Understanding the Business You're In!

I was on a course last year on marketing and one of the sections it covered was company tag lines, slogans and advertising slogans, but rather than considering the usual brand values and what the brand values meant and how the customers related to the brand we considered what the slogan actually meant to the business they are really in.

MacDonald’s is much revered amongst its customers and many business admirers.  Clearly the success of MacDonald’s is not down to the Michelin equivalent dining experience but rather one of almost fanatical consistency bourn out of world-class marketing, logistics and training.  Over the years MacDonald’s have had a number of advertising slogans at various stages of their development, suffice as to say in modern times the site of the golden arches symbol is enough for most people to understand what they can expect as far as the customer experience goes.

My late father used to visit his local his local supermarket on a Wednesday morning and more often than not his visits featured a total lack of bread on the bakery counter, now it can be hardly be the mark of a world class retailer if it can’t get a basic food product to the shelf for a customer to purchase it at a time when it suits the customer.  As my father said at the time, “this is nothing more than bad logistics” and he should know it was his business for more than 30 years!

So the questions is?  Is a modern supermarket in the food business or the logistics business?  Since 1982 and up to recently Fed Ex used the slogan “When it absolutely, positively, has to be there overnight”, now we all know they’re in the parcel business but this worked really well as a customer guarantee and spoke to the point of their exceptional customer focus, the parcel bit was almost a bi product.  An expectation is set in the customers mind and the business is focused around the customer and closely aligned to it.

Mind you, focus and slogans must move with the business I think its highly unlikely that “We’ll take more care of you” or “Worlds favourite airline” really represent the British Airways of 2010 in the eyes of their customers!!

So in the context of your own business are you fanatically focused on, what is it your business delivers to your customers?  Is your ideal customer at the very centre of your business?  Are you currently aligned to the ideal customer that you need to attract?  What is it that a customer really wants from you? Is it a product, is it the service or are you providing part of the delivery of a service to one of their clients?

You might want to think of the following that might help you really understand your offering;

• What sort and or type of customers do you really want to sell to? 
• What does my product really delivers to our customers or what pain does it take away from them?
• How does my customer feel once they have experienced or used my product or service?
• What do I really need to focus on to ensure I deliver my product on time and expectation?

Just as a footnote Carlsberg have been using  “Probably the best lager in the world” since 1973 and it has become synonymous with a slightly comedic lifestyle and lighthearted approach and is now very little to do with lager, who knows, a similar tagline could become synonymous with your business!

That’s it for now back soon with a look at adapting to change.

As Nike say, Just Do It!  To your success!

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