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Product innovation is firmly in the spotlight at this time of the year.
As I write this, I’ve just had the privilege of co-hosting the EFTTEX Awards, sponsored by Angling International, where some of Europe’s most exciting new products were recognised. In a matter of days, I will be heading to ICAST, where the New Product Showcase will once again be the centre of attention and hundreds of new launches will compete for attention from retailers and the media.
It’s an exciting time for any tackle supplier. But as you prepare your next launch – or walk the aisles of ICAST looking at everyone else’s – there is one question worth asking:
Are you talking about your products… or are you talking about the problems they solve?
In my time as owner of Angling International, product marketing has tended to follow a familiar formula. Launches have been dominated by specifications, materials and technologies. Brands have proudly told me and my team – and by extension, our readers – about carbon fibre, coatings, base ingredients and alloys. I understand the temptation, because those inputs have been the focus of your attention during the development phase. But when it comes to bringing end products to market, that focus on features can leave customers having to work out for themselves why any of it matters.
There is a better way, and there are prime examples of it in our July issue.
For a start, there is BKK’s feature on its new North American Summer Drop in this issue. Rather than introducing three new products by listing their specifications, the company starts with something much more compelling: the problem the angler faces.
The Heavy Guard Weedless Wacky Neko isn’t introduced as a hook with an eight-fibre weed guard and Hyper Carbon Steel construction. It’s introduced as the answer to a frustration every bass angler understands: finesse presentations in heavy cover too often end in snagged tackle, bent hooks or braided line slipping through the eye. Only after establishing that problem does BKK explain its solution and then the engineering that makes it possible. The same structure runs through every product in the launch.
Problem. Solution. Proof.
It’s a simple formula, but it’s remarkably effective because it’s how customers think.
Meanwhile, in our Q&A feature, Svivlo founder Patrik Zander argues that the reel industry has spent decades trying to market baitcasters by offering increasingly sophisticated brakes, spool adjustments and settings. Instead, Svivlo’s proposition is based on framing the problem – lost time on the water dealing with backlash – and presenting its intuitive system as the ideal solution. Even better, Zander goes a step further by framing competitor models as part of the problem. Their sophisticated features cause more challenges for anglers because of all the fine adjustments they require. Svivlo ‘solves’ that problem too because its mechanism does the work. Smart marketing of the highest order.
And it’s a lesson that extends beyond products to all your B2B marketing.
Look at FirstDart’s approach ahead of ICAST. Of course it will be showcasing products, but that’s not the headline message in our July issue. Instead, the OEM manufacturer wants to talk about the problems its customers are wrestling with every day: tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty, volatile freight costs, unpredictable lead times and supply-chain disruption. Its story is about automation, manufacturing flexibility, supply-chain resilience and helping brands get products to market faster. In other words, in an uncertain world, it is solving problems its customers understand.
So, take the lesson. Whether you are selling products, manufacturing services, logistics, software, marketing or retail support, customers aren’t really buying what you do, they’re buying the problem you solve.
If you are a lure manufacturer, explain the exact fishing frustration you are fixing.
If you’re an OEM factory, talk about the supply-chain uncertainty you solve.
If you’re a distributor, explain how costly it is not to reach customers with products, then detail how your systems make sure that problem never arises.
And if you’re using Angling International to promote your business, ask yourself exactly the same question.
Don’t tell our readers what your company does. Tell them you know what they are struggling with – and how you solve it.
Because the companies that cut through the noise at ICAST, EFTTEX and every other trade show aren’t always those with the biggest booths or the longest list of specifications.
They’re the ones that make customers immediately think: ‘That’s exactly the problem I have.’
Solve that, and you’ve already won half the sale.
