9 Ways to Get Ideas for New Products

This morning on a shelf in Tesco’s…

I saw a new thing: cheese sticks wrapped in ham.

…will it work, sold like that?

…I dunno. …might get some people salivating…? I’m a wrap-my-cheese-in-my-ham person…

I saw too, chocolate bars with tayto-crisp-crumbs stuck in them. Now there’s a use for the bits in the bottom of the packet.

…Will it work?

Well I know choc and crisps are going to churn together in my belly – but that thought doesn’t have me salivating – I like to kid myself the two things are kind of separate…

…and they taste awful – them chocolate bars. Not just to my taste buds – a couple of my friends taste-tested them too.

…but the idea came up on Facebook as I understand – I guess Tayto took on the task of building buzz too. And I don’t think anybody’s kidding themselves the stuff actually tastes good. So surely it’s only a fad and a bit of buzz for Tayto…

…and that’s ok. It’s not like it’s their core product. Jesus, I hope not…

Anyway. Choc. Crisps. Two things stuck together – and sticking two things together, as you know, is very often the place ideas come out of: bits and pieces trampoline about in our brains, that mixes with this, and the other gets created…

…creativity in business is obviously useful.

But:

You need money too.

And making a new product successful is proper fecking hard.

Only a teeny percentage of product ideas happen.

A venture-capital fella I was talking to a while back said ninety-eight to ninety-nine percent of business ideas that come his way will go down the tube.

Apple has always created brilliant stuff. But there was a time the company nearly shut down. …It wasn’t certain for Apple. And it ain’t certain for any other new product or new marketing thought.

I mean, I guess pretty-much the safest type of a business is a franchise – because it’s all proven and everything…

But maybe you want to create with your business…

If nobody had that buzz in their brain, where would our world be…?

If your head is on your shoulders, you know your thing might fail…

The think-triggers listed below, to help create new products, are only starting points in the thinking process. Obviously your new product will need to answer to a need. That’s the total crux of it. People need to need it. Or it’s going nowhere.

So of course you’ll need to dump most ideas you get…

…Tayto decided that people need Tayto-crisp chocolate.

Or they ‘needed’. By the time you’re reading this, they won’t need it any longer.

Of course, it wasn’t for nutrition they needed it. Not that type of a need. And it for sure wasn’t the taste. It’s more the buzz of the idea – a funny thing a brand we’re fond of is doing – that’s what satisfies something in our heads. (For a minute.)

So the choc got a bit of buzz, despite the fact it tastes like muck.

Cheese/ham sticks are based off a real thing people do. So they might work longer term. They’re not proven though.

And like I say: Apple always made great stuff but they nearly went down the tube at one stage.

So you’ll want to churn out ideas. Then dump ‘em. The ideas you keep – as you know – they need to be sound. Satisfy a need.

Here’re those think-triggers:

1. Stick things together:

Like, say, Oatabix: there’s one thing, in ‘something else’: oats wrapped up in the original Weeta- shape.

And here’s another thing happening a lot now – in Dublin anyway – Insomnia are in nearly every Spar. Both benefit. Centra are diving in with Subway, too.

…maybe you can stick two things together to get something new…

2. Pull things apart:

I think this is close to the idea ‘do one thing really well’. And it’s how you make you ‘the one’ for ‘that thing’.

…as you know, we used to be all about mass communication – with just a few tv channels and all that. But now you can sell to specific sets of people easier. Or you can reach more people easier with one specific thing.

Just coffee cups.

Just cup cakes.

Just computer back-up.

Just copywriters (Wordfruit).

And after you’ve succeeded with that one thing, you can use it as a base to build more business – sell to a broader range of people-types; or sell another new product.

Is there something you can do with this principle…?

3. Change the game:

A startup razor company would have a hard time beating Gillette – because it’s the best you can get… Gillette have built a story in people’s heads. You won’t knock that story out of people’s heads by being like Gillette but ‘better’.

…it’s the same with any industry.

But did you see DollarShaveClub? Take a look. They changed the game. And they’re answering a need, too: they’re giving an answer to the fact that you can easily forget to get new blades.

…they didn’t change the game entirely – they won’t knock Gillette off their perch.

Gillette are top at doing it their way. And DollarShaveClub are top at doing it their way.

Room for both.

…can you change a game…?

4. Do it faster or handier:

There used to be a few recruitment agents in my local town. Now, as far as I know, there are none. Job websites gobbled them up.

If you can use technology to make connections quicker, cheaper, than an old industry is doing the job – maybe there’s a way-in there for you. And if you are one of the old industry, connecting things less efficiently than you could do – somebody’s going to knock you off your roost if you don’t do something.

Kindle books – quicker to get.

While-U-Wait T-shirt printing.

Apps to book taxis.

Can you make something so it’s handier or ‘fastier’?

5. Do it slower:

The slow-cooker.

Or coffee: that ain’t instant these days. And isn’t there reassurance in the time and the Shhhwooooooshhhhchhhh of it being made…?

Tisn’t the same thing just poured out of a big tank…

Farmers’ markets and specialist shops: wander-about alternatives to all-stuff-in-one-place supermarkets.

Subscription ice-cream – one a month: a different flavour each month.

Slow often equals quality – is there anything that-way-inclined you can do?

6. Tailor it more:

I reckon we’re getting tired of plastic one-type-fits-everyones. Custom-built is doing well these days. Real is, too. And local. And hand-made.

And because it’s easier to reach people of a particular type now – it’s sensible to build products that fit for particular types.

Ok – I said that up above. But what I’m saying in this section is: here’s another angle to look from: tailor it more.

Greetings cards tailored.

14 gamillion options in Starbucks.

Dell laptops.

There was a car did pretty well – I don’t remember the type now – it was super-cheap, but there was next-to-nothing to it after the engine and the body – everything else was optioned and fit to order…

What can you tailor?

7. Tailor it less:

This is maybe more the older way of doing it. But it still works in some ways.

Say Coke: their story is about universals: happiness, connection, peace… if your product can hit universals, maybe it can work not-tailored.

…careful though: Coke’s story is also about ‘You’; and they tailor their cans with names. So they’re using ‘tailor more’, too.

Anything in this for you?

8. Do it bigger:

Bigger tv screens.

Gourmet burgers too high to bite.

Costa coffees the size of swimming pools.

What can you do bigger?

9. Do it smaller:

Personal pizzas.

Poodles.

Handbag-size magazines.

One-cup instant coffee sachets.

What can you do smaller?

10. Build a better story

I rattle about this in a couple of the first 11 marketing ideas (released on Kindle just the other day): Your story is everything: from your product itself, to the words in your marketing.

…there’re tons of premium olive oils. And pretty-near no new premium oils manage to get the attention of chefs and distributors and build successful businesses out of themselves.

Domenica Fiore is doing it though. With a good oil, a gorgeous brushed stainless-steel bottle, the story of the volcanic soil the olives grow in, and other artisanary.

How can you build a better story?

11. Do the opposite:

Everyone’s going slim and nutritious. But you know there’s still space for chocolate heaven – even for the slimbies.

And while books and stuff get more get-it-right-this-second, there’s a market too for beautifully printed / sometimes handmade books. An antidote, maybe it is, to all the screeny stuff.

…DollarShaveClub again – their story is kind of the opposite of Gillette’s.

Any opposites you can do…?

PS: Did you get the first 11 Ways to Get More Business…?

Because those 11 Ways might be handy for you.

PS again: You’ll’ve seen there’re eleven ideas in this blog post. Not nine, as per the title of the post. First: sorry for giving you two extra ideas. Second: I’ll talk about why I did that nasty thing in one of the 22 Ways to Get More Business – (free).

(The two extra ideas are not me giving you ‘a bonus’.)