Now and forevermore: my product design beats your marketing noise

In 2008 the quality of your product design has never been more important. Never.

This networked world permits and powers word of mouth on steroids. We know this: Landrover showed us (see result no. 2); Dell showed us; HSBC reminded us.

As if you didn’t already know, we usually share recommendations and warnings with a small circle of human beings we see or communicate with regularly, in small groups, usually through voice, each recommendation or warning of the chitter chatter tailored to that audience. (For more on the dynamics of word of mouth you *must* read Gladwell’s Tipping Point.)

Our various networks – friends, family, co-workers, business contacts, prospective lovers – now congregate in densely packed online clusters, otherwise known as (sighs at fatigued buzzword) ‘online social networks’.

Result? Yesterday’s chitter chatter in the physical world can now be distributed much further and more rapidly to more people through the networks. Word of mouth on steroids. Mo fo wildfire. Good and bad feedback, coming at you and your besuited bosses outta nowhere. Leftfield, anorak smalltime annoyances that you didn’t need to worry about before (they had no *power*) are able to stand on the shoulders of giants (like Facebook or the blogosphere) and aim a big fat custard pie at your cherished darling brand.

So what is the next and natural consequence of these simple, immutable truths?

Product design replaces marketing noise.

The marketing noise is already there, always has been, always will be. It’s the noise of peer to peer ratings and reviews. It’s the noise of Bertie telling Billy who tells Bob who goes and does it. But that traditional bazaar has been given the aforementioned digital rocketfuel. Networked conversations.

All you need to do, and Lord Godin, my king, my master, may his feet be washed in rosewater, has been saying it, like *forever*, is to be remarkable.

My product design beats your fake marketing noise. David Maister, another super-lord-above of cleverness, wrote that when it comes to selling professional services your marketing must ‘demonstrate, not assert’. Through superior product design, you demonstrate.

The Dyson airblade, it demonstrates, it doesn’t assert. Its product design wins. And people talk and celebrate (for those not on Facebook, this link is to 12 user-generated Dyson Airblade fan groups and one Facebook Application to allow you to pinpoint where Airblades are installed!). So to those that say ‘yeah but my company’s products aren’t exciting enough please note: it’s a fricking hand-dryer – stop whingeing, start changing and causing a kerfuffle.

The iPhone (yawn… I know) demonstrates, through its innovate design including a touchy feely ‘haptic‘ interface.

Amazon. Intuitive, easy to use, works for me.

Google, as above.

I called WhizzGo yesterday, a car club, to discuss their service. The first thing the guy asked me was ‘do you want me to call you back on this number?’. I was delightedly flabberghasted. There I was, calling their 0870 number (pricey, here in the UK) and there he was offering to call me back and did, instantly. Check out WhizzGo – they have a brilliantly thought out product ‘design’ – the way the cars work, the process, the pricing, the DESIGN of it all.

There are so many examples of good and bad product design it’s really hard to know which to discuss. If you can think of any, please share in the comments and we can chat there ;-)

This thread has been constant for me in 2007 – it was the spine of all of the training work I did with clients, of, as marketers, encouraging ourselves to think about the design and configuration of our products rather than the messaging noise to promote them.

Yet ironically, in thinking about my personal performance last year I know there were times were I made great marketing noise and delivered poor product. I am at risk of word of mouth on steroids just as the big brands are (and so are you) – except it’s my personal brand – ‘me’ – and that’s a brand I can’t runaway from!

So what do you and your organisation need to do?

1. Gain agreement at the highest levels that you can’t flog dead donkeys any more and that substance will win-out over noise.
2. Acknowledge causes of negative feedback and lean into the fixing of those problems
3. Focus ‘marketing’ energies on designing remarkably good products that will self-generate buzz on- and offline
4. As buzz begins, your job is to then Listen, Make Things Available, and Measure

It’s my plan and message for 2008.