In our first ingredient article, we challenged you to question how you make your business decisions. We spoke about our gut instinct and how relying on the data around us can be the decisive factor between a successful or failed outcome.
Today, we will dive deeper into how we, as Brandble, help you validate your ideas and take some of that hard work off your plate.
But first, let's start with a short metaphorical example, where your role is going to be that of the customer:
Let’s imagine that you woke up one morning with a terrible toothache in your wisdom teeth. A few painkillers later, the pain does not go away, and you naturally conclude that a trip to the dentist is imminent.
Let’s face it, most of us don’t like dentists for all sorts of reasons… but you do have this problem that you need to solve, so let’s define it first:
Problem: I have a pain in my tooth that is bothering me, and it doesn't go away.
So you don’t like dentists, you have severe pain, and you want it gone. Simple? No. You will try to make sure that you visit someone who will perform this procedure painlessly, will do so quickly and hopefully at a reasonable price.
So what do we have here? We now have the possible criteria for what you will determine as a successful outcome to your problem! Great, let’s define it!
Criteria for Successful Outcome: I have a pain in my tooth that is bothering me, and it doesn't go away. I need an experienced dentist who can alleviate the pain and do it painlessly, as fast as possible, and at a reasonable price.
So now that you know what you are looking for, you will most probably seek recommendations from friends and family, look at public reviews, or, if you are lucky, you already have a dentist who checked all the boxes before.
Question: would you book an appointment with the first random dentist if you find them online? Most probably No. What you have here now is HOW you will select the provider of the solution to your problem, so let’s define it as well:
The solution: I have a pain in my tooth that is bothering me, and it doesn’t disappear. I need an experienced dentist who can fix this painlessly, as fast as possible, and at a reasonable price. The best thing I can do is ask the people I trust first for recommendations, and if no one knows, look for someone with a strong reputation online. Next step = decision = hire = sale based on who will satisfy this criteria best.
The moral of the story
We have concluded a story of how you would potentially approach hiring a solution provider to solve a problem you are experiencing as a customer.
The moral of this story is very simple. As a business founder yourself, you are selling a solution to your customer’s problems.
Identifying what problem you solve for your customer, how they will deem it worthy, and how they will make their selection is critical in determining whether your customer will pick you over your competitor.
The logic behind the above example, combined with the brilliant concept taught by Mr. Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, has greatly inspired us to create our own recipe to validate your ideas before engaging in any of our marketing services as Brandble.
Now that we have seen everything from the perspective of the customer, let's look at how we can help you validate your idea as a service provider:
Ingredient I - Understanding your vision
Understanding your idea and your vision is the first and the most critical step in our process. Like in the example with the dentist, our goal is to accurately capture your vision and the problem you are trying to solve for your customers. At this point, we only ask and listen.
Why? Because no matter how much experience we have, we are NOT your customer, and we are NOT your competitor. The most crucial goal is to understand your idea and how you believe your customers will determine a successful outcome.
Ingredient II - Competitor Discovery
Now that we have a good understanding of your vision, we look at your competition. It helps us understand your market space, but most importantly, it allows us to analyze your competition in the context of your exact idea.
It is imperative to note that there are many conclusions that you can draw from this step. It is quite common for us to assume at this point that if our competitor exists and sells, it means I can too, or if I mimic the best, I will be the best! Not exactly.
Please do not forget that facts supersede our gut instinct. Remember: if you were to choose a dentist, you would thoroughly analyze specific criteria when selecting who to go to, and so will your potential customer.
The fact that your competitor exists does not necessarily mean that they do it right. The fact that your competitor is flourishing and you mimic them does not mean that you will be in the position to compete, and this is where the most important ingredient III comes into play.
Ingredient III - Audience Discovery
As the final step of our process, this is the most interesting; we talk to your existing or potential customers. Having acquired the knowledge of your vision and how your competition claims to differentiate, we now have the necessary information to acquire the genuine opinion of your customers.
Through 1-on-1 interviews combined with quantitative surveys, we acquire the view of those who matter the most – the people who will essentially decide whether your idea is worth buying or not.
The final outcome
Just as a dentist, who would first examine your case, send you to do an X-Ray, and only then recommend and perform a wisdom tooth extraction to alleviate your pain, our approach is no different.
Our choice as a marketing agency is not to engage in selling you a service just because we can. Our goal is to generate meaningful results that you will consider to be a successful outcome and our process is how we ensure exactly that.