Archive for the ‘Design’ Category
Companies dealing with increased competition, declining margins and slow growth continue to struggle with how to generate more business. In this and in future blog entries, we look at the triumvirate of strategies for creating differentiation, value and commitment for your products and services:
Marketing is the process of differentiating your product or service and creating a predisposition to buy it through a combination of research, branding, message development and promotional strategies and tactics that deliver the message to your target audiences.
Design is the process of adding value to a product or service by defining the relevant attributes and emotional cues that make them desirable, useful and usable and is delivered through a combination of user research, prototyping and testing.
Sales is the process of reducing resistance to commitment on the part of a prospect so as to make it easy for them to agree to buy your product or service and is accomplished by identifying needs or ‘pain’ that you can address and gaining agreement on your ability to satisfy their need.
This information is based on research on best practices and experience based on over 27 years of consulting for a variety of organizations. We’re interested in your thoughts and ideas that can augment these ideas, so feel free to add your own comments and suggestions. For more detailed information on these topics, contact us or visit our Web site for additional materials and explanations.
Dan Droz is Chairman and CEO of Droz & Associates: Marketing, Branding, Design, Public Relations, Advertising, Web Design, Interactive Marketing for Pittsburgh and surrounding regions.
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Design, Marketing, Pittsburgh, Sales No Comments
Defining The Problem
Brainstorming starts with a problem, defined in the form of questions like, “How can we reduce our delivery time?” “What problem do our customers have that our competitors are solving?” “What phrase can we use to differentiate our services from competitors?” If the problem is too complex, it can be broken down into smaller chunks, each with it’s own set of questions.
Warm Up
The purpose of a warm up is to get people comfortable with a criticism-free environment. You can start with a simple problem such as “where should we take a guest from out of town,” “What gift should we buy my Mom for mother’s day,” or other question that everyone can relate to. Groups can also use word games or games of ‘opposites,’ where participants come up with a list of words and have to come up the opposite idea.
First Lists
Participants write their ideas on post-it notes or in a list. Then the moderator either collects the ideas or a master list is made which aggregates the ideas. People are asked to build on ideas. Sometimes the post-its or individual lists are passed to others in the group for ‘building’ upon. Where more details are needed, such as color, features or size, etc, the group might be divided into subgroups to focus on these details. Each group the brings their ideas back to the main group for further discussion and ‘distillation.’
The Vote
People then have a chance to individually evaluate ideas on the list, through a simple show of hands. Votes are recorded, helping prioritize and distill ideas.
Killer Phrases
Here are a few lines that discourage idea flow and should be avoided:
• A great idea but…
• Against company policy
• All right in theory
• Be practical
• Costs too much
• Don’t start anything yet
• It needs more study
• It’s not budgeted
• It’s not good enough
• It’s not part of your job
• Let’s make a survey first
• Let’s sit on it for a while
• That’s not our position
• The boss won’t go for it
• The old timers won’t use it
• Too hard to administer
• We have been doing it this way for a long time and it works
• Why hasn’t someone suggested it before if it’s a good idea?
• Ahead of the times
• Let’s discuss it
• Let’s form a committee
• We’ve never done it that way
• Who else has tried it
• Not politically possible
Reflection
Sometimes, The Eureka Idea comes out of brainstorming session. But not usually. Don’t worry. The real work in coming to an original or “Most Advanced Yet Acceptable” (MAYA) idea is in the reflection phase. Think of the brainstorming session as a way to open the mind to new ways of thinking. But ideas sometimes take time to gel. In the day or two after a session, while you’re running, walking, taking a shower or other ‘reflective period,’ the ideas start to take shape. Participants need to take the time to go through the lists and consider other options. Your ‘fallback’ ideas are those you generated in the brainstorming session. But time works wonders. You can come back to another session to discuss these ideas, with greater discussion of the constraints and applications.
Dan Droz is Chairman and CEO of Droz & Associates: Marketing, Branding, Design, Public Relations, Advertising, Web Design, Interactive Marketing for Pittsburgh and surrounding regions.
Monday, June 15th, 2009
Design, Marketing, Pittsburgh No Comments
You’ve got to come with a solution to a problem or ideas for a new product or campaign that someone hasn’t thought of before. The Eureka Idea. Research won’t work because everything you’ll find will have been done before. Research won’t take you to Eureka, but a combination of brainstorming and reflection can.
Brainstorming is a technique for generating new ideas. By associating ideas and concepts that haven’t been considered ‘right’ to put together, new ways of thinking emerge. But the real work is in the subconscious, with endorphins and time. But first, Brainstorming.
Background on Brainstorming
Creative problem solving involves putting things together in ways that haven’t been seen that way before. While people have been solving problems and probably using techniques of brainstorming methods since the Neanderthal times, the formal methods were developed by BBDO founder Alex Osborn in the 1940’s to generate advertising concepts.
Brainstorming is a lateral thinking process that generates ideas that may seem at first to be impractical or off-putting. The process is designed to allow for free-wheeling in the early stages, and leaves evaluation to the last stages.
The Rules and of Brainstorming
The basic rules of brainstorming are:
• Quantity over Quality to generate as many ideas as possible. Although this might seem counterproductive, as you’re trying, eventually to come up with ‘quality,’ the fact is that the more ideas you have, the better chance that one of them will be better than the rest. You’re trying to create a stream of ideas. Assessment comes later.
• Acceptance over Criticism. No idea is bad. Rather than criticize an idea, brainstormers ‘build’ on ideas thereby encouraging everyone to generate more and better ideas. This means that logic can take a back seat, too. Great associating often isn’t logical or subject to evaluation.
• Radical over Regular. No idea is too outlandish. In fact, they’re encouraged to achieve goal #1 (quantity). Often it takes a few rounds of associating to see patterns or relationships between disparate ideas. Some kernel of appropriateness might exist within even the most outrageous idea.
• Pictures and Words. Brainstormers draw diagrams and pictures to make their point. It’s not just about words. Think of it as organized play. With products, you can use simple materials such as clay, wood or paper to ‘represent’ product. “Getting Physical” can help you visualize a concept much better than words.
• Play over Pressure. Relax. The more playful and spontaneous you are, the better brainstormer you’ll be. You don’t have to come to any decisions during the brainstorming period, so chill. It’s the beginning, not the end.
The Method of Brainstorming
Although brainstorming can be done individually, with either mind mapping or simple listing, the best way to generate a large quantity and variety of ideas is in a group. A moderator is needed to both cajole and record ideas and keep the discussion moving. The moderators responsibility is to define the problem, keep the discussion going and with the help of a ’scribe,’ document the ideas.
Look for the second and final part of Brainstorming: Getting to Eureka next week.
Dan Droz is Chairman and CEO of Droz & Associates: Marketing, Branding, Design, Public Relations, Advertising, Web Design, Interactive Marketing for Pittsburgh and surrounding regions.
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Design, Marketing, Pittsburgh No Comments
It’s April 1, a time to consider options to your traditional marketing strategy. Today’s video presentation looks at 9 of the most important changes you might make. Although some people are already using these techniques on an everyday basis, others may find them difficult to implement. That’s not a bad thing. Take it slow and you’ll be fine. Or, if you find that some of these are just inappropriate for your business, it’s also OK to simply read about change and continue to do exactly what you’ve been doing.
Dan Droz is Chairman and CEO of Droz & Associates: Marketing, Branding, Design, Public Relations, Advertising, Web Design, Interactive Marketing for Pittsburgh and surrounding regions.
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Design, Marketing, Pittsburgh No Comments
How much should design cost? Many small businesses reject design as a core business strategy because they think they can’t afford it. In particular, because it is an intangible, they have a hard time seeing value in the intangible.
Yet, it is the intangible that adds value to the tangible. In most cases, the tangible assets are fungible and commodities. There is nothing to distinguish them from others.
Identity: .05-1% annual $
Brand: .05-1% annual $
Communications: .05-2% annual $
Products/Services: 1-7% product $
Experience: 1-2% annual $
Interactive: .05-2% annual $
Architecture: 5-15% of cost
This list shows the approximate investment for design. As is clear, it typically represents less than 1% of a year’s revenue, and in most cases, these are one time costs. Match that against any form of price reduction, and it’s amazing that a small business would choose lowering price to increase value, over increasing the perceived value of their business or offering.
Dan Droz is Chairman and CEO of Droz & Associates: Marketing, Branding, Design, Public Relations, Advertising, Web Design, Interactive Marketing for Pittsburgh and surrounding regions.
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Design, Pittsburgh No Comments