Hello everyone, Rob DeRobertis for the Technology Marketing Center.
For 13 years I drove by a store whose motto was "Good Stuff Cheap". The sign made me cringe every time I looked at it. But there it sat, and there it still sits bragging that you can get good stuff cheap there. I've since changed the direction I travel to work, not because of the store but of other reasons.
So why did I cringe when I saw that sign, it's because I have spent my career trying to market on value and "Good Stuff Cheap" is the antithesis of such a claim.
My focus on marketing on value began after I read the HBS paper "Marketing Success Through Differentiation of Anything" by Theodore Levitt. This paper was required reading in a "Strategic Marketing" class I was taking at the AT&T school of business. The professor for this class, a Robert Parkett, was an entrepreneur who found ways to differentiate any product… including pizza. The class was how to think differently to do just that. Anyway, the impact of the class and paper was substantial and has driven me to always look at ways to sell for value.
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Technology Marketing Center embodies selling to value. This graphic which I borrowed with permission from the TMC, describes the process in setting and driving value marketing activities
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Here are 5 questions to consider in defining your marketing strategy.
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1) Company Value
What is the value of your company's brand? Is your company considered a premium brand or "good stuff cheap" company.
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2) Product Value
What is the value of the products and product family brands? Will customers pay more for key features?
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3) Industry Value
How do you impact your industry? Is your company considered a leader within the market you service?
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4) Application Value
In the problems you solve do they add value to your customer's application?
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5) Customer Value
Do your customer value working with your company? Do customers perceive that working with your company will give them a competitive advantage?
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Knowing the answers to these questions are critical in defining a sound marketing strategy. You can be a "Good Stuff Cheap Company". You will need to focus on low-cost delivery of product to be successful and be willing to participate with minimal overhead. If you choose to be a "Value Based" company you will need to focus on service and innovation. To deliver this you will need a higher overhead but hopefully the margins you receive substantially offsets that added cost. In other words, whichever you select, your choice must map to your business model or your strategy will fail.
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So what kind of marketer are you?
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