The Four Essentials of Marketing – Part 2

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You differentiate your product or service by determining and deciding exactly in what way, and how, you are going to be superior to your competitors. I’ll explain this process in detail in a later chapter. It is the key to business success and high profitability.

Choose Your Best Market Segment

The process of segmentation requires that you clearly define the exact customers who can most benefit from what it is that you do better than anyone else. This requires rigorous customer analysis to determine who your best potential customers are today, and who they can be tomorrow.

High Probability Customers

Concentration requires that you focus your vital resources of time, talent and money on marketing and selling more and more to your very best potential customers. Sales efforts directed to your highest probability prospects yield the highest possible return on your activities. Based on your decisions on specialization, differentiation and segmentation, where should you concentrate your marketing and selling efforts?

Reevaluate Continually

All marketing strategies eventually become obsolete and stop working. If your sales are down for any reason, it may be time for you to revisit your answers in one or more of these four areas. This can lead to your developing a more effective marketing and selling strategy, one that works in today’s market.

Remember, today the answers have changed with regard to your market. Changes in customer demand, competition or other market forces may require that you change your area of specialization, your area of differentiation, your ideal customer segments and your areas of focus and concentration. You may have to change more than one of these at the same time.

See Yourself As A Business

In your personal life, you should ask the same questions of yourself as well. What is your personal area of specialization? In what way is your work superior to your competitors? What is the ideal position or area of responsibility for you to apply your talents? Where should you be concentrating your energies to get the very best results and greatest rewards possible?

Especially, you should continually ask yourself, “What is it that I do very, very well?” What is your personal area of excellence? What could it be? What should it be?

Looking Ahead

Looking into the future of your business or industry, what new competencies do you need to develop to lead your field in the months and years ahead? What additional knowledge and skills do you need to acquire? What are those few tasks, which, if you did them in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on your career? In what areas could be paid the very most for the application of your special talents and abilities? This question is just as relevant for you as it is for your company.

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