The legendary article in the Harvard Business Review by Theodore Levitt Marketing Myopia asked a very relevant question – What Business are you in? This question is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago when the article was released. The answers to this question can make or break the success of an organization. Why? The manner in which an organization defines the business it is in determines EVRYTHING it wishes to do. The structure, product design, partnerships, culture, distribution and all. Now, we all know that business models are changing. Fast. Very fast. The traditional strategy planning cycles of three year period are simply not feasible. Granted that corporations will still need to have a view on what they need to do going forward, it is nearly impossible to put these plans into nice leather binders and track progress once a year and give it two more to declare it a success or otherwise. Real time decision making on brands is super crucial. People who think otherwise will do well to study how the General Election in 2014 were fought in India between parties using information which was feeding in real time from multiple channels social media, exit polls, on the ground activists, traditional media etc. A sentiment analysis of the data would always manifest in changes in strategies for the coming day! How does a brand manager then build and sustain his brand in this super fast changing world? How does he even place his bets? Reading Denise Lee Yohn What Great Brand Do offers some suggestions:
- Brands need to constantly scan the environment. Hold on! This goes significantly beyond the regulation market research and competition intelligence studies. It involves studying and assimilating trends however hidden they might be and however tangential they might appear. For example, Nike is constantly researching how people use technology to be able to integrate those aspects to the way would buy and consume sportswear. Nike is not just looking at how someone else makes shoes or sports apparel
- Listening: By scanning the environment, brands should really listen to and not just collect piles of data and commit statistical wizardry on them. While crunching data could and does give marketers valuable insights into consumer behavior, truths which are beyond should be sought. How does one do that? Two ways try and consolidate data at a macro level to synthesize data into insights. What is your consumer seeking from your category? Does your product fit into a category in HIS mind and not just yours? What allied products is she consuming to satisfy the need? And secondly, one should also listen from different industries and categories to avoid pitfalls of having limited visions of just your category. For example, owners of traditional retail chain like Shoppers Stop should not just look at what another retailer Big Bazaar is doing, but also how people are buying using internet and mobile technologies. People who have done this actively are in a better position to understand how e-commerce works and how they can build multiple channels.
- Saying No: A well-managed brand, even in nascent stages of evolution, clearly understands the segment (s) it is trying to address. It is razor sharp in what the positioning is and what crucial messages to send out. This might mean (and it often does) that the brand has to say a NO to certain segments which it does not wish target. The brand has to resist the temptation of meaning something to all segments and end up being too general in the approach. A youth product HAS to be cheeky; oftentimes alienating some segments of older customers. So be it! If the brand has done a good job of segmenting the market and selecting the target segments, there is cause for concern of losing markets which it is ill placed to serve.
There are other valuable lessons that Denise in her book. Students and practitioners will find it a good read indeed.
