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Friends and foes: it sounds crazy, but your toughest competitor can be your greatest ally when you're vying for a sale.(Tactics)
IF YOU'RE TEMPTED TO VIEW YOUR closest competitors as "the enemy," take a second look. In today's highly competitive marketing environment, quality competitors can be an asset to your company. They are the businesses that stand behind their products and services, charge a fair price and enhance the reputation of your industry. Yes, they can help you reduce marketing costs, spur innovation and lead to new marketing opportunities. Here's how your company can get a leg up:
Reduce Marketing Costs
The best thing about having active competitors is that they can lower your marketing costs by shortening the learning curve for your prospects. When an innovative product or service is introduced--say, the first fax machine--customers go through an information-gathering period before making a purchase. By the time a second company markets a similar device, customers have passed through the educational period, shortening the sales cycle and reducing marketing costs, putting you in a better position to win them over by offering additional value.
That is why having high-quality competition is an asset. Inferior competition can be a problem if you're the lone high-priced provider surrounded by companies with lower prices. In that case, competition based on price will remain a big issue for your company. But among quality competitors, the most effective tactic is to market based on a value proposition, not a price-cutting strategy. That way, you preserve your ...
- Whole Foods executives contend that Trader Joe's, which is expanding rapidly,...
- Magazine article from: The Food Institute Report August 6, 2007 700+ words
* WHOLE FOODS executives contend that TRADER JOE'S, which is expanding rapidly, is its toughest competitor. Even in markets where Whole Foods is strong and Trader Joe's is nonexistent, many locals who know about Trader Joe's stores...
- A business should try to be its own toughest competitor. (On Small...
- Magazine article from: Long Island Business News Ennico, Cliff September 13, 2002 700+ words
It may sound strange, but there are times in business when you must compete with yourself. This is especially true in times of rapid technological change. Innovations that render your existing products and services obsolete are, of course, a threat to your business. But those same innovations can
- U.S. Government Bars Unfair Drug Marketing Practices: AIDS Healthcare...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire October 2, 2002 700+ words
...to reflect the expected decreased marketing costs the pharmaceutical industry will incur...enough about the impact of excessive marketing costs on drug prices that it sponsored legislation...the taxpayers' tab for such drug marketing costs. (The bill died in committee before...
- Marketing costs hit revved-up MGM.
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...ebb and flow of theatrical marketing costs. The Century City, Calif...rules, which stipulate that marketing costs be posted as accrued. As...to acknowledge substantial marketing costs on October releases "Good...
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...is one of the few organisations to release information on marketing costs of its members' movies. The wide range of marketing expenditure...estimates that P&A costs (prints and advertising or marketing costs) in the US approach $4.3bn in total (47.5 per cent...
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...211.3 billion (fig. 1). Higher marketing costs were the primary factors contributing...past decade. Between 1990 and 2000, marketing costs rose 57% and accounted for most of...expenses. The energy bill for food marketing costs totaled $23 billion in 2000, and...
- Different strategies keep marketing costs in check.
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...another inexpensive tool to manage marketing costs. An effective database with updated...utilize the database, it'll drive the marketing costs down," Nakagawa said. "It's...efficiency, and that lowers your [marketing] costs." Marriott also partners with many...
- AB 686 -- Koretz, D, West Hollywood -- Would Slash Taxpayers' Tab for Drug...
- Press release article from: Business Wire August 8, 2002 700+ words
...support of the bill. "Drug company marketing costs now far exceed those of research and...slash the taxpayers' tab for such marketing costs and I thank Paul Koretz for introducing...and) will cut the exorbitant marketing costs from the price California pays for...
- AB 686 (Koretz, D, West Hollywood) Would Slash Taxpayers' Tab for Drug...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire August 8, 2002 700+ words
...support of the bill. "Drug company marketing costs now far exceed those of research and...slash the taxpayers' tab for such marketing costs and I thank Paul Koretz for introducing...and) will cut the exorbitant marketing costs from the price California pays for...
- KTF profit hurt by higher marketing costs.
- News wire article from: Asia Africa Intelligence Wire October 31, 2003 700+ words
...4 million), hurt by greater marketing costs and disappointing subscriber growth. The company's marketing costs rose 7.8 percent in the third...second half, despite greater marketing costs," said Kim Sang-yoon, an...
Source: HighBeam Research, Friends and foes: it sounds crazy, but your toughest competitor can...