Jobs to Be Done

Branding & Strategy

Also: JTBD · Jobs-to-be-Done

What it isThe progress a customer hires a product to make

AsksWhat job is the customer solving

Shifts focusFrom product features to customer progress

Quick definition

Jobs to be Done, or JTBD, is a way of understanding why customers buy by focusing on the progress they are trying to make rather than the features of your product. The idea is that people hire a product to do a job. They do not want a drill, they want a hole, and really they want the shelf up. Understanding the underlying job explains why customers choose you, switch to you or leave, in a way that demographics and features do not.

Where it shows up in the data

The job, not the product

Customers hire a product to make progress. The drill is the product, the hole is the task, the finished room is the real job. Marketing the job beats marketing the product.

Functional, emotional and social dimensions

A job has more than a practical component. How the customer wants to feel and how they want to be seen are part of the job, and often the deciding part.

The switching moment

JTBD pays close attention to what pushed a customer to look for a new solution and what pulled them to yours. That moment reveals the real job and the real competition.

What it actually means

Jobs to be Done reframes the customer from a demographic into a person trying to make progress in their life or work. The classic example is the drill: nobody wants a drill, they want a hole, and beneath that they want a shelf up so the room feels finished. The job is the progress, and the product is just a means to it. This matters for marketing because it explains buying behaviour that features and demographics miss. Two very different people can hire the same product for the same job, and the same person can hire wildly different products for one job depending on the circumstances. When you understand the job your customer is hiring you to do, including the emotional and social dimensions of it, your positioning, messaging and product decisions all sharpen, because you are selling the progress the customer actually wants rather than the features you happen to have.

People do not buy products. They hire them to make progress. Sell the progress, not the drill.

Where people get this wrong

Writing positioning from features outListing what the product does describes it from the inside. Jobs to be Done starts from the progress the customer wants and works back, which produces far more persuasive messaging.

Defining competitors too narrowlyThrough a jobs lens, your competition is anything the customer might hire for the same job, including doing nothing. That is often a bigger and more useful set than your obvious rivals.

Ignoring the emotional and social jobBuyers are not purely rational. How they want to feel and be seen is part of the job and frequently the deciding factor. Feature-only marketing misses it entirely.

Common questions

What is Jobs to Be Done?

It is a framework for understanding why customers buy by focusing on the progress they are trying to make rather than your product's features. People hire a product to do a job, and understanding that job explains their choices better than demographics do.

What is the classic Jobs to Be Done example?

The drill and the hole. Nobody wants a drill, they want a hole, and really they want the shelf up. The job is the progress the customer is trying to make, and the product is just the means to it.

How do you use Jobs to Be Done in marketing?

Use it to sharpen positioning and messaging. Interview recent buyers about what they were trying to achieve and what triggered their search, then market the progress they wanted rather than the features you have.

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About New Rebellion

New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.

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