Archive of posts from December 2023

A ‘customer journey’ is bigger than us.

A good ‘product roadmap’ recognises this.

The a good product roadmap must look at:

• the full customer journey
• the parts of the journey you’ve solved
• the parts that come before your solution
• the parts that come after your solution

Nowhere in this list is “cool ideas we had” or “stuff our competitors did recently”.

The better you facilitate the journey your customers have already made a $0 buying decision to pursue, the more likely they’ll choose you as a vessel to take them there.

That’s your product roadmap.

I posted this on LinkedIn this week, and thought I might share it with you here:

Here’s how to leverage customer-led growth:

1. Define the user’s “narrative” as best as you can. Include their full journey, including what happens before and after your product. Remember, you fit into their story, not the other way around.

2. Interview customers regularly (qualitative data) to ensure that your definition of their “narrative” is correct. The closest to the customer wins, so keeping this narrative tight is key.

3. Every piece of marketing material you deploy should provide data. This data (quantitive) should also help ensure that your definition of their “narrative” is correct. Every win/fail will teach you something.

With an accurate narrative in hand, you can build your product as an expression of their journey. Win!

Here’s how to leverage customer-led growth:

1. Define the user’s “narrative” as best as you can. Include their full journey, including what happens before and after your product. Remember, you fit into their story, not the other way around.

2. Interview customers regularly (qualitative data) to ensure that your definition of their “narrative” is correct. The closest to the customer wins, so keeping this narrative tight is key.

3. Every piece of marketing material you deploy should provide data. This data (quantitive) should also help ensure that your definition of their “narrative” is correct. Every win/fail will teach you something.

With an accurate narrative in hand, you can build your product as an expression of their journey. Win!

Building a product roadmap is simple.

What do you need?

1. A phone. Talk to customers, refine your understanding of their macro journey, listen for problems they face (before/during/after your product).

2. Some paper. Map out those problems relative to the solutions you’ve already designed for them.

3. A to-do list: Prioritise the problems in order of pain, then conspire to solve them.

Use fancier tools if you like, but don’t conflate ‘fancier’ with ‘better’. Every product roadmap I’ve ever made (to this day, for startups to multi-billion dollar clients) has been done using those simple tools!

When you’re marketing a product, your success comes from helping customers succeed:

• Understand where customers are
• Understand where they want to be
• Understand how they want to get there

Everyone in the team must know these things.

Everyone in the team must contribute to either deepening understanding, building stuff that helps customers move along that journey, or both.

This way, everyone is clear on both what the goal is, and whether or not their work is contributing meaningfully toward it.

Now goals aren’t “because boss said so”.

Now goals are directly tied to helping customers succeed.

When “taking risks” and “innovation” are successful, they have one thing in common:

Proximity to their target audience.

When you know your audience, you can see where your industry is off course. It may seem ‘risky’ or even ‘innovative’ to give your audience what its looking for, but is it, really?

Or is it just that the competitors didn’t take the time to listen and respond to the needs of those in their care?

Get closer to your customers. It looks risky and innovative, but it’s actually the safest thing there is.

There must be a point of flexibility in every project; either Scope, or Date.

If the due-date won’t flex, scope must flex. If the scope won’t flex, the due-date must flex.

Even Apple’s iPhone famous launch keynote had a flex point (scope). They had several phones lined up behind a table, each only capable of doing one thing.

If there are no points of flexibility, your team will burn out and leave you, as they should, because they’re being tasked with unhealthy and unsafe scopes where the only possible casualty is them.

Scope, or Date. Make sure everyone knows which one it is, make peace with it, then do your very best.

A good relationship with customers is a cheat code.

Instead of producing your marketing then seeing how they respond? Pitch marketing content to an inner-circle and get feedback before you even start.

Instead of creating content you hope they’ll like? Answer the questions your inner-circle are wrestling with, in your content.

Marketing is just those conversations at scale. First, nail those conversations.

Don’t develop a sense of direction.

You don’t need a sense of direction to build a great product.

What you do need is to develop a sense of responsibility to those you’re building for.

The closer you are to those your work serves, the more you’ll be clear on precisely what your work needs in order to improve.

The closest to the customer wins.

Good communication is a bigger deal than most of us really appreciate.

But only when we define what ‘good’ means:

• Timely (clients and team members must never ask, “How’s it going?”)

• Thoroughly (don’t leave any areas to chance; if in doubt, over-explain)

• Thoughtfully (sit with correspondence until you’re ready to give a full, considered response; don’t be a “knee-jerk” with speedy retorts)

We might think we’re good at communication.

Reviewing these three elements may teach us a thing or two.

A great design portfolio is great, but overly-polished button styles are only of real interest in FAANG.

To make your portfolio really great, show the problem. Show the audience facing the problem. Show how you solved their problem using good design. Show what the results were.

Now that’s a portfolio people no one can ignore.

As a product builder, your sketches aren’t just blueprints. They’re pitches.

If you have the opportunity to present your pitches to an inner-circle of customers, you’ll learn how to improve your work before you even start producing it.

Most designers will wait until production is done, because they’d prefer to be producing than pitching. But your pitch-first approach will improve the reception of your work, as well as giving you a ‘taste’ for the type of feedback and preferences your target audience has.

Years ago, I discovered something about sales calls.

The prospect isn’t just evaluating us.

We’re evaluating them.

And at the first sign of trouble, we should flag that we may not be a great fit.

Not because we don’t enjoy projects, or because we don’t want more business. That’s silly. But because we know that engaging with those who you’re not a great fit for causes trouble.

They’re the ones who need the most calls. They’re the ones who create payment disputes. They’re the ones who keep trying to push you past your boundries.

Sometimes, someone who isn’t a great fit slips through. Normally, deep down, you know you’re making this mistake.

And you pay the price.

Do not be afraid to accept that some folks are not for you.

Maybe their needs are outside of your core expertise. Maybe they’re hustling you on your pricing. Maybe you just don’t like them.

The world’s a big place. Find your people.

Marketing is art and science.

The CFO is griping about ‘creativity’ is wrong.

The design intern griping about spreadsheets is also wrong.

If marketing is all science, it loses the essential ingredients necessary to move people. You can feel it. It feels soulless, sterile, calculated. All-science doesn’t work.

If marketing is all art, it loses the essential insights necessary to grow what works. You can feel this too, the lack of focus on delivering what people want most. All-art works sometimes, but there’s a third way.

If marketing is both art and science — and both are allowed the space to germinate and do what they do best — you connect with your audience well, and do more of what works.

Combine both. That’s where the wins are.

I like building good quality things.

And usually, that means building things that last.

But the web, despite being a great place to store things that last, is peppered with things that don’t.

Because they were built by people who let their work go stale. Or they didn’t document how it works, and so edits are difficult. Or because they built on proprietary platforms you didn’t want to pay monthly for anymore.

And so good ideas and bodies of work die.

The solution?

Build with its life in mind.

If you want something to be around for a long time, dignify it with build decisions that reflect that.

Leave yourself notes to remember how it works. Launch it in places you can sustain for a long time. Look after it so it doesn’t break.

Sure, it takes a little bit longer.

But if you like building quality things… and if that usually means building things that last… isn’t it worth that little bit extra?

If you want to build a thriving, long-term, talented team…

…Recruit long-term, talented individuals, pay them well, and help them thrive in their roles.

If you want to build a frenetic, short-term, low-talent team…

…Recruit on price alone, not on talent or commitment, and keep them until you get a cheaper offer.

Share your work with ten people.

Do they share it with others?

If they don’t, you have a long road ahead of you. Marketing will be an act of grinding through humans, social media ‘growth hacks’ and ad spend for hard-won, tiring sales.

Or you could do better work. Work you’re proud of. Work that shares your story, your skills, your care for your craft.

Build that which those ten people would be delighted to share with others.

Then make delightful, fun, immersive invitations to the work.

Isn’t that easier?

Social media content should be like Pringles.

If you offer a stranger a sandwich, they don’t want it. That’s just weird.

But if you offer them a Pringle, they’ll usually say yes. And then think about wanting another one.

That’s just how it goes with Pringles.

Maybe, from there, conversation will occur, and the two of you will go get that sandwich.

Know the role of each piece in your marketing funnel.

And serve the right snacks at every stage.

Fall out of love with goals, vision boards, and reaching the top.

Fall in love with process, mundane daily routines, and taking the journey.

The peace, happiness and satisfaction you’ll feel is intoxicating.

Driving in traffic is boring.

Or it was, before Waze made commuting a game.

So ‘buckle up’, let’s look at how they did it.

No one wants to report traffic issues, that’s boring. So Waze lets us earn points and rack up scores for doing it. Reports bad. Points good.

No one likes sitting there on their own stuck in traffic. So Waze let folks leave comments on the map for others to find. Lonely bad. Connection good.

No one likes outdated maps. So Waze let users edit the maps for accuracy, and unlock achievements and stuff for doing so. It made for more accurate mapping, and folks enjoyed making it that way.

You weren’t commuting. You were playing.

Yada-yada then they sold to Google in 2013 for over a billion dollars. So, it’s safe to say it worked.

Something to ponder: what seeingly-boring areas of your product or service could you gamify and turn into a source of joy for your customers?

Nike made an ad.

One that a commenter with 100K likes called Nike’s best ad ever, amassing over 35.8 million in just 2 days.

Better than their LeBron collab at 1.9, their FC at 3.8, The Lionesses at 3.7, and even their 1000 Victories event at 21.3.

Why?

A couple reasons.

First, because they used Edutainment properly: they gave users what they want, how they’d love to see it. This didn’t even feel like an ad, this felt like something people wanted to watch more of.

Think about that… their best ad was the one people wanted to watch and wanted to see more of.

Second, they made it like a Character Select screen on a videogame - you choose your identity by picking Blossom’s shoes, Bubbles’ shoes, or Buttercup’s shoes. And maybe you buddies will pick the other ones… if you tell them about it.

And the wit and fun of cartoon-style content, which works tremendously well across so many markets and industries, helped package all that up into something that apparently worked over 18X better than a top-tier celebrity endorsement video, and in just 2 days.

The opportunity on the table even from just making ONE quality edutainment video is just phenomenal. Imagine what’s possible if you were to lean in and seize it.

Many creators struggle to understand what freedom means.

Freedom means you get to choose.

You can choose to spend your time building a better product, or marketing your existing one.

You can choose to invest your resources into long-term opportunities, or cash out and spend them today.

YOu can choose to study and expand your mind at home, or can go out and network with others.

Neither decision is necessarily right or wrong.

And if you’re really lucky, you’ll have freedom to change your mind, too.

What’s wrong is making a decision then envying those who chose otherwise.

Things get really easy when you stop caring what others think, and do you.

Sometimes… when you’re hard at work on work that matters…

It’s easy to forget to stop and look at just how much progress you’ve made.

Some days remind you to stop and look. To pause and take it in.

To see just how wonderful things have become.

So if you’ve not had a reminder lately… consider this yours.

Look.

Keep it up, champ.

Hope is a lousy strategy when building your project.

And stressing about the thing you’re hoping for is even worse.

I call it 'hope-straining'…

And hope-straining is only a good strategy if your goal is to get a hernia.

But is sure is tempting, when:

• You dabble in several marketing strategies
• You discover how much work is in each of them
• They all seem to be really, really hard to do well

But when hernias look tempting, it’s a good sign we’ve missed something.

Unclench your posterior, for there is a solution:

• The strategies aren’t the problem
• The problem is the same regardless of strategy
• That problem is: you’re being samey, boring, and unremarkable

Consider this:

When was the last time you texted a brand marketing asset with a friend because you thought they’d really like it?

Doesn’t happen often, does it.

But when it does, I’ll bet it was something unique, entertaining & remarkable.

I cover this topic in more detail in The Productoon Newsletter this week. Give it a look.

Hype and sustainability don’t get along very well.

When one of my projects picks up too much steam, I slow it down. I’ve watched what happens to projects that get too much hype, and it’s not good.

And yet going too slowly starves a project of life and energy that right-fit people would love to see in your work.

Too fast and it dies. Too slow and it doesn’t get to live.

As with so many things, it’s a balancing act.

Whichever you’re currently experiencing — hype or sustainability — don’t envy the other.

Both have problems.

Pursue balance.

That’s where the longevity comes from.

We’re taught to think these are good things, but I’m not convinced:

‘Hope’ is thought of as good. But it builds a rift between how things are and how you’d like them to be.

‘Expectations’ are thought of as good. But they’re worse than hope, where you claim imagination as your own.

There being a ‘Point’ to thinks is thought of as good. But it attempts to bring order to things by looking for a bigger meaning in things that have none.

‘Craft’ beats ‘Hope’. It re-focuses aspirations toward the commitment to the work of your hands. This is something you control, which makes it more dependable.

‘Discipline’ beats ‘Expectation’. It gives us the ability to create alternate realities, but stays focused on the present, which is all we have.

Making peace with ‘Chaos’ beats there being a ‘Point’. While we can bring order to our days and our work, it frees us of our superstitious habits of looking for patterns where none exist.

Embracing the present and revering that which is in our control breeds peace and resilience.

And those are pretty handy things to have in a world like this.

Look around.

Observe your competitors.

Observe how great you think they’re doing.

90% of them won’t be in business in the next ten years.

Not sure if you believe it?

Think about how many of them were in business ten years ago.

Or how many powerhouses of the last decade have since faded away.

Sometimes, all you need to do to win is to survive.

If you prefer to do 1 thing really well than 1,000 things you just kinda feel you have to do, this one’s for you.

When you have 1,000 things you kinda feel like you have to do, your priorities took a vacation.

And I’ll bet a lot of those 1,000 things have something to do with generating business. (Mmmhmm, s’alright I see you over there.)

But it doesn’t need to be 1,000 things.

It can be 4 things.

Wanna know what they are?

One, know your one audience really well.

Two, show up in one way they’ll be delighted to see you where the street party’s at (whether that’s on a particular social network or wherever it is)

Three, give them a ticket to come back to YOUR party. Make sure it’s something really special that they’ve not experienced before.

And four, Throw that party, where if they want to experience more of that, they can sign up and continue the party for as long as they like.

That’s all there needs to be. Now yes, you need your special sauce on each step, but listen: it’s just 4 things. You think you can’t do 4 things better than you can do 1,000 things?

Go get those 4 things done, champ.

Promise you it’ll be a whole lot more fun.

Many creaters and founders hate hearing this:

The world spins on without your business if or when it comes to an end.

Your corporate mission statement matters to you, but barely registers to others.

The world won’t miss your scheduled thought-leadership tweets when they stop.

And this is as it should be.

For your world to require a single entity (which is led by humans no smarter than you) in order to function would be terrible (as some less fortunate parts of the world would attest, were they to have permission to an unfiltered internet). Overzealous corporate mission statements creates zealots (which take leave of their faculties) not fans (which are just having a good time). Thought-leadership is often better left to the thoughtful authorship of books designed to broaden our body of knowledge, rather than to flippant quips designed to get ‘likes’.

We don’t need to change the world.

We just need to do a great job at our thing, for our choice of market, for a fair price.

It’s a whole lot easier to get creative and build exciting new things when you take all that weight out of it, don’t you think?

Conferring with AI in your business yet?

If you review the media with any frequency, you may start to feel as though you’re one of the remaining few who don’t.

But while this makes for good clickbait, it doesn’t make for useful discussion.

It may be part of our future.

But so was the iPod, at one time.

The iPod since faded into other matters. So too may AI.

The goal for businesses then wasn’t to be the best iPod reseller, or iPod game producer.

The goal for businesses was to be a reputable voice in music and tech, or a beloved house of good quality, platform-agnostic game design.

Don’t marginalise your work by pandering to tomorrow’s trends.

Elevate your work by revering what makes it great in the first place.

I did a words-per-minute typing test “for fun” last week.

And I tested my speed on multiple keyboards, ’cus why not.

First, my mechanical keyboard with brown switches. I thought this would be the fastest run, not least of all because it’s a blast to type on.

Second, one of Apple’s magic keyboards from the box of not-in-use-right-now tech. I thought this would be the slower one.

To my surprise, I was faster on the magic keyboard.

And not by a little. But by quite a lot.

Even though I “feel less accurate” on it, I’m actually faster on it.

Even though many enthusiastic keyboard Redditors would say it’s impossible, I’m still actually faster on it.

Even though I kind of wanted it to be the other way around, I’m still actually faster on it.

Take-away: Use not what others say is best for you, or best for most people, with the best reviews and ratings. Use what is actually best for you.