The term "product/market fit," in its most basic form, means that a product is in perfect sync with its customers. The product has been refined to perfection -- assuming you define "perfection" as giving your chosen market exactly what it wants.
"Product/market fit" might be the buzz word -- the golden goose egg -- of start-ups, but everyone big or small needs it.
In Ryan Holiday's book Growth Hacker Marketing, he write this: "The best marketing decision you can make is to have a product or business that fulfills a compelling need for a defined group of people -- no matter how much work it takes to create this."
No matter how much work -- that's the key.
The old ways of doing things, however, like the Waterfall Method, are becoming sluggish. Like a winded runner in a race, those models are falling behind. Today's Screen Age market moves with incredible speed and complexity, and the slow-footed, clumsy methods of traditional assembly line marketing and product development may not be as effective as they once were.
Companies need agility.
The Necessity of Agility in Today's Market
The decline of the old model of traditional marketing is not news. Although it's still a popular blog headline and book topic in 2015, the writing has been on the wall for years -- even among household name companies. According to a 2013 article, Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed said: "Marketing in its traditional sense no longer works in the competitive restaurant industry."
Creed admitted how social media was running laps around Taco Bell and how it can be a major challenge for slow-footed companies who still rely on the old models of public relations and marketing -- yet still expect total control over their message in an age of decentralized media. "If you are a control freak, you’re not going to like the future," said Creed.
The heart of the problem is not just learning to master social media. Agility is needed at the heart of where success happens: at that crucial intersection between product development and marketing. Companies can flow with greater effectiveness when they master what we call a "scrum," a "lightweight project management methodology" (which you can read about in our page that defines a "scrum").
Smarter, Faster, Stronger
What companies need is the ability to react quickly to changing markets. In web design, for example, having a malleable, lightweight project management methodology -- like what we at Contensive have innovated -- gives you the versatility to create and update powerful web design quickly without compromising the product. It's like a championship athlete who learns to change directions on a dime without compromising their power and speed.
Another example: in the game-changing field of Mobile App creation, adaptability and speed is a must. And sometimes companies don't realize how a powerfully designed mobile app -- one that is seamlessly integrated into their operations -- can revolutionize the way they do business and upgrade their quality of service to customers.
For example, with our mobile application LoadLog, a trucking company could communicate with its trucks through encoded SMS messages intercepted from the server and the registered mobile device. Someone might ask, "So what?"
When your company's server has to track trucks and communicate with them, and your trucks are running 24/7 through remote areas of North Dakota where standard web communication for mobile apps is spotty at best, you quickly realize how valuable an encoded SMS system -- which proved to be reliable even in remote locations -- could be. It was a game-changer for that company.
The Sky's the Limit
These are just two examples of how this new methodology can change companies into agile performers in the digital marketplace. Whether you're needing web design, web app development, mobile app technology, or multi-platform responsive design, Contensive understands how agility can refine your product and the service you provide until you're in perfect sync with your customers.
Whether it means making minor or major adjustments on your quest to product/market fit, contact us to see how we can make you more agile and powerful.
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