The Seven Keys To Marketing Genius: The Complete Guide To Raising Your Marketing IQ

How smart is your marketing? Do you follow the crowd or set your own standards? People are drawn to innovative leaders, not imitators. Also, most companies throw thousands of dollars down the drain on ineffective advertising. Can your budget afford that splurge? Start your education today: Follow these seven keys to boosting your marketing IQ and outwitting your competition.

Key 1: Find your edge

The first step is to determine what your organization does better than the competition. All marketing focuses on communicating to customers the advantage of your product over the competition. To compete in the marketplace, you must find what your business or organization offers better than the competition. What unique competitive advantage does it offer? What are the distinctive competencies that separate you from the rest? What strengths do you have that cannot be easily or quickly copied by the competition? You need to do a SWOT analysis to help you find your advantage.

When determining a company’s competitive advantage, I advise you to avoid basing it on a supposedly unique product.

It is very difficult to have a sustained competitive advantage based on a product in our modern technological age. In the past, a technological innovation in a product could give a company the advantage for decades, since others could not easily copy the product. Today, successful products can and often are copied in a matter of weeks, if not days. Many software applications are copied (although not necessarily legally) almost immediately. For these reasons, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain a competitive advantage based on technology or a technologically superior product. That is why there has been a shift towards the intangible elements of customer service and other value-added components in the marketplace. Low price, by definition, is not a competitive advantage because it can be quickly and easily copied by the competition. Competing cheaply is an invitation to a price war. Today, competitive advantages are often based on service, reputation, and longevity.

Key 2: Define your Purpose

Why are you in business? What are you trying to achieve? How will you measure your success? Answering these questions is vital to defining your purpose. To determine and evaluate the direction and goals of your organization, you must have a clearly defined mission. Once you’ve developed a clear purpose, make sure all levels of the organization are aligned and moving in the same direction. The best way to do this is to involve stakeholders in the development of the mission in the first place, rather than a few decision makers deciding what they think is best and passing it on for follow-through.

Key 3: Create an image

The purpose of advertising is to promote image and knowledge. Before you can implement promotions (Key 4), you must create an image. An image is both a concept and a physical visual representation. To compete today, you must have the right look. It is not enough to have a good product; it must also be able to attract the attention of the audience. The look should enhance the image of the product while maintaining alignment with the mission (Key 2) and promoting the organization’s competitive advantages (Key 1).

The key elements of the image are the logo, the colors and style, and the brand. The logo is the visual symbol of your product or organization; must be present in all your communications. Imagine police officers using pink and rainbow stop signs; this sounds strange because each color has a meaning. Make sure your business is using the correct colors for the message you are conveying. These elements bring recognition to your brand, but a brand is more than appearance. A brand is the promise you make to your customers. Crest promises clean teeth and Tide clean clothes. You recognize the names and the colors, but a promise kept is what makes the brand. Your brand is your reputation for delivering on promises and your greatest asset.

Key 4: Implement promotions

Promotion is the basic elements of the marketing process. The promotional element is what most consumers see and think of when marketing is mentioned. Promotion includes advertising, public relations, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, and Internet/interactive techniques.

Before you spend money on promotion, make sure you’ve done the hard work on keys 1-3 to avoid wasted spending. Target your market and understand what will be the most effective use of your resources. Determine an effective pricing and distribution strategy based on your research.

Use as many appropriate promotional tools as possible and integrate them together into a cohesive and powerful communication device. Do this by maintaining a consistent look, feel and message. Link individual promotions (print ads with a web address, web pages with in-store coupons) for maximum, measurable response. Remember that the goal of your promotions is to convert prospects into customers and customers into long-term relationships.

Key 5: Build relationships

In today’s competitive market, the best way to secure your investment is to build customer relationships. By building and cultivating these connections, you establish a protected relationship. People will continue to do business with you because they know and trust you. Make yourself invaluable to your customers, and they’ll probably be yours for life. You will also get valuable feedback on how to improve in the future.

Key 6: Get feedback

Getting feedback is what tells you if you’re on the right track with your customers. You’ve already done the hard work of developing a roadmap for success in your marketing plan. Feedback will tell you if you are on the right track or if you are going off course. Use surveys, response cards, the Internet, phone calls, focus groups, market development groups, and vendor feedback to gain insight, learn, and improve your marketing efforts.

Key 7: Adjust to changes

Companies must constantly assess their position in the market and make the necessary adjustments to remain competitive. After getting feedback, companies should review, reassess, and revise their competitive advantage, mission, goals, alignment, promotions, and customer relationships. In other words, go back to Key 1 and start over.