Product Market Fails Improve
Long Term Success

In order to target consumers effectively with product marketing, companies need to accept failure as a win, says Tara Scott, vice-president of commercial growth strategy and execution for Coca-Cola Canada Bottling.

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Additionally, while speaking at the ‘DX3 Canada – Retail, Marketing & Technology Event,’ she said weaknesses need to be identified in both the marketing strategy and the product itself. Finding potential fails, weaknesses, and being critical of the entire product launch is essential for success in the long run. Also, companies will succeed with marketing products by not overwhelming themselves with the large amounts of data received, says Scott. Faults in a product or a marketing strategy is itself a valuable form of data and therefore should not be feared. Someone who can come up with every possible outcome that proves a prepared market launch to be a failure, is a strong team member, said Scott. Every failure proven, pushes the team a step closer towards success.

 

Data Overload

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However, large amounts of accessible data are not always a good thing. “With the wealth of information that we're dealing with right now, it's very easy to get into that rabbit hole of trying to get to the nitty gritty,” said Scott. When overwhelmed with the analytics and information gathered on consumers, the focus should be on what is driving the customer’s day life. Effective marketing is when a product can be proven to fit in and improve a lifestyle.

 

Additionally, segmentation should be a considered component in any marketing method. A product presented in one province, needs to be presented differently in another. Every consumer is different and therefore needs to be targeted based on their own unique patterns relevant to where they are located and their general demographic, said Scott.

 

Don Barden, CEO and managing partner at GeorgiaXracts said, a common defective strategy used by companies is to take the collected data and choose to shape it in a way to prove a wanted truth. “We need to create and produce what they want, not what we want,” he says. Committing to what the data portrays will allow for a successful outcome, rather than creating an assumption first, then manipulating the information to fit a created narrative.

With the effective use of data, companies can increase potential sales. They should not be discouraged by product fails. Instead, they should feel encouraged because those fails put them one step closer to success.