Tag: buyer personas

Legal Branding

Digital Product Development from a Marketing Perspective

Successful companies tend to departmentalize their operations to maximize productivity and improve management efficiency. With that said, businesses can’t function if their departments can’t find ways to work together. It’s especially true when it comes to the marketing and product development divisions of an enterprise.

While it’s true that marketing and product development should function separately for the majority of the time, the two departments cross paths at critical moments. Both sections will fall short without collaboration, causing the entire operation to struggle. 

With this in mind, marketing professionals need to understand their role in the digital product design and development process. Likewise, developers, designers, and product managers need to embrace the insights and expertise provided by their sales-minded colleagues.

Customer feedback

The most helpful information a marketing team can provide product development staff is an insight into the customer’s mind. A company’s marketing department will have the data and experience to fill in the gaps about customer wants and needs. Development teams that lack these crucial resources are at a significant disadvantage. Meanwhile, marketing personnel that can’t relay their findings are failing to reach their full potential.

Competitor analysis

Marketing professionals tend to be well-versed in what the competition is offering. That information can prove vital to the development of a popular product. While many digital product developers are understandably cautious about getting too wrapped up in what competitors are doing, that doesn’t mean that information isn’t useful. It establishes a baseline, encourages creativity, and drives ingenuity. It can also teach lessons on what not to do going forward.

Built-in allure

What company doesn’t want to sell a product that drives consumers wild? While not every business will develop the next iPhone or other revolutionary product, they can take steps to make their products as enticing and exciting as possible. More times than not that involves collaboration with marketing professionals with insight into what customers want.

Life cycle refinement

Quality products are designed with their entire life cycle in mind. Given the inevitability of obsolescence, it’s easy to see how marketing plays a vital role in mapping out the life of a digital product. When the marketing and product development teams work together, the product life cycle can be refined to transition to new generations. That way, customers aren’t blindsided by the need to upgrade. They’ve been briefed courtesy of the marketing department. Meanwhile, the product development team can incorporate marketing insights into their life cycle planning.

Elevated excitement

Designers and developers need a hype man in their corner. Otherwise, some of the most incredible innovations and improvements can be lost on the consumer. By getting the marketing team involved with product development, companies can develop more exciting ad campaigns. Companies should also consider the benefits of having marketing personnel participate in the product testing phase. That way, the marketing strategy stems from user experience rather than customer expectations.

Broader horizons

Products are geared towards the target customer. But what if the target market could expand to include a wider swath of consumers? The sales increase would justify the necessary tweaks during the product development process. However, the potential for market expansion is something developers will likely need marketing pros to explain. In doing so, they help shape future products and grow company revenue at the same time.

It’s clear that large companies perform best when tasks and responsibilities are divided amongst several departments. However, these various sections need to come together from time to time. That’s because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

With this in mind, product developers and marketing experts must understand the importance of working together. When it comes to launching successful products, you can’t have one without the other.

Legal Branding

Keep These Essentials in Your Briefcase at All Times

What do you keep in your briefcase? Does it change from day to day? Does it depend on what’s on your schedule? Do you make changes when you’re traveling?

There is no shortage of briefcase essentials, but remember this: no two people are the same.

For instance, if you’re a traveling salesperson, you won’t have the same items in your briefcase as someone who works from home a few days per week.

There’s no right or wrong answer as to what you should keep in your briefcase. It depends largely on your job, personal requirements, and professional requirements.

With all of that in mind, let’s check out some of the essentials you should consider adding to your briefcase in the near future:

  1. Pain medication

This isn’t to say that you’ll use pain medication every day of the week. In fact, you may never use it. That being said, you want to make sure that you have it available if the situation calls for it.

For example, if you find yourself traveling for the day and begin to suffer from lower back pain, it’s nice to know that you have the medication you need to find relief. 

  1. Topical CBD oil

The popularity of CBD products is on the rise. If you’ve yet to learn more about topical CBD oil, now’s the time to do so.

Sticking with the example above, rubbing CBD oil onto your lower back can help reduce or eliminate your pain. 

A bottle of topical CBD oil will not take up a lot of space in your briefcase. You’ll feel better about yourself when you always have this nearby. 

  1. Pen and paper

Even though you rely heavily on your smartphone, it never hurts to have a pen and paper nearby. 

Maybe you want to jot down notes while you’re flying. Or perhaps you need a piece of paper because your phone has died.

You don’t need to overdo it. In most cases, a single pen and a few sheets of paper are more than enough. 

  1. Reading material

There will be times when you have nothing to do but read. And when those times arise, it’s nice to know that you have plenty of reading material in your briefcase.

This can be anything from an ebook that you printed out to an industry trade magazine.

There’s no shortage of reading material out there. Add to your collection regularly and rotate through it as necessary. 

  1. Healthy snacks

There’s a difference between snacks and healthy snacks. The word healthy is key here, as eating poorly can impact your ability to maintain your energy, think clearly, and make it through your day.

For instance, it’s better to eat a banana than a chocolate bar. 

Tip: load up your briefcase with healthy snacks that have a long shelf life. This way, you don’t have to change these out on a daily basis. 

Frequently asked questions

As noted above, you can keep whatever you want in your briefcase. There are no rules that you need to follow. 

As you attempt to put together a briefcase that gives you peace of mind, here are some of the most common questions to address:

  • How much space do you have in your briefcase?
  • Is there anything you can remove to make more space for the essentials?
  • Is it time to upgrade your briefcase? 
  • How often should you review the contents of your briefcase?
  • Do you need to change the contents of your briefcase based on your schedule for the day?

Don’t shy away from these questions or any others that come to light. 

Final thoughts on packing your briefcase

It doesn’t matter if you already have a briefcase or you’re comparing some of the better models on the market, there will come a day when you need to decide which essentials to include in it.

Once you have all the essentials in your briefcase, it’s time to put your packing to the test. As days turn to weeks, ask yourself if there’s anything you need to change.

What do you keep in your briefcase? When was the last time you thought about this?