Problems are like opinions. Everybody has them.
With that said problems also come in various categories. From blatant problems that are extremely obvious. All the way to latent problems that are more hidden especially from the consumer themselves.
The word problems can often get us stuck as Entrepreneurs because we can zoom in on blatant problems. The sort that you would find in any B2B business. But actually there is a giant world of more latent problems out that that brands like Coca Cola solve repeatedly.
Problems are not just the blockers that people encounter when they try to make progress in their work.
They can be problems that revolve around:
- Health
- Wealth
- Relationships
- Status
Someone might have a problem with not being able to land a date, so they turn to tinder (a blatant solution to the problem) or they might turn to sliding into the DMs of people they are connected with on instagram. A more subtle solution to the same problem.
It is important to understand that when we are creating products and services, we remember that people will use them for a range of reasons. Likely in ways we did not predict when we created the business. These atypical uses of products present a giant opportunity for innovation if you can understand why people are using products in that way and create a more blatant solution to it for them.
With that said lets go back to Coca Cola and look at some potential problems that brand is solving:
- I am hung over and I need a sugary fizzy drink to wake me up and make feel better.
- I have a really crappy lunch and need a sweet fizzy drink to wash it down with and make it seem more palatable.
- I didn't sleep last night and I need a caffeinated sugary drink to perk me up and get me through the day.
- I want a sweet drink that feels more fun than water but I don't want to consume all of that crappy sugar - cokezero
I am sure there are literally hundreds of other problems they can be solving. These are all latent problems though. Most people are not consciously thinking about this when they choose the product. They get it introduced to them as children and they start to pull that product back into their lives at different times for different reasons.
Interestingly those reasons are incredibly unique and personal to most people. If you really get out there and do great qualitative research you can start to discover some of these stories that form into broader themes. When you understand those themes you can start to create products that really fill that niche. Innovation then becomes more of a repeatable process than blind luck.
Lets imagine Coca Cola finds that lots of people are drinking Coke the day after a heavy night in the bar with their work friends. They are drinking coke at their desk the next day feeling sorry for themselves. This is a story that they find plays out many times across the globe most days of the week.
They decide to create a new sub brand of coke that contains all of the vitamins, electrolytes and rehydration chemicals you need to have one bottle and feel back to your normal self after drinking it.
Suddenly they have a new brand thats solving a new problem in a more blatant way.
I am not saying thats a good idea but thats generally the mindset of great product development.
However a lot of brands are really unaware of the problems they solve. They put a product out there in the market and people started pulling it into their lives to solve many different and loosely related problems. You don't need a clear problem in mind to solve, but I think it can really help you if you want to be innovative.