Marketing – Focus

I just read that Twitter has secured another round of funding and one of the founders says that they will worry about the business model (read = revenue) after they firm up their infrastructure.  Huh?  I’m trying to think hard about this, but I’m pretty sure had I told my finance professor in business school that “I’ll worry about the revenue model for my business plan later” I think he would have flunked me.  How do these companies get funding without a clear revenue model? Amazes me.  

Marketing is no different.  Having a clear focus on what your brand means and stands for is utterly and completely essential to long term success, it cannot be overstated enough.  Being able to create a brand and word/concept association in the minds of consumers is key.  For example: Volvo = safety, Red Bull = energy drink, TechCrunch = source for tech news, Apple = cool/hip consumer electronics, WalMart = retailer of all things…get my point?  Focus is what enables consumers to create a mental shorthand for your brand.  This is ultimately done by having a clear, PRE-planned business strategy (see above) and then following that with clear, concise language, images, advertising strategies, etc.. that are memorable and different from the competition.  Being first helps too (see this post).

 

Dave Kustin – EVP Marketing, WrapMail

 

Positioning & the iPhone

There has been a great deal of talk about the iPhone – how revolutionary it is, the latest version and of course competitors to it.  The iPhone is beginning to take a chunk of the Smart Phone category away from BlackBerry.  Additionally, much of the recent press has been about the competition releasing devices to combat the iPhone and how great the devices are, blah, blah, blah.  I have some bad news for the competition.  They will never surpass the iPhone in popularity.  I am not saying this because I am an Apple loyalist (I do not own an iPhone).  I am saying this because it is law.  It is part of the laws of “Positioning” which in marketing-speak is to say that the iPhone has captured the “first-mover” position in the minds of consumers.  In addition to their superior operating system, which the competition cannot copy, they have created the perception of innovation with the iPhone as it relates to what consumers were used to.

All that said, the iPhone will most likely never supplant BlackBerry as the number one Smart Phone either and will remain the #2 in the category.  But, the competition will never supplant the iPhone and what it has done in terms of its market share.  The iPhone will however, be the #1 touch screen phone, if it already isn’t. Remember when the iPod came out and was subsequently followed by all the iPod killers like the Zune? Umm, where’s the Zune now?  Same law is in effect.  First mover, combined with innovation, from a company that has the ability to let customers know about new products will always own the mind of the consumer.

WrapMail will abide by the same law.  We have the first-mover advantage and have created innovation to the most frequently used business communication tool there is – email. Much like the iPhone did for Smart Phones, we will benefit from the same transformation in consumer thinking and perception about email marketing and how to use ‘everyday’ emails to communicate to customers and prospects.

 

Dave Kustin – EVP Marketing, WrapMail