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Differentiating Idea
Your differentiating idea is your
competitive mental angle.3
Competitive angle
Your
differentiating idea must have a competitive angle to have a chance for
success. Your product or service must be, first,
different, and second,
competitive in the total marketing arena.
Mental angle
The marketing
battle takes place in
in the mind of the prospect. It is the
→
perception
that must be considered in the selection of an idea, not the reality.
Competitors that do not exist in the mind can be ignored.
→
Competitors
who enjoy strong perceptions that do not agree with reality must be
evaluated based on these perceptions, not the reality.
Why Differentiate?
Differentiation is the key to
building and maintaining your
→
sustainable competitive advantage.
A superior product or service means nothing without a way of somehow letting
your prospective customers know about it. 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 and
over-communication are key features of
→
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.
Thus, "differentiation
is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which
companies must constantly engage. It is not discretionary".1
Harnessing the Power of
Psychology
You don't need a degree in psychology to
→
compete successfully
in the marketplace,
but you do need some way to figure out the
different styles of interaction different people prefer to use.
People tend to lead their decision-making
process decisions with one of the four functions:
intuition,
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thinking,
feeling, and sensing. Vividly differentiated differences that are anchored
to a product and engage the above functions can enhance memory of your
current and prospective customers...
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