Brand Relationships

Brands need to become their end-users’ best friend and to be a besty you have to have your friend’s best interests in mind. No friend is going to properly support you in every way (your fitness coach might not be the guy who challenges you mentally), but they should encourage you to become a better version of yourself.

Typically when we think of self-improvement there are three main buckets: Body, Mind, and Spirit. You could also add a fourth bucket of Economics. Every bucket also contains subcategories. For instance, Economics would include things like occupation, debt/savings, investments, etc. Each of these buckets and their subcategories creates potential for brands to build strong relationships with their end-user by helping them grow in the areas that fit with their core brand.

Like friends, brands will most likely ping on multiple buckets and subcategories. Take Nike for example, they clearly deliver products that encourage people to exercise and reach personal health goals. In doing so, they also help people reach new heights mentally – “Just do it” – encourages your mental toughness and discipline.

Innovation is a good judge of how truly dedicated a brand is to improving the lives of its end-users. Transparency has been a strong buzzword, pushing companies to be open and honest. A company’s innovation pipeline shows where they are putting their money. Are they just making claims or are they actually trying to deliver solutions that better the life of the consumer?

For brands, there are a few main reasons why they need to start thinking like a best friend. First, it is getting harder and harder to compete on technology. The rate at which technology advances is increasing at an astonishing pace, which means it is also becoming less expensive and more accessible to other brands. Secondly, consumers are demanding transparency out of their brands and their access to information allows them to check the brand’s honesty.

By focusing on building relationships through innovation brands can deliver long-term growth opportunities. Over the next few posts we’ll look at those four main buckets (Body, Mind, Spirit, Economic), their subcategories, and what it means to brands.

Balancing Fear and Peace

Just a quick thought on Fear and Peace -

Sitting in church last Sunday I started to think about how many times the Bible talks about the importance of fearing God, but also the peace that God brings. Fear and peace seem to be polar opposites at first, but putting it in a business perspective helps to make sense of it all.

In business and your career there are times when you have to take a risk – either by choice or by force you have to jump off the ledge. Should you change jobs? Which direction should you steer your company? Are you willing to take a chance and recommend a product line that goes beyond incremental changes? If so, are you willing to bet your career on it? For many people that kind of risk is a scary thing. Change can be daunting even when its welcome change.

God can be pretty intimidating as well. He’s so far beyond us and is always asking us to take chances on Him so that we can grow. This can create fear, but this is also where peace comes in. Even when our backs are against the wall and there is no way out except to take it on the chin He provides love through trust and hope – and that in turn creates peace.

When making a decision about your career or company, it is important to first do your homework. Do it rigorously. Eventually you’ll still have to jump off that ledge and take a risk, but you can find peace in knowing you made your decision from a sound place.

The balance of fear and peace is a dynamic one, but the discomfort it causes only makes the reward that much better.

Stage-Gate and Design Thinking – BFF’s or Frenemies?

The Stage-Gate process and Design Thinking process are two very different ways to approach innovation and many people subscribe to either one process or the other. They are matched up and pitted against each other in a cordial way. In other words, they become frenemies. But like most things in life it’s not so much and “either/or” decision, but a “both/and” decision. Both processes have strengths and weaknesses and can play off each other in a powerful way. They become B.F.F.’s. The question brands needs to ask when looking at innovation processes is when to apply each, so let’s look at their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Stage-Gate is a wonderfully linear process and works just like it sounds – there are stages followed by gates where progress is assessed before moving on. Some of the benefits of this process is that it can be extremely efficient, is easy to apply, and is a process that most people feel comfortable in because of its linear progression. It’s Achilles heal is that because of it’s linear format, the outcome is only as good as the inputs at the very beginning. So in order to have a highly successful outcome from the Stage-Gate process you need to make sure you have all your inputs correct before you start.

The Design Thinking process is much different. This process typically includes seven steps: 1. Define, 2. Research, 3. Ideation, 4. Prototype, 5. Objectives, 6. Implement, 7. Learn. We won’t get in to the nuts and bolts of each step in this post, but the key take-away is that this process is mostly based on flexing between convergence and divergence to refine your innovation efforts and the seven steps provide a structure. The balance between divergence and convergence is like a camera zooming in and zooming out. This allows us to revisit or bring in new insights as we move through the seven steps – much different from Stage-Gate. The downfall to this process is that it can make people uncomfortable as we zoom in and zoom out, moving between divergence and convergence. The upside is that your outcome has a higher chance of creating solutions that are more in tune with your target segment and make a bigger impact in the market.

WHEN TO USE WHICH

Let’s start with Design Thinking. Because of its dynamic nature Design Thinking is your best option when trying to target new growth opportunities, new breakthrough innovations (think iTunes and iPods). It can also be incredibly effective when creating your overall innovation strategy as it will paint the vision for your organization and help you see how to get there.

Stage-Gate is best to use when trying to achieve incremental innovation; you’re not trying to invent the next big market, but simply trying to get some more mileage out of your current portfolio (think line extensions).

Stage-Gate can make a nice follow-up to Design Thinking. Design Thinking  helps you create an overall innovation strategy, cultivates new places to play, and helps you understand how to win. It’s the pioneer, the Lewis and Clark of innovation. Once the map has been developed and a road has been set, Stage-Gate is a nice way to pave that road so you can get the most out of it until it’s time to explore new places to play and how to win. Both methods have a place and a purpose and can be pretty magical companions when used in harmony.

Cultivating Convictions

Jesus didn’t have an MBA and we never hear much about his first career choice as carpenter. Even still, the more I read the Bible, the more business advice I seem to get out of it. This section, Bible on Business, is about those little lessons. The first of which is on cultivating your convictions.

“So let us come boldly to the throne of God” (Hebrews 4:16) – And that’s exactly what Henry Ford did! Well, I don’t know about the “throne of God” part, but he did come boldly. In his autobiography, “My Life and Work,” he describes his conviction for reducing people’s workload so that they could spend more time enjoying nature, friends, and family. Of course this eventually led him to the automobile. While our convictions may be refined as we gain experiences, time spent understanding them can produce success in our careers and in business. An important part to cultivating your convictions is to align your business and personal life convictions.

Matching your business and personal life convictions helps you be bold. No one wants to hear a Braveheart speech every Tuesday morning, but having an opinion goes a long way. Basing those opinions out of your convictions gives you a sound position and helps you stick out from the crowd in a positive way, hopefully.

Spending time cultivating those convictions is an investment in your career and personal life that will pay off. In business school we were tasked with writing down everything we could remember about our lives from day one. As I wrote down memory after memory I started to see patterns and themes emerge. These themes helped me better understand what my convictions are. Think back on your life, what do you see come up consistently? Do you notice repeated drivers in your life or actions that you are naturally drawn to?

Returning to Henry Ford, his conviction for reducing workloads so people can have more time to enjoy life was combined with his passion for mechanics. As a result, Ford achieved personal satisfaction in his work, which, to me, is more notable than the history that is filed under his name. Aligning your life  and business convictions can help you gain satisfaction in your work and a point of differentiation within your field.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). But you have to know what to ask for, what to seek, and when you knock on that door – knock hard!