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Fulfilling the Customers' Needs or Desires is the Key to Any Successful Product.
By James F. Riordan
Most marketing experts will agree that in order to be a success, a product must be perceived by a specific target audience as filling a specific need or desire. Winning products are those that appeal to 50 percent of the population out of need and the other 50 percent out of desire.
The product that successfully finds and fills a previously unfulfilled need is said to have found its "market niche." A MARKET NICHE, OR NEED, MUST BE IDENTIFIABLE, ACCESSIBLE, SERVICEABLE AND PROFITABLE TO MAKE IT WORTH PURSUING.
1. It must be identifiable in the respect that the consumers in your target audience must agree that the need exists.2. It must be accessible to the point that you can financially afford to make contact with them, in one form or another, educating them about the product's features, advantages and benefits to such a degree that they will be enticed to buy it.
3. It must be serviceable in the respect that you must be able to handle the production of sufficient quantities of product supply the demand.
4. It must be profitable enough, after paying all costs and commissions, to make it worth pursuing.
In other words, the need or desire for the product must be considered great enough that it is worth taking the risks involved in producing and marketing it. "Need," like "want" or "desire," is a word that is subject to interpretation. Just as one person's "fast" is another person's "slow," one person's perceived "need" may be another person's "want" or "desire."
Most products are purchased because of:
* A genuine need (life support, protection, etc.)* A secondary need (to make your job faster and easier)
* An impulse ("I want it now")
* A desire to be "superior to others" (ego)
* A desire to please or to help others (a gift)
* A desire to improve appearance (image)
* A desire to make life easier (lifestyle improvement)
* A desire to have fun (entertainment, sports, hobbies, novelties)
* A desire to make money (business)
* A fear of loss of person or property (security)
In actual definition, need is substantially different than desire. The two can be compared in the following ways:
* Need is rational while desire is emotional* Need is basic while desire is superficial
* Need is objective while desire is more subjective
* Need is more unselfish while desire is more selfish
Despite the easily-distinguished difference in meaning, the two are still often confused. As an example of my point that "one person's desire is another person's need," let's look at one of the reasons a product is purchased, from the list above. Let's look at "A Desire to Improve Image." To some people, a product that covers up blemishes would be "desirable," but they would not go out of their way to find it. To other people, the perceived "need" to look "acne-free" is overwhelming, and they would drive to another city to buy a highly-touted product. One person "desires" to look acne-free, the other person is fervently driven by image consciousness and really believes that he or she "needs" to look acne-free at any cost.
The above article was taken from James F. Riordan's classic book, HOW TO EVALUATE THE POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS OF A NEW PRODUCT OR TECHNOLOGY. Riordan's highly-acclaimed, 36-point system is a valuable tool for inventors, product evaluators or anyone interested in the invention process. Each section is followed by a comprehensive questionnaire that can be used to evaluate your product.
The highly-recommended book can be ordered through, Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501. The phone number is (310) 328-1925.
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