Any good PR and Social Media program will have people talking about your product, and hopefully a large part of that discussion will be positive. But, it’s also important to listen to the people that will ultimately make the next generation, or even your organization, better.  Most products are conceived during an internal brainstorm, but it’s not always easy to see the product objectively when you’re so close to it.

That’s why our media friends are an amazing resource for unique product insights. Other than consumer product testing organizations, who else gets their hands on all of the competitive products in any given category? These insights span from unique selling points and core functionality, to packaging and quick start guides. For us, it’s a given that we keep our clients updated with potential product and service improvements and the media help us give an unbiased and holistic perspective.

Even in advance of a product launch, we’re able to execute a non-published strategic review that will flesh out recommendations for a manufacturer even before the product hits the market. In addition, our collective decades of experience mean that we’ve seen our fair share of products and can give council to our clients on improvements that can be made to their products – also known as their “babies”.

Beyond the editorial feedback, gaining customer insights through social media has proven to be valuable over the years and directly resulted in significant improvements being made to second generation products. There are a variety of channels to gain insight into how to build a better mousetrap and ultimately make an offering more desirable to customers. What’s important is to make sure to convey the feedback to the marketing team, product managers and engineers so that brands can stay at the forefront of their respective industries.