One of the bigger marketing mistakes is the thought that a particular company's product or service is in such demand that it doesn't require further effort to do well in the market. On the contrary, marketers need to be tuned in to what the customer is thinking. Fortunately, there are dozens of ways out there now to receive customer feedback. Sometimes customers are invited to actually contribute to the creative process — both for products and for promotional communication. This can be done by way of slogan competitions or calls for photographs and other visuals involving the product in the way customers would like to see it. A direct benefit of this is that you can tap directly into consumer insights.
Maintain Visibility
Customer tastes change with time, and markets must keep the pace with the many changes in the world. Convenience foods and automated gadgets arrived to help the working woman. With the advent of the Internet came conveniences like online transactions and virtual business. And yet, markets are evolving. As people face a time crunch and frequently eat on the run, marketers have innovated immensely to come out with new ideas in products (such as ready-to-eat versions of popular meals), single-use packaging (such as soups or drinks on the go that can fit in cup holders), and online shopping. Each of these platforms provides ample opportunity to innovate and boost sales for the product.
Invest in Research
While there are ample reasons to innovate, change cannot be brought about all of a sudden. For example, to suddenly do away with an advertisement that has been performing well is never effective. The same applies to slogans or creative ideas. Bringing about sudden change can lead to alienation from the product or brand and lead to the loss of customers. For an innovation to succeed, any change in the marketing plan needs to be brought about such that it attracts new customers while retaining existing ones. This needs good back-up in the form of facts. An investment in research would help to determine whether your product needs innovation at this time and what features of the product need innovating.
