Learning Bytes

10 Design Thinking Hacks For Product Marketing

March 22, 2019
skillathon
5 min read

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

Steve Jobs

This was highlighted by our webinar speaker on 19th March. The IPL webinar on ‘Using Design Thinking To Build Global Products’ was led by Mr. Niyam Bhushan. Mr. Bhushan has 20+ years of experience as a design mentor and innovation coach for ‘Digital Dionysus’.

He spoke about the need to design global products like Starbucks , Apple and Royal Enfield. On an average, Indian markets produce 10 million products and it is time to learn about designing a great ‘Value Proposition’.

The mindmap he shared around the – ‘Mindset Framework’ for using Design Thinking is something every digital marketer should use for product marketing.

Highlights of the framework were :-

1 . Product Design and Service Design have merged. With companies like Twitter ; Google Maps and Netflix, the lines of a product that is also a service have blurred.

2 . The best design thinking and innovation patterns happen with ‘Customer Behaviour Design’. To know more, attend our upcoming webinar on Product Marketing.

3 . Based on behaviour and consumer habits, cultural nuances should be taken into consideration for design thinking. Uber has done this beautifully for millenials.

“Design is thinking made visual.” –Saul Bass

4 . Cultural infusion is India’s answer to build the brand story and sell to a global audience. The ‘Go Local’ initiative has been used successfully by Air India ; FabIndia and Forrest Essentials. Check out how our Executive MBA cohort created an innovative business with the concept of waste management – The Story of mPower

5 . Brand Story and Product Story is crucial. Bhushan stated that Indians buy by preference – not performance and property. He gave examples of how we buy mobiles or why we prefer brands referred by our friends and relatives.

6. Emotions are essential for hooking your audience with good business storytelling. Here’s how you can craft a message that matters. In the FabIndia Vs. Khadi Udyog Bhavan case, FabIndia is a global product because they used design thinking and brand storytelling to market their indigenous roots. Bhushan suggests that we can use Indian emotions- the ‘Navarasa’ in product marketing.

Divergent Empathy for contradicting cultures is the key to growing global products in India. Product marketing is key and you can know more with our series of free IPL webinars every Tuesday.

Institute of Product Leadership is Asia’s First Business School providing accredited degree programs and certification courses exclusively in Product Management, Strategy, and Leadership.

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