SPHERE OF INFLUENCE, INC. – software studios and services
Thad Scheer
Product Thinking - Ultra Simplified
I received an email this morning from one of my "caveman friends" asking to simplify all this product thinking stuff. He apparently likes the idea but my posts are too long and he can’t figure out what the heck I’m talking about.
** sigh **
In caveman simple terms, what is “product thinking”?
When we say product thinking we are talking about…drum roll…
Marketing Science. Adapting products and product portfolios to be attractive and lead customers not only to immediate spending but being loyal to brand.
Actually, it’s the disciplines behind great marketing that we are after. Product thinking is about applying marketing techniques to product design, simple as that. Get close to your customer, know them well, and find something new that touches them deeply.
When product designers deep-dive marketing science they learn what to add or remove from products by learning how to leverage customer touch points. This helps designers create highly differentiated products that people instinctively notice, buy, and like. This is exactly what the great industrial design studios like Ideo and Frog Design have done to earn their status. They are design studios with the DNA of a Madison Avenue marketing firm.
Marketing is no longer external to the product, the marketing is embedded in the product…marketing becomes the product and the product becomes the marketing.
Brand innovation firms like Wallace-Church get this.
More software companies need to get this.
I hope I explained it better.