Try It. Tweak It. Use It. Share It. Volume 6
Photo by Victor Garcia on Unsplash
By Mary Aviles
The Decemberist's Colin Meloy talks about his process for writing Once In My Life on Song Exploder; I was struck by his description of an inbreath.
"I was in one of those moments between songs, not really feeling great about stuff I was working on. I felt blocked. Frustrated. Not really feeling like anything was coming. You get to those moments like, 'I'll never write another song again. I've tapped out. That's all I have in me.' I'll find if I'm stuck I remind myself that I just need an inbreath. An inbreath can be watching a movie, reading a book, going for a walk--just somehow taking in rather than putting out."
This is so much more poetic than calling it a Pity Party! Seriously though, it was a timely reminder to put something in the mental tank.
Try It.
I develop A LOT of presentations. In addition to project work, I'm chipping away at a personal goal to speak at least once monthly. I appreciate Avinash Kashnik's 20-50-20-10 framework as a means of reminding me to balance the What, the Why, and the How with the So What?
Care (20%) = lead with "out of sight" or transformational insight
Do (50%) = share the "what to do now"
Impact (20%) = wrap with the potential impact
Questions (10%)
Tweak It.
Lack of market need was the culprit in 42% of the 101 cases explored in an August 2018 Harvard Business Review article on startup success. The author provides three means of establishing market need, relevant for start ups and existing businesses alike. They are:
Analyze the competitive landscape. Learn from the first mover and let them shoulder the burden of establishing or disrupting a market.
Synthesize search traffic. While interpretation will vary by industry and your goals, search traffic can serve as need validation.
Conduct a concept test. This can be done qualitatively or quantitatively, but it should contain a willingness to pay component.
I'd like to add a fourth option, which is to conduct, as a team, Dr. Gary Klein's pre-mortem exercise to examine potential flaws at the outset.
Use It.
At the beginning of every research engagement it's important to map out what you know (Known Knowns) versus what you don't know (Known Unknowns). Here's a super useful Project Knowledge Framework from Ray Poynter that takes that idea one step farther, making it more valuable for advancing projects. Unknown Unknowns are where the project ahas surface and where new insights can emerge. Unknown Knowns are opportunities to help connect previously unconnected dots.
Share It.
Last week, I discussed the progression of the sales and marketing funnel with a group of Detroit retailers as part of TechTown's Holiday Readiness Series. Leave it to Google to overhaul the funnel just days later! The impact on journey mapping is significant, as they've found that customer journeys--even within the same categories--are unique. Mind blown. Organizations that can identify and capitalize on intent are most likely to convert: "People are demanding assistance, and the brands that offer it are the brands that will win."
Thanks very kindly for your readership. Feel free to share your feedback on format, content, frequency of posts, or anything else that strikes you. As ever, if you implement one of the ideas you found here, I'd be thrilled if you reported back your outcomes!