by: Geoff Ficke

My marketing consulting firm, Duquesa Marketing, reviews hundreds of new product ideas each year. We specialize in the consumer product space and consider submissions for product specific categories such as beauty products, foodstuffs, pet care items, sporting goods and gift items among many others. If the item can sit on a store shelf, or can be sold through electronic retailing, we are keen to review and critique the opportunity.

It is rare that we are introduced to a new idea that the creator does not position as unique, fresh, novel, and/or different from competitive products or services. Every inventor or entrepreneur is seeking to create or fill a niche, called a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) by those in the marketing/branding trade. Occasionally they score a bulls-eye at the initial presentation. Most often, however, the product cannot differentiate itself and create significant separation from existing goods. Sometimes this is a prescription for failure. Other times we can massage an item until fresh features and benefits are added that justify a USP.

I often wonder why our contemporary times, news, personal and professional environments and the life’s journey we all are undertaking is not more useful in identifying commercially viable business concepts with strong USP’s. Today, there is a land rush occurring to find answers to environmental, wellness, medical, obesity and energy issues and problems. Successfully addressing these societal concerns would be of immense import for the inventor and consumer of problem solving new commercial services and products.

In the United States we are consumed with a heated debate about reinventing healthcare. One of the opportunities that should be readily apparent to all entrepreneurs immersed in the details of this issue is that medical doctors are concerned about their future income. Modern medical practices are housed in expensive medical complexes, contain the latest and most costly technology, employee nurses and technicians that are highly trained and compensated and doctors face shrinking remuneration from insurance companies and government programs.

A store within an office, or a clinic within a clinic, offering a tangential service or products would be of interest to many medical practitioners, IF, the opportunity could be presented as a logical extension of the services they offer and profit generation can be easily demonstrated. A proprietary Body Mass Index Test clinic, and a range of supplements for sale, computer generated dietary directives and training could be of interest in a country with the obesity problem we have.

The creation of a product that would enable parents of new, inexperienced teen-age drivers to chart their cars operating systems while driving alone would be of immense value. A device which monitors engine rpm, speed, use of signals, braking velocity, radio volume, blocking cell phone signals while car is in motion and distance travelled would serve to put a damper on reckless behavior. Insurance companies would be thrilled to provide discounts for drivers operating cars equipped with such a device. What concerned parent would not want the comfort of having such a product in their child’s car with a monitor they could follow at home?

The market is flooded with cosmetic options to fight anti-aging and wrinkles. Creams, implements, Botox, cosmetic surgery and supplements are everywhere. And yet, while much is addressed to treating the eye, face, lips and throat, there is virtually nothing that effectively targets hands, wrists and the body. A woman with a face lift, or a Botox injection, is completely given away by the lines and wrinkles on the wrist and back of hands.

Energy saving devices, wellness products, entertainment systems, product portability, packaging innovations, recycling concepts, weight control, pet and child safety and anti-aging regimens are only a few areas ripe for fresh USP’s. Successfully penetrating these niches will reward innovators with fame, riches and immense personal satisfaction. Even small niche advances can be exceedingly rewarding.

by: Geoff Ficke

Recently my marketing consulting firm was approached by the owners of a young organic tea company seeking guidance in piercing the retail product distribution channel. The entrepreneur’s behind the venture were hard working, passionate and fully committed; both personally and financially. They had an excellent product. They also had no sales traction.

After considerable consultation, and many questions about the history of the product and the owner’s backgrounds, the reason for their futile sales performance became crystal clear: They had not identified a Unique Selling Proposition to differentiate their teas from the numerous, established large, medium and small competitors that offer endless product choices in the category. This is usually the problem with any new product offering in an already mature consumer product universe.

What can the new startup do to counteract the existing advantages enjoyed by older, established competitors? The following are but a few options to consider when seeking a differentiation strategy to support a Unique Selling Proposition:

Create a Proprietary Process
Create a handling process that is positioned as proprietary, unique to the product. Another alternative is an enhancement that purportedly improves product performance. In cosmetics we often work with laboratories to craft a bio-engineering process or ingredient stability that we tag with an esoteric descriptive moniker.

Artisan Crafting
In a world of mass production and impersonal mass marketing, the clear profession of a hand crafted provenance can separate a product from giant competitors. Artisan workmanship adds an element of personal skill and old world pride that make each product unique. Artesian crafted products usually deserve and justify higher prices from discerning consumers.

Fair Trade
Many raw materials, flora and herbs are now being purchased through “Fair Trade” associations. Some are country specific. Others are product specific. They insure that indigenous peoples, farmers and tradesmen receive a fair price for providing a better product. In the case of teas, fruits and coffee beans, this produce if often graded according to stringent criteria to insure quality and consistency.

Identify a Rare, Exotic Component
The perfume industry is famous for highlighting rare, precious and exotic plants that produce highly prized essential oils to make fragrances powerful, long lasting, novel. Years ago I was a partner in a perfume company that utilized “tagetes’, a rare east African flower with a very short growing season, a huge flower head and a distinctive oil that provided an amazing “dry down” when blended with more subtle flowers. This type of exotic component story can be transported to foods, drinks and other consumable products.

Geography
Include a component, ingredient or mineral that can only be found in one, or very few, spots in the world. This creates the image of rarity and exclusivity in the new product. Moroccan argane oil is one such ingredient. New Zealand harvested manuka is another. Often, ingredients or components of this type are expensive and are included in production formulae in small, trace amounts.

Personalization
Several years ago, we had a client that made luxury pet clothes and accessories. She achieved success by offering a customized embroidery service to her products. The customer could order accessories with their pets name embroidered on the goods, choosing font, color combinations and placement of the logo. These personalized pieces were much more profitable than the generic retail products she sold.

Limited Edition
A customized handbag designer, much like a famous artist, makes limited runs of her designs. She numbers and signs each, and at the end of each series she retires the pattern, die cuts and design. This insures the exclusivity of her hand bags; supports top end pricing and insures brand desirability. The luxury goods category is rife with this type of short run, exclusive brand protection strategy.

Enhanced Benefits
Recently we were introduced to a simple, excellent cost saving accessory. The owner was having limited success selling the item as a tool that consumers could utilize to lengthen consumable product usage. We identified a “wellness/safety” feature that had been missed. As an anti-bacterial accessory, that will provide excellent product/money savings, the product now sports dual benefits to consumers and is beginning to enjoy success on retail shelves.

These are only a few strategies that entrepreneur’s can utilize to successfully launch and market new consumer products. In each case, we strive to craft a guerilla marketing campaign that will highlight perceived advantages inherent in a client’s item. If they do not exist, we research options and reinvent the product, or simply the marketing strategy, to highlight the Unique Selling Proposition that was not encompassed in the products core. Successful entrepreneurs have been doing exactly this, often times without realizing they were doing so, for as long as there has been a consumer product marketplace.