Market & Competitive Dynamics
Key numbers (at least for those of us who are numerically inclined) tend to stay in one’s mind. That’s the problem with pseudo-numbers. We may first see them with flashing warning lights (such as “X% at a 95% confidence level”), but the caveats fade and the numbers remain when the numbers are public and it's election season.
My favorite pseudo-numbers are the Nielsen Ratings. They purport to tell us (to the decimal point) the number and share of viewers who watch each television program.
In marketing, we always want to promote something distinct about our brand. It could be low price (if we are the low cost producer) or it must be about something for which buyers will pay a premium. This is a lesson from years ago from Michael Porter.
About a decade ago, the marketing world focused on the Internet and its power. The impact of search marketing and e-commerce was evident and we all scrambled to adapt. The old days of mass TV advertising were dead, we all thought.
Leadership often is a matter of fact – a championship team or an elected official is, by definition, a leader. A CEO or department head is a bit less clear. While they are in a leadership position and have managerial and operational responsibilities, they may not be seen as a leader in fact. They have people who work for and report to them, but they may not have the qualities that make people want to follow or emulate them in some way.
I call it the sin of success: an early domination which makes the business feel like a champion, able to take on all comers. Time and again, this vanity blinds the conqueror to the real and growing presence of a threat. Sears somehow missed WalMart; AOL somehow missed everybody (but particularly Facebook, which also was ignored by Friendster).
While the focus on the Super Bowl will continue this week, I thought that, as Florida finishes voting, the ever-changing sentiment of voters in this election year offers a really interesting comparison between polling/research and social media monitoring.