It’s an intimidating question. How many CEOs of companies under $100 million can confidently say that they’re influencing the market? Very few. There are only a few companies that influence any market; the rest of the companies are just followers. The simplest way to influence a market is with a patent or legal barrier. The

A friend of mine sent this article to me today – one of the most insightful I’ve read in a while – which should be read and reread each month by every CEO and business owner in 2014. The article is about how Microsoft (yes Microsoft) is beating Apple and Samsung in the battle for

Note: This is part 4 of a 4-part series. In part 3 of this series, we talked about the turf you wish to defend in the marketplace and what you want to be known for. This last post will put it all together to help you determine your dominant competitive advantages and revamp your marketing messages

In my last post, I outlined how to get inside the mind of your buyer, and how the curse of knowledge hinders us during our strategic marketing planning. Today, I’ll focus on how to communicate to your market using the language that will cause them to make a purchase decision. This language will come from

Note: This is part 2 of a 4-part series. Last week, I talked about creating differentiation to separate yourself from the pack. An important point to remember is this – differentiation doesn’t take place in your mind; it takes place in the mind of your buyer. Many B2B executives miss this point, focusing on differentiation

Note: This is part 1 of a 4-part series.  One of Peter Drucker’s famous quotes is a simple but powerful insight: Because the purpose of a business is to create a customer – the business enterprise has two – and only these two basic functions: marketing and innovation. When I think back to the focus