Rivalry

This weekend see's some rivalries play out in the sporting arena, starting tonight (Friday 11/11/11) with a battle between England & Scotland at Wembley. That's a football rivalry by the way not an actual battle.

Competition in the market is a good thing, don't confuse it with something big bad and scary. Too often businesses fixate on their rivals, constantly comparing contrasting and attempting to outwit. This may seem like something that is necessary, but really it isn't. 

The main focus should be your customers and/or clients. They will let you know whether the competition is better, cheaper, fatter or thinner. If your value proposition is better than your rivals, then your market share should increase, as should the loyalty from your customers.

The market will decide whether you are doing things rightly or wrongly, which is why it is so important to face that way, and not stare at your competition all day.

Teamwork and Marketing Strategy

This is Dogtanian and his friends the Muskehounds, I can't remember what the mouse is called. It may seem like a fairly random image to show when discussing teamwork, but it reminded me that very often an organisation is made up of lots of different people and departments, who all have their own agendas and desire. 

Marketing giant Philip Kotler often talked about Marketing departments being involved in company strategy at an early stage in order to make sure that any defined strategy took on board all of these disparate and often conflicting ideas.

This is worth bearing in mind when starting up any new venture, before building targets and forecasts, get the marketing folk involved to help make sure you know who is wagging the dog (or the Muskehound).

The 1st Post

So this is the first post in what I hope is going to be a regular series of comments, images, thoughts and ideas. Some of which might interest you. Some of which won't. I won't be ashamed to upload pictures of beautiful objects, people and animals that I feel need sharing with the world.

I'll try and find something relevant to say with regards to marketing along the way as well.