1. 5 TRUTHS MY MOM TAUGHT ME ABOUT MARKETING STRATEGY
My Mom was by no means a marketing executive in the way we understand
the term today – she was in fact an elementary school teacher back in her
hometown in the Philippines. She was close to the market, but in a literal
sense: she went to the town’s wet market daily for our foodstuff. When I was
a kid she’d usually bring me to the wet market just so I would not have to
drive my Dad crazy at home. Looking back, it is these early “shopping”
expeditions with my Mom that gave me my first real-world lessons about
Marketing. Theorists like Kotler and others may have put some structure to
the discipline but as far as I’m concerned my Mom was the true wellspring
of marketing wisdom.
TRISTAN B DE LA ROSA
Founder & Principal Coach
www.thebanyanway.com
Banyan Way © 2007 Page 1
2. Let me first set the record straight. My Mom was by no means a marketing
executive in the way we understand the term today – she was in fact an
elementary school teacher back in her hometown in the Philippines. She
was close to the market, but in a literal sense: she went to the town’s wet
market daily for our foodstuff.
For those who have not been to the Philippines or other parts of Asia, a wet
market is any public open space where you find rows upon rows of stalls
selling all manner of fresh food items – from Chinese bokchoy to live
chickens in wire cages (they slaughter and feather the chicken for you;
otherwise you’ll have to take care of this business yourself at home).
Anyway, when I was a kid she’d usually bring me to the wet market just so I
would not have to drive my Dad crazy at home. Looking back, it is these
early “shopping” expeditions with my Mom that gave me my first real-world
lessons about Marketing. Theorists like Kotler and others may have put
some structure to the discipline but as far as I’m concerned my Mom was
the true wellspring of marketing wisdom.
Let me now share with you The 5 Truths My Mom Taught Me About
Marketing Strategy.
1. Have A Strategic Focus.
In one of our trips I asked my Mom why she would not buy all the stuff we
needed from the man at the end of Row 7 who seemed to carry everything.
Her response: “Buy chicken only from the chicken guy and pork from the
pork guy. Never buy from the everything guy.” She went on to explain that
the “everything guy” knew little about how to prepare special though unusual
dishes or cuts of meat. Also, his stuff was not as fresh because she had it
from a reliable source that the chicken and pig farmers gave preference to
the chicken and pork guys who always bought bigger quantities.
From this simple buying philosophy I came to understand the basic principle
of having a strategic focus. Identify a market where your product or service
will have the strongest competitive advantage and become a master. Then
craft that competitive advantage into a sharp, provocative, single-minded
benefit message that you can hammer incessantly at your market. Having a
strategic focus allows you to do the following:
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3. Concentrate limited resources – money, people, energy, time – on that
area which can potentially deliver the maximum results for you.
Be the expert in your field by doing the one absolute thing that you do
best. If your medulla oblongata needs fixing, the brain surgeon is your
best bet and not the GP at the corner clinic.
As a pricing strategy, you can charge more for your product or service on
the basis that your customers trust that they’re getting only the best from
you. Alternatively, because you specialize and you know all the secrets
of sourcing your raw materials plus you have economies of scale, you
can charge a lower price than generalists and totally corner your market.
2. Differentiate Yourself.
There is no such thing as commoditization. What can be more of a
commodity than pork, chicken or vegetables bought in a wet market? Yet
Mom would not buy pork other than from Mang Ador, the toothless man
along Row 3; or chicken other than from Aling Perla, the lady who chews
betel nut at Row 6. Mom could have bought the same stuff from other
vendors but why them?
That’s because they have learned to differentiate themselves. Mang Ador
and Aling Perla set themselves apart in terms of their service. If not himself,
Mang Ador would ask his nephew to carry our basket of purchases all the
way to the bus stop. Aling Perla always put in an extra piece of chicken liver
or gizzard (which I love) to my Mom’s purchase.
The essence of brand marketing stems precisely from this simple idea of
setting yourself apart, of creating a competitive advantage. Having identified
your strategic focus is a good first step. But assuming that you’re not the
only bright kid on the block, there will be others (aka your competition) who
would be thinking along the same line as you.
No matter how basic, how prosaic your offering is you can always find a
platform to set yourself apart. Your pizza tastes better because you use only
ingredients that you yourself grow in your backyard and flour that you milled
by hand. If you cannot promise a better-tasting pizza, promise that it’s 50%
bigger for the same price. If somebody else promises the same size at the
same price, promise that you do free home delivery. If somebody else can
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4. do this, promise you’ll do it under 15 minutes. And so on. Made with exotic
ingredients, faster, slower, higher, lower, bigger, smaller, farther, nearer,
cheaper, snobbishly expensive… you should always find a meaningful
promise that sets you apart and creates a powerful competitive edge. It’s
there and all you need to do is to look for it.
3. Communicate Your Competitive Edge.
Along the central aisle of the wet market was a big fish stall which never
failed to attract huge crowds of customers. Its competitive edge: it was the
only stall that sold freshly-caught Bonoan bangus, a special kind of fresh-
water fish found in the Philippines’ northern waters. Mang Ambo, who
owned the stall, had hung a wooden 3’x2’ signboard above the grass-
baskets and piles of fish that proclaimed “Bonoan Bangus. Caught Fresh at
3:00 This Morning.”
The message was simple, sharp, single-minded. I was not aware that
anybody ever challenged Mang Ambo about the preciseness of the time of
the catch but my Mom agreed with everybody else that this was proof the
fish was truly fresh. Other than his signboard, Mang Ambo also had a full-
time barker whose only job was to shout (and sometimes sing) exactly the
same words as what the sign said.
Like Mang Ambo, I learned that it is not enough to have a better mouse trap.
You have to let your target market know about this; otherwise they will not
beat a path to your door. As we witness the continued fracturing of
audiences reached by traditional media and the emergence of new
communication vehicles and social networking tools (Google, Facebook,
Twitter, podcasts, SMS), there are challenges and opportunities to watch
out for. But the basic dictum of communicating your competitive edge to
your target market remains a fundamental point of marketing wisdom.
4. Reinforce Your Key Message Through Brilliant Merchandising.
Across Mang Ambo’s fish stall was that of Aling Lydia. She did not draw as
big a crowd as Mang Ambo but with the “generic” fish that she sold, she was
able to hold her own.
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5. Aling Lydia would artfully place several pieces of round bright red tomatoes
and fresh green chili pods atop the piles of fish at her stall. When not in the
mood for Mang Ambo’s Bonoan Bangus, my Mom would buy from Aling
Lydia. I believe the fresh tomatoes and chilis strongly reinforced Mom’s
perception that the fish was really fresh. Also, my Mom said the tomatoes
and chilis always whetted her appetite as they suggested a scrumptious
way to cook the fish.
Aling Lydia was brilliant at merchandising her fish. I have found throughout
my marketing career that many Marketing Executives forget this “final
stretch” in their marketing planning and execution, leaving it to chance and
happenstance as to how their product is merchandised at point of sale.
For most low-value non-investment purchases, the buying decision is made
right at point of purchase. While advertising can positively predispose a
consumer towards a specific brand, the marketing person cannot be sure
until the actual purchase is made. A sale can be made or broken depending
on what the consumer sees or does not see at that exact moment in time
when she’s standing in front of the grocery shelf or the service counter.
5. One Final Lesson: Never Cheat Your Customer.
While it may be the last item in this piece, it is perhaps the most important
as it goes beyond Strategy. It talks to the Values that we must hold as
marketing and business executives.
My Mom never again bought vegetables from the balding lady at Stall #3
along Row 1. That was after she tried passing off to my Mom a few rotten
eggplants under a pile of fresh ones that she was bagging.
Never pump the chicken with water so that it weighs more on the scale.
Never include dead shrimps along with the live ones. Never put colorant on
the beef so that it looks redder and fresher. When, because of an honest
mistake you give a rotten tomato, make amends by giving extra tomatoes.
Treat your customers fairly and well and you’re sure they’ll be back again
the next market day.
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6. About the Author:
Driven by a personal mission to “take executives to the edge
and push them to fly – as leaders”, Tristan B de la Rosa is
the Founder & Principal Coach of Banyan Way, an executive
coaching and development company. He is also in the
Coaching Advisory Board & Faculty of Northwestern
University. Tristan brings an uncommon blend of masterful
real-world experience and rich multi-national & multi-cultural
insight to the Executive Coaching field. He has decades of
leadership experience working at the world’s most respected
CPG companies, among them P&G, J&J, General Foods,
and the Wrigley Co. As country head or senior marketing
executive, he has been posted in some of the world’s most
important and fastest growing markets – including China,
India, the tiger economies of South East Asia – and in the
United States. Tristan is based in Chicago where he shares
a home with his wife, Marilyn. Tristan can be contacted at
tristan.delarosa@thebanyanway.com. Read his blog at
http://bwintrospections.blogspot.com.
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