“Effective marketing is more than just developing marketing collateral,” says Lea-Ann W. Berst, Founder and Principal Consultant for Sleddogg Marketing. “To succeed in the market today, businesses must focus on their marketing approach."

Think Like a "Marketeer" articles are designed to give tips that help companies transition from product-focused to customer-focused; attracting new customers and growing their business!

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Advertising - The placement of announcements and persuasive messages in time or space purchased in any of the mass media with the purpose to inform and /or persuade a particular target market or audience about products, services, organizations, or ideas.

Brand - A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.

Brand Equity - The value of a brand. From a consumer perspective, brand equity is based on consumer attitudes about positive brand attributes and favorable consequences of brand use.

Competitive Advantage - A competitive advantage exists when there is a match between the distinctive competences of a firm and the factors critical for success within the industry that permits the firm to outperform its competitors.

Differential Advantage - A property of any product that is able to claim a unique-ness over other products in its category. To be a differential advantage, the uniqueness must be communicable to customers and have value for them.

Guerilla Marketing - Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources.

Market Positioning - Positioning refers to the customer's perceptions of the place a product or brand occupies in a market segment. Positioning involves the differentiation of the company's offering from the competition by making or implying a comparison in terms of specific attributes.

Marketing Mix - The mix of controllable marketing variables that the firm uses to pursue the desired level of sales in the target market. The most common classification of these factors is the four-factor classification called the "Four Ps"-price, product, promotion, and place (or distribution).

Marketing Strategy - A statement (implicit or explicit) of how a brand or product line will achieve its objectives. The strategy provides decisions and direction regarding variables such as the segmentation of the market, identification of the target market, positioning, marketing mix elements, and expenditures. A marketing strategy is usually an integral part of a business strategy that provides broad direction to all functions.

Portfolio - A set of things that are developed and/or marketed in relationship to each other. It most often is applied to that group of projects currently active in a research laboratory, but may apply to all new projects underway.

Relationship Marketing - Marketing with the conscious aim to develop and manage long-term and/or trusting relationships with customers, distributors, suppliers, or other parties in the marketing environment.

Sales - Any of a number of activities designed to promote customer purchase of a product or service. Sales can be done in person or over the phone, through e-mail or other communication media. The process generally includes stages such as assessing customer needs, presenting product features and benefits to address those needs and negotiation on price, delivery and other elements.

Strategic Market Planning - The planning process that yields decisions in how a business unit can best compete in the markets it elects to serve. Strategic market decisions are based on assessments of product market and pertain to the basis for advantage in the market. The plan that is the output of the process serves as a blueprint for the development of the skills and resources of a business unit and specifies the results to be expected. In many companies these are called strategic business plans.

Target Market - The particular segment of a total population on which a business focuses its merchandising expertise to satisfy that submarket in order to accomplish its profit objectives. Identifying the target market involves the process of using income, demographic, and life style characteristics of a market and census information for small areas to identify the most favorable locations.

Unique Selling Proposition - An approach to developing the message that concentrates on the uniquely differentiating characteristic of the product that is both important to the customer and a unique strength of the products when compared to competing products.

Viral Marketing - A marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message. Nicknamed viral because the number of people exposed to a message mimicks the process of passing a virus or disease from one person to another.


* Definitions supplied by the American Marketing Association.