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Differentiation Strategy
Defined
Your differentiation strategy is an integrated set of action
designed to produce or deliver goods or services that customers perceive as
being different in ways that are important to them. It call for you to sell nonstandardized products to customers with unique needs.
Why Differentiate?
The concept of
being unique or different is far more important today than it was ten
years ago. The key to successful marketing and competing is differentiation.
Hypercompetition is a key feature of
the new economy. What used
to be national markets with local companies competing for business
has
become a global market with everyone competing for everyone's business
everywhere.
With the enormous competition markets today are driven by
choice - your targeted customers have too many choices, all of which can be
fulfilled instantly. Choosing among multiple options is always based on
differences, implicit or explicit, so you ought to differentiate in order to
give the customer a reason to chose your product or service. Thus,
"differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical
activities in which companies must constantly engage. It is not
discretionary".1
Make the Competition Irrelevant
By:
John Mehrmann
Create differentiation
within your own products or services. If you have an assortment
of products or services to offer, you may have identified your
differentiation already. Common examples of differentiation for
products may be based on size, speed, color, components,
combinations or accessories. Common examples of differentiation
for services include speed, performance, quality,
responsiveness, availability, ease or integration. If you are in
the unique position of having only one product or service to
offer potential customers then you should consider accessories,
partners or other options to create a variety of levels from the
perspective of your future customers. If all else fails, you can
offer different levels of shipping speed or delivery...
More
Blue Ocean Strategy:
6 Principles
Blue Ocean Strategy is about
revolutionary
value innovation.
The six principles drive the successful
formulation and
execution of Blue Ocean Strategy.
These principles attenuate the six risks...
More
Customers for Life
By:
Brian Tracy
The two most important words to keep in mind in developing a
successful customer base are
Positioning
and Differentiation.
Differentiation refers to your ability to separate yourself and
your product or service from that of your competitors. And it is
the key to building and maintaining a
competitive advantage. This is the advantage that you and
your company have over your competitors in the same marketplace
– the unique and special benefits that no one else can
give your customer...
More
Providing Customers with
More
Value-Added
(MVA)
As Michael Hammer puts it, "MVA
means that you give the customer more, perhaps far more, than you ever have
before. It goes beyond simplifying your customers' interactions with you to
delivering solutions to your customers' problems, of which your products and
services in their native forms are but small pieces... You can visualize the
principle of MVA as a ladder with your product at the bottom and the
solution to your customer's problems at the top. The more help you provide
your customers to fill that gap, the more value you add to them, which, of
course,
differentiates you from your competitors who are still scrambling around
at the bottom of the ladder. Also, it is to your advantage to control as
much of the ladder as you can – customers will be less likely to abandon you
in favor of someone else, lower down the ladder, who offers less value. At
the same time, your opportunity for margin and profit increase."7
Keys To Branding Your Growing Business
By: Jay Lipe
Logo: Your company's symbol A
logo is a distinctive symbol or mark that visually represents
your company. To get one that passes muster with the quality police, I
recommend hiring a design firm. Because your logo is one of the first visual
brand elements your buyers see, put some time and money into it. If your
logo will appear on fax cover sheets, fax it to yourself. If it will appear
on billboards, enlarge it to 5 feet and see what it looks like (don't laugh,
I actually did this for a client). Put your logo through the quality
checking paces before you use it. You will be glad you did...
More
Case in Point Ten3
Business e-Coach
We
invented business e-coaching in 2001. By 2005, we had customers in 75
countries due to the innovative value the e-Coach creates for people for in
life and business.
An artful differentiation strategy is an integral part of this success. Differentiating statements of the
Ten3 Business e-Coach were designed
to connect to different types
of people – sensors, intuiters, thinkers, and feelers.
The
logo of the Ten3
Business e-Coach, a core component of the Ten3
branding and differentiation strategy,
was designed to meet the following criteria:
-
reflect the spirit of the Business e-Coach
-
be
symbolic
and intuitive
-
be distinctive
-
catch eye
-
stay in memory
-
connect to different cultures
-
be adaptable...More
Creating a Niche for
Your Business...
Six
Inventive Thinking Techniques...
Value Add In Your Products And Services As
a Differentiator...
Customer Service as a Powerful
Differentiator...
Harnessing the Power of
Psychology...
Differentiation – Step 1
in Building Your Brand...
Four Steps
in Your Differentiation Strategy...
Customer Intimacy...
Increasing Customer
Value-added through
Virtual
Integration...
Case in Point
Changing a
Business Logic by Canon...
Case in Point
Amazon.com...
Case in Point
Half.com...

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