Business - Cornelius Creative

Five essential marketing trends you need to consider in a post-COVID world

Written by 33A5f3aF on February 8, 2022. Posted in Business, Marketing.

As the world starts to emerge from the Covid-19 lockdown, businesses will need to adapt to the ‘new normal’ and work to a marketing roadmap that’s considerably different from what they’d intended.

The businesses that will be successful are already starting to adjust to a post-COVID economy, where agility and innovation will be key to reaping rewards.

We’ve predicted five marketing trends for a post-COVID world and what your business will need to do to keep up.

1. Invest in an online purchasing journey

Businesses who plan to or have already invested in an online purchasing system via their website or app will start to see the pay-off as more customers choose to shop virtually in the wake of the pandemic.

This means that now more than ever a seamless online customer experience is vital. The path to customer purchase has changed significantly and brands need to put user experience at the heart of their online marketing activities.

Product-based retailers will need to effectively highlight their products features and benefits in order to build trust with customers who may be new to online shopping. Customer generated content, such as images and videos, of the products in use will create confidence, as will reviews and feedback from current customers.

2. Voice-activation will grow and evolve

The way we use the internet to search for products and services is evolving. Voice search is growing—especially with the younger generation, with 55% of teenagers already using voice search daily. Mobile devices now come with voice activation (Apple Siri and Google Assistant). But it’s not just phones, voice activated home devices, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, are becoming much more common, and are providing a new way to explore the internet, do shopping, and connect with loved ones.

Consumers are more comfortable with voice-activated products and companies need to consider including smart features like voice activation when developing new products. Imagine a fridge that tells you which food items you’re running low on, or a kettle that can boil itself when asked. Consumers want speed and convenience when interacting with products; and speaking is one of the most convenient ways to make commands.

3. Embrace user-generated content

In an uncertain world, consumers have reverted to brands that have excellent customer service values. Building trust with your audience is key to gaining their custom, and user-generated content is a valuable vehicle for fostering that ‘feel-good factor’ in your brand.

Peer-generated content is deemed 92% more trustworthy than traditional advertising and increases engagement and time spent on a social media platform or website. Ask your potential customers for their input by creating a company hashtag for competitions or offer a reward in exchange for a video review. We’re share our lives online more than ever, and we’re more than happy to share our thoughts and images of products that we love with our connections. Savvy brands will use this desire to share to their advantage.

4. The agile brand catches the worm

During the height of the pandemic things could change on an almost daily basis. Successful brands were able to jump on these changes and use them to their advantage to produce content and campaigns quickly. It meant adapting to a new culture, speeding up creative processes, reducing bureaucracy, and maybe hardest of all, learning how to conduct meetings via Zoom!

Businesses that are agile in this emerging new reality will be able steal market share from less-agile competitors. But it will be important not to be too hasty to ensure that any decisions made align with business goals. Tesco’s “little helps” TV advert was both practical for the climate but stayed true to the brand.

5. Diversification could make or break businesses

When lockdown hit many businesses were either completely unable to trade or had severely reduced trading capabilities. For the most part retailers were able to trade online, which helped them to weather the storm. But many businesses were also able to diversify their products and services which gave them an entirely new customer base. Dyson for example, rising to the UK Government’s challenge, were able to develop an entirely new ventilator in just 30 days, and countless brands jumped on the huge increase in demand for Personal Protective Equipment, such as face masks (Gap) or hand sanitiser (Brew Dog).

Turns your plans into reality

The world has changed and business owners have learned that success can’t be taken for granted. Our team specialise in product marketing tactics that align with your organisational goals. From initial consultation and branding strategies, to go-to-market ideas and methods to turn customers into brand advocates, we offer the full turnkey solution.

If you’re seeking to evolve your product marketing in a post-COVID landscape, call our team on 01474 368654 or send us a note with your aims for 2022 and beyond.

What is a product roadmap (and do you need one)?

Written by 33A5f3aF on August 13, 2021. Posted in Business, Marketing.

If you’re developing a product, you’ve probably heard the term ‘product roadmap’ floating around.

But what does it mean, and do you need one?

What is a product roadmap?

Simply put, a product roadmap is a vision of your company’s evolving products. It is a strategic document that outlines plans and allows visibility on which direction the company is heading. The roadmap is usually rolling or agile over a specific time period, which when developing physical products is usually 3 – 5 years. It tells you which products will be delivered, and by when.

Essentially it’s the road your company will be travelling on and what products will be launched along the way. Like an actual road, there may be some bends and twists along the way, and even a few diversions!

Photo credit: Unsplash

Who is responsible for the product roadmap?

The product manager is ultimately responsible for creating and owning the product roadmap, however, there will normally be other stakeholders around the business. The following departments will usually have at least one nominated stakeholder:

Executive board
Product team
Design and Engineering
Sales
Marketing
Customer Service

Depending on your organisation, you may also have some external stakeholders.

It’s vital that the product manager updates stakeholders on a regular basis. They’ll need to arrange meetings to communicate updates and collate feedback, but ultimately it’s the product manager who owns the roadmap and is responsible for keeping things moving. If there are delays that will impact the agreed strategic vision then these need to be communicated to stakeholders. The roadmap will help to manage and align the stakeholders’ expectations.

Why do you need a product roadmap?

As outlined above, the roadmap is the organisation’s strategic vision for the future. It’s an essential document for the business. Without it, you won’t have clarity of which products are being launched.

It communicates the product vision clearly and aligns product goals with overall business goals. The ultimate objective being to launch commercially successful products with a healthy return on investment.

The roadmap translates “technical” jargon into concise language that all stakeholders can understand.

It allows priorities to be communicated easily, which is particularly useful when difficult decisions need to be made (such as which features can we afford to include in the development, and which need to be scrapped).

The roadmap facilitates different departments to work together, resulting in a smoother development process with the outcome being a better product for your target audience.

Simon Cornelius, MD of Cornelius Creative says:

“A long-term strategic product roadmap gives businesses a great foundation for future product launches and exposes the maximum potential from existing product ranges.

A well thought out roadmap identifies potential gaps in a product portfolio as well as gaps in the marketplace. It allows businesses to control their product lifecycles, ensuring that outdated or poor performing products are superseded by new product developments before it is too late. This ensures a continuous revenue stream, as well as helping to plan new product launches, by giving a firm indication of deadlines to complete the development and hit significant selling milestones, be it a trade show, or seasonal time of the year to maximise the product’s initial uptake.”

What should be included in a product roadmap?

The content of your roadmap depends on your organisation, and your audience. The size and structure of your company will determine the complexity of the roadmap, but there are certain aspects that should be included:

The overall vision for the product(s)
Requirements (what you need to get where you want to be)
Project timeline, complete with timed goals
Metrics, how things will be measured

Best practice tips for a killer product roadmap

Make sure the company’s vision is clear: it will be the overall guide for the roadmap.
Don’t overload the detail: keep it top level with your audience in mind.
Make it accessible to all stakeholders: and keep communication regular.
Review and update regularly: make changes when necessary – it should be flexible.

Next steps:

Are you looking to create your next product roadmap? Our team of experienced product managers can help.

Celebrating one year in business

Written by 33A5f3aF on March 17, 2021. Posted in Business.

Today marks our first year in business!

When we incorporated Cornelius Creative in March 2020, we were full of excitement as any new business owners, despite the looming pandemic. Only six days later, the UK went into lockdown and thus started a year like no other. While other businesses were shutting down and sending staff home on furlough, we were buzzing to get our business started.

We quickly learned that we needed to adapt to stay afloat; but with determination, great teamwork, some favours and luck, today we have a growing business with big ambition. To call it a rollercoaster year would be an understatement!

In our first year we have moved from the spare bedroom to our new office in Fawkham, we’ve won a Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday award, and we’ve even been featured in the local Kent news.

We’d like to thank everyone that has helped us so far, including our clients and partners; we’re so glad to have you on the journey with us.

Cheers to a fantastic first year, and let’s see what year two has in store!

Moving to our new office in Fawkham

Written by 33A5f3aF on February 25, 2021. Posted in Business.

Today marks the start of a new chapter for Cornelius Creative. We’re excited to announce we are moving to a new office in the village of Fawkham, Kent. As the business has grown over the past year the time has come for a larger office space.

Our new office is based in the heart of Fawkham Valley, a beautiful rural area surrounded by golf courses, fields and woodland. We’re located next to a working farm in a barn shared by other local businesses.

We are also close to Brands Hatch Racing Circuit (we’re looking forward to arranging corporate days there in the future!)

Just down the road is a central village green with a great pub (The Rising Sun), which again, we’re looking forward to visiting once lockdown eases.

Fawkham is easily accessed by road – the M20, A20 and M25 are all nearby. Longfield rail station is 5 minutes’ drive, while Ebbsfleet International, which has highspeed links into London and Europe, is around 15 minutes away.

Our new address is:

The Black Barn
Gay Dawn Farm
Valley Road
Fawkham
Longfield
Kent
DA3 8LY

Our new phone numbers are 01474 368654 and 07884 288868.

We look forward to welcoming you soon!

Have a read of our story so far on Kent Live.

Top product trends to watch in 2021

Written by 33A5f3aF on February 16, 2021. Posted in Design.

Can you believe it’s February? So much has happened this year already; an attempted coup in the US Capitol, a new US president, the Covid vaccine rollout… 2021 has started with a bang and shows no signs of slowing down.

If we think back to this time last year, we had no idea what was in store for us. By February 2020, most of us were starting to become aware of a Coronavirus “issue” in China, although some of us had never heard of Wuhan before – remember that blissful time? We’re unlikely to forget it now.

Any plans that brands had for 2020 quickly went out of the window.

As I explained in my video on post-Covid marketing trends some companies have been able to thrive in the pandemic – they diversified their proposition and were quick to adapt to rapidly changing situations.

But when it comes to product design and development, the process is typically much longer than marketing. Product development cannot be done overnight; the process has many stages that take time. Changes can be made at any point, of course, but they can have huge repercussions on the rest of the development process, and the budget of course.

So, while it looks like 2021 will be similar to 2020 in many ways – it’s unlikely many of us will be travelling much this year, and working from home will continue for lots of us – what product design trends will emerge this year?

The annual Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas every January is a good marker for the type of tech products that’ll be launched that year. In 2021 the conference was held virtually, but there were still plenty of product trends that emerged.

Smart money on Smart products

Smart products have been around for a few years and many homes have at least one, typically a smart speaker or video doorbell. And although we’re used to the term “smart home”, the reality is that most of these products don’t learn our habits, they are simply connected via the internet and are controlled by our devices.

But this will change over the coming years; home products will start to learn our habits and adapt their behaviour using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some are already doing this, such as the Nest thermostat, but we will see more AI driven technology with products being able to think, learn and make decisions.

These products are already being developed. The Nobi smart lamp has been designed to offer extra care to vulnerable and elderly users – it can detect irregular motions, such as falls, to alert carers. And the Toto wellness concept toilet will analyse waste product and offer personal health recommendations – so in the future both our GP and toilet will be telling us to eat more fibre!

Cleaning up

If the past year has taught us anything it’s how easily germs can spread. The demand for cleaning products has grown considerably, often surpassing supply (remember when hand sanitiser was selling for £120 on Amazon?). And as more workplaces and public spaces reopen, new cleaning and safety measures will be implemented to prevent the spread of the virus. So, it’s likely we’ll see a trend for hygiene and cleaning in new product design.

Take this self-cleaning bedsheet from Nordifakt, for example. Made from 100% organic cotton treated with Polygiene, a silver chloride treatment that acts as a natural disinfectant, the bedsheet breaks down germs, Volatile Organic Compounds and mould to stay clean and smelling fresh with no need for washing. And when you consider that after one week the average bedsheet has 17,442 more bacteria than a toilet seat, a self-cleaning sheet certainly has some appeal.

It’s likely that touch free products will also grow in popularity, Kohler has developed a number of touchless bathroom fixtures including a toilet and tap, and we designed a concept bathroom tap that is both touch-free and has a timer to tell the user when they have washed their hands for the recommended 20 seconds.

Let the good tech roll

It’s a bit of a Marmite development but like it or not, rollable/foldable technology is here. For the most part, the tech has been developed into mobile phones, but it is being rolled out (pardon the pun) to laptops and even space-saving rollable TVs, if you have a spare £63,000 that is.

Foldable phones were debuted at CES 2019, but the technology has been 10 years in the making. The initial launches from Samsung and Motorola have been struck with a few design glitches, but the companies seem determined to make flexible displays the next big thing.

(Anyone remember when curved TVs were the next big thing?)

So, is it just a gimmick or will we all have folding phones in our pockets in five years? (Couldn’t we just go back to flip phones?)

There are some advantages to folding tech; the ability to run multiple apps simultaneously, a more immersive experience when consuming media, and of course the obvious space-saving convenience.

Cornelius Creative Managing Director Simon says: “

“The advent of flexible screen technology removes some of the boundaries of traditional screened devices. For a designer, having the freedom to design a product without the limitations of a fixed sized display screen opens up a whole plethora of new and interesting shapes. The next stage is for spray on or mouldable screen technology, which opens up opportunities to apply screens onto organic forms.”

Meeting personal values

Consumer habits are changing and with this shift is a desire to support products and brands that align with our personal values. The rise of ethical consumption and conscious consumerism is having a direct impact on product design, with more consumers choosing to buy products with no negative consequences on people, planet or animals:

“Carbon offsets are no longer enough; consumers will consider the impact of product disposal when making purchase decisions. Brands will respond with products and processes that reduce and remove more greenhouse gas than their companies emit.”
Mintel 2021 Global Consumer Trends

And it’s not just intent, consumers are staying true to their word. Hotwire reported in 2019 that 47% of internet users had moved away from buying products from brands that violated their personal values, a claim that is also backed up by Harvard Business Review.

“From product, packaging, experience, service and sustainability, designers must strive to meet the demands of the increasingly discerning consumer.”
Design Week, Jan 2021

Manufacturers need to consider sustainability in product development to evolve beyond recyclable packaging to encompass all aspects of design, production and manufacturing, and is respectful of the choice of mindful purchasers. For example, Whole Earth suggests alternative uses for their 1kg peanut butter tub once it’s finished, from storing bird seed to taking bagels to work.

Consumers are also increasingly demanding brands recognise inequalities and injustices around the globe and use their platform to take a stand, whether it’s against exploiting workers or speaking out against systemic racism by supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

Each year during Pride there are floods of companies that jump on the LGBTQ+ bandwagon; launching rainbow-themed products and changing their logo, but consumers have cottoned on to the lack of substance and are now choosing companies that actually support LGBTQ+ charities through the sale of such products.

So, there you have our top product design trend predictions for 2021. Do you agree? Or do you think other trends will emerge this year? Leave your thoughts below!

We’re looking forward to developing and launching lots of new products this year, if you’re looking for help with product design and marketing, speak to our team today.

Photo credit: Unsplash

Key Product Marketing Trends for 2021 (after Covid-19)

Written by 33A5f3aF on November 3, 2020. Posted in Business, Marketing.

We recently published our latest video detailing our predictions for product marketing trends after the Coronavirus pandemic is over (if that day will ever come!)

You can watch the video below, or alternatively scroll down for a transcript. What do you think businesses will need to focus on to survive in a post-Covid world? Have you started to implement any of these marketing suggestions already?

Video transcription

Do you want to know the key marketing trends for 2021 and beyond? Want to know what’s likely to happen after COVID? I’ll be taking you through our top five marketing trends. So keep watching. Hi, I’m Lucy from Cornelius Creative. We’re a product design and marketing consultancy based in the south east of the UK. We help businesses and people like you to create and market amazing products. We post videos regularly on product design, marketing, and 3d printing too. So if that’s the sort of thing that you’re interested in, we’d love to have you as a subscriber. In today’s video, I’m going to be taking you through the top five marketing trends that we predict will happen after COVID. So we’re just over six months into the pandemic and it looks like Coronavirus is going to be with us for a while. It’s affected all businesses. Some have been completely unable to trade, whereas others have seen a massive boost in sales. It’s changed the way that we search and buy products. And it’s changed the type of products that we’re buying too. Now while no one has a crystal ball and knows for definite what’s going to happen in the future, we can look at what’s happened so far and make predictions. So without further ado, let’s get into our five key predictions for what’s likely to happen after the coronavirus pandemic.

1.) Invest in an online purchasing journey.

At the start of the pandemic Primark saw their sales go from £650million in March to £0 in April. And that’s because they don’t have an e-commerce platform on their website. They’ve said for years it doesn’t suit their business model, but they probably didn’t see a global pandemic coming that would stop all of their sales. So whether this will now encourage them to revisit that and add some e-commerce functionality to their website, I don’t know. Obviously when the shops did reopen in June, there were queues around the streets for people desperate to get back into Primark. So it probably didn’t affect their sales for too long, but for the rest of us that don’t have the pulling power of Primark, we need to invest in an online purchasing journey for our customers. If you’re selling products, you need to be selling them online. It’s not enough now to just be in the high street. In the wake of the pandemic, more and more customers are shopping virtually. Online sales have been around for years and businesses that have invested in an online journey for their customers will have seen the payoff during the pandemic as more and more people choose to shop virtually. This means that now more than ever, a seamless online journey for your customers is vital. Brands need to put user experience at the heart of their online marketing activity. It’s not enough for retailers to just highlight their products’ features and benefits. You need to build trust with your customers, some of which may be new to online shopping. So whether that’s using user generated content, such as videos and images, showing your products in use, or displaying reviews and feedback from past customers, both of which will create confidence with your new customer base.

2.) Voice activation will grow and evolve

The way that we use the internet to search for products and services is changing and voice search is becoming much more common, especially amongst the younger generation. 55% of teenagers use voice search on a daily basis, and mobile devices now all come with voice activation inbuilt. But it’s not just mobile devices. There are so many voice activated home devices now available to buy; think of the Amazon Echo or Google Home. People are becoming much more comfortable with using voice search to explore the internet, do shopping and connect with loved ones as well. So businesses that are developing products need to bear this in mind and consider adding smart features like voice activation when they’re developing new products. Think of a fridge that can tell you when your milk is running out or a kettle that can boil itself when asked. These are the sorts of products that are going to be developed over the next few years.

3.) Embrace user generated content

It’s an uncertain world that we’re living in, so customers have reverted to brands that have excellent customer service values. Building trust with your audience is key to gaining their custom and a great way to build trust with your audience is to provide user-generated content. So that could be videos and images of your products being used. Peer generated content is deemed to be 92% more trustworthy than traditional advertising. And it increases the engagement and time spent on your social media platform and website. We share our lives online now more than ever. It helps us to stay connected to our loved ones. And we’re more than happy to provide recommendations for products that we love. Think about how many times you’ve posted about a product that you really love, and you’ve shared it with your loved ones. So businesses can use this to their advantage, whether it’s creating a hashtag for your customers to use, or perhaps running a competition for them to enter if they post a video of your product being used.

4.) Brands will need to learn to become more agile

During the height of the pandemic it seemed like things changed on an almost daily basis. And the brands that were successful were the ones that were able to jump on these changes and use them to their advantage, to create content and campaigns quickly. It meant adapting to a new culture, potentially reducing the amount of approvals that were needed for campaigns, and being able to create content very, very quickly. With a lot of people working from home, it meant hosting meetings via zoom became the norm, which was quite out of the comfort zone for a lot of us. There were many TV adverts that were broadcast at the height of the pandemic and they would have had the slots booked for many months previously. So they would have had to have adapted their content, because perhaps the campaigns that they were running previously weren’t relevant anymore. A lot of these brands utilised user generated content. So people filming themselves from their homes, where everyone was staying at home. And a lot of the themes changed to be around community and looking out for each other, the sort of new priorities that were important to us at the time. One of the adverts that stood out to me was the Tesco ‘little helps’ advert. It was a practical insight into the new user experience of their supermarket. So they actually filmed what it would be like to go around the supermarket at the markings on the floor, the perspex screens at the checkout, sanitising trolleys, perhaps having to queue at busy times. this was a really practical advert for Tesco to run, but it also reassured their customers into what was quite a scary experience for a lot of people.

5.) Diversification could make or break businesses

When the national lockdown hit, many businesses were completely unable to trade. Some businesses were able to move their trading online as I mentioned previously, to weather the storm, but others weren’t able to do that. So they had to diversify their products and services. Dyson, for example, rising to the UK government’s challenge, were able to develop an entirely new ventilator in just 30 days. And countless other brands jumped on the increase in demand for PPE. So whether that was Gap producing face masks or BrewDog producing hand sanitiser. So there you have our predictions for the five key marketing trends post COVID: online purchasing, voice activation, user-generated content, agility, and diversification. I really hope you found this video. Interesting. If you have, please give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing to our channel. We’d love to have you as a viewer. Until next time. See you soon.

Thinking about hiring an agency? 8 reasons why you should

Written by 33A5f3aF on August 25, 2020. Posted in Business.

Whether you’re a small business owner, product inventor or maybe even an R&D or marketing manager within a larger organisation, at some point you’ll probably be faced with the need to hire an external agency or consultant to assist with a project.

You may be reluctant to hire a consultancy. There may be some thoughts going through your mind:

Agencies are expensive
The consultant will take over the project and change its direction
I had a bad experience with ‘ABC agency’ and it’s put me off using anyone else

Let’s face it, a lot of us have had experiences in the past with the ‘wrong’ agency.

But the truth is, when you find the RIGHT agency; they naturally become an extension of your organisation. They increase your workforce, skills and experience, and can even reduce the cost of your project.

So, if you’re asking yourself: do I really need to hire external resource? Take a look at some of the benefits of using the right agency:

1.) EXTRA RESOURCE WHEN YOUR INTERNAL TEAM IS STRETCHED

This is perhaps the most obvious benefit to hiring an outside agency. Quite often, R&D and marketing teams are stretched working on current projects. Add in internal meetings, calls, emails, other office distractions (including colleagues!) and it’s no surprise that a lot of teams are often at breaking point. When you have an important project, a new product development or an important product marketing launch, hiring an outside agency with the capacity to focus on the job in hand without distraction can release the pressure on your internal team. The outcome is a speedier project with better results.

2.) NOT LIMITED BY COMPANY CULTURE OR PAST PROJECTS

Innovation is limited by our past experiences. Your internal team is highly skilled but they may be influenced by previous projects, or they may be reluctant to push boundaries in fear of disturbing the status quo. An outside consultant can expand horizons; they aren’t bound by your company culture. This may mean some of their ideas are a bit “out there” but it’s good to break the rules sometimes.

3.) THEY CAN BRING FRESH IDEAS TO THE TABLE

Building on from the previous point, a good consultancy will bring new ideas to your company, after all, what are you paying them for? They may improve the design of the product or marketing campaign by suggesting ideas otherwise not thought of by your internal team. They’ll have had different experiences to your team, perhaps in different industries, which will bring new ways of thinking to the project.

4.) THEY WORK TO A DEFINED PROCESS

A good product design or marketing consultant will have an efficient working process with specific stages (take a look at our design and marketing processes). This will help to keep the project running to date, and may even help to reduce overall timescales.

5.) THEY HAVE ACCESS TO TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Depending on the project, you may want the agency staff to use your equipment and software, but a decent agency will have their own professional equipment setup. This means that they can work either remotely or in your office, depending on your needs. A good consultancy will have a full suite of professional equipment that you may not have, such as 3D printers, enabling you to have prototypes made quickly for a reduced cost.

6.) THEY HAVE VALUABLE CONNECTIONS

Agencies work on lots of different projects and in doing so build a wide network of contacts. Their connections can be valuable to your project; they may help to reduce costs of materials, tooling, or perhaps advertising costs. They may have contacts at various publications to help with PR. As well saving money, these connections may also help to increase the scope on product designs.

7.) SUPPORT SERVICES ALL UNDER ONE ROOF

A holistic agency (like us!) will look at your whole product portfolio, design and marketing needs. They can support you along the whole product lifecycle – from concept to market launch and beyond – so that everything you need is all under one roof from one agency. This can be more effective (and cheaper!) than using multiple agencies for different areas of support.

8.) THEY CAN ACTUALLY REDUCE PROJECT COSTS

Hiring an agency can reduce timescales, open up connections to a wider network of suppliers and increase scope of design. All of this can actually help to reduce overall costs – result!

We’d love to hear your experiences of hiring agencies – do you have mostly positive or negative experiences?

Tag: Business