We’re not sure what part of the world C. Brand lives in but they were nice enough to send us an email responding to one of our recent posts “Ask And Ye Shall Receive”. We responded to their email and then asked for permission to post it here. They agreed and here it is in full:

I just had a few thoughts about your March/ 13 news article that I was wondering about. First it’s a good article but do you consider it ethical for businesses and marketers to take advantage of a persons problems when you wrote; “Tapping into the level of frustration and difficulty that your customers and prospects are experiencing in a given market is their problem and your opportunity.”? To me, this sounds predatory and cold.

I was also wondering about Dr. Livingston’s market research example and why would he use such an obscure example such as guinea pigs (that has to be such a small niche market), compared to what people really search for on the internet such as business information, travel information, automobile news or even anything like fitness and health related news.

I would also like to read more information about Point Of Difference Benefits vs. Price of Entry Benefits. Can you email me some more information about theses concepts?
Thanks
C. Brand

Our response went something like this:

Good marketers – the best marketers – understand their markets intimately. They collect great data and they understand how to correctly interpret that data. Success comes from knowing that a penetrating insight into your market is prerequisite to an academic understanding about the tactics of marketing. But it’s more than a complex analysis of all available metrics.

Understanding the frustrations and the depth of frustration that your potential customers are experiencing in a given area is imperative. Listen to your customer, understand what their most pressing needs are, create a quality solution to those needs and bundle your solution in an irresistible offer. This is an ethical pursuit of a win/win relationship.

Without an adequate understanding of your customer, your approach is myopic – even blind - because you’re going to your market based on your business’s agenda and not your target customer’s. This approach relies on sales gimmicks, marketing hype, publicity stunts and various tactics that are geared at pushing product – and not necessarily solving problems.

Marketing a product without really knowing if it solves your customer’s problems can turn out to be a costly mistake for your business. Even if you know that you have a great product, your customer just may not want to buy – or worse, they buy and return for a refund. A great marketing strategy will always prevail over great marketing tactics and the best strategies begin with an intimate understanding of your target market.

So what about the guinea pig example?
Best to read our post: The Story of The Guinea Piggy Bank!

Concerning “Point Of Difference Benefits vs. Price of Entry Benefits,” the best thing to do is to learn about these concepts direct from the man who has provided approximately FOURTEEN MILLION DOLLARS in consulting services to a who’s who list of Fortune 500 companies that include:

A T & T, American Express, Astra Zeneca, Bausch & Lomb, Burger King, Chase, Citibank, Colgate-Palmolive, Grey Advtg, Hallmark, Hunt Wesson, J & J, JJill, Exxon, Flagship Banks, Ford Motor Company, General Mills, Gore, J Walter Thompson, Kodak, Kraft, Lipton, M & M/Mars, Master Card, Merck, Nextel, Novartis/Ciba, Ortho McNeil P & G, Pfizer, Pharmacia, Pillsbury, Roche, Sara Lee Unilever, Warner Lambert,

Just visit Real Marketing Muscle to get informed. It’s free to opt in and the information could be priceless to your business enterprise. Good Luck!