory certifications.
We invited Kyle Handfield into the Graphos Product recording studio to share his sharp perspective of the broad product development process, and insights into what to do (and avoid). It’s stuff inventors, product brands and entrepreneurs need to hear.
Ventrify's website: https://ventrify.net
Graphos Product: https://graphosproduct.com -
If you ask Mom what she thinks about your new product, she’ll lie and tell you it’s fabulous — even if nothing could be farther from the truth.
When you’re launching an innovative product, product-market fit is essential. That means knowing a sufficient, reachable customer base will be more excited about the product than you are. Conducting validation research is crucial. But the questions you ask is where things often start to go wrong.
If market research questions return answers like, “I think it’s a good idea,” or “I’d buy that,” it’s NOT a good thing.
chances are, you're asking the wrong questions — especially because the responses are so hollowly encouraging. Remember, the respondent has no skin in the game, and talk is free.People will naturally lie to you, just like Mom, because it feels helpful and is easy. No one wants to hurt your feelings. Trouble is, when your market survey respondents don’t give you the straight goods, it defeats the purpose of validation work, and bad data can bait you toward product failure.
Author Rob Fitzpatrick has been a tinkerer and tech entrepreneur for over a decade. He believes you can avoid mistakes by asking questions that elicit the answers you NEED, not the ones that make you feel good. Complements, verbal support, and new ideas can feel helpful, but in conversation with Graphos Product CEO Laurier Mandin, Rob Fitzpatrick says it’s much better to ask questions about people’s problems or challenges — as well as current solutions and what they cost.
If you ask someone how often they go to the gym, they’ll probably inflate the number. If you ask “how many times did you go to the gym last week,” you’ll probably get a more realistic answer. Rob's first book, "The Mom Test" is taught at Harvard, MIT, UCL and many other top universities.
Rob Fitzpatrick - https://robfitz.com
Graphos Product - https://graphosproduct.com
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