Picking Sides For Winning Products

Have you ever used a program that was designed as an every man's type of offering (MS Word comes to mind) and then switched to another piece of software that had less features and fewer abilities? It probably came as a breath of fresh air to be able to perform the tasks you needed to with minimal learning and interference. In order to have winning products, you will need to specialize your own software or information products.

The idea is to focus on performing 1 task and doing that one task very well. If you are developing software for bloggers, only provide features that a blogger would need not those for novelists. If you are developing an information product about traffic generation for blogs focus mainly on the ways that blogs can be promoted that static web sites cannot. Purposefully excluding people will focus your attention on your target customer but limit your customer base. This is a good thing. I find the more generic the product, the less remarkable it is. Less remarkable products usually have fewer sales.

Now you need to draw a line in the sand and pick a side. Find something controversial about your topic or service and take sides. If you are providing a tutorial on blogging and there is a controversial traffic generation technique, pick a side and argue why you think it should be avoided or used. Developing a guide on software development - emphasize only 1 of the many ways to get a piece of software developed. Do not be all things to all people. There's a fine line, be controversial, but don't be wrong or immoral. Hopefully, the controversy will spark some discussion and people will start talking about your product. No matter which side they are on, it's a win for you! The good thing is they are telling their friends! Their friends may not have the same needs as the person who hates it and their friend may find your product suits them perfectly!

Obviously, this means you're going to lose out on some customers when your product doesn't cover all of their needs. Most likely their business would have cost you money anyway - in support or post sale interactions. You're better off without these people as your customers anyway. The definite upside is that you will create some evangelical customers that will spread the word about your product. When people can accomplish a task with minimal fuss, they tend to tell people about that product. Focus on solving real, simple problems first and foremost and you will end up with an army of people talking about your product. These are recommendations and exposure that cannot be bought.

Limit the scope of your project, allow people to accomplish exactly what they need to accomplish, take a side, create detractors as well as evangelists and you will be on your way to providing people with a product that is remarkable. And remarkability is always good for your bottom line.

"This simple software makes delivering physical items such as CDs and DVDs just easy as digital ones… I'd say even easier!" -Ernie Sandan. Here is the URL: PayPalKunaki.com

- Ernie Sandan