Effective Product Thinking
Effectivus is focussed on helping you to bring the best possible products to market in the most effective way. We combine strong commercial, technical thinking with innovation to deliver concrete results which will help you deliver better products. We focus on technical products, especially software, delivered into business markets. We have over 20 years experience with products for the creative industries.
Pricing
An effectivus view on seven pricing strategies
A friend and client was kind enough to point out a deficiency in my web site the other day.
“What about pricing, Chris? I can’t find anything about it on your site.”
Sigh.
All of us wise students of marketing know that Price is just one of the 4P’s (or 7P’s, or 47peas in a pod), and that it is the offering that our customers buy into. We know that the whole product is so much more than just the price, but we also have to set a price. At some point, we have to pin our colours to the mast and give a price; no vagueness, not a variable, but a definitive number. That is tough.
I thought I had better refer to one of the “great men” of modern management theory: Michael Porter. I duly looked up “price” in the index of Competitive Strategy and found a section entitled “Correct Pricing”. Only a “great man” could simplify the topic to the binary opinion that there is “correct” and “incorrect” pricing. Pah!
Your average management books (and maybe the less than average ones too) cover pricing with a number of different strategies. It is telling that you find it covered in Economics, Marketing, Strategy, Finance. Each approach tells us something about your Product Management and Marketing team.
So, for the first, and probably last time, here is the Effectivus guide to pricing strategies…
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Remember Parallax Software?
Old time memories for old time digital artists
Barriers to adoption
Why the benefits of innovation are not necessarily enough to overcome the barriers to adoption
Ever get the feeling that you are working in a mental asylum? Of course, I’m not talking about any of my client companies. They are all completely sane and sensible. I’ll skip over the fact that the defining experience of working in one of their offices is being pelted with Nerf gun pellets at regular intervals.
Ten years ago I had the interesting experience of moving from what had been a start-up to a big corporate. Not only was Kodak huge, it had a lot of history, it was based on the other side of the continent and it was an old time manufacturing company that was going down the tube but had yet to face up to the fact. You can still see it struggling with this in recent advertisements in American Cinematographer: “Film No Compromise”. Wake up and smell the coffee Kodak, film was dead 10 years ago.
One of the wackier things I discovered there (and it was a year packed full of wacky stuff) was George Eastman’s devotion to the International Fixed Calendar. In 1926, George wrote about “The Importance of Calendar Reform to the Business World”. In this short article, he explains how the variations in the length of the calendar month cause all sorts of problems with the proper management of a modern business. I’m sure you are aware of this and have frequently stumbled over the 11% difference between the length of March and February or the shocking 17% difference in the number of working days in those months. And, that’s not even mentioning the vexations of a “wandering Easter”.
What the Dog Saw
A review of Malcolm Gladwell’s book
I can find almost any topic interesting if presented well. In fact, I love being given a glimpse into the normally hidden world of a new specialty. Not only do you learn about stuff you would never normally encounter, but you invariably get a view of the alien culture of those who inhabit this strange new realm. As I learn about a new topic my mind is constantly searching for analogies between it and topics I understand or experiences I have, and then, “POW!” I get a revealing insight into something completely different. I wish this inquisitive habit mean that I was a Polymath or a Renaissance Man, but sadly I’m more of a butterfly generalists, flitting from one subject to another.
As I write this, I have my media player in random mode and am delighted by it switching from Stéphane Grappelli to Indigo Girls.
I do have a deep respect for those who combine my interest with real knowledge and Malcolm Gladwell never fails to impress. In “Open Secrets” in his collection of essays, he touches on Enron, Al Qaeda, Nazi Propaganda, Prostate Cancer, and the Cold War, all in search of a clear differentiation between “Puzzles” and “Mysteries”.
Researching new product markets
The bubble popping continues; why market research is so important, but so inexact.
Business plans rely on estimates of the size of your target market, but how and when to approach this?
In a recent lecture to students on the Technology Venturing elective of the MSc in Entrepreneurship at Royal Holloway University of London, School of Management, I explored opportunity evaluation, market research and commercial feasibility. The lecture, based upon practical experience, cited four real life examples of new products for the film and television production market, describing the process and the outcomes.
The process he described is an iterative one involving going out into the market to seek inspiration for ideas, then confirming that the ideas are valid within the organisation. Forays into the market help to ensure that the product continues to address real unmet needs throughout its development. Alternating these forays with work within the organisation ensures that products are realistic within the confines of the organisations abilities, resources and values. As the activity cycles between organisation and market, the project progresses through the stages of product definition, development and delivery.
Each example covered one of the stages of desk research, industry interviews, preliminary product pitching and recognising new opportunities. The examples were described in detail and the results and conclusions shared. These real world examples helped to illustrate how contrary research can be and how new product development can be full of highs and lows.
Using stories from his experience in the film and television industry, Chris brought what can be a dry subject to life. With humour, enthusiasm and dynamism Chris entertained and informed.
“Chris has a wealth of insights and experiences to share. He definitely captured the students’ interest”, Dr Harveen Chugh, Lecturer in Strategy & Entrepreneurship, School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London.
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