Many years ago, I was working on an assignment for Mitsubishi mobile phones (yes, Mitsubishi makes mobile phones). Their engineers had just finished designing a mobile device with tons of bells and whistles and the entire company was excited about the launch of the new phone.
The problem was that research indicated the consumer wasn’t as excited about the phones as the company was. We had done extensive studies indicating that, even though the engineers were extremely upbeat about all the new bells and whistles, the consumer wasn’t.
What the consumer wanted, as Steve Jobs has proven time and time again, was simplicity and ease of use.
You Can Imagine How Disappointed the Mitsubishi Engineers Were. They had devoted two years to the development of the new phone and to have my company come in and say they’d gotten it wrong was a big disappointment.
Ultimately, instead of positioning the phone as one that had a bunch of new features, we changed the positioning to ease-of-use. In other words, we analyzed what the customers told us and, by focusing on a few simple items on the phone, were able to deliver what they wanted — a new phone that was easy to get started with and that had some additional features that would come in handy down the line after you learned how to use it.
All this leads to an important point — it doesn’t matter what the engineers or the CEO or the stock holders want. The only thing that really matters is what your consumer wants.
To illustrate this point, I’d like to draw your attention to the YouTube video below. It highlights the differences between men and women. It also illustrates the importance of listening to the needs of your customer and delivering to them what they want, not what you want.
Enjoy the video. You’ll get a chuckle from it and (hopefully) will learn a thing or two about talking to your target market.
Jamie Turner is the CEO of social media and mobile marketing firm 60 Second Communications and is the Founder of the 60 Second Marketer. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.
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