When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all … Paul Simon Many organizations recognize the need for marketing training to grow skills and enhance performance. After all, given the plethora of product choices available to target customers, and sameness in their offerings, […]
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If you’re a regular reader of DISPATCHES, you know that from time to time we like to go digging into our brand-building files from yesteryear—with the intention of recalling to mind a timeless principle or two. Since we both spent (and took so much from) our earliest “yesteryears” while at Procter & Gamble, it’s no […]
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“The goal isn’t to do business with people who need what you make; the goal is to do business with people who believe as you believe.” Simon Sinek, TED Video, September 209 We continue to be convinced that the most common and costliest brand positioning blunders occur in targeting. Most common because way too many in […]
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For quite some time, we’ve been comparing your product to an “egg!” What we’re saying is that there is really little difference in products competing in the same category. They work in the same fundamental way and generate the same basic outcomes—regardless of your category! Consequently, in this “age of sameness and abundance” where generally […]
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We are not publishing DISPATCHES or Marketing Matters this week. We’re taking time to celebrate the 4th of July with family and friends. This is the day that represents our Declaration of Independence and our country’s birth as a free and independent nation. It’s a day where we get together with family and friends to […]
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“This factor, ‘telling behaviors,’ adds valuable texture to the strategic Target Customer definition. It thereby provides us with a deeper understanding of our prospective customers. It consists of, and results from, direct observation of what else they do consistent with treating the condition, their life-stage, or occasion relative to the category.” –Competitive Positioning, Czerniawski […]
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The role of marketing is to “create brand loyalty.” We’ve made this our mantra. We hope you will make it yours too! There’s a lot contained within these three words. Create means bring a customer into existence. It’s about generating sales, incremental sales. The brand goes beyond the physical product to encompass a constellation of […]
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Dear readers. This week we are publishing a special edition of DISPATCHES to honor those brave men and women, and their families, from all peacekeeping nations, who sacrifice their lives that we might enjoy freedom. The regularly scheduled DISPATCHES – Insights from the Marketing Front, will return next Monday, 3 June, along with Marketing Matters […]
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Within PepsiCo for many years there were two—and only two—overarching practices demanded, without exception, of its marketers: exhibiting Thought Leadership and Personal Leadership. Without both of these constantly at work, everyone knew that neither the exceedingly high business growth rates nor the (commonly expected) speed of one’s career advancement would happen. Brand Managers were well aware of the […]
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Segmentation – Classifying parts that contribute to the whole. It’s no secret that I love eggs. I’ve written about eggs in DISPATCHES (Egg-actly Brand Worthy Idea) and Marketing Matters (Serving Up The Whole Egg). Each time I’ve contemplated the egg (better it than my navel) it has been relative to marketing related matters. You might […]
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