Visions, Understanding & Community

The search for meaningful differentiation

Logo by Maxim Kulikov from thenounproject.com. Image by Diego PH from Unsplash.
Marketing Imagination guides companies to the next level of market differentiation by developing authentic strategic visions and generating deeper understandings of customer- and community needs.

MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION

Introduction

1.1 What is meaningful differentiation?

In many saturated markets, companies can only differentiate on the experiential and symbolic level, as opposed to the product- or service level.
Solutions

1.2 Differentiation through concept creation

A strategic marketing concept represents a meaningful and distinctive idea which guides target market selection, promotion and product development.
Solutions

1.3 Differentiation through vision development

A vision builds on the passion of founders and enthuses employees to realize it, while also resonating with the desires of potential customers.
Solutions

1.4 Differentiation through brand positioning

A brand communicates the values, associations, personality and story developed in the marketing concept and vision statement.

MARKETING VISIONS

An introduction

Vision development

Company visions can have functional and emotional appeal. Furthermore they should be context specific, e.g. catering to the characteristics of a specific industry.
Food & Beverage

Coca-Cola

The ever-presence and international wholesome brand image of Coca-Cola has kept competitive Cola drinks at bay.
Entertainment

Disney

Walt Disney evolved the one time animated movie visit into a full multi-year themed and nostalgic experience including memorabilia and amusement parks.
Clothing

Nike

Nike designed its advertisements in a way that their shoes became de embodiment of the athlete spirit 'Just Do It' featuring celebrities such as Michael Jordan.

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMERS

A introduction

1.1 What is Marketing Imagination?

Marketing Imagination entails efforts by an organization to 'imagine' the customer more in-depth (than their competitors) to uncover new ways of meaningful differentiation.
Principles

1.2 Problem identification

A company doesn't just offer products, it provides solutions to problems. Identifying customer-, or even human-, problems guides the development of innovative solutions.
Basics

1.3 Buyer personas

Personas are 'facebook' profiles of customer segments. Through qualitative research, organizations can investigate those profiles more in-depth.
Basics

1.4 Customer journey mapping

Understanding the customer experience in-depth, over a set period of time, can uncover deeper problems and streamline the brand experience.

UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY

Introduction

1.1 Community needs

A more advanced way of establishing meaningful differentiation is to understand the human behind the customer and the individual and relationship needs they have.
Actions

1.2 Sharing passions and desire

Passion, burning desire and the 'desire for desire' are powerful forces which guide consumer behavior, beyond surface-level motivations (e.g price consciousness).
Actions

1.3 Nurturing Community Vitality

Community Vitality can entail both tangible and intangible aspects, capturing both functional and emotional values: facilities, activities, psychological feelings and value.
Actions

1.4 Capturing consumer’s imaginations

Sometimes company support exists of leveraging the images in people's minds and painting a desirable future image of society prior to setting an action into motion.

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