|
| |
| “Marketers must lead in defining and driving the brand. The marketing department must force the company to make hard choices on ‘which’ customers they will create unique value for.” |
| |
| |
| “The world is becoming more and more transparent. Spin no longer works. Claims are easily corroborated or rejected. Therefore, you must be genuine, for things cannot be faked.” |
| |
|
|
But the simple fact is that if you attempt to appeal to everybody, you will appeal to nobody. I refer to this problem as “lowest common denominator” marketing, and it’s a marketing death-trap. Unfortunately, far too many firms are wallowing in this trap.
However, great brands such as Apple, Starbucks, Nike or Harley Davidson have decided on distinction. They have decided – with amazing success – to appeal to their target buyers in ways that no other firm can. And once they make this decision, they will not deviate. Could one imagine Steve Jobs standing for mediocre, run-of-the-mill, mass-market products? It’s inconceivable. And because it’s inconceivable, the brand builds distinction and ongoing trust with customers. These customers become amazingly loyal, raving fans, who in the case of Harley Davidson, tattoo the brand to their bodies. Ask yourself the question: Would any of your customers tattoo themselves with your logo?
Professional services marketing, in general, is so horrid specifically because of this lowest common denominator trap. By and large, these firms attempt to appeal to all potential customers in the Global 2000 market segment. This occurs due to human nature and the distributed structure of these firms, for the sales group in Los Angeles will want to position one way for their 25 target clients, as will the groups in Paris, Mumbai and Tokyo. As a consequence, the firm provides no overall distinction at all.
Thus, marketers must lead in defining and driving the brand. The marketing department must force the company (yes, force) to
make hard choices on ‘which’ customers they will create unique value for. |
|
As Scott Bedbury (former head of
marketing at Nike and Starbucks) likes to say, when it comes to your brand, “you need to know it to grow it.” First, know what makes your firm truly special, and then build upon that. The marketing group must start this process by asking a set of tough questions, such as: What do we do better than anybody in the world? What can we deliver that others simply cannot? What is our organisational culture, and what’s our passion? What’s our unique story as a company? Hopefully you can answer these questions. If you can’t, then bring in the senior management team and have them attempt to answer them. For without these answers, your marketing group (and the firm overall) is a rudderless ship, blown in the winds of your market, and unable to raise itself above the pack.
Naked Marketing: Winning in Transparent Environments
The world is becoming more and more transparent. Spin no longer works. Claims are easily corroborated or rejected. Therefore, you must be genuine, for things cannot be faked.
Why is the global world more transparent? Because the medium has changed, turbocharged by the Internet (and associated Web2.0 models, blogs, online communities and second life). With these platforms, information about your firm is continually racing around the world at light speed, and there is no way the marketing department can contain or control such a spread of information.
The simple fact of the matter is we live in a fully naked economy now. Transparency reigns. What was once “containable” information inside your firm is now available |
