Most products and services in the market
are ‘very good’ and efforts to ‘differentiate’
essentially actually are efforts to make a
product/service even more ‘very good.’
Remarkable products and services make
the market uncomfortable. Sometimes
they’re not ‘liked’ because remarkable
means outstanding and threatening. got laughed at in school when they raised
their hands to suggest ideas or demeaned
in any other way learned that in order
to be safe it’s best to keep their mouths
shut. They take these memories into the
organizations they work for and continue
to play safe even though many times they
have brilliant ideas.
In some cases they’re game changers such
as M-Pesa, AirBnB, Uber just to name
a few. For certain, the minds behind
differentiated products are not scared to
push the envelope, to take risks, to leave
the herd and to do the ‘unlikable’ thing.
They’d so sing along to Pink’s “Raise your
glass if you are wrong.” Learning
to
differentiate
requires
unlearning. It starts from an individual
accepting
his/her
already
unique
attributes. In essence that’s what self-
branding experts emphasize; that as it is
as an individual you’re already different.
The next step is identifying what it is that
makes you unique and then the third and
possibly the hardest step is communicating
your uniqueness.
That’s what it takes to be different, an
openness to ‘wrong,’ and as Seth Godin
emphasizes, it starts from long before
production. It requires an entire mind
shift that questions orthodoxies and is
willing to embrace novelties.
But how do you pull that off when the
people behind product development
don’t like the label ‘weird?’ People who
Then after we accept ourselves as unique
we should accept others as unique; that it’s
ok if they’re not like you. When we accept
our differences then we can begin to think
differently about the products and services
we offer. This obviously is an initiative that
has to start from the top, with leadership
going beyond ‘we have an open door
policy’ to actually creatively thinking
about, “How can we actually draw ideas
from our staff and customers?”
Once staff realize that they can share their
thoughts without facing repercussions
then unique ideas will flow and ultimately
will find their way to products and services.
That’s how to go, an open mind. Most of
course will say, “I’m very open minded.”
Test yourself then, do something ‘crazy’
(and I mean crazy not immoral or illegal).
Like if you’re a man, wear a tie with pink
angry birds or a Mickey Mouse hat…
something. And then after that, we can
start to see some really cool differentiated
products in the market like chocolates
with teddy bears perhaps… and not just
for Valentine’s day!
Marion Wakahe is a marketing
enthusiast. You can engage her on this or
related matters via mail at: MWakahe@
gmail.com.
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