Case Study: Differentiation StrategyProduct Development
For a new B2B e-commerce company, having direct marketing expertise and sufficient starting budget wasn't enough to achieve adequate growth. Something had to change.
Veer Inc. was a new B2B e-commerce stock photo vendor with an experienced team in operation for eight months. Although Veer was a direct marketing expert and had an aggressive initial marketing budget, they were burning cash too quickly versus the rate of customers & revenue growth. Having already made several cash calls on shareholders, Veer needed to define & implement a better strategy for growth. This is a story of the role I played in helping this business turnaround through product innovation.
Note: Afdonex is a relatively new business. This case example is from earlier work completed by Afdonex’s Don Wieshlow. Don was a co-founder at Veer.
challenge
The market that Veer was entering was already crowded. Unfortunately, the initial offering of this new business was not sufficiently differentiated to get the attention of targeted buyers.
The main challenges that needed to be met to create momentum were:
- The marketing team needed compelling stories to tell.
- Creative needed products that supported the premium & unique brand
- Customers needed a reason to check out the Veer site and follow the company
- Customers needed unique, high quality, high utility product to purchase
solution
Solution:
- The product, marketing & creative teams collaborated on a strategy to gain more attention and conversion from prospective buyers.
- Our aligned strategy was to ensure that a significant portion of the Veer story could be built around premium quality, exclusive product-for-sale that was not available through competitors.
- The product would be targeted to a highly discerning clientele, willing to pay for a better & unique product.
- Some products I sourced were “runway” style, visually distinctive to create marketing buzz.
- The role I played in accomplishing our goals was:
- Identified & negotiated multiple partnerships with premium, exclusive product suppliers.
- Participated in identifying, negotiating & onboarding strategic supplier acquisitions.
- Managed the creation, financing and deliverables of a highly efficient, exclusive content production team based in Canada, the US & Germany.
- Ensured the availability of hundreds of thousands of unique, high-quality, exclusive products.
These solution components would be critical pieces of support for the captivating brand story that Veer’s creative & marketing team would repeat over & over to great success (see archived marketing samples here).
results
Benefit:
- In this business case, Veer benefitted from my strategic planning, negotiation and project management skills to identify solutions, negotiate exclusive content partnership deals, and establish a highly effective exclusive content production team – all pieces that were key to Veer’s successful differentiation and subsequent growth strategy.
Results:
- Veer would go on to have multiple years of 100% growth while focusing on a strategy of being unique and of highest quality.
- Revenue would grow to many tens of millions of dollars annually.
- Veer would successfully exit – being acquired by a large US competitor.