Category: Marketing strategy

If you have competitors, how do customers see you in relation to them? Whatever the answer, this is your market position. What do customers think you do? What do they think you deliver? What do they think of your enterprise? What are you well known for? What words do they associate with your brand? If I rang some of your customers and asked them these questions, what would they say to me? How should you position your brand? For example, should you go upmarket or go downmarket? Should you be seen as reassuringly expensive or as cheap as chips? Are you focused on customer service, product excellence, price or something else? These are strategic business and marketing decisions. Every decision that you make affects your market positioning. Your actions speak louder than words, when it comes market positioning. Every time that your customers engage with your brand, their perception of your market positioning is either affirmed or challenged. Besides products and services, a key issue is human interaction. You can buy a great product and feel let down...

Building a brand is a central part of your marketing strategy and it should be included within your marketing plan. ► If your business is 'just you', then you are the brand. ► All enterprises should 'think brand'. ► All of your marketing activities affect your brand. ► Your brand is built on your values. Strong values create strong brands. “The art of marketing is largely the art of brand building. When something is not a brand, it will probably be viewed as a commodity. Then price is what counts. When price is the only thing that counts, the only winner is the low-cost producer.” ~ Dr Philip Kotler Values Values are the basis of branding. Here is a list of some of them: Authority, Change, Communication, Cooperation, Creativity, Excellence, Happiness, Health, Helpfulness, Imagination, Integrity, Knowledge, Leadership, Learning, Love, Positive thinking, Privacy, Professionalism, Security, Service, Teamwork, Trust, Value List your values and ensure that staff, suppliers and customers can find them. Brand qualities Successful brands display certain qualities. For example: * They are...

What is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? This was a term coined by Rosser Reeves, the copywriter who eventually ran the Ted Bates advertising agency in New York. Once you know your real USP, there are many things which you can do to make your enterprise stand out from the crowd. Here is one way in which you and can figure out your USP. Set aside half a day to do this exercise. Gather together a team of people to help you. You will need lots of large sheets of paper. Start by writing down the answer to the following question: Why do our customers buy our products / services? If your team is familiar with Mind Mapping, this would be a great way of capturing their answers. As the session progresses, your job as facilitator is to use the Socratic method of probing deeper and deeper to find out the real reasons why people buy from you. Socrates would never accept the first answer which people...

Customers can solve their problems by buying your products or services or those of your competitors. If you do not have direct competitors, there will be generic competition. It is important to differentiate your enterprise. Most enterprises do not spend sufficient time thinking through this key issue. Consider it from the customer's perspective: Why is your business, brand, charity, product or service different from other providers? As a human being, you are unique. You are one of a kind amongst billions of human beings. Think of your enterprise in this way. What is special about it? What makes it different from your competitors? The business guru and author, Michael Porter, says that there are only two fundamental business strategies: Low Cost and Differentiation. For example, there are many retailers who promote low prices. However, many retailers focus on low prices and go out of business. The other strategy is differentiation. Another way of saying this is: ‘Standing out from the crowd’. List the ways in which you are different from everyone else. Write it down like this:...