The Rainmaker platform is a big pivot for Copyblogger Media. It takes them outside the traditional teaching content marketing via courses and posts and launches them into the land grab known as Software as a Service (SaaS). On top of that, it’s a big bet on podcasting, which is a lot more challenging than writing outstanding copy.
When Brian Clark started Copyblogger back in 2006, SEO and content marketing were just starting to take off. He used his copywriting experience and audience to build an outstanding product called Teaching Sells. The idea of teaching your audience was a real innovation back when everyone was scrambling to get higher and higher SEO scores at the expense of writing great content that actually helped people.
Here’s the Dilemma
There comes a point in every business where you need to make a decision — keep doing what you are doing or move on to something else. It’s at these points where companies can either grow or fade away. The successful pivot needs to happen at the right time, with the right product and with the right customers. Knowing when all three of these will come together is an art. Out of all the dilemmas, this one is responsible for most tech entrepreneurs sleepless nights.
Case in Point
Copyblogger Media’s pivot to Podcasting and it’s SaaS service offering may seem like a bit of a stretch but Copyblogger has been providing “services” to its customer since it started. Third Tribe Marketing was (it’s now closed to new members) a good example of this and it seemed to lay the ground work for the transition to a more intensive customer service focus.
Build off the Core
A content, teaching business is a far cry from a full on SaaS business where quality software and server uptime play a huge roll in customer success. Throw in a focus on Podcasting and you now have a more challenging pivot to accomplish. Thankfully, Copyblogger’s core customer base are some of the most innovative and trend setting people on the web. This core customer base will be a vital part of guiding whatever happens with the Rainmaker Platform.
Take-a-way: A solid core business is the ideal launching pad for a pivot
Be Sorta, Kinda Guided by the Customer
Another great example of a companies customers who set trends is Apple. Apple did it’s own pivot when it branched out of computers into music players and phones. In fact, back in 2007, Apple even dropped “computer” from its name to make it’s pivot complete.
Even though Apple’s customers set trends, Steve Jobs was famous for saying “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” This is an important part of pivoting to something new — it just cannot be an immediate customer need. This means that you need to absorb customer feedback while simultaneously pivoting to something that will build upon that feedback in the long run.
Another example of customer guidance is the “car for hire” market. Uber, Lyft and Sidecar have completely pivoted how customers hire a taxi. Instead of “hailing a cab” or calling up dispatch, you get on your smart phone, pin your location and pick your destination. The app tells you your driver is in route, tells you his/her name and what car they are driving. You don’t even have to open your wallet because the app charges your credit card. Simple, convenient, no awkward “I’m paying with credit card” and you even get to rate the driver. If I owned a taxi company, I would be extremely worried.
Take-a-way: Look 5 steps ahead of what your customers tell you they need
Test, Test and Test Some More
We briefly touched on the other development method back in the make vs buy dilemma to focus a team on making decisions about what is really value added and what can be “bought”. The Agile-Scrum development method is also a great way to test the waters on a pivot.
Recall that Agile-Scrum’s goal is to have a “releasable” product at the end of each scrum. Typically, scrums last a week so that implies that a potential testable pivot idea is only a week away. Well, not exactly.
Testing a potential pivot may not happen in a week or two or ten but the process of testing potential pivot ideas allows you to refine the idea and gain valuable feedback as to what is resonating with your customers. Again, most customers only see the problems in front of them so you have to be a little careful but if you listen and learn from these product evolutions, you will start to see certain trends that can allow you to adjust your product offering.
Take-a-way: Testing ideas is the best way to gauge your pivots potential
Successful Pivots Come In All Flavors
Vaping is a recent trend that worries a lot of healthcare professionals. For those of you who don’t know what vaping is, let me explain. Vaping is a system of nicotine delivery that replaces lightening up a traditional cigarette. It’s touted as being “safer” than traditional smoking and has seen a surge in popularity not only because it’s “safer” but it does not smell as bad as a lit cigarette.
Vaping is a pivot for an industry that has seen a significant decline in US customers over the last decades. It takes most of the negative “second-hand” effects of smoking and eliminates them. Gone are the days of used cigarette butts, foul stench and social banishment that smokers have been accustomed to. Even though the negative “second-hand” effects are negated, there is still a big controversy as to Vaping’s safety.
All one has to do is look back 60 years to see cigarette ads touting “20,679 Physicians say Luckies are less irritating.” It will be interesting to see how this pivot plays out.
Take-a-way: Look for ways that exiting products can be made better, faster, cheaper or less annoying.
Ask Yourself This
- Why do you need to pivot? Is it a market shift, technology shift or customer demand?
- Can you build off a core technology that you already have or do you need to build or buy something else?
- Are there a core set of customers that you can test the pivot on?
- What happens if you don’t pivot?
- Does your company have the skill set to pivot or do you need to hire or acquire?
Dig Deeper
- 14 Famous Business Pivots
- About Copyblogger
- 15 Greatest Tech Pivots
- Rainmaker Platform
- Errplane pivots to Influxdb
- IBM can adapt to the XaaS Model
- How Lou Made IBM Dance
- Copyblogger bets big on Podcasts
Next Up
The success of any tech enterprise rests solely on the ability of the principals to pivot when the data tells them too. This spidey pivot sense always needs to be paid attention too no matter how in love with your idea you may be. Next up, we dive in to our 8th and final dilemma, beta vs 1.0. For pivots, beta is a critical part of judging if your old or new idea has merit. You’ll want to pay particular attention to this one because we saved the best for last.
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