The jobs-to-be-done framework helps understand the reasons why someone buys a particular product.

I use this tool in two ways:
1. To understand what people want in a specific market;
2. To create a compelling customer experience.

It helps me uncover the needs and desires of a market. And it makes it easier to think about the benefits and customer experience that should shape a new value proposition.

What does “Jobs to Be Done” mean?

The jobs-to-be-done framework uses “jobs” as a metaphor to explain what people are trying to achieve when they buy something.

Technology shapes and reinforces how we behave.

• We walk and run with earphones without paying attention to what’s happening around us;
• We often check social media on our smartphones, even when we’re with friends;
• We travel across the globe to stay in the bedroom of someone we’ve never met before;
• We take tons of pictures of ourselves and send them to our friends and even strangers.

Doing these things may have looked crazy to our ancestors, yet even they shared similar behaviours… Humans have always liked listening to music, connecting with one-another, traveling to new places, and showing off.

There’s something that the most successful brands do well:

They leverage existing beliefs to tell stories.

That’s because a person’s way of viewing the world is a major indicator of the decisions they make and the types of stories that resonate with them.

(Some call these beliefs “mindset”. In Positioning, Al Ries used the term “customers’ minds”. In All Marketers Are Liars, Seth Godin used the term “worldview” that I like the most, as the word is self-explanatory.)

As a marketer or innovator, using worldviews to look at your market helps you understand what stories resonate with your target customers, what products and services they consider buying, and why.

Most attempts to innovate are product-driven. Someone has a cool idea for a product. And then a marketing team has to find a market for the new concept.

Products are born this way because it’s less demanding to start with an idea than with an audience.

That’s the wrong way to develop innovative products. In the words of Seth Godin:

“You don’t find customers for your products. You find products for your customers.”

— Seth Godin

We can all agree that:

– Creating something is easy.

– Creating something that people care about is much more difficult.

“What do our customers really want?” That’s what you want to find out.

But are you asking the right questions?

Some questions should never be asked. Never.

1. Do you think this is a good idea?

2. Would you buy this?

3. How much would you pay for this?

Why Are These Questions Bad Market Research?

There are many reasons asking these three questions won’t help you.

1. Your customers can’t predict in the abstract if they will buy a new product, in the future

Who hasn’t heard about the marketing mix?

As you know, the 4 P’s aim to help define:

1. what a company offers — product and price;
2. and how it does this — place and promotion.

Unfortunately, this founding framework of marketing (created in 1960) no longer encompasses what marketing means today…

Here, I suggest a better alternative that will help you define your marketing strategy.

But first, let’s give a good definition of what marketing means in 2017.

A Good Definition Gives Guidance

Defining what marketing stands for isn’t an abstract issue.

Your product is ready. But sales aren’t taking off as you expected.

This is a sign you might have missed the discovery phase and jumped too quickly to the scaling phase.

In such a scenario, the business tried everything:

They built a sales team. They spent their marketing budget in advertising. They hired consultants. They spoke at conferences. They reached out to all their contacts. But still the market doesn’t buy it…

Here’s the common mistake:

Trying to scale too fast… If you’re wrong about what people want, they may try your product once, but don’t count on keeping them as loyal customers.

Improving share of customer is too often just a byproduct of a marketing strategy that aims to increase market share.

Most marketers think that bigger means better.

And they focus on selling to more and more customers rather than finding ways to sell more to their existing, satisfied customers. Unfortunately, giving priority to acquiring customers over retaining them comes out of thinking short-term.

The old marketing recipe isn’t working anymore: Boost awareness with advertising, make big discounts to trigger a purchase, repeat…

Data is a drug for the decision makers of the 21st century.

“We’re a data-driven company”, they tell you proudly.

But a company, which seeks change and wants to make a difference by challenging the status quo, doesn’t make strategic decisions that are driven by data.

A long-term, game-changing strategy can’t be based on reports and predictive data. They won’t tell you what to do next and how to do it.

Worse, when data is a click-away, your competitors are likely to make similar decisions, since they look at the same data sets.

When you think about selling your old stuff or buying second-hand and vintage stuff, eBay is no longer on the top of your mind.

In France, for example, one would think about the very cheap but full of scams Leboncoin.fr, the very selective but safe Gens de Confiance, or the tech-oriented PriceMinister.

But not eBay…

Does Anyone Know What eBay Is About?

The eBay brand doesn’t have a clear positioning anymore. It has become a bazaar. You don’t know what to expect. It means that you just don’t know for what reason you should go on eBay. There’s no trigger that pushes people to use eBay.