Hands up... I learnt this one the hard way: I am a big ‘creator’ and am always up for re-inventing the wheel! I’ve worked out, though, that once you have a good wheel it’s good to carry you to more than one place.
When looking to create new products and services, do make sure you’re using what you’ve already got first. The same is true for marketing content and pretty much anything–until you’ve exhausted new markets and new audiences, it’s a really good idea to use what you’ve already got.
For products and services make sure you’ve exhausted the combinations and ‘bundles’ you can create with what you already have. Look at all the markets and niche corners you can take your Thing to (either exactly how it is right now, or with minimal ‘tweaks’).
Look at who else can sell your Thing for you ‘just as it is’–what partnerships can you create, where can your product or service be a part of someone else’s Thing (an add-on, a critical piece, an upsell?).
As a creator, I get excited about new things but if this means ignoring a brilliant product or service that’s tried and tested–that you know works, you know is profitable, and you know people want–don’t give it up yet because it’s not ‘shiny’ any more.
The trick here (if you’re a bit of magpie with an eye for the ‘shiny’) is to make the marketing, or positioning, or anything about the ‘same’ product or service you have, new. Get creative with how you share your brilliant Thing, get inventive with your recycling and repositioning. Don’t create more work to ‘make’ something that’s already brilliant–instead focus your energy getting it into the hands of more people and businesses that might not know about it yet. Use what you’ve got.
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