As the curator of the INSIDER Guide to New Product Development (NPD), I’m constantly keeping an eye out for bite-size information that will help you develop and scale better subscription products. Here’s my “Five on Friday” list for June 12th, featuring the five best trends, tips, quotes or stats from my reading this week.
1. Dean Patino – a Remaster of the Universe!
Thanks and congratulations to all of you who sent examples of how you remastered your subscription products to expand or modernize them. Here’s a good example from Dean Patino:
Dean has a baseball board game business that’s been around since 1987 named Baseball Classics.
Earlier this year, he remastered this product into a subscription-based offering for his customers to sign up and receive an MLB Season of the Month. A new season – and a new game – twelve times a year.
It’s early times, but the subscription is generating buzz – and revenue. A quote from Mr. Patino’s website:
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“ a thing of beauty.” – Curt Young, Baseball Classics customer __________________________________________________________ |
2. The Suspense is Killing Me Generating Buzz
Mr. Patino also has a coming-soon remaster, the Dollar Baseball Club. I clicked on the link, and loved that he had a countdown to when the product would be available. It tied in nicely with the Entrepreneur.com article “13 Tricks for Landing Your First Thousand Customers” I read this week. Key quote:
Suspense is an excellent way to build excitement before you launch. Create a drip feed of information about your upcoming product. This will make people curious and want to know more — particularly if you reveal the details a little bit at a time. The more you give away, the less interesting it becomes. Try to get people excited, but without giving so much context that people are bored and move on.
3. Swim with the Sharks, or the Oenophiles
So easy to understand it’s easy to forget .Twice this week I’ve heard the advice “join the groups your customers are in.” Once, at a “How to Sell on LinkedIn” webinar that was otherwise pretty awful, and once in that Entrepreneur article. Whether social media or on the conference circuit, a great way to build awareness for your product is to establish yourself as an expert to the markets you serve. What groups do you belong to on LinkedIn? What blogs are you commenting on? Have you submitted an application to speak at a conference? If you’re not talking to your customers, take steps to change that. Trust me – I’m an expert .
4. Are You Chasing Every Bunny in the Field?
In my opinion, one of the most fatal misconceptions in product strategy is that “nimble” equals “throw the plan out.” Here’s a good quote and process from Alex Iskold of Techstars to help you stay focused:
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This is what every single person from CEO to an engineer to a social media manager gets wrong. They get excited about a new idea, drop what they are working on and start working on a new thing. This is the worst possible way to get things done. The task at hand is left unfinished. Most likely you will have to go back to it, but by then you will lose the context and the flow. Most likely you will keep adding new tasks, and context switching all the time. As a result, no tasks will be done well. You are going to create half-baked things and nothing will really work. _____________________________________________________________________________________ |
5. The Lollapalooza CEO?
Found on Inc.com: three minutes well spent watching this funny-but-powerful video on leadership, Derek Sivers: How to start a movement. Includes the he best quote I’ve heard lately:
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“Never underestimate the power of the First Follower. The first follower is the person who transforms the Lone Nut into a Leader.” ________________________________________________________________________________ |
Have a great weekend, everyone
Diane
Diane Pierson, our INSIDER Guide to New Product Development, is a leader in product management and marketing, having delivered results to companies including Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis, American Lawyer Media and Copyright Clearance Center. She has built products & services that have delivered over $100 million in revenue and knows what works, and what doesn’t, when executing product plans and strategies. (Read Diane’s full Bio)
