These days, you just can’t build software, release it into the wild, and hope it catches on.

Consumers are savvy. They are exposed to thousands of options for the same problem, each slightly different than the next.

They need something that works, but they also need something they can connect with. They’re human, after all.

It’s important to give your users something to latch onto: your story, your vision, your personality, your message.

Here are a few ways to build a better connection with the people using your product:

Be Interesting

Figure out what makes you unique and bring that out in everything you do.

It’s not always just what you’re building, but who are the people building it. What’s their story? What are they like? Why are they building it?

Don’t Follow The Leader

You know the old saying, “If Jimmy jumped off a bridge, would you, too?”

If you copy everything everyone else is doing, you’ll never get ahead. You’ll be the trend follower instead of the trend setter.

While their competitors were launching boring websites, MailChimp, an email newsletter service,
created a mascot: Freddie Von Chimpenheimer IV.

Freddie is a huge part of their brand and actually makes it fun to create email newsletters.

Break The Rules

You’ll never disrupt current conventions or change human behavior by following the rules.

Figure out the rules, then bend them til they break. People love cheering on rule breakers.

Take Kickstarter, for example, a funding platform that allows people to raise money for their creative projects.

People love supporting Kickstarter ideas, especially those who’ve been turned down by traditional channels for funding or support.

They back these projects because they want to see the underdog succeed. They also want to be part of something bigger than themselves.

There’s no one way to succeed and the end of the road isn’t someone telling you, “No.” Create your own path and you’ll find people joining you along the way.

This article originally appeared as a Iowa Innovation column for the Des Moines Register.

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