The battle for mindshare

The battle for mindshare is the war that marketing has to win. As we run on the treadmill of continued rapid growth and change, as we deal with increasing complexity in all domains and as we look at the huge opportunities presented in global markets, I sometimes worry that we forget the role of marketing strategy, that we get swept up by events rather than controlling our future.

The issue is that marketing is getting harder as the world becomes more global, and markets and competitors become more fuzzy.

Marketing strategy is the domain of the senior executive group. It is the driving force of the organisation and will determine its success. The issue is that marketing is getting harder as the world becomes more global, and markets and competitors become more fuzzy. How does an organisation establish the focus to own mindshare in this high growth, fast changing, global marketplace?

Global markets really change everything. The bigger the markets that we have access to, the more focused one has to be. The challenge in this ever-increasing noise in the marketplace is to clearly "own" something, to have a positioning which is clearly associated with the company. The natural reaction of companies to these expanding global markets, the increased opportunity and the diverse requirements of those markets, is to respond by trying to take advantage of it all. It is definitely a case of too much opportunity.

The dilemma is that companies usually start off being very focused and clear in what they are all about and over time a lot of fuzziness creeps in. Things become really messy. Just like a cupboard which starts off very organised and then becomes a real mess over time as we dump all sorts in there.

There are many reasons why this happens to organisations. Let`s consider the volume of opportunity in most markets. This is definitely a contributor, as is getting carried away by the "flavour of the moment" and wanting to be in everything new out there and finally there is simply the pressure to grow. The relentless demand for growth often encourages the bad behaviour of doing things simply because it fuels growth and not because it supports the core focus of the organisation and its strategic positioning. The problem is too much opportunity and too little strategy.

This in essence is the challenge of strategic marketing. It is about predicting the future in such a way that a sustainable position can be crafted for the organisation which will serve it through the turbulence of change, and furthermore will focus the company in finding the market positioning which it can clearly "own". It then furthermore keeps the organisation focused around its core strategy.

The value of marketing strategy and brand building does not diminish in any way in the information economy. In a previous column we looked at the power and the relevance of the mega brands around the Internet. More than ever you have to stand for something. This is not about trying to own generic positions. It is not good enough for the brand to be associated with cars, for instance. It has to stand for something; safe cars or luxury cars or fun cars. This is absolutely true for our industry. There is little point in owning a broad generic position in the IT industry, it is too wide, there is too much noise and there is no way to stand out of the crowd.

Particularly in branding we have to consider our customer. The brand has to make things easier for the customer in a volatile market. The brand has to help him make a choice and help set expectations from the product or service, even if he has not bought exactly that item from us before.

There is a growing notion of portable brands. A brand which stands for something so desireable, so compelling, so universally appealing, but also so focused that it can transcend product specifics. Robert Baldock, author of "Destination Z: The history of the future" refers to the Virgin brand as a case in point.

It is about positioning. Perception is really what makes or breaks you. There is much in every organisation that makes it very difficult to focus on clear and simple positioning. We have looked at how growth and expansion complicates things. This furthermore results in a plethora of brands, sub-brands and brand extensions. It is very difficult to work through the clutter to get to that clear insight of what the future looks like and what we want to stand for.

What strikes me is that getting there is just as difficult. There are usually pretty big egos associated with the brands of the organisation and there are strong emotions within individuals and the workforce when it comes to brands. On the one hand one has to be ruthless, this is after all about the future of the organisation. On the other, one has to make sure that this transition (just like all the other major transition activities in the organisation which we discussed in a previous column) is managed properly. The people aspects, the market aspects, the business impacts, the roll out-and so on. The very life of the company depends on getting it right.

To seriously think about the future one has to say goodbye to tradition and convention. To think out of the box, to consider the alternative futures, to put your bet on one and then to throw everything you have into it.