Selling an innovative product relies on making change. And there can be a lot of resistance to adopting a new product of any size, but especially for B2B products with long sales cycles and complex onboarding processes. Margie Agin, author of Brand Breakthrough and chief strategist of Centerboard Marketing, helps product makers to accelerate adoption and achieve breakthroughs by distilling functions down to their core value propositions. Margie engineers “AHA!” moments for the brands as well as customers.Be sure to grab Margie's Brand Breakthrough Action Guide for hands-on activities, checklists, interview questions and templates to kickstart your brand journey.Here are some highlights from this can't-miss episode:1:24: How to cruise through a blocker in the sales process3:41: Using language and narrative to dissolve buyer resistance4:45: Asking all the right questions (based on Margie’s market research experience)5:41: “Poking the bruise” to trigger an urgent sense of need7:10: Pulling the value from features to answer “What’s in it for ME?”8:28: How (and why) small companies can connect better than the giants10:50: Using archetypes in convincing tech people to embrace fun, customer-friendly narratives14:43: Resonating with a diverse assortment of audience types18:11: Building trust, in a world that distrusts brands21:00: Testimonials that move buyers forward22:35: Avoiding the most deadly mistake even the biggest product brands makeCenterboard Marketing: centerboard-marketing.comGraphos Product, the product marketing agency: graphosproduct.com

Product: Knowledge

When Your Product Needs a Breakthrough, with Margie Agin

We talk a lot about the high failure rates of consumer products. It’s a tough road, and launching a hit product is a rare event. Michael Sandeen is an innovator who’s exploded those odds—and he’s now done it twice. Thirty-five years ago Michael created Spin Jammer, a uniquely spinnable flying disc that sold by the millions in big-box retail stores like Walmart, Toys R Us and K-Mart. Then, in late 2020, he introduced SearBQ, a cast-iron griddle and press combination for the barbecue, and it turned to be his second hit product. But SearBQ doesn’t sell retail: it is only available direct-to-consumer (DTC), through what is now one of Shopify’s top-selling new stores.It’s very deliberately a different strategy, and Michael Sandeen has been quick to adopt other new ways for SearBQ. He started out with a successful Kickstarter campaign, and due to pandemic-induced supply and shipping challenges, launched his summer product in the middle of winter—the winter solstice to be exact—and too late to capture holiday sales. Sales exploded nonetheless, and Michael quickly found himself facing new challenges, battling retail giants for shipping freighter space and Amazon for packing materials. Growth would be the next frontier in his DTC experiment, and he’d need to pull out everything he’s learned to manage it successfully. In this mouthwatering episode (we do talk about food more than we’d meant to—SearBQ has that effect) Michael Sandeen shares how he leveraged three-and-a-half decades of product design, manufacturing and selling experience to make launching a breakthrough product seem so easy. It ain’t just spin and sizzle—but those things help!Here are some key-takeaways from this exciting and enlightening episode: How selling consumer products has transformed since the late ’80s (2:00) Why a retail veteran decided to sell only direct-to-consumer (3:30) How one big idea and two burned steaks sparked SearBQ (5:04) Delighting ideal buyers and winning over the haters (8:00) Why Michael won't use Kickstarter for another consumer product, despite his success (12:47) Things product-makers need to know about Kickstarter marketing agencies (15:08) The biggest lesson from supply-chain challenges and inventory depletion (17:00) Where you CAN'T beat Walmart and Target (17:45) The importance of continuous improvement, even when you’re crushing it (19:20) How beautiful product design and smart engineering are critical success triggers (20:00) The importance of putting the brand name front and center (22:15) Leaving room for buyers to surprise you (23:30) The (hands-down) best things SearBQ's inventor loves to cook on it (24:42) The innovation curve never ends (27:45) Buy the SearBQ Griddle & Press online: SearBQ.comThe Product Launch & Marketing Agency: GraphosProduct.com

Breakthrough Product Launches, with Spin Jammer & SearBQ Creator Michael Sandeen

Consumers have had enough of phony product brands. From made-up figureheads like Aunt Jemima and the Marlboro Man to hollow brands that don’t walk their talk, social media and customer reviews have forever changed the landscape. Emily Succorsy and Justin Foster created Root & River to help product makers brand “from the heart.” And it works. Doing it successfully creates new levels of joy, satisfaction and loyalty, but requires a unique and very deliberate way of thinking.

Product Branding Straight from the Heart, with Emily Succorsy & Justin Foster

Ajit Ghuman joins Laurier Mandin to talk about his new book, “Price to Scale,” and how it can help a product team to implement complete, end-to-end product pricing in just 30 days. Ajit has led the development and commercialization of enterprise SaaS products like Medallia, Helpshift, and Feedzai, and helped those brands develop pricing models, differentiate their products and grow their businesses. He's the head of product marketing at Narvar, a customer engagement platform that helps brands like Yeti, Levi's and Dyson drive long-term customer loyalty by unifying shipping and returns. He joins Graphos Product Principal Laurier Mandin to offer advice to listeners challenged with setting or resetting product pricing in order to profitably scale their business.

Pricing Your Product for Sales and Growth, with Ajit Ghuman

Étienne Garbugli, author of "Solving Product" and "Lean B2B" shares advice for using customer research to achieve product-market fit and achieve scalable growth.

Solving Product Gaps to Ignite Growth, with Author Étienne Garbugli

If you’ve created an innovative product, you're automatically in danger of having your ideas stolen or copied. Patenting the features that make it unique is a common approach, but is getting, maintaining and defending a patent worth the hefty costs? Intellectual Property strategist Trevor Prentice talks about those costs, illuminates several less-known but most valuable benefits—and reveals what most IP lawyers do that inadvertently hurts their product clients.

Do You Need to Patent Your Product? with IP Strategist Trevor Prentice

You can’t scale without getting your product positioning right. But what about new and innovative products, where best-fit customers and user data don't even exist yet? How do you perfect positioning before chancing everything on a massive launch? In this episode, positioning expert and "Obviously Awesome" author April Dunford shares her proven methodology to nail product positioning and explains the challenges she has with product-market fit as perceived by most product businesses. It’s required listening for anyone marketing a product, whether digital or physical.

Positioning an Innovative New Product While Minimizing Risk with April Dunford

Patrick Renvoisé is a brain scientist who helps business leaders pinpoint the secret Buy Button inside their customer's brain. The co-author of "Neuromarketing" and "The Persuasion Code," Patrick shares his simple scientific to create desire and entice people to buy your product.

The Secret “Buy Button” in Your Customer’s Brain, with Neuromarketer Patrick Renvoisé

Taking an innovative product across the commercialization chasm is an immense challenge at the best of times. During a crisis, it becomes harder still. Yet with the proper focus, chaos may even help some products gain traction faster. Michael Eckhardt, Managing Director of the Chasm Institute shares 5 best practices for achieving product success during these challenging times.

5 Best Practices for Launching New Products in Tough Economic Times with Michael Eckhardt

Laurier Mandin talks with Ian Chamandy, co-author of "Why Should I choose you: Answering the Most Important Question in Business In Seven Words or Less," about how the principles of the most fundamental question translate to a product.

Why Should I Choose Your Product? with Author Ian Chamandy

Andreas bought a new podcast recorder for home, and it's very different from the one in our studio. On this episode, Andreas and Laurier talk with Samuel Greene from ZOOM North America about the ZOOM L-8, and how they went about creating a product for a market segment that didn't really exist until last year.

Creating a Product for a New Market, with Samuel Greene of ZOOM

What are the most important elements of a standout Kickstarter campaign? How many people are involved? Where do you even begin? Jackson Cunningham joined Graphos Product CEO Laurier Mandin to talk about the Cove cat litter box, including how Tuft and Paw engaged the company’s online community to help design it—and rock his Kickstarter. https://www.tuftandpaw.com http://www.graphosproduct.com

How to Rock Your Product’s Kickstarter with Jackson Cunningham

Naming a company is more complicated than naming a baby. It just is. There’s more family involvement. Is the product for men, women, seniors; is it for a particular activity or sport that has its own jargon and vocabulary? What country is the product going to be sold in? What are the social mores of that country, and what cultural taboos do we need to avoid, and which buttons are we able to push without offending? It’s like learning a new language. We talk to Jeremy Miller, author of "Brand New Name" to uncover a process to choose a brand name that fits your product and speaks to its market.

Creating an Unforgettable Brand Name for Your Product with Author Jeremy Miller

Technology has transformed the product development cycle. Photorealistic 3D rendering makes visualizing new products easy. Your product can be near-perfect, but to be successful, the marketing, packaging, and shipping need to be at the same level. There are a lot of moving parts. Often the biggest barrier is knowing where to start, especially when your manufacturer is producing your product a world away, in a different language and culture. Kyle Handfield knows exactly where to start. His company, Ventrify, leads brands and inventors through the entire product development cycle using a nine-step process starting with discovery, and culminating with shipping. The consultancy also provides industrial design, engineering, testing—even going as far as managing regulatory certifications.

A Guide to Innovative Product Development with Kyle Handfield from Ventrify

If you ask Mom what she thinks about your new product, she’ll lie and tell you it’s fabulous — even if nothing could be farther from the truth. When you’re launching an innovative product, product-market fit is essential. That means knowing a sufficient, reachable customer base will be more excited about the product than you are. Conducting validation research is crucial. But the questions you ask is where things often start to go wrong. People will naturally lie to you, just like Mom — and bad data can lead to costly product failure. Author Rob Fitzpatrick believes you can avoid mistakes by asking questions that elicit the answers you NEED, not the ones that make you feel good. Complements, verbal support, and new ideas can feel helpful, but in conversation with Graphos Product CEO Laurier Mandin, Rob says it’s much better to ask questions about people’s problems or challenges — as well as current solutions and what they cost. Rob's book, "The Mom Test" is taught at Harvard, MIT, UCL and many other top universities. Rob Fitzpatrick's website with link to buy "The Mom Test" - https://robfitz.com Graphos Product - https://graphosproduct.com

Finding the (Real) Truth in Product Validation with Rob Fitzpatrick

We‘re all obsessed with product brands, especially those driven by a vision and purpose. Product: Knowledge explores the art of the product launch, from secret Obsession Branding™ techniques to the specialized attributes of product marketing that become the difference between stratospheric success stories and costly product failure. Laurier Mandin is CEO of Graphos; Andreas Schwabe is Director of Media Services. As an international product marketing agency, we flush out insights and vision into the fascinating world of consumer product Go-to-Market strategy for purpose-driven brands. https://graphosproduct.com/

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Product: Knowledge

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