December 29, 2011

The Herd’s Brain Has 5 Parts

Are You Flawed?
3 Colossal Time Wasters
7 Things Putterers Do to be Great Leaders

Five things The Herd believes in and does that you need to avoid if you want to be Unique, Distinctive and Remarkable in today’s fast paced competitive world.

1. Copy. The Herd is into Benchmarking. Trying to match Best of Breed. You can’t BE DiFFERENT if you fit in. You must stand-out.

2. Feature Creep. The Herd adds product features, believing this will give them an advantage. Doubt it. Easy to copy and not sustainable.

3. Price. The Herd specializes in discount promotions. Advertising low prices. Price is the LAST place you want to go and compete. Expect margins to BE squeezed and customers to go elsewhere when your prices are no longer the lowest. A “race-to-the-bottom” strategy is doomed.

4. Mass Advertising. The Herd believes that if you push your message out to millions of people you will capture buyers. Whereas this approach will definitely result in sales, it won’t create a loyal stable of advocates for you and what you stand for. Want to earn loyalty? Focus on long term relationship-building. One-on-one conversations. Engage. Target your communication and make it personal. Listen. Don’t flog.

5. Products. The Herd pushes products and services. They see themselves in the supply game. They have something they think is good for you and they flog it. They stress features and a narrow set of benefits. Product-centric marketing is passé. Its myopic. Get into the VALUE CREATION mode if you want to leave your customers breathless. Think about their wants and desires and create a Package of VALUE to satisfy them. Treat them holistically. Look for opportunities to make their lives easier. Happier. More enjoyable.

Use the Herd to plot your journey to BE DiFFERENT. Understand how they think. Make Stand-Out choices.

Cheers,
Roy


Join me on Twitter

Strategy Creation | Marketing | Small Business | Permalink
Posted 12.29.11 at 05:00 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment