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Strategic Positioning

The External Environment P3M2

This is Module 2 in the Pillar 3 Your Strategic Market Positioning.

The External Environment – How To Review It To Find Opportunities & Threats And How To Position Your Business To Take Advantage

I like to think of scanning your external environment as how to PESTER your way to success.

Why Assess The External Environment
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in 3 – Your Strategic Positioning

Intro To Your Market Position P3M1

This is module 1 of the Pillar 3 Your Strategic Market Position.

Introduction To Your Strategic Market Position

Willie Sutton was a famous bank robber in the USA who robbed over 100 banks and spent half his adult life in jail. A reporter asked him “Willie why do you keep robbing banks?”

He famously replied “Because that’s where the money is!”

Why should you care about the contents of Pillar 3 and spend time thinking about your strategic market position?

Well to quote Willie again…

Because that’s where the money is.” [continue reading…]

in 3 – Your Strategic Positioning

Your Market Position – Pillar 3

Pillar 3 Your Strategic Market Position – What’s It All About?

Pillar 1 shows you how to know where you are and Pillar 2 helps you to set your direction, where you want to go.

The remaining six Pillars of the Eight Pillars of Business Prosperity help you move from where you are to where you want to be.

Our work starts with Pillar 3 Your Market Position which is about finding the right strategic position in your market.

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in 3 – Your Strategic Positioning

In my review of

Summary: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: Review and Analysis of Ries and Trout’s Book

posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the summary 4 Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.

Here is my review.

Good summary of a classic marketing book

There are a vast number of marketing books available through Amazon but a few stand out as landmarks in the development of marketing and the underlying book for this summary is one of them. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

Why Your Customers Suck by Jon McCulloch

In my review of

Why Your Customers Suck by Jon McCulloch

posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars.This means it is Worthwhile.

Here is my book review.

You have bad customers because of your bad decisions

This is a book mainly about pricing and positioning.

If you’re not familiar with the phrase positioning, it means your place in the market. [continue reading…]

in Other Business Books

The full title of this book by W Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne is

Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing – Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the FIVE Stars level, which means that I consider it to be excellent.

Here is what I posted.

A detailed how to guide for developing blue ocean strategies

I’ve been very impressed with the authors’ blue ocean thinking, ever since I read the early articles in the Harvard Business Review. I gave the Blue Ocean Strategy book a five star review.

When the revised Blue Ocean Strategy book was published several years ago, I appreciated the extended text and give it five stars again but I was a little disappointed as well. [continue reading…]

in 3 – Your Strategic Positioning, Best Business Books

I’ve had three people ask me how to sell (more) premium priced watches online.

This popularity is part of the problem. It appears to be an attractive market to be in from the seller’s perspective with an interesting product and a high transaction value. However some of the underlying issues make the opportunities for success very limited including how comparatively easy it is to set up a business selling watches online.

Winning The Watch Buyer’s Confidence & Trust

I can’t emphasise enough the importance of winning the buyer’s confidence and trust. Premium watches are an expensive purchase for most people and they have a natural fear that things may go wrong with the transaction. You know if you can be trusted (or not) but they don’t.

The easiest way to understand is for you to put yourself in a similar buying position where you are spending a few hundred pounds online. It doesn’t work so well if you’re using imaginary money but you may get part of the way there but you won’t have the risk of loss.

I’d try two types of products

– an unbranded item where you have uncertainty about the quality.

– a branded item, where, if genuine, the quality shouldn’t be an issue but where you have a nagging doubt on whether you can get a better deal for exactly the same item elsewhere.

This will give you a feel for something I call the buy / don’t buy scales. It helps you to weigh up the issues that encourage someone to buy and the concerns that hold back the purchase decision. [continue reading…]

in Business Problems And Mistakes

Chase One Rabbit by David Parrish

The full title of this book by David Parrish is

“Chase One Rabbit: Strategic Marketing for Business Success: 63 Tips, Techniques and Tales for Creative Entrepreneurs”.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the FOUR stars level, this means it’s in the good to very good category.

Here is what I wrote.

A good introduction to strategic marketing that deserves to be read by many small business owners

Although this book is targeted towards entrepreneurs in the creative industries, I believe it deserves a much wider audience of small business owners. The general messages in the book apply to all sectors and whilst the examples and stories used are from creative businesses, they are easily understood.

The main purpose of the book is to introduce the ideas of strategic marketing as opposed to operational marketing. You’re probably familiar with operational marketing because it tells you how to use marketing media – how to have a good website, how to get ranked in search engines, how to use display advertisements in newspapers and magazines, how to create a direct mail letter or how to use social media. It’s probably how you think about marketing. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

The full title of this book by Seth Godin is

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars.

Here is my review.

A powerful analogy but a disappointing book

I’ve developed a bit of a habit of reading Seth Godin and being disappointed. I find it with his books and his famous blog. He is an expert at marketing himself.

This is another book where I hoped I’d gain much more than was actually delivered. I’m fascinated by how businesses stand out from their competitors. I also think it’s an issue that is under developed in many companies. [continue reading…]

in Other Business Books

Value Prop by Jose Palomino

The full title of this book by Jose Palomino is

Value Prop: Create Powerful I3 Value Propositions To Enter And Win New Markets

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 3 Stars.

Here is my review.

This is an important topic but I thought it would be a better book

This book argues that your value proposition should meet the I3 criteria being innovative, indispensable and inspirational. In words that are easier to understand, it needs some that is new, useful and exciting. [continue reading…]

in Other Business Books