John Iduh Blog

Consider Belkin that created Aesthetic Surge Protector that achieved great  market-success. For most people, a surge protector is necessary item you buy at a hardware store, and hide behind your PC within a jumble of dust bunnies and cable cords. Yet, one company decided to focus, not only on the utilitarian aspect of the surge protector, but its aesthetic aspect. Belkin corporation's surge protectors organize consumers' workplace and protect their equipment. Its concealed surge protector organizes cables and keeps them out of view with a unique closing cover. By differentiating itself from the average surge protector, which cost about $15, Belkin was charged at $50. This initiative drives customer loyalty and relationship, making Belkin wins by far!

One lucrative market segment for you to create value, is baby boomers - the approximately 176 million consumers born between 1946 and 1978. Though baby boomers represent a wealthy target, possessing $ 6.2 trillion in annual spending power controlling three-quarters of world wealth, viewers of over 50 refers to as "undesirables", because advertisers are primarily interested in 18 to 49 years olds. Yet with many baby boomers into their 60s, and even the last wave turning 40, demand for products to turn back the hands of time has exploded. Half of all baby boomers were depressed that they were no longer young, and nearly one in five were actively resisting the aging process. As they for the fountain of youth, sales of hair replacement and hair coloring aids, health club memberships, home gym equipment, skin-lightening creams, nutritional supplements, and organic foods have all soared. Further more, contrary to conventional marketing wisdom that the brand preferences of cons...

Discovery is in our blood. Some to explore the world, others to search for the perfect shopping mall, and still others to uncover new and innovative products. I believe that the Excitement of Discovery is a pivitol part of the  business energy formula. People want to, not only discover new products, but the untold stories of injustice around the world............

One important way to build a business with rare exceptions, is to innovate a product or service so  relevant  that people will see as a must-have. This means you will have to leverage your existing energies or strengths to develop offerings so innovative that they create customer “will-seek-after” that create and define a new business space for which competitors will not be considered. The goal is to win not by having a product preferred over competitors but because competitors were not considered in such arena. You strive not to be the best but relevant to the target market. Winning in this relevance initiative involves engaging in  innovation that will make a change in what people buy, and  manage perceptions and loyalty towards the purchase.

One way to make money is to create what people will consider  relevant or what they must value. Your value can by valued only when it contains value that is valued by people. In other words, people can only pay for what you offer if it is considered important to theirs needs, choices, priorities, preferences or aspirations or if it fall into their consideration sets for making choices decisions during purchases.

A small Japanese company that makes bathroom scales has under 100 million dollars in sales generated by less than 300 people. But they put out a recipe book in 2010 that has sold around five million copies and created a new growth platform. Their story, which depicts how a higher purpose can work, is instructive. Tanita makes and markets accurate, durable, user-friendly professional and personal scales for measuring health related characteristics such as weight, body fat and body water. Based in part on some patented, breakthrough measurement technology developed in 1992 and branded as “bioelectrical impedance analysis,” Tanita has 50 percent market share in Japan, where it is a household brand for scales, and it is a leader in the global market as well. With healthy living as a heritage value, Tanita developed a company cafeteria that featured a healthy yet tasty menu at a time in which healthy eating was something of a trend, even a fad, in Japan. The cafeteria items were...

P&G’s Pampers completely reframed the diaper category in China, and in doing so created enormous growth for the category and for the brand. It is a good example of how focusing on category competition is a better route to growth than trying to win the “my brand is better than your brand” battle. The story is fascinating and informative, not only with respect to framing a category but to entering a new country with a different culture. Pampers entered the China market in 1998 with a strategy of making a cheaper version of their Western product. The result was indeed cheap, and also was of inferior quality. The product was perceived as plastic and irritating, and it didn’t go anywhere. In 2006 a revised product, called the Pampers Cloth Like & Dry, was soft, effective and half the cost of U.S. versions. But still, sales lagged. The problem was that Chinese consumers were not motivated by dryness or convenience. They did not see a problem that would merit changing their e...