Engagement as an Afterthought
“I admit it is a rookie mistake but I have sunk all my money into the product development”.
This from the owner of a startup this week that came to me worried that the marketplace was not going to understand the nuanced value their new offering they were about to release (product and names hidden to protect the innocent). While he sensed the value in our visual solutions to overcome this concern, he simply had not planned his budget or timing out and was going to have to revisit early the following year.
Indifference to Offering is Not Good
Having over 20 years of client-side communications experience and having go-to-market challenges come across the desk on a daily basis for Frame for the last three years puts you in an interesting position. While every request comes in different forms, one pattern I have noticed is that after the fact, the principals realize that the marketplace is not understanding the point of the offering and they don’t sense the value it will have for them and even, worse they basically do not care – they are indifferent.
Of course I have a bias on the extreme opposite side – but I think logic is on my side – if you are going to commit so much time, resource and staff to innovation, whatever form that may take – and you know that it will only deliver value if your audience is onboard for the ride, why is that concern not wrapped into the rollout?
Sample of Visual Explanation We Deploy at Frame Concepts
Attention Deficit Disorder is Not Your Friend
And then of course the plain ugly fact that attention deficit disorder is rampant in the B2B community and we are all over inundated with messaging, then the concern to pierce the marketplace veil of ignorance on your point of view becomes that much more needed.
Unique Solutions Require a Unique Visual Engagement
Then even if you allow for marketplace understand and engagement and budget and timing before you go to market – one can still stop short and express this unique point of view with loads of copy and stock photos and clip art. But again logic would suggest that if the innovation is really innovative and offers differentiated value (and your organization stands to gain from the adoption of it) then one would want to spend the time to enable them to visualize your point with a crafted visual that intuitively brings them into your frame of reference quickly enough that at least they contact your for a demo or further consultation for their particular needs.
Your Not Alone – Stock Photos and Copy is a Rampant Problem
But a causal search over the internet, even across well-heeled Fortune 500’s – showcases tons and tons of copy and stock photos almost suggesting a complete indifference to a concern for marketplace engagement. And yet their survival is dependant on that very thing.
I will stop there – my biases admittedly are leaking through – but I have found it is a bit of paradox and its not just a rant about opening up budget but a challenge on logical consistency – if you are concerned about engaging your audience with new innovation then you should engage them.
