Businesses seem to respond to competition, rather than customers. When one company introduces a feature that appears to appeal to customers, others quickly adopt it. They follow the bellwether cow. Rather than break trail, the herd obediently follows the trail breaker. “The more diligently firms compete with each other, the less differentiated they can become, at least in the eyes of the consumer.”
“One acts; the others respond in-kind” examples: Coke and Pepsi introduced retro versions of their colas with natural sugar at approximately the same time. BMW introduced the “Bangle butt” rear end (named after its designer Chris Bangle) on its car series a few years ago. Other manufacturers made derisive comments about its look — until they found that consumers liked it. Now you can find the Bangle butt copycats from Toyota/Lexus, Honda/Acura and Buick.
Most companies also try to fill gaps (i.e. perceived weakness) in their product lines to broaden market appeal. Doing this often results in weakening brand.”
Dell and Gateway carved out unique market niches with their built-for-you, home-delivered PCs. They strayed from those niches and now compete principally on price in a commoditized PC market. It’s called product augmentation (i.e. “a growing profusion of alternatives, a shrinking proportion of which are meaningful).
My example of a company that embodies “Different” through product extension is Apple. While it had its share of product missteps with its computers, devotees are Apple to their core. Then it broke more trails: first with its iPod/iTunes, followed by the iPhone, the iTouch and now the iPad — and over 150,000 apps. Each product builds from its predecessors and appeals to different markets [i.e. portable music player (market leader), smartphones (market leader), portable gaming (catching up), laptops/netbooks/tablet (carving a new niche)].
CEOs should ask their marketing teams what can be done to become “Different.” After getting their responses, ask them to watch Moon’s book-promo video on YouTube — youtube.com/watch?v=26PVrm4iLA0. Then again ask them what can be done to become “Different.” If they come back with their original answers, consider getting a different marketing team.
“Escape from Cubicle Nation — From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur” by Pamela Slim, Berkley Books, $15.
Thousands in the unemployment lines are considering starting businesses; thousands who survived restructurings are doing the same. The appeal of business ownership has never been higher.
Do you have what it takes to succeed? Slim points the way.
Before choosing a business, you have to choose your ideal life. The business is your means to that end. You’ll need the support of your family to succeed, so their voice needs to be heard. Slim’s father embarked on a career in multi-level marketing against the wishes of his wife. He died at 63, divorced and alone — except for the multitudes of unsold products and motivational books/tapes.
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