Tuned In: Essential Reading for any Marketer

Why some new products fail and others define entirely new industries is a fascinating topic to write about. Craig Stull, Phil Myers, and David Meerman Scott go after this perspective and strategies companies who are "tuned in" to how market and needs are changing, and how entirely new markets are created as a result. Tuned In tackles this challenge and defines a six step Tuned In Process that forms the foundation of this book.

What’s refreshing about this book is the balance of positive and negative examples used to build out the Tuned In Process. Instead of being preachy or arrogant the authors present how companies get "tuned out" from unmet market needs in emerging markets by getting complacent and assuming too much about what is happening outside the four walls of their companies. This book is a definite wake-up call for any company struggling to stay relevant to new markets and overly reliant on existing customers or market segments.

What also makes this book a good read is the depth the authors go to so these concepts are practical and usable.

Additional key take-aways from this book include the following:

• When companies see their market expertise and insight as superior to the hard work of finding resonating new concepts, complacency begins to set in and companies tend to get tuned out.

• Being purely customer, revenue or innovation-driven actually is the riskiest of strategies any company can take on as it blinds companies from creating resonators in both products and services.

• Resonators are rarely if ever found in a company’s customer base.

• Any business must be a problem solver to survive, using resonators as the catalyst of future growth.

• The authors base the books’ structure on the Tuned In Process that includes the following. Step one is finding unresolved problems and unmet needs within new customer segments. Step two is understanding buyer personas who will buy. This step is worth reading the book for. Step three is quantifying the impact of a potential impact of the resonator product or service. Step four is creating breakthrough experiences. Step five is articulating powerful ideas that connect resonators with buyers who need the solutions it offers. Step six is establishing authentic connections with buyers.

Now I am not involved with this book in any way, yet in reading it you find yourself stopping and saying "so that’s why that worked" or vice versa. It makes you confront your own judgment about marketing, and any book that does that is worth checking out.

Louise Columbus, Perfect CEM