What Problem Does Your B2B Solution Solve?

By Perry Rearick, Chief Editor, Follow Your Buyer

The first stage of a new product development process is to generate ideas, the same goes for services. And the best commercial ideas often come from exploring unmet customer needs.

When we think we have a good idea that addresses an unmet need, we do some commercial research, confirm the unmet customer need, explore competitor solutions, develop prototypes, test them with real customers, refine our solution, and then commercialize it.

Typically, this final commercialization stage is when we bring in a marketing communications team, explain all the features and benefits of the solution, and they create the marketing material.

If this is how it happens in your organization, your marketing communications team is missing out on the critical information they need to attract customers, the initial unmet need.

When you begin to create new product or service messaging, or refresh some old stuff, go back to the original work done at the idea stage of new product development. And then, ask the following: what problem does my customer have that this solves?

The answer to that question should become the center piece of every external message you create.

Remember, your B2B customer is trying to solve a problem, not buy something. The best way to attract them is to communicate an understanding of that problem and then connect it to a solution you have developed.