Rim Failures

7 Marketing Lessons from RIM’s Failures
MAKE GREAT PRODUCTS

Consumer electronics success begins with excellent products. The BlackBerry was once perceived as the very best smartphone — or, atleast, “emailing phone” — available. It was exciting, emotional and it made people feel good. RIM sold BlackBerries on the strength of word-of-mouth recommendations. BlackBerries were aspirational, andpeople wanted to own one because friends and colleagues were so passionate about them.

Now, fast-forward to today. Consider the excitement and energy around the iPhone and all those Androidhandsets. RIM enjoys none of that today. Not one percent of it. In part, it’s because it stopped making good smartphones in favor of a poorly received tablet called the PlayBook.

Successful marketingbegins with having a tremendous product or service to market. Nothing happens without this.

2. BUILD ON STRENGTHS INSTEAD OF IMPROVING ON WEAKNESSES

I’m constantly telling clients that they shouldbuild on strengths instead of trying to improve their weak areas. For RIM, the BlackBerry was a great strength, and they all but abandoned its development and marketing for a year or longer to createthe tablet. RIM did this to try to prevent the world from passing it by in the tablet space — which it did anyway. Tragically, as a result of diverting talent, attention, resources, investment andinnovation from the BlackBerry to the Playbook, the consumer smartphone world has also passed RIM by.

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. If you focus on developing weaknesses, your strengthswill atrophy due to neglect. If you want to market well, identify your strengths — products, services, techniques, approaches, relationships — and exploit them relentlessly. This technique overcomesnearly all weaknesses.

3. Gravity Pushes Backwards

If you’ve attained a measure of success, you must continue innovating your products, services and your marketing just to maintain your position....