Marketing can be a friendly activity (Courtesy of {eclaire})
Sometimes, I wonder why the world of marketing has to be so competitive.
Many marketing strategies reek of a “command and conquer” mentality. We’re constantly told to “benchmark” against our competitors, “target” or “ambush” our customers, offer “value” pricing, and “position” ourselves such that we have an “advantage” over other similar businesses.
Serial entrepreneur and billionaire Lynda Resnick’s book “Rubies in the Orchard” provides a fascinating glimpse into the marketing strategies behind brands like POM Wonderful, FIJI Water, Teleflora and the Franklin Mint. Part autobiography and part business book, the highly readable tome chronicled how Lynda rose from rags to riches and deployed her marketing smarts to seed and grow four highly successful businesses.
Written in a witty and conversational fashion, Rubies in the Orchard presents an in-depth glimpse into four very different industries. In the section on Teleflora, Lynda described how marketing is “all about listening. You want to be the equivalent of a good friend”. She then described how an attribute can be a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) based on the following:
Source of Image
What can small businesses, start-ups, free-lancers and other budding entrepreneurs do to build their reach? How can they compete against bigger companies with deeper pockets, greater resources and fuller teams?
In general, the clue is to look at what big conglomerates are doing, and then try to do the opposite – in a customer pleasing fashion of course. Clueless where to start? Well, here are five ideas to begin with.
On a recent study trip to Universal Studios Singapore (USS) at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), I had the privilege of learning how the theme park – arguably the most popular in Southeast Asia – creates, develops and manages memorable and delightful guest encounters. While these strategies do not cover all aspects of a world class theme park’s operation, they do form an important component of their visitor experiences. These help to trigger positive word of mouth and generate repeat visits.
Extensive and Immersive Theming
Aerial view of the Smithsonian museums in Washington DC (source: Tripadvisor)
Courtesy of Ocean Park website
In a leisure world dominated by American brands like Disney and Universal Studios, Ocean Park has distinguished itself year after year.
Thanks to my colleagues from the Association of Singapore Attractions (ASA), I had the privilege to learn how Hong Kong’s Ocean Park managed to hold its ground against HK Disneyland.
Courtesy of CGU Writing Centre
Writing papers is not second nature for most of us. It isn’t easy to slave over the words, facts and figures that form an integral part of white collar work, while putting forth a cogent and convincing argument.
Fortunately, there is an art and a science to writing policies, strategic plans, strategies, and other documents geared towards rallying support, budgets and stakeholder buy-in. Here are some tips that I have learnt from my years of experience in wielding the pen as the sword.
Give up? The answers, according to uber guru Tom Peters and Martha Barletta in their slim volume Trends are oodles of cash, purchasing power and huge influence.
Written in Peters’ no-holds-barred, rant-heavy and straight talking narrative, Trends provides lots of facts, figures and anecdotes to show that women and Baby Boomers are probably the two largest blindspots in the eyes of marketers everywhere. With a steely-eyed determination to tear down age-old prejudices against the “weaker sex” and “old geezers”, Peters and Barletta described how myopic views of catering largely to “White men in the 18 to 44 age group” have resulted in organisations neglecting huge markets worth “trillions of dollars”.
…Without going to the gallows!
One of my favourite fables is Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes“. If you haven’t already read that tale, do check out this charming little cartoon below:
Taylor Clark doesn’t like Starbucks. However, he does patronise its outlets. Apparently he is not alone, as there are many who publicly profess their distaste for Starbucks’ “almost burnt” brew while still swarming towards their outlet.
That in a nutshell is the premise behind the book “Starbucked” authored by Clark, a Portland-based journalist who appears to have more than a little caffeinated chip on his shoulder while appearing to be balanced in his authorship. Unlike the more glowing titles featuring the world’s most famous purveyor of coffee as experience, Clark squarely places both the pros and the cons of the cafe behemoth in his book.
