The Practice of Marketing as a Competitive Advantage

 We typically think of marketing strategy as the place where we obtain competitive advantage, and not how we practice marketing as a source of competitive advantage. But it can be and it is a great way to focus our marketing innovation efforts.

When it comes to marketing and competitive advantage, our emphasis is on marketing strategy, not marketing processes. It is our strategic decisions we will be known for, e.g. what products we develop, which customer segments we target, the marketing mix we use to reach those customers, etc. If we have competitive advantage, people won’t think of our marketing processes.  However, how we practice marketing can provide us a competitive advantage as well.

To see how, we have to look at other functional areas. First, in the manufacturing area, Japanese companies improved their manufacturing processes such that they produced cars with higher quality and lower defects and as a result gained a reputation for higher quality, more reliable cars. Their cars had high customer satisfaction and loyalty and high quality which was reflected in publications such as Consumer Reports; ratings agencies such as J.D. Power. This led to changes in market share over time and eventually, Toyota became the largest auto manufacturer in the world. American cars were still primarily competing, differentiating on design, branding and marketing.

In the finance area, Cisco developed a technique called the virtual close that provided it the ability to virtually close its books in one day. This was unheard of speed for a global, Fortune 500 company. To achieve this goal, it took years and millions of dollars, and a focus on all of the sub-processes. But the effort paid off as it gave its managers better information faster.  It also meant its finance people could spend less time focusing on past transactions, leaving more time to focus on the future.

In the same way, marketing is made up of many processes and sub-processes, e.g. strategy, research, communications, analysis, reporting, etc. The way we practice these processes and sub-processes can provide us advantage in the marketplace independent of and/or in addition to our marketing strategy.  From a marketing innovation perspective, we are always looking for a way we can practice marketing that will provide us competitive advantage.  In other words, we want our marketing department to be a source of competitive advantage.

It goes without saying that some marketing departments are better than others.  The source of the difference may be people, but it may also be processes. Our focus is on the philosophy, “how do we think about marketing” and our marketing processes, e.g. how we practice marketing.  Marketing innovation strategy and management is about providing us with a competitive advantage in our practice of marketing.

Some have heard of “The McKinsey Way” which is a book by Ethan Rasiel but it is also an approach that one might argue is different than the BCG or Bain way.  The same could be said for The Macintosh Way by Guy Kawasaki or The Microsoft Way

Four our purposes, brand and marketing experts such as P&G have their own distinct ways of practicing marketing. A quick search turns up, “Four Steps to Innovate the P&G Way:” “Succeeding at New Product Development the P&G Way”, “How to do Content Marketing Right, The P&G Way”, “How to Grow Sales the P&G Way”, etc.  In fact, some believe that P&G is so good at marketing that it is like going to school and is great training for anyone interested in a marketing career in any industry, not just consumer products.

Using a sports analogy, a team can be known for playing a certain type of defense or offense or a certain style of play. It is the way they do things.  It may have very little to do with technology or even the players as a team that is known for a certain type or style of play may continue that style long after the players have left the team.

Apple continues to develop breakout products; do they have a better new product development process than their competitors? Many of the people who developed the original apple and Macintosh products are long gone.  Since competitors were able to quickly copy innovations such as the iPhone and iPad, which means they had the technology, why couldn’t they get them to market first?

Marketing processes are fairly generic. Has your company innovated key marketing processes such that they provide your marketing a competitive advantage? Does your company have a way of practicing marketing that is distinct enough that you could call it, “Your Way?” Is it something your competitors would love to learn how you do so well? If not, then there is real opportunity for marketing innovation, so how you practice marketing provides you competitive advantage.