Differentiating Yourself in a Crowded Marketplace
Larry Gulko, who is leading a session on brand differentiation, is a Boston native, and you can tell since his accent is thick as chowder. He warned us that we should expect to see a lot of depressed people around town tonight since the Sox lost their fifth in a row to the Yankees. (Of course, as he pointed out, the Red Sox sure have their brand loyalty down pat -- they lose, then go on to still raise their ticket prices in December, and sell out the whole season.)
Some thoughts from Gulko and my responses:
Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of product categories. Don't think about what "product" you sell; think about which "product category" you want to own. Be a specialist, not a generalist.
I agree with Gulko's point here; the problem, of course, is that many, if not most, associations are "generalist" by design. We have dozens of committees, hundreds of disjointed products, we lurch in and out of issues based on the whims of who happens to be occupying the board chair. How can we get associations to willingly "contract" themselves into something that may be "smaller" but more valuable, more focused? Time to stop buying into the old-fashioned association hype of "we serve our industry" and start answering the question, "how do we serve our industry?"
Department stores struggle while specialty stores thrive. There used to be Macy's, and they sold everything -- including books, bedding, shoes, and electronics. Today we have Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Foot Locker, and Best Buy.
Gulko had a funny point to make about Best Buy, which I agree with -- their service sucks. It's one of the worst places to do business. But we go there because they have the best selection at the best price, and so we put up with it. I wouldn't want to be the guy who has the lowest price and the worst service, but I suppose it's a viable business model for commodities.
A brand is promise, trust, and perceived value.
The three parts of a brand promise. According to Gulko, every brand has three sentences that start as follows:
- We create ...
- Providing ...
- For ...
Fill in the blanks.