Quick read for people who want to analyze and test their marketing strategies against benchmarks.
Flow: 5/5, short and easy read.
Actionability: 4/5, there are lots of specific recommendations on steps that can be taken to implement the knowledge shared in the book.
Mindset: 3/5, there are other marketing books that I would recommend before reading this one.
Some of My Highlights:
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“Most of marketing is reduced to a one-P function – Promotion – not a four-P job.”
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“My basic belief is that marketing’s work should not be so much about selling but about creating products that don’t need selling.”
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“Ford found this out when it launched its new Mustang automobile to appeal to young sports-minded drivers, only to find that many young people were not so interested and many older people rushed to buy the car.”
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“Spotlight specific cases of how customers have been either won or lost by departmental behavior.”
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“The aim is to define the company’s brand and values and to get the employees to ‘live the brand’.”
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“If the answer is clear, I ask for a copy of the latest marketing research study describing how the company’s target customers think, act, and feel.”
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“The challenge is even more daunting: How can your company listen continuously to the ‘voice of the customer’?”
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“The company should place a high value on new ideas and facilitate their collection and evaluation.”
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“The Idea Committee should meet every few weeks to review and evaluate the ideas, putting them into three piles, from poor, to good, to great-sounding ideas.”
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“Does your plan visualize some alternative scenarios and state what your response would be?”
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“Ask marketers what changes they would make if they were given 20 percent more budget or 20 percent less budget.”
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“Services that are given away free create two problems. First, customers tend to evaluate them even if they take these services. Second, some services could have supplied a separate revenue stream that is lost when they are given away free.”