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Monthly Archives: September 2014

That’s Different!

Posted on 2014/09/17 by admin2014/09/16
lady gaga marketing differentiation

When Lady Gaga donned a meat dress, people said “That’s … errr … different.” Differentiation is what drives both companies and products, which means differentiation is one of the most import things to occupy your attention immediately after corporate cash flow and the last donut in the break room. Being different is a communication of value, and value is what people pay for. Yet, not all differentiation is equal and not all differentiation is sustainable (e.g. Madonna). Product differentiation is the easier to understand, and oddly the less valuable of the two. When your product is different in a way that matches the needs or desires of a targeted audience, then sales are sped. But product differentiation is short lived, even if you have patents. The differentiation you invent today will be cloned by your competitors tomorrow. Likewise, there are differing

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Posted in Business Strategy, Management, Marketing Strategy | Tagged corporate, differentiation, product

Question Yourself

Posted on 2014/09/03 by admin2014/09/04

Take your market research seriously … unless you didn’t take it seriously from the beginning. It is relatively easy to screw-up market research because there are many ways to do so. The most careful of statistical validation calculations are meaningless if you asked New Guinea tribesmen their first class cabin cocktail preferences. The heart of research (market and marketing research included) is knowing what you need to learn, learning it correctly, then applying it appropriately. That last one can be tough for start-ups when visionary founders resent market researchers telling them that their baby is ugly. There is no way to exhaust the list of methods for creating lousy research, but some of my favorites include: Not having a business purpose behind the research My first question to executives looking for primary market research is

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Posted in Business Strategy, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Mistakes | Tagged market, Marketing, research
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