Key Takeaways

• If you’re a business owner, keep your unique position, differentiation, benefits and brand top of mind at all times—especially in your marketing efforts.
• Are you filling an unmet need in the marketplace and clearly distinguishing yourself from the competition?
• Can you clearly articulate the special benefits that clients or customers receive by using your product or service?

*** My book Business Battlefield: 9 Warrior Concepts to Protect, Grow and Simplify Your Business has more business planning and marketing strategies you can use right away.

Conquest, war, famine, death. According to the Bible, these events are the Four Horsemen that will be released on Judgment Day. Many of you are familiar with the biblical Four Horsemen, but do you know the Four Horsemen of marketing? They’re very important for all types of organizations, especially for small businesses, according to my friend Richard Viguerie. Richard is an 83-year-old marketing guru who is still going strong after 60 years in the business.

In the 1960s, Richard was a pioneer in the art of political direct mail solicitation. His Four Horsemen of marketing are position, differentiation, benefits and brand. Let’s take them one at a time.

1. Position. This is about filling a niche in the marketplace that’s not currently being served.

2. Differentiation. This describes how you distinguish yourself from the competition; it’s the public face of your company or organization and how you draw people toward your company or organization.

3. Benefits. Can you clearly articulate the benefits that clients or customers receive from using your product or service?

4. Brand encompasses the other three horsemen. Let’s use Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express, as an example. The hole he filled was the need for overnight delivery. FedEx’s differentiation from other delivery services is “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” The benefits of using FedEx? Reliability, and speed—i.e., rapid, overnight service. Then the FedEx brand was built around all of those attributes that reinforce what a strong carrier FedEx is, with worldwide reach.

If you’re a business owner and you really want your marketing efforts to make an impact, Viguerie recommends keeping your position, differentiation, benefits and brand top of mind at all times. And then he said to make sure you put a well-thought-out marketing plan together. That’s the next thing he went over.

If you’d like to learn more about business planning and other concepts to make your enterprise stronger and more efficient, consider reading The Business Battlefield: 9 Warrior Concepts to Protect, Grow and Simplify Your Business, which I co-authored with Adam Blonsky. You can get it right here on Amazon, either in Kindle form or in book form.

Until next time, enjoy.

Gary

Learn more about TransformingWealth™ , our proprietary approach, designed to get your arms around the big picture so you can make informed financial decisions. Ask Gary about Coyle’s TransformingWealth Preview Meeting, and schedule a complimentary consultation and start living the Good Life Managed Well™.

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Gary Klaben is in our Glenview, IL office and serves our clients who are now located all over the country.  He has over 30 years of experience and is the author of Changing the Conversation, The Wealth Sanctuary and co-author of The Business Battlefield.  Whether advising his clients, mentoring his team, or coaching entrepreneurs, he is always simplifying complexity and motivating others to take the next action that’s right for them.

www.coylefinancial.com
800-480-7913 | coyle@coylefinancial.com 

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