Marketing 101: Selecting An Overall Positioning Strategy - Value Proposition

There are buzz words and phrases in marketing & branding that seem to have an "aura" or "mystery" revolving around them.  There are also phrases and words that people who have careers in marketing don't understand at all.  One of the most used terms in existence is the Value Proposition.  Yet, so many of my colleagues don't really know what one is, or how to use it.  So let's spend some time defining it and exploring what...

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Marketing 101: Choosing the Right Competitive Advantages

Previously I explored the concept of Market Differentiation which involves Product Positioning through a Value Proposition.  Recall that a Value Proposition is not a "mystical" marketing term, but in fact is an essential marketing principle.  A Value Proposition consists of two parts: a differentiated value, and a position.  The differentiated value refers to the ways our products and services stand out from the competition inside...

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Marketing 101: The First Step of Market Differentiation

In our previous discussion we defined a Target Market as a set of buyers that share a set of common needs or characteristics that we decide to serve.  When targeting a market segment we examine three factors: a segment's size and growth trends, a segment's structural attractiveness, and a company's long term objectives and available resources. Once we've defined the target market, and chosen one of four appropriate marketing methods, our eyes...

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Marketing 101: Market Targeting

Recall that a customer driven marketing strategy consists of four distinct "steps".  Previously I focused on the first step: Segmentation.  I defined Market Segmentation as dividing a market into smaller groups that contain distinct needs, characteristics, or behaviors that may require distinct products, services and marketing mixes.  Because buyers have different wants, desires, needs, geographic locations, economic resources,...

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Marketing 101: Market Segmentation

In my overview of Customer Driven Targeted Marketing, I stated that no human being is like another. Two people may be very similar, but they will always be different consumers, influenced by different attitudes and beliefs. As marketers we have to accept the fact that we can't appeal to all types of buyers in the marketplace, and there is just no way to appeal to any two buyers in the exact same way.  I also stated that in order to...

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