The economy is chugging along nicely. Your sales are up, customers are happy and your company’s productivity is outdoing itself. Most companies would assume its brand to be in outstanding shape considering the positive results with the bottom line. Many times companies in the opposite galaxy address brand issues to see where they are falling short. But if you are enjoying one positive quarter after another, you might be wondering “what possible benefit would addressing the brand achieve?”
As much as sales are doing well today, we all know it is cyclical. How are you planning for the future? Successful companies constantly train their sales staff to ensure that their efforts continue to bear fruit. Productivity managers continually search for areas of improvement. Smart companies never stop developing areas of efficiency especially when they are moving forward. There is always opportunities to improve and get richer.
One sure-fire way to maximize your success is:
Develop a positioning strategy that absolutely differentiates your company from the competition.
Look at your color palette for opportunities. Can you own a color and exploit it in your marketing materials? Can you adopt sensory triggers such as sound and scent to build familiar responses in your customer base. (Examples of this are Cinnabon and Harley). Is your offering to your customer compelling? Are you leading instead of following? If your products are identical to your competition’s, maybe you should consider developing a new category and owning it. Differentiating means exactly that. Take what you’re saying now and ask yourself if your competitor could also claim it.
Being different will positively draw future prospects to your door. I’m not talking fluffy advertising spin but tangible differences that compel the sales lead to react positively to the sales efforts from your company. If you are currently enjoying good fortunes without any real attention given to differentiation, you might be tempted to leave well enough alone. But you’ve got to ask yourself: “If we can succeed mirroring the competition what would be the impact of positioning ourselves to distinctly stand out in our marketplace?”
I think you know the answer already.
Ed, very good article. It is the little things that make the difference between success and explosive success. Just with a small tilt in thinking and positioning can provide a company with a huge competitive advantage.
A great benefit Andy, for companies who refuse to stand still.