They Don’t Know What They Want – You Do

ByDavid

What should you do next?

What should you create? Legendary marketing professor Philip Kotler offered four possible answers to this question:

  • Make what everyone else is selling.
  • Make what somebody asks you for.
  • Make what nobody has asked for yet—but they will.
  • Make what nobody has asked for because they don’t know they want it yet. But they do.

Now, let’s translate this into creative problem-solving:

  • You can do what everyone else is doing—safe, but crowded, even if you do it well.
  • You can do what people ask for—reactive, not distinct.
  • You can anticipate what people will want next—no mind reading, just pattern recognition.
  • Or you can use your talents to create something so unique that no one even knows to ask for it yet.

Sound impossible? Look at your smartphone. I don’t look it up, I mean look at your phone! Did you know you needed it before you had one? Steve Jobs did. But you don’t have to be Steve Jobs—just open your mind to that Venn diagram intersection of unmet needs, hidden problems, and what you can uniquely offer.

What’s something you’ve created… or can create… that people need? They won’t know it until you show it.

#Creativity #Marketing #Innovation #ProblemSolving #Entrepreneurship #kotler #stevejobs #smartphone