Bring innovation to market with proven marketing strategies

When AACo hired me as an advisor, they had a big problem to solve: no one in the US was interested in their product, Australian Wagyu Beef, even though they were the world's largest producer of this delicacy and had won prizes in very prestigious world competitions with it.

This misunderstanding has caused steak lovers in the US to stick with the much better known USDA Prime and Japanese Wagyu, to the detriment of AACo sales. The company's specific challenge reflects a critical obstacle that any innovator faces when introducing their product or idea: inertia, in which people usually prioritize what they know over experience. of something new. This is one of the four main frictions that oppose a new idea, as outlined in my book The Human Element.

To complicate matters further, innovators instinctively want to emphasize the novelty of their offering, which often has the opposite effect of embedding potential consumers deeper into the status quo, even if the innovation represents something truly better.

One of the most powerful ways to reduce the pervasive friction of inertia and the resistance that comes with it is to make the new feel, well, not so new. You can do this by harnessing the power of familiarity. This approach alleviates consumer discomfort with something new and paves the way for trying (and potentially enjoying) your product or idea.

1) Use a familiar form.

AACo's underlying challenge with its Australian Wagyu was that consumers simply didn't know how to compare one premium steak to another. And unless you're a beef lover (they do exist!), why would you? Working with company management, my colleagues and I have helped AACo take a proven business approach to a different area: wine. The wine industry amplifies the preciousness of its products by using ratings, provenance, tasting notes and other familiar characteristics to entice consumers to try new products amidst a sea of ​​confusing options. So we lovingly borrowed this familiar form for Wagyu. We created menus that included "tasting notes", provenance, and marble notes to help diners better understand the cuts on offer. Reorienting market understanding in this familiar way has worked wonders, and AACo's sales have moved in the right direction quickly (sorry)!

2) Use a familiar face.

It's about reducing inertia through the power of approval. It is not so much a question of associating a celebrity - athlete, actor, other - with a product to amplify its "cool" factor, but to reduce its ignorance by relying on a familiar messenger. One example that regularly appears on daytime television is actor Tom Selleck presenting the value of reverse mortgages. Many target consumers - usually older viewers - are understandably wary of this financial product ("Am I going to lose my house?!") but feel reassured by the familiar face of Magnum PI. And he doesn't have to be a celebrity endorser. As a startup investor, I'm much more willing to meet with a founder that an investor or entrepreneur I know introduces me to than someone who cold calls me. The familiarity of my colleagues transfers to the founder, reducing my discomfort.

3) Use a familiar template.

In the face of inertia, an analogy can be a powerful tool. That's why countless startup presentations have been built around some version of "It's Uber to (fill in the blank)" in recent years. It makes a new idea instantly familiar. In women's health, Sabrina Martucci Johnson, CEO of Daré Bioscience, challenged longstanding gender bias among male investors by comparing new female contraceptive products to condoms and female arousal drugs to Viagra. The strategy is working; for example, Daré is