Marketing Strategy and the Power of “No”
In Ted's post, Marketing Starts Sooner Than You Think, he stated that traditionally, marketing is seen as the last piece in the puzzle, an afterthought of activities to take something to the market. Today in our globally competitive marketplace, strong marketing starts with strategy and positioning long before diving into the more familiar activities of branding and execution.
So what is strategy and where does marketing fit it?
Strategy involves choice. Specifically it means choosing what, and what not, to focus on. In marketing this means being at the table to decide what the company or product is going to do and who it speaks to. It also means deciding to not speak to all the other segments. Too often we see companies try to be all things to all people. And while this may sound like stating the obvious, choosing not to do something or not to speak to a client’s needs is not easy. When the question "what if some of our clients aren’t happy about our choice?" arises, the strong marketing strategy answer is "that’s ok".
Being strategic means choosing a focus and choosing to not spend time or energy on areas not within that focus. This may mean that you lose customers, but you simply cannot make everyone happy all the time. By trying to do so you will most definitely not make anyone REALLY happy.
Why is all of this important? Because consumers today don’t settle for just good. They need great. Increased competition, globalization, technology, all of these factors have contributed to create a world where consumers are savvy, skeptical, and impatient.
Without a unique, focused, and valuable position, the market will typically default to three possible fallbacks in choosing a company, service or product.
- Lowest price – If every company is the same, then the cheaper one is better.
- The incumbent – If every company is the same, then let's just stick with who we used last time.
- Biggest profile – If every company is the same, then let's go with the one we've heard of.
In today's market you need to create a 'wow' experience and you cannot do this without focused effort and expertise.
The result may be that you have to say "no" to some of your customers, but if done well, even this will help solidify your position as an expert that brings value.
Choose what you are going to focus on and who are going to speak to, and do it spectacularly. You will not make everyone happy and you may even lose customers, but you will wow those you keep and your business will thrive as a result.
