So, why Edgecraft? Inspired by a riff from one of my favorite marketing authors Seth Godin, I chose the name intentionally to represent my approach to achieving what all brands and businesses are seeking: Growth.
As I hope it implies, Edgecraft is about identifying an ‘edge’. Not a creative edge in the sense of novel ideas, but rather a strategic edge where growth can be found.
I believe this approach is crucial given the way how brands grow has changed.
It used to be: Identify a need, create a product or service to fill it, and then mass advertise your way to sales.
But over time, two major shifts happened:
Frist, all of our obvious needs were met. Just take a stroll down the supermarket aisle and you’ll see a long tail of products across virtually every category – most of which cannibalize the others.
Second, culture now drives purchase more than advertising. The internet has enabled the instant, global dissemination of cultural influence(rs), putting the most powerful form of ‘advertising’ – word of mouth – on steroids.
The consequence has been that it’s become much more difficult to create the growth demanded by stakeholders.
To find that growth, marketers must go further by:
• Developing a deep understanding and empathy for a specific, significant tribe of people.
• Relentlessly focusing product/service development on the subset of needs important to those people.
• Positioning and communicating its offers in a way that speaks to them with relevance.
Getting there means we must have the courage to step out and embrace the edges. My mission is to inspire the ideas, and facilitate the choices, that must be made to achieve growth.