Marketing: April 2006 Archives

Good marketing A good marketing person is one who finds out what a customer wants and desires and makes sure that the product he's promoting/selling/managing actually meets those wants and desires. These would be the GEs of this world. Great marketing A great marketing person is one who creates an aspiration for a product, and targets those customers who aspire to this product. These would be the Apple, LVMH, Nikes of this world "Game changer" marketing A game changer marketeer would be one who solves a problem in such a visible and simple way that the vast mass of humanity adopts it. These would be the Googles of the world. That's what we all aspire to be - a game changer. But how do we get there? People solve the same problems over and over again. The new solution is typically one that satisfies one or more from the list below

• easier to use
• more cost effective
• makes things go faster
• has a domino effect - solves other problems
• is seen as mainstream but innovative

So ask yourself this: What's the problem I'm solving and how am I solving it? Is this relevant to my customers? If you can build a credible short story to answer this question, you're well on your way to being a game changer marketing professional. Tell that to your customers, and get them to tell it to others, and you'll actually achieve game changer status. It doesn't mean that you'll have the same impact as a Google - since you need a Google like product to have that kind of effect - but certainly, you'll outdo your competition by a long margin - which incidentally was the game wasn't it?

I read this great ebook by seth godin. Here's the link to it: Flipping the Funnel. The idea is to get your most satisfied customers to share their stories with your product/service/experience with the world. These stories are authentic, which lead to increased interest in you and the stuff you have to sell. This increases revenue!