The concept of being unique of different is far more important today than it was ten years ago. The key to successful marketing and competing is differentiation. Our global economy is in a constant state of disruption based on advances in technology, speed of the consumer, changes in regulations and socio-economic and political instability. All of these changes are signaling that the shape of the global market is moving towards a services based economy.
With the enormous competition markets today are driven by choice - your targeted clients and customers have too many choices, all of which can be fulfilled instantly. Choosing among multiple options is always based on differences, implicit or explicit, so it is paramount to differentiate in order to provide the reason and factors to select your product or service. Differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage and shape to outperform your competition.
Your differentiation strategy is an integrated set of action designed to produce or deliver goods or services that customers perceive as being different in ways that are important to them. It call for you to sell non-standardized products to customers with unique needs.
This requires challenging convention and thinking creatively to yield a focused differentiation strategy. It requires BREAKINGTHROUGH!
Breaking through requires creativity and curiosity – the ability to explore beyond the normal confines of linear thinking. This means going outside traditional barriers of expected ideas and solutions that have already been brainstormed or developed.
- Just do it – Take a lesson from Nike’s mantra and have the courage to do what’s needed.
- Being creative ultimately is about being resourceful in thought, mindset and execution.
- Creativity is, and had been a resourceful tool for getting out of tight spots, and it undoubtedly had a place in the lives of artists looking for their next inspiration.
Waiting for perfect – I frequently learned that in a world of titles, tools and all kinds of other associations, there is accepted convention that unless you have permission then trying to share creative ideas with others may meet with disapproval.
Don’t wait for perfect - Consider the unspoken conditions to choose between feeling that permission and approval must be sought before deciding how to create something in 5 Steps (Reserve 30-minutes to quickly drive a process and do not get caught up in looking for perfect).
- Background and Context – take 2-3 minutes to frame the problem
- Context – What is the Reason or Relevance in solving the problem?
- Define – The information to include
- Hypothesis – Outline three solutions and considerations
- Conclusion - Follow-up or Questions you expect to be asked or that you might ask
This simple approach can drive creative solutions by forcing yourself to think differently. New ideas are not produced in the confines of traditional or conventional thinking. In order to breakthrough – don’t wait for permission frame out the problem and drive multiple solutions.
