Product → Movement.
Category: Growth. 3-minute read. Four ways to create a movement with your product.
“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.”– David Beebe, branded content producer
'To make customers a part of your ongoing journey, and to be what they are interested in buying,’ is why exactly you need to drive your product/creative idea into a movement.
Example: Jaishree Industries known to be founded by ‘Pad-man’ is an excellent derivative of such an idea that produces sustainable, affordable sanitary napkins for women but they're still waiting to hit the mark of being what people are interested in buying.
Here are my views on 'why haven’t they hit the mark and how can you?'
Before you jump right in, here’s a quick 6-minute video on who is pad-man, why did he create Jayshree Industries:
1. Have 'Scalability' on your white-board:
As much as Jaishree Industries have a social cause to pursue, as much as they're doing good, they still lag scalability which can be improved strategically by following strategies such as producing bulk napkins to be sold at ration shops at villages alongside the production of the napkins in the villages itself by women self-help groups.
Your first action must be to be build that can help 10 customers and with time even 1,00,000 customers.
Note: That doesn’t mean your first MVP should be perfect and be able to cater to 1,00,000 customers.
The key is to launch fast, iterate faster. Make sure you can build a scalable model on top of it.
2. Follow 'Inclusivity' in and out:
When a company focuses only on pitching products to their target market segment and market it custom fit just for them, they lose out on inclusivity and supporters that can help them create a movement.
But then, what?
A company can be inclusive by pitching the experience, the impact, what steps have they taken to create that impact, and how are they not just selling a product but a solution to ease their lives.
This not just attracts the eyeballs of the target segment but also the people around them that become loyal supporters of the brand.
Example: Mamava, a company that sells nursing pods to make breastfeeding hassle-free for women in public places.
"While Mamava's purpose is to make breastfeeding easier, they do not focus exclusively on the needs of moms. The product line provides workplaces with an affordable way to comply with lactation laws and helps make public and private spaces more welcoming for parents and babies, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction and retention. By clearly communicating these benefits, the company invites a diverse group of supporters (beyond just moms) to be part of the movement." (Wang 2018)
On the other hand, Jayashree Industries can fight against the pink tax in India to make sanitary pads more affordable for women in India, invite men to hygiene workshops (women will feel empowered that their family supports them and care enough to buy them a sanitary pad).
3. Create a ‘Need’ First and then ‘Market’:
Jaishree Industries has been doing a fantastic job by providing sustainable, affordable napkins to women but do you think they would buy it if they didn’t understand the ‘need’ for it?
If your customers don’t understand the need for your product, would they spend a buck on it? No.
Jayashree Industries needs to hold awareness campaigns that focus on how using the napkins will be the most hygienic option for them and also educating them on how having these machines will create employment for them.
It should be easy for your customers to understand what you're doing and why you're doing it. That should be served as crisp as a chicken platter to your potential customers.
Question: Why do you think SaaS companies have podcasts, webinars, blogs?
4. Build Communities:
“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much” – Helen Keller
It's heavier than it sounds.
Companies, brands that create communities grow faster than Usain Bolt. For Jaishree Industries, this could be a huge advantage since ladies in villages have a strong influence on each other.
Example: If they create communities around menstrual hygiene awareness and if every woman self-help groups, they’ve given their machines share their reviews of the sanitary napkins plus hold awareness workshops in the form of visits to neighboring villages, this will be a great boost! Why? Chain reaction.
Build a community before you build a product.
Note: Don’t build a community if you don’t know your product or haven’t ideated on one. Building communities with no goal at hand, and producing content will lead to no results.
The above mentioned are four ways that I believe an Entrepreneur can follow to make his 'Creative Idea' turn into a movement especially in the context of Jaishree Industries and how even Jaishree Industries can turn into one.
Making a product a movement doesn't just take a checklist but an army that goes upfront on all sides such as genuine (without false claims) campaigns, Ad productions, Social Media Marketing et cetera.
Can your product be a movement, and still go down?
A great example of a product that became a movement, a product that every household tagged as a necessity to have for excellent nutrition and height as they say; Horlicks and Complan.
How? excellent campaigns, advertised that people need their product to have better nutrition and height, built communities for kids and engaged themselves in influencer marketing, had a scalable model and were inclusive of all ages where they manufactured different products to cater to different ages, in fact, gender too.
However, no matter how successful they were in creating the movement for their product, they did slip downhill which is why I mentioned "genuine (without false claims) campaigns" earlier in the essay.
This is when Amitabh Bachhan joined them as their ambassador for the Mission Poshan campaign to fight malnutrition in the country. "Amitabh Bachchan's tweet kicked off a controversy. A national-level advocacy group called Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest wrote an open letter to Bachchan, asking him to withdraw the endorsement. It claimed that Horlicks was a high-sugar product and its claims of making children healthier were not scientifically backed. It also claimed that the consumption of the product was “harmful for children as it may contribute to childhood obesity and non-communicable disease in later life." (Economic Times 2018)
Interestingly, they've created such an impact on the audience that despite the controversy and having new players in the HFD (Health Food Drinks) market their sales haven't really dipped.
They're still standing as a strong competitor to most of the brands and have managed to get brands like Boost out of the game. Horlicks and Complan have nonetheless been a great movement in India as not just they became a great product in the market but a necessity in the market for the consumers.
Question: What other ways can help a product transform into a movement?
References:
Economic Times. 2018. Why are Horlick, Complan on sale?. June 21. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/et-explains/why-are-horlicks-complan-on-sale-an-amitabh-bachchan-tweet-might-explain/articleshow/64684184.cms?from=mdr.
Wang, Liz. 2018. Forbes - 4 Ways To Build A Movement (Not Just A Brand). May 30. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizlong/2018/05/30/4-ways-to-build-a-movement-not-just-a-brand/#2e40b697595f.
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People prefer stories over facts. Indeed, a product that's not sold well is a product wasted.
Building a community and understanding their needs and painpoints certainly saves time and efforts later on. Include feedback in the loop and you have a great winning formula