In the last couple of blogging clue posts we have been looking at market trends and the effect, both positive and negative, that they will inevitably have on your business.
This week we are looking at one way that you might respond to these market trends, by for example developing new products.
Wikipedia defines product development as “the complete process of bringing a new product to market” and we really like that definition.
What this includes is all of the market, customer and competitor research, all of the brilliant experience that you have of being successful within your industry – and combining it all to make you the best placed person to decide the products with the features and benefits that will wow your market and derive the greatest outcomes for your customers.
As we have established in the last two weeks, the rate of change has accelerated and markets are changing more dramatically than ever before. You only have to look at the Photographic industry that has suffered the double hit of technological advancement in digital tech and the move to internet marketing which has left the purist film geeks that relied on agencies wondering where there market has gone. Of course this change also brings opportunity, but you have to be in the know and you have to be prepared to act!
Successful photographers in 2013 have harnessed this change and developed new products to meet the demands of these emerging markets. They have developed courses and city tours to encourage hobbyists to practice their passion and make the most of the accessibility of the new technology to generate some income for themselves. And how do they market these courses, they use Google of course.
So, this demonstrates the benefit of developing new products to keep up with the market trends. Next week , come back for the next section of this discussion, how to start researching for this new development. So come back next time if you haven’t got a blogging clue about new product research.
